Where have you been?!

I have been in bed sick, for over a week. Last Friday we went on a walking tour of Jaffa and Tel-Aviv and when I returned home I sat down on my bed, exhausted, and realized that my throat hurt--I was sick. Since then I've alternated laying in bed, coughing an astonishing amount, sounding like Harvey Fierstein in Independence Day, volunteering, and ill-advised attempts to go out. I am not horribly ill, but I have not been resting enough to allow my body to completely heal, so this is definitely going to be a prolonged illness.

In other exciting news, I tried Lachoch (gutteral ch sound in both cases), which are something like german crepes, according to an Israeli friend of mine. I bought them for Shabbat dinner and they are wonderful. They are basically giant pancakes that have to be finished in the oven because they are too large to flip. I definitely want to learn how to make them. I bought Lachoch and challah from the bakery across the street, and the Lachoch were phenomenal, but the challah was very sub-par. Perhaps I am spoiled because my father makes homemade challah every Friday, but I expect certain standards of excellence, and hard as a brick challah does not qualify. It'll make good bread pudding though, which is probably what it is headed for.

It had been raining a lot lately. This is good, Israel needs the rain. However, like New Orleans, Israel is not well equipped for the rain. Ramla, in particular, is crazy. The streets flood, to the point that an Israeli friend suggested street kayaking, and which I definitely want to try soon. Since it is Shabbat and raining, there is genuinely nothing to do, making this the perfect day of rest.