Challah

Today we are getting ready for our first Shabbat in Jerusalem. We cleaned up the apartment, set out our Shabbat outfits, and then went grocery shopping. We were warned that it gets extremely busy at all shops on Friday, so we decided to hit the grocery store early.

The grocery store was the busiest we have yet seen it, but I'm sure it will get busier as the day progresses. But what was just awesome was the supply of challot. There was heaps of it! In the U.S., Matt and I would often have to buy our challah on Thursday afternoons because the stores would run out of them by Friday morning. Here, there's more than the eye can see. They have them stacked near the bread, on racks, and in huge bins.

Yummy!

The Grocery Store

As per an earlier request by Matt's mom, we just had to write about the grocery store here.

First of all, the one we found and have been using is very convenient as is directly across the street from our school (about a ten minute walk away from our apartment). When we are going to buy heavier items, we take a granny cart with us (the owners of our apartment have one) so we don't have to carry the huge amounts of water we're drinking.

The grocery store is much, much smaller than the huge chain grocery stores in the States and is perhaps closer in size to a standard Trader Joe's. But what is also so great about it is that is filled to the brim with kosher foods. Everything inside is kosher, so we don't have to spend the huge amount of time looking for a hecksher on each and every item that we did in the States.

Since most items in the store have Hebrew labels, we at first found the fruits and vegetables area the most user-friendly. However, we have been branching out and trying new things. Some things are easy to tell what they are from the packaging, like pasta, while others take a bit of guesswork (like pesto).

One surprisingly difficult item to find was butter. It's almost like they hid it because it only comes in very small containers and is not in the usual rectangular boxes we're used to. We've also discovered that Diet Pepsi is called "Pepsi Max" here, which doesn't quite make sense.

There are separate counters to get meat and cheeses but only Jean has been brave enough out of the three of us to try that out so far.

However, we have found sliced turkey, mini-pizzas, pitas, pareve bread, orange juice, Coke, and lots of fruits and veggies so far. Our big find for today at the grocery store was Sweet & Low...it's definitely the small things that make the difference.

Here's a picture of our grocery store.

A Puzzle

Jean's friend, Nahum, has given her a Torah (Bible) based puzzle to solve. Matt (who usually hates puzzles) and I (who love them) have decided that since this is such a fun puzzle we both get to help her solve it.

Nahum started the puzzle by telling Jean that somewhere in the Torah there is a dagesh-aleph combination. The goal of the puzzle is to figure out where it is, why it is there, and what it means. Nahum gave her six weeks to solve the puzzle.

(For those of you who want to try this puzzle yourselves, don't read the rest of this entry.)

Challenged, Jean, Matt, and I sat down and started to lay out what we knew. We started with "dagesh." Since "dagesh" is not one of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, we decided to assume it must be a special letter or some sort of extra mark in a letter. "Aleph" is the first word of the Hebrew alphabet, so this combination might be part of a word. But there are thousands of words in the Torah; where should we start looking?

I'm not sure I like admitting this, but Matt started with Google. (Is that cheating?) The dagesh, apparently, is the little dot that is often found in a few Hebrew letters, such as bet and kaf. Would that mean that a dagesh-aleph is an aleph with a dot? Unheard of!

So where can it be found and what does it mean? After some more thorough Internet searching, we found that the dagesh-aleph combination can be found only in Parshat Emor (Leviticus 23:17). Apparently, a dagesh in an uncommon letter can mean that the letter is sounded twice.

So we've found where it is and what to do with it. Yet we have no idea what it means. Although the puzzle remains incomplete, we all feel exhilarated at the challenge. How can we find out what it means? Who can we ask? Where shall we look? I'm sure we'll come up with something.

In Which I Befriend the Indian Army

We were taking a break in the Old City after having just made our second shopping trip in the awesome Moriah: The Jewish Media Superstore and we saw a huge contingent of men dressed in what looked like U.S. Navy summer white uniforms. Upon closer inspection by yours truly, I determined that these were Indian military personnel.

One of the soldiers asked, "Do you speak English?" and I replied in the affirmative. We chatted for a minute and he told me that his entire cohort of exclusively male soldiers was "just visiting" Israel. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. How nice, a vacation for the entire army!

Quite a few of the Indians found female Israeli soldiers with whom they wanted to have their photos taken. It was fun to watch. Speaking of female IDF soldiers, I don't think I've shared this fantastic gallery of pictures of female Israeli soldiers.

What was also interesting about these soldiers, besides that they filled up the Old City, was that as they walked in pairs in a nice formation, about a fifth of the pairs held hands. I can't imagine U.S. Navy sailors doing that, can you?

Yummy Shwarma

I never thought I'd say it, but I now like shwarma. Shwarma is a Middle-Eastern specialty which is basically a sandwich that consists of a pita, hummus, Israeli-style salad, and the key ingredient - chicken or lamb shaved from a rotating pole.

Now, I admit up front, the spinning meat does not look appetizing. In the past, I've seen it in a number of store windows and I've never seen one that doesn't make me think grease.

I've also even tried shwarma in the States. And, well, it made my tummy hurt because there was so much grease in the chicken.

Today, though, an Orthodox friend of Jean's (Nahum) took us all on a wonderful tour of all the "good places" in Jerusalem. It was really awesome because he continually imparted insights and information for the entire six hours we all hung out together.

Anyway, back to the shwarma. He insisted that he knew the best shwarma place. This, from our past experiences with shwarma, did not titillate us as was his intention. And, since Matt and I had seen a sign for a deli just a few feet back, we tried to ditch the shwarma idea and just grab a deli sandwich.

This plan of action Nahum absolutely refused, as did the guy behind the shwarma counter who happened to speak perfect English. Stuck, Matt and I were forced into trying what Nahum assured us was "the best shwarma ever." So, we ordered shwarma with shaved chicken, pita, hummus, carrot Israeli salad, and (which I didn't know until I received my shwarma) French fries stuck inside.

Hesitantly (and with a bottle of water as back up), we tried it. Yummy! Totally unlike the shwarma we have had before. Not only did I not get a tummy ache, I'm starting to get cravings for the stuff.

Now Matt and I just have to remember which little shop in the Old City it was....I think we could find it again. Maybe we'll use our lack of navigational skills to convince Nahum to take us back there so we can learn so much more from Nahum on the walk to and from the "best ever" shwarma place.

Uzi on Aisle Three

We were just innocently shopping at the grocery store today when we nearly bumped into a plain-clothed young man carrying an Uzi. He was one of several young men carrying Uzis that were guarding a youth group that had stopped off at the store to grab some snacks.

On our travels around town today, we actually saw quite a few young people with machine guns. We've heard you get used to seeing them, but it's still a bit unnerving. I'd say that it's not something you see every day, but I guess, here in Israel, it is.

Chinese Food

We found it! We are so happy! There is a wonderful little Chinese food place (it's not quite a restaurant, but you can sit outside and eat there) that's just around the corner from our current apartment.

The food was super yummy, it's kosher, and it's close. What more can one ask for?! Needless to say, we'll be stopping by there often.

Drinking

A little over five years ago, I gave up drinking soda. It has been a wonderful thing and I am really glad that I did it. So, in the States, I normally drink ice water most of the day and allow myself an ice tea or lemonade when I go out to eat.

Surprisingly, both in London and in Israel, I've been having trouble finding stuff to drink. For water, it took me a while to finally discover that "mineral water" is much better tasting that the "non-mineral water." Thankfully, I've finally found some water! Now I just have to schlep it from the grocery store in huge quantities. (I'm still working on the ice part of my ice-water drink.)

For my fun drink, I've been exploring. In London, I stumbled across pineapple juice with was just scrumptious! However, once in Israel, I haven't been able to find any. So, for the first few days, I've been drinking orange juice here, but that just doesn't taste right with every meal.

Today, I found it. At a shiur (study session) today at CY, they brought in some hummus and dips and some pita for us to eat. Along with the food came Coke, Sprite, and a lemon-mint drink. Still not drinking soda, my only choice was the lemon-mint. Yummy! It is sweet, but not too sweet and is very refreshing. Matt and I hit the store on our way home today and picked up two cartons of it...I can't wait for it to get cold!

Financial Troubles

One of the first things we attempted to do upon our arrival in Jerusalem was to withdraw shekels from the ATM. We've been told that the best ways to bank for our year here is to use credit cards and withdraw as much as possible from the ATM.

So, we went to an ATM near our flat and attempted to withdraw the maximum amount allowed - 2500 shekels. The ATM thought for a minute and then rejected our request. We tried several other ATMs in the vicinity and finally felt dejected enough that we gave up and just found a restaurant that accepted our Visa. Unfortunately, the restaurant we found most rapidly was an Italian restaurant - ugh, we would've loved to had a nice meat meal after several days in London of eating pasta and/or vegetarian.

So, I called the bank when we returned to our flat and found out that 2500 shekels (which is about $560) is above our daily withdrawal amount of $500 so that's why we were rejected. Tomorrow morning, we'll try again, maybe start with 2000 shekels and work down from there.

Topless in the Park

It's been quite warm and sunny in London while we've been here. Thus, there have been many people sunbathing in the wonderful parks of this great city. However, it is quite common for British women to not wear bikini tops but instead to simply sunbathe in their bras. I was really surprised to see this and even more surprised to see how common this is. Often, one will see a woman just taking off her shirt or the top of her sundress to strip down to her waist to get some color. Even though there's physically no difference in that which is covered by a bikini top or a bra, I'd be less disconcerted if, prior to getting some sun, British women planned ahead and put on a swimsuit.

Jet Lag

I visited Beijing just over a year ago and adapted to the huge time difference quickly for the first couple of days but then by my third night there, I was up all night long and could not sleep at all. Unfortunately, the same thing happened to me here and last night was just awful except I did finish a book I'd been reading. This afternoon, I napped for about three hours and now it's half past midnight and am fortunately starting to feel tired. I hope I don't end up just taking a few hour "nap" and then waking up.

Harrod's Bathroom

In the true spirit of Laura, my sister-in-law, I decided that my adventure at the Harrod's department store would not be complete until I had inspected the ladies' restroom. (Laura visits nearly every ladies' restroom and is always on the lookout for the good ones.)

Before I had actually stepped inside Harrod's, I had heard that Harrod's was upscale, but I had no idea quite how posh it could be. ("Posh" is the new British slang word I've picked up today.) Literally, there were three entire, huge rooms just for purses. I was gobsmacked (another British slang word, this one means "astonished")! However, luckily for Matt, I remembered my overfull suitcases and decided just to admire and not actually purchase any of the beautiful handbags. But the temptation!

Anyway, back to the bathroom. So, I traveled up the "Egyptian escalator" (seemed like it belonged in the Luxor hotel in Las Vegas rather than a department store, but posh is posh) to the fourth floor. Matt and I decided that we'd each check out a bathroom. Before we split up, Matt made sure I had some change in case there was a bathroom attendant (something that hadn't even occurred to me).

As I entered the women's bathroom, I was ready for super posh. Unfortunately, I was completely under-impressed. There was no ante-room, no couch, no relaxation spot. The bathroom opened directly up to a bank of sinks. On the right were little strange cubbies that had stools, a tiny counter, and a mirror to sit down and admire yourself. On the left was a bank of toilets. The toilet stalls themselves weren't very fancy; the door was nice but the actual stall was just as small and cramped as all the other British bathrooms I've been in so far. And there was a pile of toilet paper on a little shelf just to make sure you didn't run out. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad there was extra toilet paper, but it wasn't displayed in a posh way.

The sinks were nice, but nothing super fancy. The only thing unusual was the soap dispenser, which was a small canister that you had to swivel upside down for the soap to come out. Overall, not much to write home about. Sorry, Laura!

On the other hand, Matt had a different experience. He later asked me what I thought about the water fountain in the bathroom. Water fountain?! That's not fair! He said they had cups at the water fountain so you could take some water to drink. He also said there was cologne. Then he told me there was an attendant, but that he didn't do anything.

What's with that?! How can the guys' bathroom be better than the gals' bathroom? Something is wrong here!

The Noobs

In general, Matt and I are relatively experienced travelers. We've both traveled rather extensively within the U.S. and have visited both Eastern Europe and Canada. We enjoy traveling and consider ourselves pretty good at it.

However, yesterday we had an extremely noobish (novice) day. We didn't get pick pocketed or anything like that. Instead, we just made silly mistakes.

We should have known our day was going to be like this, when we made our first noobish mistake in the morning. We started our outing by getting on the wrong tube. The London Underground, or tube, is nearly exactly like the Metro in Washington D.C. Yet we still managed to get on the wrong green line. No matter, the problem was easily fixed by just hopping off the tube and catching another one. We just laughed at our mistake.

Then we went to the Churchill Museum and War Cabinet Rooms. By the way, this is a super cool museum that we both highly recommend. Anyway, we were starving by the end of the tour and stopped at the little cafe that is located within the underground bunker, in what was the switch room during WWII. After we were done with our tuna sandwich, we decided to be nice and bus our own table. There was a trash can in the back, so Matt took the tray over to it. Then, without me being able to catch him, he poured the entire tray into the trash. There was a huge ka-clunk-da-klink-ka-klink noise as the contents of the tray went into the trash can. I yelled (as quietly as I could) that there had been a plate and a fork on the tray! We both looked at each other. I'm still laughing at Matt for throwing away the dishes!

Unfortunately for me, it was my turn next to make the noobish move. Following the bathroom signs in one museum, I nearly walked into the men's room (I had the door completely open but then noticed a guy inside, ugh!). And at another museum, I reached for an interesting brochure only to find that it was safely behind glass. It was my turn to make a clunking sound as my hand hit the glass and everyone turned to look at me.

In a way, I'm kind of glad our day of being noobish is over. Today, I hope we leave our noobish ways behind us and become once again the seasoned travelers we think we are.

Fire and Ice

I'm beginning to think that the one thing I'm going to miss most is... ice! I am a caffeine addict and my source is soda. I love an ice-cold Coca Cola or Dr. Pepper in a large glass with lots of ice. Such a luxury is not quite possible here in London. When I ask for ice with my beverage in a restaurant I get approximately four pieces. When I'm in the hotel, there's no ice machine and the local grocery store has no ice for sale. I've been spoiled and am going to have to get used to less than freezing Coke.

In another arena that shows just how much I've been spoiled is cigarette smoke. Being from California, where it's illegal to think about smoking, I rarely smell cigarette smoke anymore. Here, on the other side of the Atlantic, there's a more liberal attitude to smoking and you'll encounter individuals smoking indoors in public places where they'd be tarred and feathered in California. I'll just have to get used to it!

Today's Travels

We got a late start today (see post below) but we had a ton of fun! We saw the War Cabinet Museum, Westminster Abbey, Parliament, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and went to Golders Green and had a fantastic dinner at a South American cuisine kosher restaurant!

Hey look kids, there's Big Ben, and there's Parliament!

I did not know that I had a Glatt Kosher Butcher and Delicatessen in London!

After Landing

When we were in the taxi yesterday, one of my first thoughts was that we were a pretty long way away from home and that we wouldn't be headed in a westerly direction for almost another year. It was a strange thought and a sad one, too.

It's amazing how quickly one forgets the uncomfortable-ness of air travel. Here I am, in the hotel, just a day after two back-to-back exhausting flights and half a day spent waiting in the airport and the trauma of so much travel has disappeared and its only remnant is a not-so-established sleep schedule.

After the Tower of London and lunch yesterday, Jen and I checked into our room and fell fast asleep for about a four hour nap. Then, we woke up and got online for awhile and went to the grocery store for this morning's breakfast and had dinner. Now, it's 9 a.m. and I've been up for an hour but Jen's still snoozing away. Today's plan, should Jen choose to eventually wake up, is to take the Tube to Westminster and check out nearby places like Parliament, the Cabinet War Rooms, and the Westminster Abbey. Tonight we're going to hit the Golders Green neighborhood, which is where all the kosher food is, apparently. Kosher Chinese food, yay!

Just a second ago, Jen arose and I told her I was blogging about her not waking up but since that brief interlude, she's drifted back to sleep.

The Printed Sweatshirt

This may sound like a farce, but honestly, it really happened.

First of all, I should share that Matt refused to bring any shirts that had writing of any kind on them. He said he didn't want to wear anything that shouted a brand, like Tommy Hilfiger or Abercrombie. So he only packed plain shirts and urged me to do the same.

For the most part, I did do the same. However, when I chose my outfit for the plane, I grabbed one of my most comfy shirts which happens to say "Tommy, USA." I hadn't realized it said "USA" but I wasn't bothered about the "Tommy" until out of 100 people on our tour at the Tower of London (seriously, there were that many people, it was crazy), the tour leader said, "Hey, Tommy!" to me as we left one of the buildings. Has no one ever seen this brand before?

Matt thought it was hilarious that I had been called "Tommy" and it reconfirmed his decision not to wear such shirts. Then we went out for dinner.

It was already 10 p.m. here when we decided to go for dinner so we went to a little restaurant around the corner from us (we ordered vegetarian). Since it's a bit chilly outside, Matt threw on his sweatshirt, which is labeled "Aggies," a nickname for the university he had attended many, many years ago. He had reasoned that no one would recognize the university from this one word. How wrong he was.

We literally walked around a single block to get to and from dinner. On the way to the restaurant, one guy from what looked nearly like a small gang of young adults (have I spent too much time in L.A.?) yelled "UC Davis!!!!!" How on Earth did the guy make the connection?

Once we had arrived at the restaurant, we ordered and then sat down. When Matt went up to grab some napkins, a guy in line asked him if his sweatshirt was from A&M University, which apparently has the same nickname. Matt said no, but they guy told him he was from Texas and shook Matt's hand. How odd that in a matter of five minutes, Matt had already had two experiences with his sweatshirt.

There was soon to be a third. After finishing dinner, we headed back to our hotel. Not five feet out of the restaurant, however, we nearly ran into a young man who was wearing a shirt that said "Texas A&M, Aggies" on it. I know, it sounds impossible, but it's true. The guy yelled out, "A&M!!!" and hugged Matt. Seriously, he hugged him. When Matt told him it was UC Davis and not A&M the guy was still excited and said, "Close enough!" and patted Matt's back.

What a strange evening. Matt says he might continue to wear the sweatshirt and pretend he's from Texas so he has more friends :)

The First to Eat

The greatest thing about ordering kosher meals on the plane (besides being able to actually eat), is that thse special meals are typically served first and, when you're in row 51 on a 747, you might end up eating a long time before everyone else. Last night's dinner was great on the plane.

I've had a bunch of kosher meals on planes in the past few years while we've kept kosher, but, for the most part they've been dairy meals of some sort of pasta. Tonight's meal was a very exciting meat meal - a nice chicken breast along with rice mixed with corn and peas. In addition, there was hummus, a Pareve chocolate mousse, and some sort of pastry to dip into the hummus. Everything was fantastic!

In the moring we had a kosher breakfast that wasn't as great but, hey, they tried. Thanks British Airways!

Prayer on the Plane

While flying east and crossing over so many time zones so quickly, the time for morning, afternoon, and evening prayers come up very quickly. I did pray on the plane and was thankfully facing east while sitting in my seat. Taking the “great circle route” between New York and London meant that we flew close to the southern tip of Greenland so while local time on the plane well into the flight was about 11 p.m., it was still almost light outside and not quite night yet.

Nonetheless, I'm informed that those that live at higher latitudes, especially where the sun doesn't set, utilize time for sunset at other locations (i.e. for those in Alaska, the Seattle times are used) so even though it was still not dark at 11 p.m. where we were on the plane, it was time to pray and so I did.

Traveler's Prayer

May it be Your will, Lord our G-d and G-d of our ancestors, to guide us in peace, to sustain us in peace, to lead us to our desired destination in health and joy and peace, and to bring us home in peace. Save us from every enemy and disaster on the way, and from all calamities that threaten the world. Bless the work of our hands. May we find grace, love and compassion in Your sight and in the sight of all who see us. Hear our supplication, for You listen to prayer and supplication. Praised are You, Lord who hears prayer.

I added the Traveler's Prayer (Tefilat Ha-Derech) to my Maariv prayers, which I said in the airport. I felt very self-conscious standing up and quietly reciting the evening prayers to myself. I have read morning, afternoon, or evening prayers at the airport or on a plane before but never have I fully tried to stand and bow at the appropriate times. It was quite difficult to maintain an appropriate level of concentration with the numerous conversations going on around me and the regular interruptions of the loud speaker with the regular "This is a security announcement..." telling us to maintain control of our baggage. :(

Well, perhaps in the morning at JFK I'll have a chance to find a quiet place to pray.

Using a Laptop

I wasn't much of a laptop user until a week ago when I received Jen's hand-me-down laptop. Here at the airport, sitting next to an electrical outlet, with free wifi beaming directly to me, I feel so sophisticated! I love being so very connected and enjoy the unlimited access to information I need. Tomorrow, when we're stuck at JFK for nearly 10 hours, we'll definitely pay the wifi charge and do some work while we're there. What fun!

When Will I Drive Again?

48 hours from now we'll be on our plane to New York. Once that happens, it might be a long time before I'm behind the wheel of a car. Since the age of 16, I haven't gone very long without driving. The longest time I've gone without driving was probably our trip to Eastern Europe and that was only 16 days. I'm sure I won't be driving for weeks, if not months. We might rent a car during the holidays to see the country but for the most part, we'll be walking and taking taxis to get where we need to go.

I was thinking about hitting the open road on Monday and driving for a few hours just for the heck of it. But, gas prices being what they are, the lack of time I have left before we leave, and the possibility of even getting a nail in a tire (thus causing me to have to deal with that on such a short time schedule) leaves me no option but to only drive for essential needs, such as another trip to the post office to mail another box of books (although I haven't bought a book in over three days!)

My Incredible Shrinking Wallet

The items in my wallet are disappearing as we get close to the point when we leave. I've eliminated a bunch of junk I just don't need and am down to the item's I'll take with me to Israel as well as a few things I might need until Monday night. What's left: two Visa cards, ATM card, driver's license, and business cards (since Israeli security seems to love them).

What's left but going away on Monday: Costco card, AAA card, and Macy's card. What disappeared last week: calling card, three library cards, Blockbuster card, Staples Rewards card, and Supercuts coupon (OK, I just put that back in since I am planning on getting my hair cut pretty short sometime early Monday since it might be a few days until I can find a place for a haircut in Israel).

Hebrew Cell Phones

Our Israeli cellular phones arrived via FedEx on Friday and they're just so cool - they are typical Nokia phones but on the number keys are printed Hebrew letters (i.e. instead of ABC above the number 2, we have Daled, Hey, and Vav [number three has Aleph, Bet, and Gimel because Hebrew is read from right to left so the number two key is the second key from the right]). I tried to take a photo but my camera couldn't focus at such a close range. Sorry!

We rented our phones from an outfit called, of all things Israel Phones! They have an office in the U.S. and were able to ship us our phones before we left, complete with our 10 digit Israeli cell phone numbers! Thanks to Jean for the suggestion!

It's No Appalachian Emergency Room

Ah, the joys of the American system of health care and its associated costs. A while ago we applied for Israeli health insurance which allows us to utilize the Israeli clinic system and provides full benefits, much as you'd find in an American HMO. The cost? $365 for each of us - for an entire year! Yes folks, for one dollar a day we're fully insured. This annual cost is far below what we'd each have to pay if we had our own (non-work sponsored) health insurance in the U.S.A. What's wrong with our system?!