Week 2

We moved into our apartment last Friday, January 15. But first we rented a car to move our 6 suitcases.

We went to Eldan (the car rental company) at 1130AM, which is about the worst possible time on a Friday, but shockingly it was not crowded and we were taken care of immediately. We had a brand new Peugeot, and decided to stop at the apartment to check it out before going back to the hotel to pick up our luggage. But we didn't even get that far. There was evidently something very wrong with the car. It jerked, had delayed reactions, and felt like driving a stick shift even tho it was automatic. No way were we going to keep it, so back to Eldan where the agent said, it's because the car is robotic. There's a way to take it off the robotic setting but we said absolutely not, we want a car that just goes without the robot. So they changed it.

The apartment is on the first floor, which really means the second floor, about 18 steps up. No elevator of course. And we had very heavy suitcases. Slowly we emptied the car ( we were lucky to find parking right in front of the building) and schlepped our way up the stairs. It's quite large and has very high ceilings. Two bedrooms, two and a half baths, combination living room-dining room-kitchen. It's been rehabbed. The balconies were enclosed in order to enlarge the living room and master bedroom. It's nice to have the extra square footage, but it comes with certain drawbacks. First, it's hard to heat a place with high ceilings, even more so because there's no insulation (it's only in the past few years that they use insulation in construction), so every wall is an outside wall. And while it's very nice to have an ensuite bathroom in the master bedroom, whoever designed this place didn't take sunrise into account. (There will be photos as soon as I figure out how to transfer them from my new phone.) When Dori gets out of the army she will stay with us. Her bedroom has bunk beds and an ensuite bathroom as well. There is a washing machine but no dryer, and without balconies there's nowhere to hang laundry to dry. At least this year the washing machine is normal - a cycle only takes 2 hours and no shake, rattle and roll like last year. The kitchen is nicely designed but poorly equipped. I guess the owners didn't expect the renters to cook. As last year, the owners are French. Anyone noticing a trend? According to what I've been reading 43% of French Jews want to emigrate.

We made a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up the minimum supplies - coffee mostly. We didn't worry about food because Batsheva had us over for both Friday night dinner and Shabbat lunch. And no one leaves Batsheva's hungry.

Saturday evening we took a walk downtown. Sid wanted to go back to Birman's, the jazz bar we discovered last year. On the way there we ran into the Korean Choir on Ben Yehuda Street.

Sunday we went to the shuk for provisions. No where else do you get the quality and variety that you get in the shuk. Everyone told us not to go on Sunday. Not every shop is open, the produce isn't fresh because they don't get deliveries until late in the day or early on Monday, etc etc. Israelis have a real thing about food being fresh, which is easy to do here because something picked at 4AM gets to the market at 6. If it's more than a day old it's considered ready for the waste bin. That may be true, but the great thing about going on Sunday is that it's not crowded and you can actually find parking. We were in food heaven. There are so many things we can get here that are so much better than in Chicago. For the last few weeks all we could talk about was the cheese, olives, yoghurt, and a particular dry biscuit I absolutely love. Feed me that and I could last a lifetime.

Mondays are my busy days, but this was busier than most. Sid returned the rental car and I walked to my women's class, from 10AM-1PM. The depth of the analysis, the breath of knowledge that each lecturer has never ceases to amaze me. My friend Bevie, who I've known for many many many years, came for the second lecture. We will get together next Sunday for quality time.

From there I walked to my Krav Maga class. Moshe, the instructor, wasn't expecting me till next week so I took him by surprise. It was good to be back with my posse. We are doing knife defense.

I wasn't up to walking home but considering how long I had to wait for the bus I might as well have. We ate and then it was off to Pardes for yet another lecture. It was the second of a four part series about King David. Very good, but not nearly at the level of a Yeshurun lecture. Ironically we studied the same material at Yeshurun 2 years ago.

Tuesday it was back to the mall. We still needed a couple of things and I was determined to get Sid a phone. Getting his phone couldn't have been easier. It took no more than 5 minutes, and they even gave him a number that's close to mine ... 058-70-999-40. If anyone wants to call him, there's an 8 hour time difference and the dialing sequence is 011 972 58 70-999-40.

Wednesday was again a busy day. The ceramics class from last year has expanded to include a drawing class. Just what I need. I'm so not into any crafts except beading, and I would have loved to find an excuse to get out of the ceramics, so instead I wind up with drawing AND ceramics. Much to my surprise I really enjoyed the drawing.We worked with chalk which is very messy. For that matter ceramics is worse. Anybody who knows me knows I'm a neat freak so by nature I'm not cut out for these activities. On the plus side it's actually a great escape and has been compared to meditating for clearing the mind. And the women in the class are wonderful. They welcomed me back like a long lost relative.

We didn't have much planned for today, except I had to change money, which goes so fast it just disappears. We walked to the shuk (where else would you go to change money?), and from there I walked to my krav maga class. Still working on knife defense. At the end of the class I got a text from Dori letting me know she was on her way to Jerusalem. When I boarded the bus to go back to our apt, there she was sitting in the first seat with her ginormous backpack on the seat next to her, wearing ear phones and her eyes were closed. I lightly tapped her arm and asked if she could move her backpack. She looked at me and it took a second for her to realize who had the chutzpa to get her out of her zone. What a coincidence. If we had planned this it never would have worked. She's here for Shabbat, then back to the base.

We're settled in the apartment and establishing a routine. Even tho the kitchen isn't well equipped I made a couple of great dinners this week. It's amazing what you can do with so little. And the food here is fabulous. The only thing between me and another 20 pounds is all the walking.

Shabbat shalom from Jerusalem,

Peggy and Sid