Day 8. Buying Drugs in East Jerusalem

Friday Night. My mother in law, Vicky, realized she forgot her medicine at home. She takes a pill to reduce swelling in her ankles. She calls it a "water pill." Without the water pill, she's not sure if she'll be able to walk tomorrow. Well, this is a problem. No prescription, we don't really know what the medicine is called, and it's Friday night in Jerusalem. Everything is closed. Off we go... 

Since I had the pleasure of running a similar errand last year, Elaine and Reda (my father in law) decide to make a go of it this year. We use The Google to figure out what we think the drug is, save a picture on our phone and Elaine and Reda head off.  

There's a pharmacy down the street from our hotel that is run by an arab family. They might be open, given that most Arabs don't also celebrate Shabbat. Elaine and Reda arrive at 4:45. They close at 5:00. The nice people let them know that they decided to close early. But good news! There's another place close by that might be able to help them. 

The directions they give Elaine, in Arabic, go something like this: go down the street, 500 meters, keep to the right, make sure not to take the street that goes right, look for the store that has Orange on it, but if you see the orange store you've gone too far. Easy to find. 10 minute walk. 

They walk for 10 minutes and then ask for directions again. Ah yes! Just down the street, keep to the left, 50 meters, past the bus station, but not all the way to the orange store. They usually close between 3 and 6, depending on what the owner has going on at night. No problem. 

And they find it! Or at least they find a pharmacy, go inside and give it a shot. 

Elaine shows them a picture of the drug they need.  They look at Elaine and say something in Arabic. Reda jumps in, says 3 words, and instantly they reply "MUSRI!!!" (The Egyptian). No problem. We'll get you the pills. 

The Pharmacist leaves for a few minutes, comes back with 30 pills. Says it will cost 12 Shekels (that's about 3 dollars). Reda doesn't have any Shekels. Hands her 20 dollars. She looks at it strangely, stays she'll be right back. Goes and talks to the owner, who turns out to be her father. She doesn't know what to do with the 20 bucks. He doesn't have any Shekel's. The owner comes over and talks to Reda. 

He tells Reda, Egyptian my friend!! No problem. Come back tomorrow. We open at 7.  or 8. God willing. 

TL;DR: Prescription = picture from the internet. Payment = IOU. Come back tomorrow. No problem.