All the delicious things Gavi ate this week (and other stuff too)

Greetings from our living room!

Gavi here, Jason is busy learning about biblical history and I did my ulpan homework during lunch today. So I get to write this post and take this funny picture of myself pretending to be quiet because Jason is studying in the background.

It has been another fun filled and busy week in Jerusalem.

July 18: The temperature in the city climbed to 102F (39C if you will). Luckily, the Conservative Yeshiva (CY) is air conditioned (our apartment is not). I spent the very warm morning with a fellow HUC SO (Hebrew Union College Significant Other) whose wife is in Jason's class as a cantorial student. Ben V. and I walked up to the shuk together (bubby carts and water bottles in tow) and had a wonderful morning introducing each other to our personal shuk favorites. I was quite proud to introduce Ben V. to both kabbanos (made with kosher beef, not pork - duh - this is Jerusalem!) and bourekas (potato is the best kind, but I'm partial to any starch wrapped in starch). He showed me a yummy home-made trail mix place and we walked back on the route that passes by 15 Shekel shwarma in a lafa. $3.75 for a HUGE yummy wrap of fresh flatbread and kosher meat?  YES PLEASE! This country is magical. Ben V. is a really cool guy, we come from different backgrounds but are both here for the same reason. The people we love found what they want to do and we are here to support them and have our own adventure and Jewish discoveries at the same time. Ben V. and his awesome wife also got married just before moving to Israel this year. It felt good to spend the morning with a new friend.

After school that day Jason and I walked to Talpiyot (a neighborhood in J-lem with lots of malls) and purchased a new foam pad for our formerly rock hard mattress. Win.

July 19: This was the last day of the Conservative Yeshiva's first summer session. The students and faculty enjoyed falafel lunch in the beit midrash and after my final "The Place that God Will Choose" TaNaCH (Hebrew Bible) class, I took a trip to the Bible Lands museum to represent the Yeshiva at a fair for current Birthright participants. I was honored that the Yeshiva asked me to represent them along with one of their beloved students from this past academic year. We ended up seated next to the HUC booth. While at the museum I ran into TWO friends from DC who were staffing birthright trips. One of the BEST feelings I get in this country is when I bump into someone I know (from the States, from HUC, from CY...) it makes this new country feel a bit more like home.

That night Jason and I went out for Waffle Bar dinner with HUC friends (I got the goat cheese lafa, and the group shared the oreo waffle and the banana hot chocolate waffle for dessert - please get the banana hot chocolate waffle if you go).

July 20: One of my favorite days in Israel so far! HUC piled into sherutim (taxi/mini bus) and traveled to Tel Aviv for a day. Highlights included:

A neighborhood tour of Neve Tzedek, one of the first communities built outside of Yaffo. Today the old neighborhood close to the sea is slowly being encased by skyscrapers, much to the dismay of the residents. It does create a striking visual Tel Aviv's future towering over its beautiful past.

After a morning in Neve Tzedek, a group of us walked to Yaffo for what is rumored to be "the best hummus ever" according to a friend of a friend. We arrived (thanks to some awesome pre-trip google mapping by Josh F.) to find Abu Hassan overrun with young and old waiting on line for their Friday afternoon hummus. We waited on the crowded line and ordered hummus and pita to go. We walked to a close by marina and sat on some steps and inhaled the super yummy hummus. Jason also was amused by a really cool nautical map that was on the ground where we sat to eat.

From Yaffo we walked with a smaller group to Nachalat Benyamin (the artist fair where Jason bought me my awesome birthday present two weeks ago) and eventually made our way to the Namal (Tel Aviv's Port/Boardwalk) to meet up for drinks with one of my best friends from middle school who made aliyah earlier this year! It was amazing to re-connect. My heart was so happy to be back with my friend and have her meet Jason! Getting to hear about her new life in Tel Aviv and how happy she is in her new city was a true joy.

Sitting on the boardwalk for drinks, we watched as a section of the Namal filled with bright pink beach chairs where Beit Tefilah Israeli services are held during the summer. HUC students came together with many Israelis and visitors for a beautiful and uniquely Israeli Shabbat services overlooking the sunset. It was filled with Israeli songs, instruments, beautiful voices, and prayer. Sitting next to my dear friend and Jason at services overlooking the sunset and singing both "Lecha Dodi" and "Eyzeh Achla Olam" ("What a Wonderful World's Hebrew translation) was a wonderful and different moment I won't soon forget.

After services we went with one of the other married couples (whom we spend lots of time with, hooray for couple friends!) to a very yummy post-Shabbat services meal out at Orna and Ella's before hopping a sheruit back to Jerusalem (the drive is about an hour - in case you are curious and the cost to travel ranges from $9 to $16 round trip depending on your mode of transportation).

July 21: Jason and I woke up early for services at HUC then spent a fantastic Shabbat lunch with family friends from New Rochelle who happen to now live in Jerusalem and on the same street as us. Rabbi Winick from Brandeis was also there with her daughter, along with several other friends of the host family. We had a lovely afternoon filled with Shabbat talk and conversations about life in Jerusalem as an "Anglo." The food and company were both fantastic and after 3 and a half hours or so we were on our way to hang out with HUC friends. We said goodbye to Shabbat with CY, where we davened (prayed) mincha (afternoon services), and maariv (evening services), and said havdallah (ceremony marking the end of Shabbat and start of the week) together with many of the Yeshiva's summer students.

July 22: I started Ulpan (Hebrew immersion classes) at CY! I'll be taking morning Ulpan classes for the next three weeks along a new session of afternoon classes. CY only offers Ulpan during the summer. I'm in Kita Bet (level two! Wooo for not being placed in level one after 13 years of Jewish day school! Schechter Shekels at work, right Mom and Dad?) It was my first full day at school since high school which was pretty odd. I came home very happy to reunite with Jason (we are newlyweds, a whole day separated is still a big deal). To celebrate the first day of my ulpan (and the fact that the milk was going to go bad within a few days) I made homemade Alfredo sauce! Yummm!

July 23: I got to meet up with Jason in between classes for a quick lunch at Ben Sira Hummus (some swear that it is the best in Jerusalem). It is a hole in the wall and very delicious. What's that? Think its strange that I would eat a meal of just hummus and pita twice in one week and write about it? This is Israel where hummus is not just a spread or a dip but is sufficient for an entire meal's worth of food. And that is awesome. Not to take sides, but I did prefer Ben Sira to Abu Hassan, the hummus was more to my liking (less tahina-y) and had lots of veggies you could put inside (I had super yummy cauliflower with my hummus). Also, Jason swears by the the "Hummus Basar" or "Hummus with Meat" I'll have to order that next time. The break in the day with Jason was a wonderful "we're in Israel together!" moment. We walked through Independence Park, caught up on each other's mornings and then Jason dropped me off for my afternoon classes and went to study at HUC. Did I mention are schools are a 7 minute walk from each other? Because it is awesome.

After school Jason went off to an HUC boys night where they played poker and did boy things (?) while I joined the HUC girls for a fun filled night of girl talk, wine, and desserts. It was some much needed girl time and I was really touched to be included in the community. The students at HUC are remarkable and I feel really blessed to be forming my own relationships with several of Jason's classmates and future colleagues. These women are strong and beautiful and from all different stages in their life, to be included as a part of them is a real honor. Plus girl time is the best.

July 24: Today was a wonderfully routine day, something I have missed in the past few months of craziness getting ready for my huge final fundraiser at work, moving out of DC, getting ready for the wedding, packing up to move here, and getting settled in our new home. Jason and I both went to school in the morning. I caught lunch with three of the girls in my summer program. Went to my afternoon classes ("Monotheism and Monogamy" and "16th Century Tzfat") then came home and made dinner with my wonderful husband. Adventures are great, but I'm very much enjoying the little bits of normalcy in our new life. The moments where we can feel ourselves really settling are some of the most blissful.

That's all for now. Sending love from our Jerusalem home.