Vacation soon?

Beef noodles
from Mian

One thing I'm thankful for these recent months is the opening of the chinese noodle shop down the road from where I work. It is very close ... about a minute's walk from my office ... so I can have some warm food in the evenings whenever I have to work late ... which is everyday. I finish work around 10pm each night ... so usually around 7pm I take a short break to go down to "Mian" for a quick meal. It's reasonably priced ... a bowl of soup noodles is about 57 shekels (=US$15) which is normal by Israeli standards. You can't imagine how expensive life is here ... so a bowl of noodles priced like this is considered normal. The owner Billy is a nice christian guy whom I've known for many years now ... and his wife is very kind to me. Yesterday she boiled medicinal soup for me after she saw me in bandages and hobbling - I had fallen down Damascus Gate stairs 4 days earlier.

In the news - the strange flip-flopping of the Israeli educational system. Christian schools have been cut off from the subsidy scheme because it's not considered a real school (read "jewish school"). "Real schools" teach core subjects (maths, languages, science) which entitle them to receive financial subsidies. However many jewish religious schools do not teach these core subjects ... only Torah education ... and they get funded very very well by the govt. In fact I think the subsidy has been raised. Then yesterday we received news that a break-away group of religious schools have decided to teach secular core subjects because they see these courses as important for the education of their children - besides the Torah of course. They have now petitioned the govt. to allow them to develope schools which teach these options without getting victimized by the ultra-orthodox schools who only teach Torah. And of course they get financial subsidies. http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Haredi-parents-initiate-petition-demanding-schools-with-general-education-studies-462670

Another bit of news from the newspapers: Israeli left-wingers are getting persecuted here. As the govt. and country become more rightwing, attacks on leftwing Israelis have become more frequent. They have become the enemies of the State ... in line with the arabs. This is not only sad but very frightening as tolerance for opposing views - a basis for democracy - is getting thin. http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.733791

Anyway enough of politics. My twisted ankles and wrists are getting better. Only the left ankle still hurts badly when I walk down the stairs. Maybe its the heat ... but I have been very giddy and nauseous for several days now. Had several near faints in the street while walking to and from work. Had to sit by the road to steady myself. Some people say it could be hunger as I only eat one meal a day ... but I feel its the heat plus exhaustion plus stress. Just maybe ... in August I might get 48 hours of vacation. I'll have to start planning now.