Gone Hunting

Today I went a'hunting. I'm helping with the sets and props for the Ihtifal Committee play we're putting on a week from Friday, so I had to go out at lunch today and try to find art supplies. No one else from the crew could come with me, but when Monica emailed me for a lunch date, I invited her along. No argument there! Who doesn't want to go shopping for art supplies?

Anyhoo, Amelia told me about a little art shop somewhere on the outskirts of the Merkaz, so Monica and I hopped in a sherut from Golomb gate and trundled off to see if we could find it.

We didn't.

We were fortunate enough to stop and have a bite to eat at the fantastic sandwich shop on the corner near Greg's Coffee, but when we headed off in the alleged direction of the art shop, it was nowhere to be found. Alas, our trip to the Merkaz was rather fruitless. I tried calling everyone I could think of to give us directions to the store, but NO ONE was answering their phones today. I guess when it's time for lunch, nothing else matters.

Monica mentioned that there was supposedly another art store down in the Hadar, but I was rather hesitant at this point until she was able to reach a friend of hers on the cell and get some actual directions. Sweet! So we finally caught a bus going down the mountain and decided to quickly try and find this other shop. (We're only supposed to take about an hour, maybe an hour and a half for lunch, and we'd already wasted most of it looking for the elusive shop in the Merkaz.) Plus, we HAD to find stuff today, because tomorrow is Rosh Hashana, and everything is going to be closed for three days straight. Shana Tova!

Once we got to the Hadar, we booted it up the main road trying to find the fork in the road where the art store allegedly was. Lo and behold, we managed to find it! Success! And was the stuff ever cheap; I was able to buy ten brushes, eleven bottles of gouache, and a small canvas for 150 shekels. That's about $40 altogether, which is pretty sweet, I must say. Monica and I were in heaven; if only we'd had more time to browse! I'll just have to go back again when I have more money and more time...

After making our purchases, we had to hoof it back down to where the buses gathered to see if we could quickly grab a bus, sherut, or taxi, whichever came first. We were able to pile ourselves into a sherut, probably one of the tiniest sheruts I've been in so far. I was practically sitting on the lap of the guy beside me, who happened to have a large suitcase with him, while Monica had her paints and canvas basically wedged up under her face. So squishy - best sherut ride ever!

As we drove by Golomb gate, I hollered at the driver to let me off, I practically rolled out the door, and flew down the stairs behind the ITC building back to my office at the bottom of the hill. And it turns out I was only ten minutes late!

Such a crazy lunchtime, no wonder I'm home now and absolutely knackered at 9:30 PM. I suppose it could also be the supreme stress of trying to stage a show in just over a week with absolutely no sets or props to speak of yet. How do I get myself into these situations? Oh wait, that's right, I am Shireen and my life is weird...