Persians!

Its true, its ALL true. Persians and their money. I can give you the inside scoop. Today I counted out over $200 in dollar bills that were in a plastic bag. It was interesting to be touching that much money. Its NOT that much...to me it seemed. I counted out piles of $25 and put rubber bands around it.  It was interesting for me to explore my relationship to touching wrinkled torn bills, preferng crisp ones. I had to unfold most of them.
It was one of the items that was in the cluttered metal cabinet that got organized today. It feels good to create order. Business directory from 2001-that can go.

I'm doing community service for a traffic violation at a Persian shul on Pico Boulevard. I look at my experience as an anthropology study or if I was an investigative reporter.  Its next door to a place called Canine Cuts and two doors down is a pot dispensarary.
My tasks have included being in the parking lot to watch for people double parking-I didn't take the keys of anyone's BMW. I've peeled potatoes, recorded checks in a log, done a lot of tedious data entry, swept the floor, bagged bread rolls, band the most tactile thing was spreading out halva-a more dough like consistency with oil in plastic trays.
My supervisor Esther, who runs the cluttered office-now its a little clearer after my assistance-is a kindly woman in her early 60's. She is busy with the phones, collecting money, distributing to people who come. Today she offered me a handmade gold dress. Not sure when I would have an opportunity to wear it, however much appreciated. She is generous with food-today she offered me a homemade raisin cookie. Bean stew and bread are the staples that get served in the kitchen for breakfast. The shul feeds a lot of people in the community.