You Can’t Find City Hall: What I Wore Sunday (Or, Saturday, As It Were)

I’m trying something a little different this week and replacing our usual Sunday Seven programming with a “What I Wore Sunday” post …or Saturday, in my case.

Because Rodolfo works for a Jewish institution, he gets Fridays and Saturdays off but has to work Sundays. So we often go to the Saturday night vigil Mass at the only place that has regularly occurring Mass in English, a hotel for pilgrims near the Old City, about 5 kilometers away from home. But also, because all the public transportation in Jerusalem completely shuts down for the Jewish sabbath, we usually walk there. But we’ve been having horrible weather the past few weeks. That really cold, diluvian, soggy, praying-for-spring kind of weather. So we’ve been going to Mass on Sunday nights after work, but Rodolfo couldn’t this week. So we splurged and took a cab. We realized later that the cab may or may not have been waiting for someone who actually called to order it, but that’s another story. (Oops.)

When we got into the cab, the driver (who was Arab; almost all the cabs operating on Shabbat are Arab cabs), didn’t speak any English. He started by speaking to us in Hebrew, asking us where to go. In our broken Hebrew, we attempted to explain where our church is. He didn’t understand us when we said “Notre Dame Center,” in Hebrew, or “New Gate” in Hebrew, or “City Hall” in Hebrew (both landmarks within a block of our church).

“Don’t you speak Hebrew?” he asked in Hebrew.

“Lo,” we answered. (That means “no” in Hebrew.)

“Do you speak Arabic?” he asked in Arabic.

“La,” we answered. (That means “no” in Arabic.)

But then I remembered one of the only words I know in Arabic: City Hall! (There is a light rail station called City Hall, and since they announce the stops in Hebrew, Arabic and English, I’ve picked up a few place names this way.)

“Al-baladiyah!” I exclaimed from the backseat. And I don’t know why, but this taxi driver thought that this was just the most hilarious thing he had ever heard. He started laughing uncontrollably and exclaiming in Arabic, and his laughter was infectious. Before I knew it, all three of us were completely cracking up as we sped through the Shabbat-empty streets toward City Hall.

And the best part is that taking cabs allows for leather boots! I have been living in my galoshes for the past few weeks. And I chose these bright, summery colors to defy the weather.

I love to read everyone’s comments about how sweet their husbands are to take the photos of them in what they’re wearing for their posts. (And I love to see the little details of life that inadvertently creep into the photos. The dog comes to see what you’re doing, the kids want to be in the picture, your hair is perfect but there’s a pile of dirty laundry in the background. My background is our insanely loud goldenrod-yellow wall, courtesy of my landlord’s artistic wife’s interesting decor choices.) Then, on the other hand, there’s me. Almost all of my photos of me on this blog are taken with a tripod and the self-timer. Sweet Rodolfo happened to be home to take this particular photo, and he lovingly obliged, but then when I saw the photos I remembered why I don’t usually ask him to, even when he’s here.

My husband is 6’3″. Whenever he takes a picture of me from that high up, I look like I’m about 5 years old. It kind of makes me wonder if I always look that way to him.

Anyway, on to the details. The dress is by Desigual, a Barcelona brand you’ve never heard of unless you saw Rubi’s amazing jacket last week. I was really excited to hear from her that Desigual has landed in the U.S., but although I have long admired them from afar I can’t afford them at all. This particular gently-used piece came from that same closet-sized vintage store in the City Center that I mentioned last week. I don’t think the store even has an official name, but they had this dress and that’s enough for me! The red cami underneath is from Most by Levi’s Outlet, the black tights are by Danskin (and they’re nice and warm!), and the boots are vintage Uruguayan leather from one of my favorite vintage stores in Austin, Frock On. And the jewelry, oh, the jewelry! Vintage Mexican silver with semiprecious stones, a gorgeous birthday gift from Mom. (Thanks, Mom!) Here’s a closer look (a little grainy; our place is not too well lit after dark).

You can find more “What I Wore Sunday” posts at Fine Linen and Purple. This week I’m also linking to “My Style, Your Style” at Lily Among Thorns and ”Watch What I’m Wearing” over at Watch Out for the Woestmans.