The Beginning of the Week

Here's another Israel fun fact: the work week goes from Sunday to Thursday. Some people do a half day on Friday, but everyone goes back to work on Sunday. And since Sarah works, she went back to work today.

Yesterday was our first Israeli Shabbat together. We went to HUC-JIR services in the morning and heard our friend Sara chant Torah beautifully. Then, we came home, had some lunch, watched some movies (Despicable Me and Sex & The City 2, one movie for each of us), had some dinner, watched a few more episodes leading to the finale of Big Love, and went to sleep. A very relaxing Shabbat if I may say so!

Today, we got up around 7 AM (a marvel at how late we slept considering our jetlag and relative lack of daily activity), I made Sarah breakfast, and off to work she went. I, on the other hand, stayed home and took care of some things here. I started my first load of laundry. Turns out, the laundry machines here are so small that it takes us two loads to do one week's worth of laundry. Considering we used to go about 2-3 weeks between loads in San Diego, this will be a huge paradigm shift for us. Also, as I mentioned in the video, we don't have a dryer, so everything gets hung up on the mirpeset (patio). While the laundry was going, I cleaned up the house a bit, swept the floors, put the dishes away, and had a lovely cup of coffee. I'll tell ya, I could get used to this whole "stay at home husband" thing! Don't worry, though, I won't get too used to it. :)

In terms of the weather, it has been very similar to San Diego: a little chilly, but mostly clear - sweatshirt and sunglasses weather. The wind, though, has been really gusting, and the way our apartment building is situated, whenever the wind gusts to a certain speed, we get a nice wind tunnel sound like out of a movie. Today is lovely, sunny, and clear.

I had lunch with my friend Yoav, who was our tour guide on the Birthright trip I led last summer, at a lovely little Israeli cafe (i.e.: the menu was hummus, schnitzel...and that's about it). If I remembered the name of the place, I would say where it was, but I'm sure we will be back there and I will take better notes.

One of the cooler things he pointed out was the new light rail system, which is starting up later this week. It's a new electric light rail that goes along Yafo Street, formerly the busiest bus route in Jerusalem. While there is a lot of controversy surrounding the new train, the most interesting thing I noticed about it is how quietly it moves. Yoav said that they are running it now, without passengers, so people can get used to the trains passing. This is so people don't get hit by the oncoming trains, which do have a bell, but other than that are incredibly quiet. He guesses that as soon as service really starts, there will be a lot of accidents with people who have been living here since 67 or earlier and are not used to having a train go through such a busy street. I'll keep you all posted.


This afternoon, I decided to venture out on my own, considering we needed some things at The Shuk and Supersol (i.e.: super market) and Sarah was at work. When I came home, Sarah and I made dinner, and we took in the wonderful sunset from our mirpeset while we folded the laundry from earlier in the day.

What a wonderful way to start the week!









Okay, you knew I wasn't going to finish this post without some delicious food porn and a more thorough description of dinner.


Main course: Bow-tie pasta with labane cheese & zatar, topped with tivol, red pepper and cauliflower (and mushrooms on mine)
Side: Israeli style salad of cucumber, tomato, carrot, garlic, salt, lemon juice, olive oil