I'm Right Here

it's 11:30 p.m. in the holy city of zefat. it looks like i'll be here all by myself for shabbat. it got cold today. it is supposed to rain throughout shabbat. we really need it.

i have an old friend from brooklyn staying overnight with her teenage daughter. her mom was really good friends with my mom. my sister knew her since 5th grade. my sister helped her to become an observant jew, many years ago.

she hasn't been in zefat in ages. my sister is still in india so they couldn't meet. i guess i was the surrogate. i really like this particular woman and her great husband. they used to come to our house to perform the pesach sedar. her parents weren't observant and his parents weren't jewish. i have such fond memories.

i was afraid that i might get over emotional. i have been very sad lately. i'm also, very tired. i have been with sahar alot and doing 13-14 hours shifts of babysitting. i haven't gotten out, and i haven't been to excercise in months. i'm overweight and feeling bogged down.

on wednesday, i spent the entire day babysitting and i always feel like i've been hit by a mack truck, the next day. i got up at 9.00 a.m and finally finished the glasses and pots and pans left over from last shabbat. i can't do anything upstairs when i'm watching sahar. i can do the kids' laundry when we're downstairs and he's asleep. otherwise, i am held captive by that little monkey.

i got up at 8:00 a.m. the next morning, prepared to do a cleaning number on my apartment. afterall, my guests had never been to my home. i only managed to wash the dishes, bake a cake and make up one bedroom before i got a call that they were almost in zefat. i still hadn't done the bathroom and the second bedroom and didn't have the time or strength to wash the floors.

the weather was cold and nasty and i ran out in the windy air to get to the little supermarket. i bought extra milk, cottage cheese, and a soft cheese. i somehow, figured that she was a whole wheat, health food type of eater, so i bought a can of tomato paste, and a can of beans to make up a soup. only bought a couple of carrots and squash to add to the soup because i had some frozen veggies on hand. i settled for a bag of white pitas because there weren't any whole wheat ones. i had my whole wheat orange and poppy seed cake to serve.

i kind of thought that we'd have soup and sandwhiches for lunch and maybe omelettes and salad for supper. i came back from the supermarket and quickly put up a vat of soup. i used dehyraded onions and garlic to save a bit of time. it boiled over onto the entire gas range. what a balagon! i had no more desire to go back into that chilly and windy air but i did.

it was considerably, warmer down in town. the sun actually, came out for awhile. we walked through the streets of the old city and artist colony for about 3 hours. they bought some souvenirs and gifts to take back with them. we went over to the zefat candle factory and bought some really nice hand made candles. we stopped off at a little yemenite stand and had homemade yemenite pita wraps. i had a lovely coffee and chilled out for a bit.

we began to discuss the dinner menu and i was informed that my friend was both, gluten and sugar free. so much for my orange cake. she also didn't eat tomatoes. that left me with a vat of tomato soup. and forget about the omelettes, because she had already eaten eggs at the hotel. we decided to go food shopping on the way home.

afterwards, we hiked down to the ancient cemetery to visit the grave of a great tsadik. we them climbed further down to the modern cemetery to visit my parents' graves. my friend took pictures to show her mom. as i mentioned before, they were life long friends.

at 5:00 p.m. we taxied back up to the little super and i bought a fresh chicken, a bag of rice cakes, a couple of carrots and sweet potatoes and a small piece of pumpkin. we climbed up the few flights of stairs back to my house and i went into action.

i turned on the heating system and made some tea. i served the teenage daughter the cake and fresh squeezed orange juice that i had prepared earlier in the day. i then heated up the soup and put out pitas and humus. i think she was starving. i then put the veggies in a pot with some spices and stewed them, while i put up the chicken to broil. the dinner was more or less ready to eat by 6:30 p.m. some of the chicken, however, was a bit on the pinkish side, so i put it back in the broiler.

i forgot to make the quinoa, so i quickly threw some in a pot with some onion flakes and cooked it while the chicken was broiling. i have a little of the food left over because they ate tiny amounts. that will be my shabbat meal. i am too tired to do the floors or prepare anything else. i'll just have the left overs and soup for dinner and a pita and tuna fish for lunch. i might just treat myself to a bit of heat, too.

after dinner, i invited them to hang in the t.v. corner and blog room. the teenager watched a couple of movies and hung out under the covers with cookie the dog. she missed her own dog from philadelphia. her mom caught up with her e-mails and i did the dishes. i then called india to let my sister and her friend catch up. the ladies went to sleep at midnite and i stayed up a little while longer to watch some t.v.

i jumped out of bed this morning at 7:00 a.m. and took a boiling hot shower. i had to keep lowering the shower so i wouldn't burn. i then put up some oatmeal fot the guests and got little sahar. i put him in the stroller and walked them to the bus stop. he of course, wanted out of the stroller. i had to carry him home. my back is hurting. i am really looking forward to being alone.

i wish that i could have organized a little shabbaton for a few women to bring in the new year together, but it didn't happen. i'll celebrate with my bed and pillow.
i'll wish you all a happy new year and a good shabbat!