life is daily

Life seems to just go on daily here; so far the election of Hamas to the Palestinian Authority has not affected my life at all. I feel like I'm settling in and even going to the souk on Friday is not a big deal anymore. There are still a few cultural issues, though. For example, I ate bacon yesterday. I felt strangely guilty and kept looking for the kosher police to come and arrest me. I took Andrew to lunch at this teeny-tiny hamburger place called "Meat Burger". Andrew is 13 and could probably eat his weight in meat if his mom and dad would let him. Being such a carnavore myself, I am very sympathetic to his plight and being able to treat him to a giant bacon cheesburger, fries and a coke was really fun. I had a grilled chicken sandwich with bacon and cheese and it felt like it was the best thing I had ever eaten! I can't figure out why God commanded the Israelites to not eat pork and then went and made it taste soooo good!

Israeli electronics. I finally broke down and bought a dvd player. It has issues. At first I couldn't get anything to play, so I stopped in an electronics shop to discuss my predicament. I came home and did some fiddling with it and finally got it to work. Now it has language issues. Newer dvds that have multiple languages on them must confuse the poor thing a bit. I tried setting the language to English, and then I get no sound at all. I tried "The Three Musketeers" but could only get the sound in French. Then I tried "Never Been Kissed" and it would only play in Espanol. So then I went for an older movie -- "Groundhog Day" and it worked fine.

And even though I have tile floors everywhere, I really want to buy a vacuum cleaner. The dust bunnies here are like this mutant breed of giant fuzzballs. Mine are all red for some reason. It must either be the towells in my bathroom or my favorite warm fuzzy throw.... Anyway, I'd like a vacuum because everytime I start sweeping them up, Tovi decides that they are somehow a new toy for him, until I get mad and throw him out the window (at least I'm on the ground floor!). The main problem is that I have this fear of buying anything electronic here. I tell myself that surely nothing could go wrong with a vacuum, and then part of me pictures it bursting into flames or even worse, sucking up my couch. Then of course there's the issue of carrying the thing home once I actually bite the bullet. That's probably the reason I haven't bought a microwave either. Well, that and the fact that my kitchen is about the size of a closet, and we ain't talking walk-in, either!

I guess life is really settling down for me here. That's a good thing. I can't believe I leave for the states in less than two weeks! I'm excited. I can't wait to see the people I love and to get to drive again; to go to Barnes & Noble and stock up on books in English; to go shopping and to eat a big ol' steak and some Cheetos (but probably not at the same time)!!!! Wooohooo! The only bummer about it is that they have changed the baggage weight limit from 70 lbs to 50 lbs. Maybe I shouldn't plan on buying tooo many books!