How Many More?

it is 9:00 p.m. in the holy city of zefat.  it is quite cold this evening and the wind is howling loudly, typical of a zefat winter night.  a 21 year old girl from zefat was murdered a few hours ago in a suburb of Jerusalem.  she was standing on the roadside waiting for a bus.  she was knifed to death by an arab.  it was the third attack at that location this week.

 my very close friend lives right there.  she services her car there and buys groceries at the supermarket there.  she is afraid to go there with her grandchildren.  it is a beautiful place to live but very dangerous as of late.  I can't see myself going any time soon to visit my friend.  we are enduring knifing attacks on a daily basis.  a young bride who lost her father and brother in a ghastly terrorist attack last week, has decided not to cancel her wedding this week.  she has invited the entire country to come to her wedding.  they are having it in a huge conference hall in downtown Jerusalem.  I saw a notice on the zefat line.  some people are planning on going to the wedding.

an 18 year old yeshiva student was sent home to America in a body bag.  he did a lot of good deeds in his very short life span.  this 21 year old zefat girl never had a chance to be a woman or have a family.  my heart is aching. I feel so sick.  I'm sure I know her family.  I have no way of knowing if there will be a burial tonight.  I can't really go out in this wind and cold.  I will probably find out in the morning where the family will be sitting Shiva.  I'm sure the entire town will be there.

I had a lead today for a really good job but it didn't pan out.  the job was definitely a hard one, but the salary would have taken away all of my financial pressures.  I truly didn't think I was physically up for the job and it required my working on Fridays, too.  it would have been my ticket out of babysitting for the grandkids and it would have provided me with a good income.  when push came to shove, I declined the job.  the hours were a bit much for me and I wanted to work off the books.

I have definitely slowed down a lot.  the cold weather doesn't agree with me.  I get all achy and my right eye gets easily inflamed.  I am super stiff and my back hurts.  as soon as the sun comes out, I am fine.  my granddaughter turns four this week.  my daughter-in-law wanted to have the birthday party in my home.  I didn't agree and she got a bit peed off.  I have way too many pictures and books and chactchkas lying around to entertain a band of 4-6 year old wild kids running around.

 I offered to clean the roof top apartment for the party.  it's a good place for a party.  she declined.  she will just have to suffer and throw the party in the gigantic laundry room.  I offered them a while ago, to take out my maytag washer and dryer from the room.  they both declined.  my grandkids have soiled my dining room chairs, as it is.  I have placed cushions to keep most of the mess off of the chairs but the kids always remove the cushions.  the daughter-in-law won't sit on a cushion because the dogs also use the cushions sometimes.

I think I will be called upon to make yet, another cheesecake.  the one I usually make, which calls for a low fat white cheese spread and instant vanilla pudding, has become very affordable to make.  I bought a caramel like instant pudding hoping to make a slight variation of said cheesecake.  I mentioned the caramel pudding to the daughter-in-law and she said that it tasted horrible.  all of the instant puddings here taste horrible.  the Belgian chocolate and French vanilla are much better but nearly impossible to find.

I had a very aggravating phone call from a nasty clerk at my medical insurance carrier.  she said that my getting a one way taxi ride to the hospital near tel aviv was coming to an end.  I didn't really understand every thing she said.  she was no mean and even hung up on me when I raised my voice.  I get so nervous when I need to deal with these bureaucrats.  I ran to get a doctor's letter and faxed it to this witch.  I haven't heard from her in a week.  it turns out that she was out sick and no one else could tell me if my dotor's note got sent on to the proper authorities for consideration. 

the entire thing makes my blood boil.  I can't fight properly with these small minded paper pushers in Hebrew.  although I've lived here for over 30 years, I still speak like a new immigrant.  it is a real drag.  it zaps me of all of my strength.  I always crash after one of these encounters.  I will have to head on over back to the office tomorrow for another one of these shout outs.  I see red every time I go there.  someone just might get the wrath of zelda tomorrow.