Day 4 and venturing outside JLM

Before all the troubles began I had made an appointment2 weeks ago to visit a colleague from Haifa where she lives in Bnei Brak. As the chaos has not yet reached the Tel Aviv area I decided it would be okay to venture out of the city. It was a very hot and muggy day and I found public transport a bit frustrating (combined with the fact that I am often "directionally-challenged" in new places). But after several missed buses I ended up making it to the 2nd largest UltraOrthodox neighboorhood in Israel. I had a good meeting talking about the current situation as well as my friend kindly answering all my question about UO communities in Israel and helping clarify the difference between the numerous groups and affiliation found here. As she said, 2 Jews, 3 opinions. I then venture into the main shopping area to do some field research on the Kosher phone and found 2 places that were selling them and was able to talk to the phone reps about the marketing and options available with different versions. Then after some browisng in haredi music & book stores and buying a few mezzah for friends I headed back to JLM (but not without waiting for 30 mins at the wrong bus stop and missing my bus). Finally back in JLM I slowly navigated my way home. Despite the break from watching the news the events in the north were in most people's conversation, on the radio in the bus and conversation at the cafe where I stopped to get some cold juice. Things seem not to be settling down as I hoped, some say it could be 1-2 more weeks if not longer. Sigh! I have decided despite this to visit a friend in the center of the country tommorrow to do the last of ethnographic data collection and then will see where to go from there.