It's like kindergarten all over again!

I'm trying really hard not to be one of those American travelers. You know the ones: obnoxious, expecting everyone to speak English and cater to their every whim, expecting things to be 'like they are at home" in regards to comfort and space and things. So I'm learning Hebrew. At least pidgin Hebrew, and I must say it's coming along nicely. We ended up missing the classes at Lee's work, so I'm doing a self-taught read/write Hebrew lesson (which, as all the signs and websites are written that way, will come in handier than speaking it fluently, I think). I have to sound out the letters as I write them, stumbling and struggling a little - I am humbly reminded that I'm just not as clever as I like to believe I am through this process.....

My sample:


(it says Shabbat, the word for sabbath. And yeah, I wrote it.)

Our adventure to the Israel Museum to see the Dead Sea Scrolls was postponed one week. Tuesday nights are a good night to go, as the museum is open from 4pm-9pm (the only hours it is open on Tuesdays....they are open 4 hours a day, random times), so Lee can go with me on the adventure. I learned that they're revamping the WHOLE museum, and the only sections open are the Shrine of the Book (where the scrolls are housed) and the Children's and Youth section. Were we going to be here in a year, we could see the remainder of the exhibits that are currently closed- I am sure their Egyptian wing is astounding, and I am a bit sad that we'll miss seeing it.

I did get to take a taxi for the first time, and learned that you have to be REAL specific about where you want to go. First stop: take Lee his umbrella and waterproof jacket (Surprise! Rain!), which went fine. Then on to the post office in city center. It's huge. It's a HUGE BIG POST OFFICE with "Communications Center" written on the outside. Only it's on a street that is undergoing major construction (Jaffa street, which terminates at the gate of the Old City), and I think my cabbie was a little reluctant to go there, as he tried to drive me to the outskirts of town to the 'main' post office, rather than the one downtown. After we sorted that out, I was dropped off at Ben Yahuda street - a really large pedestrian mall - near where I stopped for coffee on Sunday. The post office is a massive stone building, not so impressive from the outside, but through the metal detector and security guard stand is a shiny marble lobby, split into two sides- the left was the post, and the right was a telecommunications shop (phones, modems, cables, calling cards, etc). Once inside the post office, I discovered I had absolutely no idea how things worked. There were polite rows of chairs set up facing a wall with 15 counters, with polite people all staring at my confused look, waiting patiently for.....something. The overhead speaker system blared:

עכשיו מנה מספר חמש שלוש ארבע חמש בתחנה

and my confusion deepened to near panic.....until I saw a little red touch-screen stand with multiple labels, one of them being "English". I pressed that, and it spit out a paper receipt with a number on it. Which appeared to coincide with numbers on the large plasma screen displays above each counter. (The counters reminded me of an old western bank- with brass bars and wooden counter tops - it was the bullet-proof glass that ruined the effect somewhat). The displays showed the number being called, but not which counter to report to - so I could see very well that I was three numbers away from being called up, but I had no idea what counter to go to. I fumble through my bag and grab my Hebrew quick guide, and flip to the numbers page (all the while, holding my dripping umbrella, trying not to slip on the marble, count the number of items I had to post AND wondering if I had enough money to post them...), and wait. Thankfully, I was called to counter akhat (one), and the woman spoke lovely English, and I got my (super expensive!) post cards mailed.

After that I walked back home in the rain (with a quick stop in the mall - through another metal detector and security guard bag search).

I've learned that it doesn't matter where you are in the world, every place smells exactly the same in the rain - clean, fresh, damp. As foreign as Jerusalem is, it feels like home in the rain.

------------

Lee and I are headed to the UK tonight to spend his birthday weekend with his family, and as we have tried to clean the house out of 'very perishable' food items, we were left with few options for dinner last night. Which always means PIZZA! Hooray PIZZA! Since we've been here, I've seen Domino's, Pizza Hut and Sbarro. So I'm not thinking it'll be great, by any means, but it's still PIZZA! Animation Lab provided Lee with a settling-in book, which had the numbers for local delivery places. We chose Domino's over Pizza Hut (oh, KFC also delivers here. KFC!), and ordered a pepperoni pizza - who knows what the pepperoni is made out of, but might as well give it a shot, right?

Oh boy, wrong. We now know that we will be living a pizza-free existence for the remainder of our stay here. The cardboard crust and pepperoni disks weren't hidden at all by the faux mozzarella topping. Flavorless, except for a weird plastic aftertaste, and the condiment packets contained some sort of spice combination. I'm pretty sure it was cumin, coriander and some other strange flavors you normally don't find on a pizza. No parmesean, no hot peppers.....just blech.

Live and learn, eh?

And for all my friends and family back home- have a very Happy Thanksgiving, and I expect each of you to have an extra helping of turkey with gravy for me today!!

Just another day in Jerusalem...

(a park on the way to the old city)

As we're settling into some sort of 'normal' routine out here, I continue to discover little things that are....different....than what I'm used to.

We went to the movies in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, and experienced something I am going to refer to as PARKING CHAOS. Apparently there aren't any rules to parking your car. Sidewalks and speedbumps are just suggestions, really. Paolo (one of Lee's co-workers) drove us to Tel Aviv, and when we arrived (late) to the cinema, the parking lot was a MESS. Like I've never seen before. We circled once, slowly, and noticing that EVERYONE else was doing it, I suggested to Paolo that he jump the curb and park up on the sidewalk area. So he did. Well, when in Rome....


(Sandu and Paolo showing off the awesome parking job)

Let's discuss coffee, shall we? Lee and I are on a mission to find ground coffee. We don't have a grinder, so whole bean is no good to us, and so far all the ground coffee we've found is espresso ground - so no drip or french press can be used to get a nice cup of REAL coffee. All other coffee is instant. Mmmmm Nescafe! Or, my personal new favorite for an afternoon decaf not-pick-me-up: Cafe Hag.


(it was good, not haggish at all!)

There are loads of cafes, which all serve very good espresso drinks - lattes, machiattos, cappuccino...the coffee really is very good. Add a little croissant, and you've got a perfect snack when wandering around city center on a lovely afternoon. That obviously does not solve the problem of making coffee at home for breakfast. This warrants another wander down to the Old City to see what I can dig up.....or carting back some coffee from England when we're there later this week.


(perfect way to spend an hour or two filling out postcards)

Since we're not 'tourists' and we are staying in an equipped apartment, we do most of the cooking at home, which has proven interesting in trying to figure out just what the hell I'm making. Last night we had mystery meat. It might have been beef, or lamb, or goat......it was salted, and LOOKED like steaks, but tasted a bit like pork (which we all know isn't what it was). Lee noted that we haven't seen any stray dogs running around....


(it could be anything! anything but pig. and I hope not dog)

And I finally found a good running route- one that doesn't take me all through the city on main roads, and up and down brutal hills. About 1/4 mile from our current apartment, there is something called "The Promenade", which is a really pretty collection of trails that create a series of long switchbacks on a hillside. From this location, you have an unobstructed view of the Old City, and into Palestine. The switchbacks are well graded, so it winds up not being too difficult of a hill to come back to the top and head home. Today while running, I saw a group of Israeli soldiers (in itself not unusual at all), riding Segways (definitely more unusual), completely unarmed (very unusual). It was like a soldier outing, and they stopped at the top for a meeting or picnic or something boy-scouty. Israeli soldier team building, anyone?

Lee's work offers Hebrew lessons, and today is to be our 'first' lesson- even though technically it's week 6 of a ten week course. We've had homework to study for the past week.....I made it to week three, where you can ask what something is (ma zeh?) and my brain is full. I'm not sure this will be a successful mission, this Hebrew class :)

After that, I may head to the Israel Museum- it is where the Dead Sea Scrolls are housed. I think checking out the oldest written bible may be worth the price of admission, no?

A brief break, rocks and the footsteps (PART TWO)

NOTE: Blogspot has space limits, and only allowed me to post half of this at a time - sorry to break it up like this! Please read PART ONE first!)

Five:

(Fifth Station, Simon the Cyrene was ordered by the Romans to help Jesus carry the cross)

Six:

(Sixth Station, where Veronica wiped Jesus' face with a cloth. The cloth is on display at the Greek Patriarch Church in the Christian Quarter in the Old City- we'll post photos once we make it there!)

Seven:

(Seventh Station, where Jesus fell for the second time, and is the location of the old city wall, which supports the theory that the modern Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the spot of the crucifixion, burial and resurrection)

Eight:

(Station Eight, Jesus told his onlookers to cry for themselves, and not for him. To give some context here, this is directly across from a brash Internet cafe and souvenir shop, I tried to keep the photos as devoid of that kind of thing as much as possible. It is very strange to see these things and be in the middle of someone's day to day life...)

Nine: Station Nine was the only time I saw something I found completely sacrilegious and tacky. There were three or four wooden crosses leaned up against the wall for tourists to pick up and use as props in photos. We walked around a corner and ran into a group of people laughing and taking pictures of themselves in various positions with the crosses. It was tacky and garish.


(Station Nine, Jesus fell for the third time here. And location of "hey! I know, let's pick up crucifixes and pretend we're being nailed to them! that's great fun". Heathens.)

Ten- Fourteen: These last Stations are in various spots within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. I took a couple of shots here, but it was PACKED, and there was some sort of evening mass/ceremony going on. I did manage to get photos of the crucifixion site, as well as the tomb where Jesus' body was laid. There was a very polite line of maybe 150 people, behind police barriers, waiting to go in and kiss a wall of the tomb (for a donation 'fee'). The church itself doesn't look like much from the outside, but the glittering, echoing and impressive inside accomplishes its goal to look and feel overwhelmingly holy. We got to see a procession of some high-up priest with his monk disciples, with incense and chanting - there was a very brusque monk ordering the unwashed masses to stay out of the path of the procession "Can you not see there is a break here?? Stay out of the path!" Granted, tourists can be a dumb lot, and I could understand his frustration. But dude, you're a monk. Chill.


(Outside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre; The not-well-represented inside dome; the stairs leading up to the crucifixion site)


(Crucifixion chamber; Crucifixion shrine- holy shiny, batman!; Burial and resurrection tomb, with throngs of people)


(Beginning of procession; A priest praying; Proof I was there for reals)

As dusk was quickly approaching, we were a bit hungry and a bit chilly, so we started to look for any open cafe (as I said previously, it's Shabbat, everything is shut). The streets were eerily quiet and deserted, and we were headed out of the Old City when....ta-da! Papa Andrea's restaurant and cafe roof! (that is exactly what the napkins and signs say....restaurant and cafe roof). With an unbeatable vantage point over the city, Lee and I sat outside to watch the sunset, and to hear the Muslim call to prayer (they come from loudspeakers in tall towers all over the city- they're all marked with bright green fluorescent bulbs around the parapets), which is also eerie and amazing. I said to Lee that I felt like I was in an Indiana Jones movie. We were alone on the roof, eating our falafel and shewerma, washed down with large pints of Goldstar beer (a local label), watching the city die down as the noise at the Wailing Wall grew louder and louder. It is apparently the place to be on Shabbat- dressed in their finest of finery, Jews from all over gather here to start their day of worship.


(The dusk view from Papa Andrea's)

We paid up and headed back to the apartment for another really exciting evening of watching American television shows until a reasonable bed time. Today (Saturday) I am trying to get us out for a run (the weather is absolutely gorgeous), and tonight we're off with some of Lee's new co-workers to Tel Aviv to see 2012 - I will write tomorrow about seeing a movie over here, I imagine it's a little different than in other places. I understand that there is an intermission halfway through every film. Exactly halfway. Mid-sentence, scene, shot, whatever, the movie stops and people go get ice cream. We'll see how it goes!

A brief break, rocks and the footsteps (PART ONE)

I haven't posted for a couple of days, more because I had a lack of content than anything else. I had another couple of not-totally-exciting-and-filled-with-adventure-or-mystery kind of days, so there has been little to report.

I made it down to the Y to sign Lee and I up for a membership....only, it's $400 for three months- each. Not sure I'm all that inclined to pay that much money for the benefits of a pool and yoga classes in Hebrew. We're both still debating it, and I think today we're going on a run for the first time since we've arrived to see if that's an activity we can frequently do for free outside.

On Tuesday, I discovered when washing a load of clothes (5 kilos!), that there was...something...in the washing machine. When the cycle was done, the clothes (and the entire inner workings of the machine) were covered in what looked like gravel or sand. I tried running the machine on its own, but the grit wouldn't wash away. I cornered Micha on Wednesday morning (when headed to the Y and to ride the 99 bus...which still hasn't happened, btw), and he seemed confused;
Micha: "You mean dust, yes?"
Me: "No, it's like gravel or rocks."
Micha (noting that I'm in outdoor armor and leaving): "Ahhhh, ok. When are you back?"
Me (really wishing I'd seen him when I got back from my planned day): "Maybe 3 hours?"
Micha: "Ok, will come at three o'clock."

Right, so. I skip the bus trip (sadly), hit the Y (to find out that it's super spendy) and get back to the apartment to wait for Repairman Micha to arrive to fix the washer. He finally shows up around 4, with a teenage apprentice Repairman Micha in tow. I show him the problem and he says something like "yes, yes, I see." and goes to work. I peek in about an hour later to check on how it's going - and they're just filtering water through the machine to clean it out.
Me: "how's it going?"
Micha: "come look, it's rocks." (he proceeds to run water through the machine and into the bath, and it's full of grey rocks/grit/sand/ick) "this machine has been in the desert, the water there is very hard"
Me: "oh, so it's calcified?"
Micha: "no, it's rocks."
.......

Thursday was Boring. Yeah, capital B. I am expecting my mobile phone to arrive in the mail, and I had thought it would come on Thursday. As not-freaked-out as I feel walking around by myself, I'd like to go on some long tours, as well as get out for frequent runs, both of which activities I'd like to have some means of communication with me just in case I need it. So I waited ALL day, and no phone. Since I could do laundry, I did, and I also tried my hand at making chicken and mushroom pie from scratch (the home made pastry crust was totally awesome, if I do say so myself). Lee's company does a 'beer Thursday' night every Thursday, so he came home after tipping back a couple pints, and we kicked off his weekend by falling asleep at 9pm. Yeah, we're real party animals, us.

(In Israel, the weekend is Friday and Saturday, not Saturday and Sunday - Shabbat is from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday)

On to Friday! After sleeping in to some absurd post-noon hour, we had to rush to get to the market for groceries before 2pm - Friday is the start of Shabbat, and apparently EVERYTHING closes at 2pm (markets, cafes, bars, shops etc). We got our marketing done just in time (the man with the floor polishing machine followed us mercilessly around the market....no joke), and headed off to the old city to via Dolorosa (the Walk of Sorrows), which (according to the tour book and all the locals) is the generally accepted most accurate record of Christ's last footsteps, with his cross, to be crucified.

You totally read that right. It is the walk Christ did, carrying the cross, to his crucifixion site.

We get to Jaffa gate around 3:30, and the hustle-bustle shops and streets are shutting down for Shabbat, so the streets are quieter than they were the previous time we'd been there- which allowed us both to take more photos.


(Imagine this alley with wall to wall people; Lee gets to use his fancy camera at last!)

We walked the via Dolorosa backwards to get to the start, as it was almost at the opposite end of the Old City from where we entered. The 'stations' aren't always well marked, and as tourist time was winding down, we were the only people doing the first part of the walk. The whole thing goes from via Dolorosa (an actual street) to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Station One and Two are inside a working college (Al-Omariyeh College), which is an inconspicuous building near the walls of the Old City. Lee and I walked up looking completely like tourists (he with his massive camera out ready to snap shots, and me with the Lonely Planet book open, mumbling to myself "it's got to be just right around here...hmm, right about this spot I think..we crossed that one path a little ways back, it's GOT to be here..."), and a nicely dressed older gentleman said "You are here, in the right place, the chapel of flagellation, is in here. It is free, welcome." (later, after we tried to leave the First Station, this gentleman escorted us back in to make sure we saw the second, showed us a Roman game etched onto the floor, gave us a little personal tour and then asked not-so-subtly for donations) We were the only people there. It was quiet, and we were stunned into silence ourselves. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves for the next several stations.

One:


(Chapel courtyard; Chapel inside; via Dolorosa map)

Two:

(Chapel of Flagellation; Inside the condemnation hall; More information; the little etched Roman game on the floor of the second Station)

Three: (looks like I neglected to get a photo of this Station, where Jesus stumbled and fell for the first time- it was on a corner of the via Dolorosa and an Armenian church)

Four:

(Fourth Station, where Jesus faced his mother in the crowd)

A short list of things I've learned

1) Don't trust that when you spend $30 on a cheap hair dryer that it will come complete with the appropriate plug for the country you're in. Thankfully, it's European standard, and I can use it in the UK when we're over there next week.

2) Buying a whole chicken here is easy, just be prepared for no gizzards and the entire neck still attached. I roasted a chicken with its neck tucked underneath it for dinner last night. I actually jumped when it unfolded itself out of the bag. Just to give context, when I buy a whole chicken in the states, the neck is usually stuffed in the gut, along with all the innards. You know, to make gravy.

3) Pesticides are not used here! At least, not any effective ones, as my good (and very fat and alive) friend Charlie the broccoli-eating caterpillar will gladly tell you. Or would, had I not flung him off the balcony in bemused disgust.

4) There is not any sort of published (online or otherwise) bus schedule for the whole of Jerusalem. In fact, when I asked at the tourist office for a bus schedule, the woman behind the desk looked at me like I had posies growing out of my ears and, very disdainfully, said: "There is not one, you idiot." (ok, I added the idiot part, but she might as well have said it!)

That's all for today- my yesterday was uneventful- I cleaned the apartment (put away our suitcases- at last!), walked down to the YMCA (I can't wait to post photos of that!), discovered that my camera battery was dead and that I'd left the charger at my parent's house (thanks dad, for the fedex!), and roasted a neck-on chicken.

Today is the 99 bus route (if I can find where it picks up and at what time.....), another stop at the Y to sign Lee and I up for a gym membership, and then...who knows!

...and since I have no new photos to share, here is an old one just for giggles:

Mazel tov!

As you can see by my post yesterday, I was up pretty damn early due to the time change. Lee (and I have no idea how he managed it) slept until nearly 10am. I'd had a full day puttering around the tiny apartment before he finally dragged himself out of bed! Needless to say I was a stir-crazy mess, and bounced off the walls until he was in a presentable state to go out.

Yesterday's goals:
1) Find Renee a hair dryer
2) Do a bit of a walkabout to see how far Lee's new work is and maybe hit the Old City

We left the house around 11, and walked the wrong way for about 1/4 mile....which would have been fine, had there not been some sort of huge tour group (we're talking like 15,000 people) also on the same street we were, in a massive throng all crowding to go to some event...I haven't figured out what it was. I wish I'd taken photos, but I was having a hard enough time keeping my bag out of potential pickpocket territory, and didn't want to call any more attention to myself. Lee and I stuck out like sore thumbs in this crowd already.

(the kinds of things you see cruising around Jerusalem)

Once we got back on track we discovered that the city is pretty easily navigated, and Lee's office is only about a 25 minute walk from our current pad. He was supplied with taxi vouchers by his company, so he'll be using those for a while (particularly as it's raining here today...or was, the sun seems to have come out now), rather than spend an hour walking to and from work in the winter.

Back when Jerusalem was under British rule, they decreed that the city could be built in nothing but stone (there must have been some good reason for it, I'm sure), and the result is stunning- all of the buildings, streets, walls and landmarks are comprised of off-white stone blocks; the city glows and looks amazing clean, which isn't necessarily the case in some areas.

After another 10 minute walk, we made it to the Jaffa gate at the Old City - the walled in old Jerusalem, which is sectioned into quarters based on religion/region; Breaks are Christian/Muslim/Jewish and Armenian with the far western section being Temple Mount, bordered by the Western Wall (the wailing wall).

(Jaffa Gate, entering the Old City)

It is pretty much how you'd imagine it- narrow claustrophobic alleys, crowds of merchants, peppered with a hefty number of tourists, loud wailing music coming from dark corners, street food vendors (from amazing breads to fresh squeezed pomegranate juice to fry-as-you-watch falafel stands) strong smells of coffee, cumin, sweets, sewer - it was absolute sensory overload. Again, I wish I'd taken more photos, but with the crowds and the mayhem, I wasn't comfortable drawing attention to myself in that manner. I will try to get some when I go back (as I think most of my shopping will be done in the Old City.). It was really amazing to think that people have lived and worked in this cramped area since the dawn of time - and still do. There are homes and butchers and markets that aren't aimed at harvesting the tourist dollar.

(Lee in a quiet alley in the Old City)

As far as the segregation, there aren't any markers showing the borders between different quarters of the city, it seems that the residents know what streets comprise their 'area'. We walked half a block and went from orthodox Jewish territory to strict Muslim streets - Lee said it was an extreme case of culture shock walking around there. I am inclined to agree. We walked through the super-secure metal detector checkpoints to get to the Western Wall - which was amazing. Segregated by sex, men on one side, women on the other, it was a smorgasbord of religious outpouring. There was some sort of bar mitzvah or Jewish wedding going on- men on one side of the fence, women on the other, all reaching over and celebrating. Hundreds of people up against the wall, cramming their written prayers into the crevices, everyone vying to get closer to the actual stones. Amazing
.

(Sign before entering the Wailing Wall; The crowds next to the wall)

We got lost trying to exit the city, which was fortunate as we located a nice fruit stand where we bought a bunch of bananas (1.5lbs for 5NIS or ~$1.50). Once we exited, we continued on our first mission - to find me a hair dryer. We walked through a pedestrian mall of super upscale shops (Lee laughed that it was really strange to see Adidas and Top Shop after being in the Old City, which had nothing of the sort), and came out at a major crossroads. Now, you'd think it'd be easy to figure out where we were based on the hugeness of the intersection and the abundance of street signs. You'd be totally wrong! Even though all the signs are in Hebrew, Arabic AND English, the maps (multiple ones) don't use the same words for the same streets. As as simple example - Jaffa street is also known as Yafa street; Heberon street is also known as Dereh Heveron. Yeah- try to figure out where the hell you are with THOSE kinds of vague directions.

We finally found our way, and stopped for a quick coffee and a bite (both of us were getting a bit worn down at this point), and continued on our way to a pedestrian mall, where we'd heard we'd find a hair dryer (yeah, they're not easy to source here, apparently). After locating a cramped appliance store, I paid 99NIS for a cheap-o hair dryer. That's $30. Really made me aware of how readily available inexpensive goods are in the states, and how much I take things like that for granted. Bit humbling, really.

As we were wrecked at this point, we wandered our way home through some really lovely parks, found the US consulate (where I'm registering today), and collapsed on our couches back at the apartment.

Dinner was WACKY MAC, which was an amazingly good representation of dirty mac and cheese, finished with a bottle of tasty wine, and a full-face crash into bed at 9. I slept awesome last night, and got up at a more normal time for me (somewhere around 6:30am). Tea and breakfast, getting Lee ready for his first day, and off to spend my first all-by-myself day here in Jerusalem.


(it was pretty wacky!)

(I am keeping additional photos here from the whole trip - you can check there to see what I didn't post to the blog!)

The first day!

We took off from San Francisco at about 11:30 am, for a fairly uneventful flight to Philly - where we discovered that there had been a snafu with seat assignments. Fortunately, the flight to Tel Aviv was not even half full, and we wound up with a full 4-seat row to ourselves! Which lightened up my fairly black mood (tired and hungry) and made up for me dumping a full glass of red wine on my lap about 30 minutes into the Jerusalem flight.

Landing in Jerusalem I think both Lee and I were a bit nervous and worried about getting through customs and how we'd get around.....turns out it was pretty much a piece of cake. We were stopped by a female Israeli security guard (or, Lee was, rather - I just stuck around) who questioned why he was there, and how long we'd be here etc. This was heading to passport control - while we were walking down one of the walkways in the (gorgeous and modern and amazingly huge) Ben Gurion airport. Passport control was a breeze, as was customs (green lane, nothing to declare!) then straight out into the balmy (70 degrees!) afternoon.

We were met by a driver, who was an excellent tour guide on our hour-long journey to Jerusalem. He pointed out the old border between Israel and Jordan (many sentences started with 'In 1967....'), showed us the walled in areas that separate Palestinian areas from Israeli areas. At one point on the highway, there was what appeared to be a checkpoint or border crossing (weird, as I didn't think we'd crossed any borders), and when I asked about it:
"That is to check that Palestinians have licenses to travel in Israel. Too many of them were coming over and blowing themselves up all the time. So, they have to have licenses to travel into Israel." Said as nonchalantly as if I'd asked for the time of day.
("blowing themselves up, you say? oh, that's interesting!")

We were given a high-level overview of the country, and had to explain what an earthquake was.
Lee: "Earthquakes, do you have them?"
Awesome Taxi Guy: "Can you describe in simple English, please?"
Lee: "Uh...shaking ground? Like in San Francisco?"
ATG: "Ah! No, not for maybe one hundred years."

Getting to the apartment, we were met by the PA (Hagai? Hagia?) for Lee's new company, who gave us a really great overview of the city and where things were locally. Very friendly, very accommodating. He'd also stocked our little place with some necessities. Apparently necessities here in Jerusalem consist of: Bread, cheese, tea, milk, orange juice, yogurt, cucumbers, tomato, onion, red pepper and....beer. Thank god for the beer. Oh! And almond biscotti. Yum!

We were also met by our landlord, Micha. He is a very (very) nice older man, who Lee and I found to be absolutely hysterical. He spent probably 45 minutes showing us all the minutia of our new place (a tidy, well decorated, very cute one bedroom apartment - with a balcony as large as the living room!); how the tv worked (both Lee and the PA were hovering like anxious techie boys while this nice older man struggled with volume, the cable box and the power switches on two remote controls...), how to turn on the water in the toilet, how to use the washing machine ("It takes up to FIVE kilos!")...there was mention of how Israeli women were an unusual type of woman (said while showing me how to turn on the stove...of course)
"I can tell you another time, you are all tired now, I don't want to keep you."

We were left to our own devices for a while. when Lee's new mobile phone rang - it was Micha. Who had forgotten to tell him about some random needless bit of information. He's very nice, and I am looking forward to interacting with him more - it was highly amusing. He also lives DIRECTLY underneath us, so I'm going to be extra mindful of my activities in the house!

We wandered out to find some other necessities (can't have yogurt and tomatoes for dinner on our first night!), and grocery shopping was an interesting experience. It reminded me of trying to decipher food items in Japan (mom, dad and grandma- imagine tea soup on a safeway size scale). We settled on recognizable things that didn't require too much bumbling with our limited Hebrew - pasta and sauce- both had pictures of exactly what they were on the packaging, as well as some hummus.
(the first meal)

Early to bed (~9pm) and I've been up since 3:45. We heard the muslim prayers this morning - which was incredibly cool and a fresh reminder that we're not in Kansas anymore - as well as an army of tiny angry birds that roost directly outside of our bedroom window. I'm watching my new neighborhood light up with the dawn, and I'm thrilled to have this beautiful day to start exploring Jerusalem!