13. Q. & A. & This & That

Dear Emilee,

We excitingly waited this morning for a Purim Parade, but it rained and rained and then it poured. So no parade.

Purim is a day of joy when all the kids and some adults change their cloths into costumes, like the evening of Halloween when kids go out to collect candies. Only this one is done in celebration of the story in the book of Esther in the bible and the kids go to the neighbours to give pastry and candies as gifts. It tells of a queen, Esther, who saved her people, the Jews, from extinction. Most of the costumes are of queens and princesses and kings and some are of the hated Haman who tried to kill all the Jews and of witches who must have tried to help Haman in his bad deed. So we saw all kinds of costumes of kids on their way to school. We hoped to see them all in a parade, but the entire country is being rained on so all the parades are postponed until next Friday.

Because the day activities have changed, we will have the regular Shabbat meal tonight and my hosts are resting. I received a few questions in the email which I will try to answer in this letter.

Hazel Hutchins, the great Canadian children author, is a good friend and she saw my blog and wrote to Mrs. C. “So glad Flat Stanley has found you! Every once in a while I'll be at a school and there he'll be along with a huge map of his adventures and all sorts of reports. Great fun.” This is a nice comment. Thank you Mrs. Hutchins. I hope to see you again. Since you live in Canmore AB, maybe we will meet in Emily’s school in Okotos, AB.

Carol from Great Falls in USA suggested that I will report prices of things so you know how the money works here. It is a good idea Carol, but as an honored guest, I don’t pay anything. My hosts pay all my expenses. Yesterday, I looked over Mrs. C. shoulder to see what she pays for a special treat she bought for me, a Crembo. Crembo is a winter ice cream. It is made out of biscuit and lots of cream on top of the biscuit and a layer of thin pure chocolate on the cream. It takes most people about two bites and it’s gone. It is delicious. This costs 3.50 shekel which is about 1 dollar. But this is the only thing that I know its price.

Speaking of food, P. from Toronto asked what kind of food I am eating. Well, it depends on the day of the week or the holidays:
- During Purim, the chosen desert is ozney haman, Hebrew for Haman Ears. A reminder that Haman tried to destroy the people and now we eat his ears. Haman Ear is a baked pastry in a shape of a triangle, filled with chocolate or poppy seeds or dates or jam. You cannot eat only one, the pastry is addictive.
- During Shabbat meal, we eat Challah, the braided bread, and chicken soup, and chicken, and vegetables cooked and raw, and potatoes and if you like fish there are all kinds of special dishes made of fish.
- Breakfast is made out of a huge salad of very small cubes of tomatoes and cucumbers and some olives. On the plate there are a few types of cheeses. Yogurt and eggs and bread are also served. And sometimes some humus. Most Israelis drink café haffuch meaning upside down coffee. This coffee is a spoon of espresso in a cup of boiling milk. This is why they call is ‘upside down’ because the main ingredient is milk not water.
- Lunch is the main meal of the day. The most popular is the schnitzel which is white chicken breast dipped in egg and bread crumbs and fried. But fish and beef and baked chicken are also on the menu. Cooked and fresh vegetable are served in abundant and in the winter, soup. Israelis, as a rule, do not eat desert after meals, they might eat a small piece of cake with coffee or tea in the afternoon.
- Dinner is served around 7 pm and it is mostly light snack of pita and humus or an apple. Sometimes people leave their last meal for a sweet snack in a pastry café where they go to sit and talk to friends or a falafel or a shewarma in a meeting place kiosk. Falafel are vegetarian balls made of chick peas and shewarma are thin slices of turkey and lamb mix turning on a skew on a fire. Both are served in a pita with lots of fresh vegetables.

Lynn from Calgary wanted to know if I saw the Olympics. Sadly, I did not. My hosts don’t have a television in the house, so we tried to find the games on the internet. But… the local technicians are on strike and any programs from North America are not streaming through because they disconnected the satellites. Even with a television no one can see the games. Sheva's husband next door watches soccer daily from 4:30 on to midnight, but he gets the program from Europe. It must be from another satellite.

If you, Emilee, or your friends have questions for me, you can write to my hosts at: igotnopc@yahoo.ca put in the subject line “questions for Flat Stanley” and I will do my best to answer them.

Regards to your teacher and the class. And from my hosts to your parents
Shabbat shalom, Flat Stanley