Oil Slick

The "Himalaya"


Recently, I booked a special massage at my gym. It was called the "Himalaya." Like many things here, I didn't bother to try to figure out exactly what it was going to entail because that would require too much effort. All I knew is that I got the massage for a greatly discounted rate.

It turned out, it involved a salt scrub and then an oil massage. Fine. I've had that before. I was trying to imagine myself in Sivara Spa in Phuket, but it wasn't working so well because the cool ocean breezes were missing in the basement of my gym.

Anyway, all was just dandy until....the masseuse started pouring epic amounts of oil onto my forehead from which it ran into my hair. This is apparently an Ayurvedic massage technique, and I'd experienced variations before, but never had I experienced the full-fledged pouring-gallons-of-oil-into-your-hair version. It felt great when the oil hit the "third eye" in my forehead, but I couldn't help but fixate on the unavoidable after-effect of having the world's largest oil slick in my hair.

When Sweetie came home he said, "Oh, you've been in the pool." Uh, well, not exactly.

Two days later, I think most of the oil has been absorbed or washed out. Hooray.


Summer in Israel

Summer is upon us here in Israel and that means one thing: a war is in the offing. Strange but true, many of my friends - from foreign housewives to diplomats - are saying a war is in the air. Maybe it's the constant stream of newspaper articles about preparing the "homeland" for an attack. Maybe it's just something you develop a sense for living here.