Thursday, January 14, 2016
Ask an Israeli living abroad where his heart is and 9 out of 10 will say in Israel. No matter how good life can be (or the reason for) living in other countries, this is home. And home is where the heart is.
The flights were fine except for a delay of 1 hour and 45 minutes leaving Chicago. Because I'm a worrier by nature, I was concerned that we wouldn't make our connection in London due to the lengthy security procedures. Fortunately Heathrow has streamlined security and the airport was uncharacteristically uncrowded, so we made the flight and so did our luggage. I booked us on late flights, which is the best cure yet for jet lag. We landed at 9PM and walked into the hotel (we are staying at the Inbal Hotel until tomorrow when we move to our apartment) at 11PM. We went to sleep around midnight, and slept till 8AM.
Our apartment is in the same neighborhood where we've stayed previously. It's great to be in a location that is so familiar. We know the area, the grocery store (one of the cashiers has a big crush on Sid), the bus routes, the short cuts to restaurants and shops. In a word, it's home.
Speaking of luggage ... we checked 5 suitcases this time and TSA opened 4 of them. I don't know what they were looking for, since we've never had our luggage inspected before. It was probably the paper towels, aluminum foil, saran wrap and vitamins that show up suspiciously on an x-ray. Yes, paper towels, foil and saran. Every American I know who comes to Israel for a length of time brings these things because they are expensive and of poor quality here.
We spent this morning at the phone store. For reasons that anyone over 9 years old will never understand, I couldn't unlock my phone. Long story short I bought a phone. The young man who helped me was a gem. He imported my contacts, downloaded my apps and showed me how the phone works. This was a time-consuming process and he was very nice about it. The fact that the store wasn't busy helped.
Our granddaughter Dori got to Jerusalem late this afternoon. We had dinner at Olive and Fish, a restaurant we've been to several times, conveniently located across from the hotel. She is stationed at a base near the Gaza border and has a few days off. She made sargeant.
I wrote the first part of this post from the 9th floor lounge at the Inbal, with a view of Mount Zion. It was clear with a few clouds. Israel has had a lot much-needed rain so far this winter, but the long-range forecast for the next 2 and a half months is for mostly sunny, pleasant weather.
My plan is to blog once a week, on Thursdays. I appreciate comments and followers.
Shabbat shalom,
Peggy and Sid
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