26 July 2012

I woke up quite early this morning and pulled myself out of bed without too much difficulty. I decided to walk in the hills instead of in town, so I put on my athletic shoes (instead of my sandals, which collect sand and gravel MUCH too easily!), got in the car, and drove to a spot a short distance up highway 12. From there, there is a bicycle trail that goes nearly level through a couple of passes and then descends gently into Nakhal Shakhamon. Then there is a gravel road that follows a buried pipeline  along the base of White Mountain. I followed that until turning left onto the trail that goes to the top of White Mountain. I only went on this trail until it where it started to ascend steeply. I decided NOT to go to the top of White Mountain today, and instead I continued following the little canyon. It doesn't go much further, but I had never gone that way before, and it was quite interesting to see.

At that point, I turned around and headed back for the car. As I was walking along the pipeline road, I was enjoying the beautiful scenery and not paying really close attention to where I was stepping since the road is fairly smooth (I think I could even drive my car on it in that area, though I never actually have). Suddenly, I must have stepped wrong on a small rock or some other irregularity in the road and turned my ankle. I instinctively and without even thinking tried to correct by shifting weight to the other foot, but, instead, I lost my balance and fell down forwards all the way to the ground!

The net result of all this was a turned ankle (which I was still able to walk on, though with a bit of a limp); a skinned knee (the right one) that oozed a little blood; a couple of minor scrapes on my arms, my left knee, and my belly (I was shirtless); and a broken piece on my watch band (the little loop that keeps its loose end held against the other part of the band). That last thing is the only part that won't fix itself and will cost me actual money. Of course, I was in some pain, and, worse yet, I was quite angry at myself for not being more careful! I got over it, though, so I'll be fine.

We ate lunch at home today, having yellow string beans, vegetarian grilled breasts (that's technically the correct English translation of what it says in Hebrew on the package, but somehow it just doesn't sound quite right in English!), and iced coffee.

I had 6 units today (although I haven't yet taught the last 2 -- that lesson starts in 5 minutes, and I'm actually already in the electronic classroom).