This will be the final entry for this visit. I have been in somewhat of a depression for the last 3 weeks. I keep telling myself to live in the moment, focus on the fact that we're still here and there are so many things to keep us busy, but that's eye wash and doesn't work. We've had such a wonderful time here and I'm not ready to give it up.
Of course I left too many things for the final week. Batsheva and I had our annual spa day at Ramat Rachel, which is always a treat. Sid and I ran down to Tel Aviv to visit the recently opened Norman Hotel, which is like nothing I've seen in Israel. Amazing design, and it took 10 years to build. Building projects take an inordinately long time in this country, but a renovation takes even longer, especially when it's a landmark building. We managed to get there and back without getting lost, thanks to this fabulous app (invented here of course) called Waze. It's a GPS that factors in road conditions and routes you accordingly. Mine has a split personality. I put my destination into the search box in English. The map comes up in Hebrew, but the robot (or whoever it is that lives inside my cell phone) gives the turn by turn directions in English. And it's never wrong. For someone like me who gets lost going thru a revolving door, this is nothing short of a miracle. And my old friend Gail came up from the moshav she lives on near Hadera for a visit, and she brought her wonderful Hungarian pointer Zsa Zsa.
Only in Jerusalem ...
After our ceramics class on Wednesday Batsheva and I crossed the plaza in front of City Hall to get to the car. There was music, lots of people milling around and a big event tent. Naturally we had to check it out. It was a matza baking station, and not just for kids. I've mentioned before that this city puts on a vast array of cultural and educational programs for the public. This was one of them. Fortunately we got there early and there was only a 5 minute wait. A rabbi gave a brief explanation of the 18-minute process, from mixing the flour and water to pulling the finished product out of the oven, and said what a wonderful mitzvah it is to bake, rather than buy, your matza. There were long tables with heavy metal rods that were used as rolling pins. We were handed plastic gloves and aprons, and the games began. The process was done in strict adherence to the rules of matza-making, and the rabbi assured us that according to a highly respected kashrut authority they are kosher under the strictest standards. I tasted the finished product and I can tell you my preference is still for what I get at the store.
Under the heading "cool things to do in Jerusalem", we did two of them last week.
On Thursday night we went to the championship game of the Israel Football League. Yes, they do play American football here. It's not exactly the same game that's played in the States, but it comes close. The reason we went is because the assistant instructor in my krav maga class is on the team, and his dad is one of the coaches. How could we not go? There is a small stadium that was donated by the owner of the new England Patriots. Small means the field is 60 feet long, they only play with 9 men, no goal posts and therefore no field goals and the quarters are 12 minutes. The scoring is 6 points for a touchdown and they go for the 2 points after. There is a small seating area and I was told to get there early or else we'd have to stand for the whole game. The opposing team was from Tel Aviv, so the rivalry was already intense, and there were several TA fans in the audience. They sold hot dogs, hamburgers and beer, but you had to get it yourself - no vendors. The game was announced in Hebrew, but no one has translated the terminology so the words for the penalties are still in English and it sounds pretty funny. Each team had about 40 guys and one of the coaches for the Jerusalem team was ultra-orthodox (big black hat and black suit) but he knew how to handle the football. There were 6 officials on the field and they had a very hard time agreeing on the penalties. It seems they just threw the flags and then decided what the infractions were.
The audience was every bit as interesting as the game. Several were ultra-orthodox who must have been related to the coach. They wore bright orange T-shirts over their black suits. The teams colors are bright orange and green, so if you didn't know better you would think they're Irish. Mostly Americans of course, and lots of young kids. These are professional teams and supposedly have some foreign players.
I'm not a fan of American football, but it was a lot of fun. And our team won by a score of 20 to 10.
The other cool thing is something I've been reading about for a few years. There is a very serious counter-terrorism training center near Jerusalem called Caliber 3. They train police, military and personal security forces from all over the world. They also have programs for tourists. It was amazing. We were given an overview of what counter-terrorism and urban warfare are all about, went thru a training drill, and then fired weapons - a Beretta and some kind of rifle. The Beretta was a lot more difficult, but we did well with both weapons. The instructors are all from elite combat units; one of them looked like he came from central casting.
We've been very fortunate to have Dori stay with us several times during our trip. We haven't stopped being amazed at how she's changed. She's a real soldier and takes her job very seriously. She's very independent and self-reliant. She is very Israeli; in fact she's developed a slight intonation when she speaks English. And she and I usually speak Hebrew to each other. Somehow she seems more comfortable in Hebrew than English.
She and her friend Lauren were in Jerusalem for a wedding and stayed with us for a couple nights ...
And what trip to Israel would be complete without a huge dinner at Eli and Batsheva's. We had an early birthday celebration for Sid, and the whole family was there.
Last year we used to go to a bar near Machane Yehuda (the produce market) that had a Friday afternoon jam session - Sephardi Shabbat music. We had looked forward to returning this year, but unfortunately they went out of business. So we had to find a replacement and we happened on a place called Birman, located on one of the side streets off Ben Yehuda. A very eclectic place, not terribly clean but lots of atmosphere. The jazz was surprisingly good. The bartender took a liking to us, probably because we were at least 30 years older than anyone else who crossed their threshold and therefore an oddity. We hope they stay around till next year.
As I wrap things up (literally, because I'm almost completely packed), it occurs to me that I haven't mentioned anything about the apartment. As readers of this blog know, what we had last year was a shoebox and I vowed never to make that mistake again. This year the first thing I asked was square footage, and we found a very nice 2-bedroom unit in a good neighborhood that's about 750 sq ft.
On this final day ... I managed to do almost everything I somehow didn't get to during the 2 months we've been here. Mostly phone calls and a final load of laundry, but we also ran out to say goodbye to Eli and Batsheva, Yafit and Nir came here to say goodbye, and I had my final krav maga class. We're about to sit down to a final dinner consisting of some choice leftovers, and then pack up the electronics and sleep fast because we have a very early pick up tomorrow morning.
Till next year ... thanks for reading.
