Life at 11 Ramban

Hello from Jerusalem!! I arrived with my roommates, Lisa and Deana, at the Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv at 1:30pm Israel time. Lisa and I got our bags, but of course, as Deana had to run to the plane in NYC, her bags didn't arrive. The process of getting her bags sent to her at school was complicated due to the attack we had in Jerusalem on Tuesday. I have attached the news article here, but please don't be alarmed- this is VERY rare here, and this doesn't seem to be an organized terrorist attack, but rather an angry reaction from an unstable person.

Our apartment is on Ramban St, which is a GREAT location. We are at ten to fifteen minute walk from ANYWHERE we'd want to go, including the Ben Yehuda area, the Shuk (open-air market), Emek R'faim (the German Colony, an area with lots of great stores and restaurants, and the Reform temple we'll probably go to a lot), and even the Old City! We are about 100 yards from the grocery store, which is called the Super Sol, and about 7 minutes from HUC!! Our apartment is very big by Jerusalem standards, and my bedroom is about twice as big as my bedroom at home! I have a "full" size bed, which is very comfy thanks to the linens that Auntie and Uncle Eddie ordered and had waiting for me at school! I have a little futon in my room, a nightstand/storage thingy, and armoire, and some more shelves and drawers. We have central air conditioning and heating in our apartment, which again, is a Jerusalem rarity. We also have a washer and dryer, BUT, the washer is at LEAST 20 years old (no exaggeration here, I've NEVER seen a washer this old in all of my life). We're figuring out how to use it slowly but surely, and I'm already on my third load of laundry! Our bathroom is interesting, as a) the toilet and shower/sink are in different "rooms", b) it is VERY small but still houses the washer and dryer, c) it is sea foam green!!, and d) the shower head is actually in the middle of the long edge of the shower (hopefully I explained that correctly- it's in the spot where you'd never expect it to be!!). Our kitchen is also interesting, as a) we don't know how to work either the stove or oven, b) our fridge is leaking a little bit, c) it's banana yellow and brown, and d) we are so overwhelmed that we haven't even begun to sort out the dishes and cookware (although it is there!!) Overall, we LOVE the apartment, and are very happy with it. We're meeting our 80-year-old German landlord, Felix, on Sunday, but the only other residents of this building, besides a law firm (if you can believe that), are Felix's brother and his wife (in the apartment downstairs) and Felix's niece and nephew (upstairs)- they have all stopped by to say hi and offer their help!

On our first night in Jerusalem, we left our bags at the apartment and went to Ben Yehuda street for dinner. While sitting at a table outside the restaurant, I ran into Seth Gildenblatt and Josh Adland, friends from home/NFTY- it's a small world after all! That evening, we went to the grocery store for the essentials (read: toilet paper), and went to bed. The next day (Thursday), we headed over to HUC's BEAUTIFUL campus (more on this later) to register with the office. We took a campus tour, met the interns (3rd and 4th year students who live in Jerusalem for the summer to help us adjust and meet people), and met head of student affairs and the dean. We also met a lot of our classmates, which was great. We picked up our cell phones (hurray!!), had lunch a cafe aptly named "Cafe Cafe", went shopping for more household items, joined a few students for a potluck dinner at a student's apartment, and went to the HUC-organized bar night at a bar called "Tuvia's" (this is apparently the "huc bar" and the owner even came to say hi and welcome us there). Today, Friday/Shabbat, we took a group trip organized by HUC to the shuk (open-air market, last time I'll write that in here!) to buy food for Shabbat, etc. I've been plenty of times, but it was fun to go back and buy food and stuff at the shuk- we even got a shuk cart (imagine a pushcart covered with plaid cloth that you would use if you were an old lady- except EVERYONE here uses shuk carts). We also stopped at the grocery store, as they close around 3pm on Fridays and don't open again until Sunday, after Shabbat has ended, and I put away ALL of my clothes and stuff in the drawers in my room-I'm finally unpacked! Tonight, we had a big Shabbat dinner at a student's house, which was attended by at least 20 students, plus some of their spouses/partners/boyfriends/girlfriends/siblings (these are all called SO's by HUC, which means Significant Other- more on this later!). Our potluck dinner was wonderful, and we sang for a few hours after dinner, which I of course love. It was SO weird and interesting to celebrate Shabbat with an entire group of people who all want to be Jewish professionals. It was a great first Shabbat. Tomorrow we're heading to Shabbat morning services at HUC.

We should have internet by the time all of you in the states wake up on Tuesday. I will do my best to have my Vonage phone up and running ASAP, and I will let you know when that is. In the meantime, enjoy the blog, and keep the emails coming. Thanks to everyone for all of your support! Happy 4th of July!!