So, two weeks down, and I live IN the shuk. Every morning when I wake up, I rise to the sound of men screaming and crazy trucks beeping as they back out of the market where they just unloaded pounds of fresh veggies, fruits, fish, and halves of cows (mmm). [Note: Weaving in and out of truckbeds filled with hanging full cows really gets your day going quickly at 8 in the morning] Every time I open my door, I get a new whiff of something, and it’s usually something delicious. Shuk life thus far is pretty exciting. Nachlaot (the name of the neighborhood) is known for being home to all sorts of crazy people. My neighbors are all silly crazy Israelis, an older woman I made pals with who I cross paths with often in the stairway, some crazy guys who came knocking on our kitchen window the SECOND shabbos was out begging my friend for cigarettes, and cat ladies- who create “cat communities” and feed and set up mini beds outside for all of the stray cats in my hood. Nachlaot is the capital of crazies on Jerusalem if you ask me.. so I suppose its only right that I get some time living here.
The move went pretty well, no complaints. We rented a car (a sweet florescent green little Israeli style auto) and it took us about 4 trips back and forth to get all of our stuff over to the new place. Driving around Jerusalem was pretty exciting (and scary I suppose), but mostly quality adventure time. We had a few mess ups, once when we blocked in a bunch of people in our new lot, and then couldn’t start the car because you have to punch in some code and then turn the key and I messed it all up and the car had to wait 10-20 minutes to “re-set” (seems kind of ridiculous to me) --we had three cars all screaming and honking until one guy came to “help” by putting us in neutral and moving our car out of the way so he could get by. Classic move number two might have been when we tied my mattress down to the roof of the car and then realized we forgot to open the doors before tying it, and had to climb through the windows to get into the car.
Overall however, the move was good, Gina and I love our new place, and it really couldn’t be in a better location. Work is going well, I think I’ll learn a lot, I already have (not so into spending long days at my computer researching) but its pretty good experience, I like the people I work with, and it’s a step in the right direction. Last week a friend of ours got married, the wedding was really nice. Israeli weddings are NOTHING like at home... very simple, people come dressed from ball gown to jeans- literally, and everyone goes nuts. Pretty cool experience and our friend looked beautiful.
Right now my aunt, uncle and cousin are in town for a bar-mitzvah, so I have been meeting up with them the past few days which is pretty nice, and I’ll see them tonight for one last time.
(This post is now outdated about two weeks, but when I get home and can grab some photos Of the new place, I'll post it.)
Peace & Love.
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