Well, this is interesting. Our travel days have ended and now we get to live here. Here are some pluses and minuses so far...
- I don't understand any Hebrew. It was really frustrating yesterday shopping in Talpiot. In our neighborhood, the German Colony, everyone speaks English, but elsewhere there are many who do not.
+ Our apartment is a large two bedroom with ample storage space in the kitchen. The manager lives across the hall and was very helpful. The location is great, we can walk everywhere we need to go, and we are very close to Emek Rafaim.
- Our apartment smells like smoke. Most of the towels and linens do too. We do not have in building laundry so it is not easy for us to clean them. We are placing most of them in high cabinet storage in the boys' room, will take a few to the local laundry, and purchased some new ones yesterday.
- There was a ton of open food and dirty plates, flatware, and pots left in the kitchen. The apartment has lots of stuff in it that we don't need or want, plus it doesn't have lots of things we do need and want, like paper, tape, hand soap, tissues, paper towels, napkins. We purchased a lot of these items yesterday and will get more things from our list today.
+ This is Israel. Jerusalem to be more specific. Crowded and a bit hot. But everyone and everything surrounding us is Jewish. I love hearing Hebrew spoken and can't wait to learn more. Shabbat and Pesach are coming up and then we'll really get into our daily routines including ulpan. I am really looking forward to that.
+ We ran into some Americans walking down the street on our first night here and guess where they were visiting from? San Francisco! That was pretty cool. And dinner at Burgers Bar (http://www.restaurants-in-israel.co.il/restaurant.aspx?id=9649 ) was delicious.
Here we go, life in Israel. Shabbat Shalom!!! Tonight, services and dinner, just the four of us. :-)
- I don't understand any Hebrew. It was really frustrating yesterday shopping in Talpiot. In our neighborhood, the German Colony, everyone speaks English, but elsewhere there are many who do not.
+ Our apartment is a large two bedroom with ample storage space in the kitchen. The manager lives across the hall and was very helpful. The location is great, we can walk everywhere we need to go, and we are very close to Emek Rafaim.
- Our apartment smells like smoke. Most of the towels and linens do too. We do not have in building laundry so it is not easy for us to clean them. We are placing most of them in high cabinet storage in the boys' room, will take a few to the local laundry, and purchased some new ones yesterday.
- There was a ton of open food and dirty plates, flatware, and pots left in the kitchen. The apartment has lots of stuff in it that we don't need or want, plus it doesn't have lots of things we do need and want, like paper, tape, hand soap, tissues, paper towels, napkins. We purchased a lot of these items yesterday and will get more things from our list today.
+ This is Israel. Jerusalem to be more specific. Crowded and a bit hot. But everyone and everything surrounding us is Jewish. I love hearing Hebrew spoken and can't wait to learn more. Shabbat and Pesach are coming up and then we'll really get into our daily routines including ulpan. I am really looking forward to that.
+ We ran into some Americans walking down the street on our first night here and guess where they were visiting from? San Francisco! That was pretty cool. And dinner at Burgers Bar (http://www.restaurants-in-israel.co.il/restaurant.aspx?id=9649 ) was delicious.
Here we go, life in Israel. Shabbat Shalom!!! Tonight, services and dinner, just the four of us. :-)
If you can't understand what's going on because of the Hebrew, I think I'm going to be in serious trouble when I get there. Wonder if Noah or Gary know enough to get by there? (Gary lived in Israel during the Yom Kippur War)
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