Thursday, June 28, 2007

Home is Where the Heart Is

It's been a crazy week here in Israel, adjusting to the food, culture, and time difference. I am finally starting to find my way around town and have been fortunate to have things go very smoothly. I've walked at least 15 miles since I got here - whether it be to the Old City (where I prayed at the Kotel, the Western Wall, for the first time) or Ben Yehuda Street (where you can shop and eat till you drop) or the Shuk (where everything you need and more can be bartered and is cheaper than everywhere else).

The wonderful news is that I found an apartment about 10 minutes from campus, located near a supermarket and ATM (which is very convenient!). It's a 3 bedroom apartment with a kitchen, living area, A/C, washer/dryer, and the rooms are relatively large in size. My landlord is this very nice old man who has worked with me in making the lease 11 months (rather than 12, as we leave no later than May 26), and we don't have to pay in advance (many apartments here require you to pay up to 5 months in advance, which is difficult because there is a withdrawel limit at ATM machines). I move in on Sunday, and hopefully by Wednesday of next week I will have settled in and made a home for myself.

I am meeting my roommates this afternoon, one male and one female, one rabbinical student and one Jewish Education student respectively. Tonight I'll attend the 1st birthday party of a cantorial student's daughter and go to a local bar with the class of 2012!

I'm getting more and more excited each day as I experience Jerusalem at its best!

PJ

3 comments:

Doire said...

The Wall. I cannot imagine the power of that. And did you place a little piece of paper in a crack of the Wall? Summer classes have concluded for me. In a week and a half I'm off to New England. I'll leave a little piece of paper, with a thought of you, on the Cliff Walk in Newport. Love to you.

grandma euni said...

Hopefully this will work. Hello my fabulous grandson. I have had so much trouble getting a google acct. I relish everything u post with the tears running down my face. I am so . Your dream is coming true and u did it. It must be such a wonderful feeling to know that u wanted this career and you went out and got it.Keep writing and hopefully u will get my comments. Put my email address in your list, eunitoons@comcast.net. Luv you, grandma euni

grandma euni said...

The sentence should have said, "I am so proud of you and everything u do. Luv, grandma euni