Dateline London
If Jenny reads this I apologize for not calling. I tried but couldn't get the call to go thru.
This is the final entry for this trip. I intended to send one final post before we left, but as usual things got way too busy at the end. Fortunately for this blog (but not for us) our flight from London to Chicago is delayed 3 hours which gives me time to write this. A good thing too, since it took an hour and a half to change planes here.
The final 10 days was especially busy. On top of the normal activities we saw a terrific new exhibit at the Israel Museum, Pharoah in Canaan. Mostly comprised of objects from the museum's collection, it tells the story of the cultural and commercial ties between Egypt and Canaan 3000 years ago.
Our friend Herb Eiseman and his daughter Alexis were in Israel and we met for dinner on Wednesday, March 23. It was Alexis' first trip. Herb has been here many times, and is now serving in Sar-El on the same base where Sid served at the beginning of our trip. Seems a very long time ago.
Purim was March 24 in Jerusalem. It's celebrated a day after the rest of the world, as is the case with all walled cities. In fact some formerly walled cities like Hebron celebrate both days, which means 4 megilla readings and lots of drinking. Everyone gets in the spirit and the partying went on and on and on.
Because of Purim two of the students in my krav maga class were off on Thursday, so we relocated to a lovely park about a 10 minute walk from our apartment. It was a much tougher workout than usual, and Moshe really got into the Purim spirit with his version of a Donald Trump costume. Because of the holiday (and perfect weather) the park was full of picnickers and we attracted quite a crowd.
Friday we had dinner at Batsheva's. It was bittersweet.
Saturday we invited our upstairs and downstairs neighbors for lunch. We met the upstairs neighbor the day we moved into the apartment. In the small world department, he's from Skokie and went to Niles North. His wife is from San Diego. They met at Pardes about 30 years ago, got married and raised 4 kids here. The downstairs neighbors are relatively new olim - only 6 years. They moved into the building in September after a total renovation. Altho it has the identical floor plan, it looks nothing like our apt. One of the many things Israelis do very well is rehabbing. Plumbing, electricity, walls ... never a problem.
Sid renewed an old friendship, which came about because of a notice in the paper advertising a lecture by Hillel Milgrom. He and his wife Debbie were friends of Sid's from the early 70's. Sid went to the lecture and afterwards they went out for lunch. They wanted to get together with me as well and we made a lunch date for Sunday. Lovely people. He's written several books on various aspects of the Tanach.
Monday was my last session at Yeshurun, the women's class I'm addicted to. It was a special treat, as the guest lecturer was Yemima Mizrachi.
Monday was also my last krav maga session. Unfortunately it was pouring nonstop, cold and windy. We train outside in all weather conditions except snow, but I wasn't looking forward to working out in the mud. Moshe sent a message saying he was changing the venue to Cinema City, which is a multi-plex and mall combined. We were a bit confused, as we couldn't imagine where we were going to train, but we figured maybe they had a gym and he somehow worked out a deal to use the facilities when the weather is really bad. He has been looking for a suitable indoor space.
But nooooo. The class turned out to be a yellow belt ceremony for me. I was shocked, as was everyone else. He kept it a secret for over a month. It's quite an achievement, and I am both proud and humbled. Moshe is not the type who gives out belts just because you show up. You have to earn it.
On Tuesday Batsheva and I made our annual trek to Ramat Rachel for massages. Much needed girl time, which we really didn't have much of this trip. But we will rectify that in the months ahead.
We had a final dinner with Dori at Pompidou. Food was fabulous, as always.
Wednesday, our last day. I went to my art class. Everyone brought food and said all kinds of nice things. This is a group that has really bonded and I'm happy to have been welcomed so wholeheartedly.
Our final outing last night was downtown to Ben Yehuda Street. There was a musical event and I was curious. It turned out to be a DJ playing very loud techno music. In fact you could feel the vibrations through the street. Not exactly our thing, but a very upbeat way to say goodbye.
Till next time,
Peggy and Sid
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