Israel Update #4: We Have An Apartment!

We have an apartment now, yay! I would post pictures, but it's mostly empty still and dirty. It will be a couple of weeks before the pics.

We went to Ikea with friends on Thursday and realized how amazing that place is, especially in a country where there are no huge superstores like target or walmart. But seriously. Going to Ikea is an event. They have some of the most genius items. They even have a cafeteria...

The past couple of days we have been trying to "nest." By that, I mean scrub everything in our apartment with bleach. None of the apartments we have been in or looked at were carpeted. Everything is stone and tile. And our place is very nice, but it was dirty! It took me two and a half hours just to scrub the grime off of the kitchen cabinets and that was only the top ones, and we have a tiny kitchen. It also took me half a day to bleach and scrub the bathroom. So right now the kitchen and bathroom feel like home, and the rest of my place is dirty and I'm scared to touch it . Haha.

Okay, here's one photo of the kitchen. 

Also, we signed on our apartment right at the beginning of Pesach (Passover) which is a week-long holiday and many of the stores are either closed all week or open until 2 or 3pm. Luckily we were off at 1, so it was a sort of mad dash to the stores to get cleaning supplies and food. 

We must have walked for hours around the area comparing prices at various stores. Like I said, there are no superstores, so you have lots of little shops with very specific (or seemingly random) items. In one store you find about 2 of the seven things you need and then you move on. Dustin kept saying, "I have to just deal with the fact that I can't live like an American here. You can't just go to one store, get everything you need, shove it all in your car, and go home." It's one thing at a time here. Even if we had a car, parking would be quite tricky, and we'd still have to walk twice as much.

When we finally moved in at the end of the week (Thursday), it was right before the end of the holiday, in which everything is closed for two days instead of one, so we have been just scrubbing away. Luckily by then we had all the food and all the cleaning supplies we needed. 

You should have seen us with three massive rolling suitcases, two rolling carry-ons, a trash bag of home goods, and two backpacks trying to roll into the train when we move out of the Gepperts'. A little family kept bumping me and pushing me because the dad was chasing his little girl who was weaving in between my luggage. It was aggravating (the train was empty and she thought our luggage was fun...). And then on our way out, two older men trying to get on just blocked Dustin and his heavy bags, expecting him to move over, when there was quite a bit of space just to their left! Dustin had to move with his giant load in order to get out before the doors closed. So rude! By then, with all the shoving and bumping and the fact that I was hangry, I was ready to scream. Then, right before we got to our neighborhood, some items fell out of my bag right in the middle of the street. A guy ran up and helped me before any cars came. That improved my mood. 

Thursday night was interesting. We live across the street from a synagogue: when we look out from our balcony, the synagogue is to our left across the alley. We went to bed around 11pm and were abruptly awaken at 12:30am. It sounded like a bunch of happy drunken men loudly singing bar choruses, mostly because of the round-style songs they sung and the fact that half of them were off-key. The sound was quite joyous, but at midnight when you're trying to sleep... Luckily we didn't have to get up early and luckily it was just a holiday celebration. We are about to become very aware of Jewish holiday celebrations...

Last night, we walked around town to see what was open and discovered two more restaurants! An Indian restaurant and a cafe were open. Now we know where to go for Friday date night (everything is closed on Friday nights. Thursday nights are the party nights here, like our Friday nights).

I somewhat skipped the Passover celebration that I enjoyed with friends here. A woman named Hilda led ours and it was so meaningful. The entire set-up of the Passover meal is utterly symbolic of Yeshua, it's uncanny. At least that's all I could see in it. It was beautiful. 

So, that's the story so far. I hope you all are doing well, and I'll keep you updated! We definitely miss our friends and family back home.

Israel Update #3: Thoughts on the Train

On the train again!

We're about to close on an apartment that is only a five-minute walk to work! And it has a spare room! *hint hint, family* The next thing on our "to do" list is to get a mattress and furniture! Luckily we have a washer, a fridge, and a stove/oven already. So we'll get some pots and pans locally and then we're off to Tel Aviv to see what goodies Ikea has!

Also, we were not involved in any way in the bus fire that happened two days ago. We're just fine! 

I thought I'd continue this post with some stream-of-thought bits so you can get an idea of the little things we are thinking about these days.

I need to switch to Celsius. People don't know what I'm talking about when I tell them it's going to be 75 degrees out today...  

 I also need to switch to the metric system. Oy.

I chuckle when the train is packed and everyone is standing and then it jerks forward and everyone is stumbling. People look at me like I'm a weirdo for laughing. Maybe it's rude to chuckle at them? Oops, haha.

Sometimes I think things are way cheaper than they are because the shekel is roughly  3.7 shekels to the dollar and I don't do the math right away in my head. Once we sit down and budget (like we always do), I'll have no buyer's remorse.

I feel excessively attached to the people I have spent some time with in the three weeks I've been here. This is a phenomenon I've never experienced before outside of my family. I was sad when a friend said he was flying to the Czech Republic for six days, and I was sad when Jalene's sister moved back to Canada. I've also developed a special love for Ella. As soon as I see her, I have to hold her. This is also a new thing I literally never feel towards babies (Nathan was the exception. He was my buddy).

There are some absolutely gorgeous views on the commute from the Geppert's house. So many rolling hills.

Young Israelis are beautiful, and a lot of them are soldiers, which means they're all strong.

Some Arab men on the train look so angry. I mean, they look so angry, and it breaks my heart. Orthodox Jewish men have this look on their face look like they are in pain when they are on the train. I have my guesses as to why, but I shouldn't judge. [disclaimer, there are a lot of wonderful, nice, friendly, and super sweet Arab and Jewish men around here. They are some of the most family-oriented people I know.]

No big deal... that guy is holding a giant Machine gun...

Drivers like to honk... A LOT

These early mornings are still hard... It can't be jet lag at this point. It's been three weeks since we've been here. I'm just not a morning person.

Missing my musical friends in Minnesota who were such an inspiration to me all the time.

Missing my family... Wishing I could get to know my soon-to-be sister-in-law.

One time, a kid came on to the train rolling his dad in a wheelchair with a foot in a cast. The kid looked like he could be anywhere from age 7-12. He sat next to me on the handicap seat, smiled, and leaned on me like he knew me. It was kinda cute.

I'm only drinking bottled water and all I think about is BPA and BPS. Israelis consume plastic like crazy. Plastic bags are flying everywhere! They're stuck in trees, caught on bushes, floating down the road...

Transliterations of Hebrew words in English on the road signs have different spelling wherever you go and can't be trusted.

Banks charge fees here up the wazoo.

Phone service is super cheap.

It seems like landlords are prepared for their tenants to be the absolute worst. We have been going over a contract to sign on a place, and some of the stipulations make me think people are terrible to their landlords (arguing every small point, trashing the place, skipping town without paying, etc.).

The Jewish real estate agent from France wearing a velvet qippa, white shirt and black pants, wouldn't shake my hand because I'm a woman. Perhaps it's a caution because at any moment I might be on my period (how would he know?) and thus unclean, which would force him to go through a cleansing ritual, and it's probably a big hassle... *sigh* I understand, but it doesn't mean it makes me feel good.

It is SO easy to eat vegan when out with friends. Every restaurant has at least two or three options (and I mean, good options, not just plain lettuce that tastes like pesticides tossed with a few cherry tomatoes). We've also found a vegetarian/vegan restaurant down a block from where we live.

I'm looking at a Jewish guy who is wearing a prayer shawl under his shirt with the little tzi tzi's hanging down under the seat. I bet those get caught on everything... 

How do men keep qippas (or yamacas) on their heads? Those clips don't look very secure...

The young women across from me on the train are reading scripture. Good idea!

Israel Update #2: Potato Eruption

O

I was making a stir fry while Jalene was making her daughter's baby food in the pressure cooker. She was having a very hard time with the lid, and using her muscles to turn it open when suddenly, POP! The lid flipped off and came flying at me, and bits of steaming hot potato went spewing in every direction. I screamed bloody murder while dodging the flying hot metal disc, convinced that Jalene had been seriously burned.

When everything settled, she only had a few bits of potato in her perfectly styled hair. She stood there holding the handle of the pot, staring at the mess, still wondering what had just happened. I kept asking her if she was okay, but she didn't respond, only stared at it all. It was quite funny, the expression on her face: a mixture of confusion and defeat. Finally she just said, "I don't know how that happened..." And she let me know she wasn't injured.

When we got past the initial shock, we discovered that basically an entire potato was splattered on the ceiling, and potato purée bits were spattered everywhere on the counter, cabinets and some on the opposite wall. Ants seemed to come out of nowhere and began harvesting a potato chunk that had landed on the floor.

So Jalene started cleaning up, having to resort to using a scraper because the potato was somehow sticky. I targeted the ants. And then while cleaning, someone turned the water off. So when she opened the tap, trying to rinse the rag she'd been cleaning with, nothing came out. Poor Jalene was not having a good day. Luckily her sister, Jen, had just arrived a few minutes earlier and took over baby Ella duty. "OH... EM... GEE!" Exclaimed Jen when she saw the damage. Jalene kept saying, "Well, I learned my lesson, that's for sure!"

The water was only off for about 20 minutes. Dustin and I had to leave because we had an appointment at the bank. The potato mush clogged the sink and the two sisters had to go get draino and a plunger and plunge the thing.

It turns out, the pot was not defective, but she forgot to check the temperature gauge, which indicated that it should not be opened yet. There was a lot of conversation and movement going on, which must have distracted her from checking the gauge. So, I learned a valuable lesson today: don't ever try to open a pressure cooker when it's still hot!

Israel Update #1: Snapshots of Our First Week

I'm sitting at the Gepperts' dining room table exhausted from walking. It's been a while since I've put groceries in a backpack. I liked it because I didn't have to use any plastic grocery bags and the frozen peas felt good against my back. The grocery store is only across the street from our friends' fourth floor apartment (lots of stairs). We had to make sure to buy some food before all the stores close for Shabbat.

It's already hot here... and sunny (glad I got new sunglasses. I actually like them this time). It's a nice 72F outside (22C). I'm still jet-lagging, so I'm more tired than usual.

On the train with our new shades, ready to start the day

We hit the ground running... which means we jumped on the apartment search right away. So today is the first evening I've just been able to sit and process. Our friends who I mentioned earlier, Daniel and Jalene Geppert, have been gracious enough to provide a place for us to stay until we find an apartment. I can't express how wonderful it is to have a place to relax, not to mention friends to play board games with. They have been a joy to be around, and are SO generous and hospitable. Also, their baby girl, Ella, is just so cute! I already love her.

Here is a picture of the view from the Gepperts' living room window

Being here makes me miss Matt and Daniela a LOT.

We have done a lot of walking, looking for apartments (looked at four so far), and just seeing the landscape and architecture does something to me: it makes me feel excitement. I'm curious about the people. There is so much variety of skin color and dress. The first time I've ever had to search for an apartment is here in Israel, which is wonderful. I've always dreamed of traveling the world in some sort of anthropological capacity. Dustin is just as excited as I am... maybe even more enthusiastic because he doesn't suffer jet lag half as badly. ha. He's the best.

We went downtown to try to get some things done, like set up a bank account and get new phone numbers and get a train card. When we stepped off the train, it was around 2:30pm and our first priority was food. We stopped and ate the most delicious falafel pitas for 10 shekels each. That is the equivalent of $2.70 each. And they were filling! It made us happy because we can eat healthy for so cheap here. We walked to the bank happy and full and discovered that they closed at 3pm. It was 3:11. Oops! So we went to the cellphone store and they said we needed an Israeli bank account to get a new sim card. Ohp... so then we went and saw an apartment, which was tiny and ridiculously overpriced (thankfully Jalene came with us to help us look at our first apartment and asked good questions). Then we went to the light rail office to get train cards, and all the machines were down--all of them. Apparently it's hard to get things done here. Ha.

It didn't bother me because I still got to walk around Jerusalem and take in all the sights and sounds...

Here we are on the train home after a long day of not getting things done...
Dustin's face in this pic made me laugh so hard!

I feel silly on the train because the beeping sound makes me chuckle. It reminds me of my dog's squeaky toys, or the squeaky rubber chickens. It's not the exact same tone, but it gets me every time. No one else thinks it's funny. Why would they? But this is what I think of when I'm on the train:

We were waiting at a crosswalk and the old man next to me was humming in Middle Eastern semitones. It was very endearing. Another older man was humming similarly at the train station. I feel like people are a bit more free to express themselves here.

One morning we walked by a man in brown leather jacket carrying a giant automatic weapon. He had sunglasses on, so I couldn't read him. Soldiers off duty are required to carry weapons. This was the first time I felt a bit alarmed by it (I'd seen some guy with one of those massive guns chillin' in the movie theater during our last visit. He wasn't in uniform, and was just walking among us in the crowd). I think it was his unreadable sun-glassed face that concerned me, and the fact that he looked a bit older. There was a kid coming towards me on a bicycle, so I hesitated and moved away from the weapon-wielding character abruptly. It probably looked like I was alarmed by the gun. Oh well...

This is different than when we visited for three months. It's a strange feeling, knowing we aren't going home in a few weeks. And yet, this feels like home too. The people we will be working with are all so welcoming. SO welcoming. The friends we made here two years ago were so excited to see us (as we were them) and gave us hugs that made me feel like family.

We attended a two-day staff retreat and they delivered some of the best and most helpful leadership teachings I've ever heard. I might blog more about this later. It gave clarity to some of the issues I've experienced with others in the past, and gave me confidence in the leadership here. Their high-trust leadership style is what I've been looking for in a team, quite hopelessly, actually. These sessions dispelled some of the fears I had developed from the past years of working in ministry. But I think I am ready to get back to it.
I'm going to join my husband and watch a movie and eat dolmas and pitas and hummus(which all taste so much better here)! As they say here when you're off to enjoy the Shabbat, "Shabbat Shalom!"