Cooler Today

I have mixed feelings about the hotel I’ve chosen.  On the one hand, it is the closest hotel to the archives I’m using, just a 20-minute walk away.  On the other hand, the breakfast is pretty weak compared to what I’m used to in Israeli hotels.  Also, I had a few flying bugs in the bathroom last night.  So far, I haven’t seen any this evening, so maybe it was a one-time thing.

Today was my first day using the archives.  I’m not really sure how to search for what I want, so I decided just to review all the files in order, calling up the ones I thought might have something good.  One of the archivists helped me figure out what I should be doing, so I ordered around 15 or so files and then went to lunch. 

For old time’s sake I went to Sababa Pizza on Emeq Refaim.  I hadn’t eaten there in 13 years and it really hasn’t changed all that much.  I ordered an onion pizza and sat down to read the paper.  Unfortunately, I slurred my words and instead of getting pizza with onions (betzal), I got pizza with hard boiled eggs (betzah).  With or without the eggs, the pizza pretty much sucked.  It was like matzoh pizza, but chewier.  I won’t be going back.

The files I ordered arrived in the afternoon.  Mostly files about educational policy from the early 1950s.  I was very happy to find one in which the religious orthodox high schools identified all their textbooks, by subject and grade.

As I was reading, I saw someone come up to me.  He looked familiar, but I couldn’t place his name.  He, of course, remembered mine and that I was a student of David Myers.  God I wish I was better with names.  He asked what I was researching and, of course, he’s written several articles on this subject (which, of course, I haven’t read).  I’ve been flying by the seat of my pants on this.  I’m going to try to download his articles tonight.  He also pointed out that the Hebrew University library at Mt. Scopus has an excellent collection of Israeli textbooks.  I thanked him and made a mental note to visit Mt. Scopus next week.

The archives close at 4 pm, so I headed back to Emeq Refaim and ordered another large kafe hafukh at Aroma.  It’s a little on the pricey side, so I’m going to make this a regular afternoon coffee break, I’m going to have to find a cheaper café.

The weather was better today, not quite so hot and even breezy in the afternoon.  I headed back to the industrial section of Talpiot (where I ate last night) to try a different place.  This time I had the schnitzel, with pita, chips, and salad.  It also came with tehina and salat turki (a kind of mildly spicey tomato sauce). 

Once the sun set, it actually got cool.  I may open the window tonight for some cool air (the thermostat is permanently set at 23 C) as long as no more flying bugs can get in.