Eating---and eating

The morning of my first day shift at Alyn, I got up and had breakfast as was my pattern at home. I then went to work getting the children up and off to school. At 10:00 the nurse then went into the kitchen of the bayit cham and began whipping up a chopped salad, eggs, yogurt and cheeses and we all sat down to eat. At 12:30 it was time for lunch so I ate again! There is a cafeteria in the hospital that is excellent. As far as I can tell it is free to all staff. The head of the kitchen has an elderly mother who is a Russian immigrant and she does all the cooking for the cafeteria. There are usually a few entrees such as beef, chicken and fish along with rice and potatoes, vegetables and salads. Dessert is usually a piece of fruit not some of the decadent desserts we are used to. Lunch, the big meal of the day is available in the cafeteria to volunteers whether they are working or not so I have been taking advantage of it since it is convenient, free and good. When I work in the evening the hospital sends a cart with salads, hummus (a staple in the diet here) and cheeses and yogurt so I am well fed. The only problem is Friday and Saturday when the cafeteria is closed so that is when I rely on what is given to the home.

Once a week on a Thursday several women from the house go to the cafeteria and get a cart of food. It is a strange process. I went yesterday with one of my housemates. We were given food that we deemed insufficient for the week. I don't think the cafeteria people had gotten the word that there were 5 of us in the house. So we asked for more and the cafeteria person simple went into the refrigerators and began pulling out more stuff. I don't know how they plan or account for food but they just gave it to us. We then wheeled the cart out of the hospital, across the street and into the house. We get cheeses, yogurt, milk, bread, lots of veggies and fruit and some hamburger meat. It's not gourmet but it's adequate.

There is a farmer's market in Jerusalem that I've passed by on the bus and it looks really wonderful. I am planning to check it out this week.

So I am well fed and I am happy. I am considering a trip next week so I will write about it soon. I hope everyone out there in blogland is well!