It is so wonderful to sit and chat with dearest sister-in-law, who is now on her third round of chemotherapy. Dear Bro and nephew left last night, Mila the caregiver has the day off. It’s just self, Dearest Mum, and Ying in the room, and we’ve been talking non-stop for hours.
Self wishes this had happened sooner, but let’s not look a gift horse in the mouth. Ying is contentedly munching on the 2-lb. box of See’s chocolates self brought from California (technically, she’s not allowed to ingest any food that isn’t cooked, but what the hell, we are all in a strangely celebratory mood), and leafing through a Vogue magazine. We all started watching a movie about a couple of young Beatles fans, and now we are watching “Billy Elliott,” the movie about a young boy who dreams of becoming a ballet dancer. Not once has anyone mentioned Dear Bro.
It was a beautiful day in Tel Aviv! This morning, Dearest Mum and self walked around the Neve Tzedek neighborhood. After lunch, we walked along Allenby until we found a bookshop self had read about on the web, whose owner turned out to be a transplanted American (originally from Newark, New Jersey). On the web, the bookshop (on 87 Allenby) was called Bibliophile, but it’s actually called Halper’s Books, and the owner said he’d been running the bookshop for 20 years. Dearest Mum bought a couple of books by Doris Lessing, including one that self recommended because she remembered reading it while she was in the Stanford Creative Writing Program, The Golden Notebook. Self bought a book by an Israeli writer who the bookstore owner said was very good (But since self doesn’t have the book with her at the moment, and can’t remember the name, she’ll have to post about it later — apologies, dear blog reader)
Later, self and Dearest Mum had lunch of hummus, olives, eggs, and garbanzos in a small café that was large enough to accommodate only four small, round tables, and the manager was kind enough to turn on the airconditioner because he noticed self was perspiring.
Self so half-in-love with this city, and so drenched with worry now for her sister-in-law that she almost can’t stand it.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers, stay tuned.
Kanlaon 
5 responses to “Last Day in Tel Aviv: Visiting Ying”
Interesting meeting you and your mother. If I can be of any assistance to your brother here in Israel, give him my address and phone number.
I look forward to reading your book. Halper
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Yosef,
I was glad to meet you! I will send you a copy of my book.
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I”m sure that your sister in law’s health and well being is the first thing on your mind right now, but it strikes me that this is very rich material for a story or novel. There’s the double cultural displacement, the way the food bridges the multiple cultures, the bond felt through the books and the act of writing itself, and the attempt to savor it all.
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One day, you have to go to Tel Aviv.
I took pictures of the Wailing Wall. I’ll send them to you!
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Wow, thanks for thinking of me. The photos actually would be very helpful. The only things I’ve seen are the tourist photos.
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