...a store-wide screaming match...

Swimming this week has been a bit more peaceful that last week.  I was even offered a ride home from one of the nice old ladies Sunday night.  The rest of me week, though, has felt pretty hectic, and as I write now, I am mentally preparing for the first night of Hanukkah.  I will be lighting candles in a few minutes, and shortly thereafter, I will enjoy my first sufganya (doughnut) of the season.  I don't really like jelly-filled doughnuts, but I found a bakery with caramel ones and vanilla ones right around the corner, so hopefully they're yum.

Also right around the corner is a grocery store.  I do some of my shopping there.  Big trips, I try to go to the "discount" store (a bit less money), and I  got to the shuk for my produce (more on that to come), but this is good for the little things here and there.  The problem is, it always takes forever, whether you have one thing or thirty one things.  Usually if I just have one thing, I ask whoever is in front of me if I can cut the line.  It's a pretty Israeli thing to do and most people say yes.

On one particular outing last week, I had 11 things.  Too many to cut the line and too many for the express lane.  I started in a normal lane. The person ahead of me tried to pay with a gift card and a voucher.  Apparently he gave them to the cashier in the wrong order and she struggled a bit.  Finally the supervisor came to set things right and yell at her employee.  It was a pretty uncomfortable situation.  As this was dragging on, I passed my things to the cashier behind me.  The express lane had no line and she overlooked the fact that I was just over the limit.  She began ringing my things up, and in the end, I was finished with my whole transaction before the gift card guy got straightened out.

As I was bagging my food, I saw that the place had really gotten crowded.  It was so Israeli when a store-wide screaming match broke out.  Customers were yelling at each other for cutting lines, cashiers were yelling at customers to settle down and customers and cashiers were both yelling at the supervisor.  Some of the customer comments were interesting and well thought out (eg. "Maybe if you paid the cashiers a bit more or hired another one, everyone would be happier and we would get faster service"); others were not (eg. "I AM NOT WAITING ANY LONGER" as the person continued to wait).  I got out of there as soon as I could.

My favorite place to shop is the shuk.  It's just a cool place in general.  During the day it looks like this:

Taken from  this website.

I do my best shopping when it looks like this: filled with people and fresh vegetables, fruits, and spices.  It is a very seasonal market, and it is exciting to see new fruits coming into season every couple of weeks.  Strawberries are almost in, and that's the sign that I've been in Israel for just about a full year (Jan 10); they were coming in right when I made aliyah.  Citrus is also in full swing, and pomegranates are winding down.  I love them, but they've been here for a while, so I guess I'm ready for the next thing . Eating seasonally is fun because I never get sick of a fruit, and as soon as a new one comes in, I get so so so excited!

At night and on Shabbat, the shuk looks like this:

Taken from this website.

It is an eerie, empty place to wander through, especially because it is normally so lively.  Monday nights at the shuk, though, are CRAZY.  If you combine the dark closed desolate stalls with the swarms of people from the daytime crowd, you get something like this:

Courtesy of my dear friend, Shlomie Behar!

And this is a light night.  Monday nights at the shuk are party nights.  A bar stays open late, there is live music for a bit, and then afterwards there is a DJ.  This week had a bluegrass-y feel.  Everyone was jumping around and line dancing and being goofy.  It was even more packed than in the above picture, and people, old and young, were out and about singing and dancing and having a good time.  The shuk is becoming more and more of a culture spot/hangout.  During the day, there are plenty of shops for food, but a couple of coffee shops, bars, and restaurants have been opening up here and there.  It is a great place to meet friends for a bite, grab a beer, or dance the night away.