Decisions, decisions

After completing my last entry of my online journal, last night, I ventured out into the night in search of an eatery for my birthday dinner. Wandering down an inviting side-street, I was greeted my a waitress outside a cafe/restaurant, trying to sell me their 'business dinner' - basically a starter, main, and 2 sides for 40 sheqels. The place looked cosy and it was a good deal, so I stepped inside.

Seated at a table alone, facing the array of families I felt a pang of loneliness that I didn't have anyone to accompany me, especially as one of the tables evidentally were celebrating a birthday of their own. This didn't last long however, as 2 Jewish-American couples along with their brood of cute, but scruffy kids barged their way in and took the two tables nearest mine. I was slightly nearer to the childrens table and was trying not to laugh out loud at some of their comments about the food (which was 10/10 in my opinion). The funniest thing however was that every so often, one of the men from the adults table would yell over at them to 'keep the noise down' which was highly ironic given that there was by FAR more noise generating from their direction! Listening to their table was like being on set of a Woody Allen movie!

(Mom - I know you'll want to hear what I had to eat - a starter of salad, followed by spicy Morrocan fish with cous-cous and steamed vegetables, and dessert dark chocolate cake with vanilla scoop. As it was a kosher restaurant I had to opt for Turkish coffee rather than a nice milky one, but what ho.)

Finally, after entertaining the whole restaurant, and probably making the waitresses want to tear their hair out, the families left, and a while later so did I...

On my way back to the hostel, a man I thought was a Orthodox Jew stopped me to ask me a question. I responded politely, and he ended up asking me out for a drink. So no, not Orthodox Jew. Just wearing the black with a hat. He was, I'd guess, in his mid-late 30s, small, slimey, and wouldn't take no for an answer.

He told me he was some preacher, or Rabbi or something within Kabbalah. He started to tell me he could read my hand, tell me my future, blah blah blah blah...

Man, I know I'm a girl (no offense, chicks) but I'm not that gulible 'Oooohhhh realllly?? You can tell me my future by looking at my hand? How bloody fascinating'

Erm. didn't get the sarcasm.

'Yes, I take you for coffee. I tell you your future'

And as my protests of 'I'm too tired - I want to go to bed' weren't really being taken very seriously... AND I thought it could be a pretty funny experience, I ended up semi-begrudgingly saying 'Oh, ok, but it better be near, this coffee place you're taking me to'

It wasn't far - just down another side-street, and was a smoky little room inhabited with a bunch of stoners and others smoking hubbly-bubbly pipes (can't remember what the proper name for them is - Hukkahs or something) in the dark, stale atmosphere.

So, this dude sat me down, and started to 'read' my hand, telling me oh-so-perceptive things, like 'You do not care about money' and 'You are unmaterialistic' Well really... it's hardly rocket science, working that one out, seeing as I've seen tramps that are better groomed than I!

Sheesh...

The stoners in the cafe were giving us weird looks - it must have INDEED looked like a weird paring - a tall, wonky-faced scruffy chick, accompanied by some miniscule Kabbalah Rabbi-or-whatever-he-was jerk. (bitter? moi?)

Well... as the place was dark, I asked him 'How can you read my hand without SEEING it?' as he had it in his hand and was stroking it (Ugh! thinking about it now, makes my skin crawl!). APPARENTLY he could read it just by stroking it! How bloody INGENIOUS, eh??!?!

So... I asked him why he was telling me all these nice things 'You think a lot about your parents. Why is this?' Well, duh! What kind of question is that? Erm... let me think... BECAUSE THEY ARE MY PARENTS. Perhaps? Maybe? And 'You have a kind heart'. Sheesh, I can really see why all these dumbass celebs by this crap - they are constantly being told EXACTLY what they want to hear!

So, I told him that it sounded like bullshit to me, and to tell me something negative about myself. 'You want to hear negative things?'

'Yes! Go on - fire some at me!'

'Oh... ok. Erm.... you think to much about other people. You carry their problems with you. Here' he said, pounding his heart with his fist.

Well, excuse me, but that's hardly negative is it? Pff. Ass kisser.

'Melanie. I want you to relax' He tried to put his arm around me with the excuse 'I need you to look into my eyes...'

Ok, enough is enough. It had been funny, but now it was time to shoot.

'Erm, I'm outta here!' I lept up off the cushions, and headed for the door, admidst the amused looks of the other tables occupants.

'You go?' he sounded embarrassed.

I rushed out the door, sensing he'd come after me, and in my haste took a wrong turn, leadnig me into the adjoining bar instead of outside - which was, as it turned out, a blessing, as I ran along and ducked behind a table and then shimmied along til a made it to a beam where I could be obscured.

Me over-react? NEVER.

I took a peek out from behind the beam, to see him rushing out of the cafe and onto the street, obviously thinking I'd gone that direction. I left it a few minutes before heading out, carefully looking both ways before slinking back to my hostel and then bed.

Phew.

And onto yet another restless night, where some twatpacker had nicked my bed and so I had to go onto one of the upper bunks. Nightmare when you have a painful foot. Those ladders aren't any fun to get down. AND then really early in the morning the two hispanic ladies who evidentally HATE me, for some random reason (they just smirk at me when I see them around the hostel, or look at me with hostility when I say hello), started talking really loudly at 8am and then their phone kept going off and they wouldn't bother to answer it until I swore loudly. At which point they seem to have got the hint.

I honestly don't like the hostel I'm staying in. The location is good, but the people I've met so far aren't very friendly. AND I'VE BEEN MAKING AN EFFORT. Sort of.

Oh whatever. The thing is tonight is my final paid night there, so I have to make a decision what to do. The numbers for the kibbutzes I had all (strangely enough) seem to be incorrect (either that or I haven't properly worked out how to use an Israeli phone..), and my finances are begining to get lower and lower....

Today was dreary and cold, so I didn't do a whole lot, other than curse my lack of sleep, feel very moody, eat a delicious smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel (mmmmm!), buy a few books at a second hand bookshop (Lord of the Flies - yeah, yeah, I know it's supposedly depressing, but it's a book that everyone seems to have read and I haven't; The Beautiful and the Damned, by F. Scott Fitzgerald - I love his writing, so this should be a pleasure, and Geek Love, by Katherine Dunn - I had this recommended to me a while back but couldn't find it at any bookshop, although reading the back cover it sounds like a pretty dodgy storyline... oh well...), have a coffee, erm... followed by a walk around...

I do like Jerusalem... I possibly even prefer it to Tel Aviv - I've met way more characters here. However, I'm kind of fed up of having to wear my ankle-length skirt every day. Today I opted for my modest below the knee number... and WHOA it was like I was wearing a mini-skirt or something! I'm sick of it! If I do move on elsewhere tomorrow, I do hope to return here though.

So... that's me for the moment. Boy it's chilly outside! Can't believe the heat of yesterday, now!