Sunday – Day 19
August 7, 2012
Today I stayed in to work. Preparing for job interviews, arranging logistics with UPenn (a painful affair) and just sorting my life out.
Leaving my cousins to hang out with more shnatties, I went out with Amy Bortz in central Jerusalem to HaMoshava 54, a new instant coffee place with amazing free samples, and a GIANT 28 NIS frozen yoghurt. Yum.
Following that, Amy and I began to walk home when, we chanced upon a christian tour group from Hong Kong. Knowing that something interesting was likely to occur soon, I stopped Amy and we continued to eat the frozen yoghurt in place. Sure enough, soon they were singing the Hatikva with hands on their hearts and a real sincerity. Nice to know not everyone hates the Jews :P.
I asked the leader of the group what they were doing in Israel and they told us they had been studying Hebrew, Judaism and Israel for the last two years and this was the culmination of all their hard work. A tour to the bible lands to walk in the footsteps of Jesus.
They then encouraged us to sing with them Heveinu Shalom Aleichem, and we started dancing too!
After that, they took down our names, so that they could pray for us to ‘make aliyah’ (emmigrate to Israel) in hopes of bringing about the third coming of Christ.
Friday/Shabbat – Day 17/18
August 6, 2012
This morning I woke up to one of the most exciting emails I have ever received. Ask me about it.
From there it was a good few hours back to Jerusalem!
On arriving I decided to take a walk and ended up getting lost in Jerusalem (a rare occurrence) for a few hours and thus had a good three hour walk in the heat. I bought some rogelach (an Israeli pasty) and more felafel!
Dinner was a quiet affair at my cousins, with Daniella, back from the army for her first weekend at home. Surprisingly she seemed to find basic training a most enjoyable period and was treating it much like summer camp, earning the name ‘Savta’ (Grandmother) for handing out sweets to the other trainees.
Shabbat was peaceful, sleeping and visting family and friends. However, Saturday night was out on the town with Daniella! We visited a few of the less reputable establishments in Jerusalem and I met a few drunken friends of hers who seemed not to be able to stop yammering. Despite this, I enjoyed myself until I collapsed into bed at 3AM.
Monday – Day 13
August 2, 2012
Monday morning was somewhat similar to the day, with a good sleep in to start the day and a good chunk of time just spent chilling with Ariel and Gali. However, in the afternoon we decided to catch the bus into Tel Aviv central and from there walk to Neve Tzedek, the first and most beautiful neighborhood of Jerusalem.
Since it’s founding in the early 1900s by new olim (immigrants, including my family) Neve Tzedek has become something of an artist’s colony, replete with galleries and gelaterias.
From Left: Ariel, Gali, Sarah
Us outside the old railway station
We walked down through the entire neighborhood, eventually coming to rest at the old train station, no longer in use. Now the site hosts a few restaurants, an exhibition or two, and much to Sarah’s excitement, a wooden mind games shop. With a look of delight in her face, she stopped to play and attempt to solve all manner of wooden puzzles, staying for a good twenty minutes. Additionally, in the courtyard was a piano, horribly out of tune but painted interestingly which I banged around on for a few minutes.
Cool Piano in Neve Tzedek
From there I led the way, roughly in the direction where I believed a special building to me lay. After about five minutes I found it! My great grandfathers house, complete with a plaque marking the place, and though I had been there before I took the mandatory photo in front of it as below.
The house of Shlomo and Rivka Abulafia
After that it was time to quickly find dinner before Ariel and Gali had to go home before army the next day. We settled on a little sushi shop and sat at the bar. After that I walked home to sleep for another day. The floor was not too comfortable.
Sushi!