The work week begins on Sunday and sure enough the streets were full of people and cars this morning.
This morning in the German Colony I noticed a bagel shop, Tal Bagels, which opens early. They have some great bagels there with nice toppings and side dishes. The only problem in that area is parking (which is true for the whole city). I found a spot on a side street and decided to do what everyone else does which is park on the sidewalk. A guy came by and said that I can't do that and I should have half the car on the sidewalk otherwise I might get a ticket. Oh well
Everyone at the clinic was very happy to see me again and gave me hugs and kisses. It's the same crew and I have Sima as my assistant again. She is due for her third kid in July and is waddling around pretty good. This week there are dentists from France, Venezuela, Finland, and me. The French is a Moroccan spehardic Jew, the Venezuelan lives in England now and speaks English, and the Finnish doc speaks only broken English. It gets comical at times when I hear Spanish, French, and English all in the same sentence.
The clinic treats kids of all religions free of charge. They are referred via the Department of Welfare. I saw about 9 kids today (8:30 to 12:30) and did a bunch of fillings and a root canal on both Jewish and Arab kids. All the kids were great with no problems but it was interesting to see that the Arab kids spoke English way better than the Jewish kids did. Sima explained that the Jewish kids study only one thing....torah, and do not get as rounded an education as the Arabs do in East Jerusalem. She explained that I shouldn't even bother asking the Jewish kids what their favorite cartoon character is or who their favorite sports figure is because they don't have any connection to the outside non-religious world. They don't watch tv, read secular books, or even know anything about events happening about their own secluded religious world. Sima was very quick to explain though that the East Jerusalem Arabs that have the special "blue card" enabling them into Jerusalem are still the ones which people are most worried about. The recent yeshiva shooting is an example of that.
Oh well, enough politics for now. It's warm and sunny out so I'm gonna put some shorts on and go out.
p.s. The photo on the last post is not my apartment. It's the Prima Kings hotel right down the street. I have posted a couple more pictures. Just go to "my photos" and you'll see them.
8 comments on Sunday - A work Day
Add a comment
To add comments without entering your email and image verification, you must be logged in. Login or Join Blogster
Good to see you found someone to have breakfast with
Sounds like you had great first day. Thank you for the Mother's Day card!
Stay safe!
L.
Hi daddy how many times are you going to get a ticket?
Love Leah Rose
No ticket this time!!!
Did you share your falaffel with the lizard?
How do I add my photo to your blog like Bronx Babe and Slugger?? By the way, cute pic of Bronx chick... Slugger looks like PeeWee Herman...
Dad-
You need to come home! The Dodgers haven't won since you left!
Miss You!
Love Matty
I write this after reading all your recent blogs. It is very disturbing to me to hear about the isolated, secluded life of the ultra-orthodox Jewish kids when compared with the world-view of the palestinian kids. It is also disturbing to hear about Sima's feelings toward the palestinian kids. I certainly understand the safefy concerns that Israelis have, but I had hoped that those concerns would be tempered by compassion for the needy. Can you say more about Sima's background to give me some context by which to understand her perspective?
Thanks!