Day One

After an eleven hour flight on a full plane and nearly two whole hours of sleep, I arrived this morning in Israel. I was pretty dazed but managed to make it through passport and customs and claim my bags, change some dollars to sheckels, get a pretty lousy and expensive cup of coffee, find a pay phone, and call my contact person, Michelle, to let her know I was on my way.



I think most of you already know this, but I am in Israel by myself this summer to study at Pardes, a sort-of yeshiva. More on that at another time. Since I'm here on my own, I made arrangements to sublet a studio apartment about 5 minutes walk from Pardes from a very nice American living in Israel. Her name is Lisa, and she is a human rights advocate. She's doing some kind of professional development course in the UK this summer, which is why she is subletting. Anyway, Michelle is her very nice neighbor, and she let me into the apartment. But I'm getting ahead of myself.



First, I had to find my way from the airport to Jerusalem. I had been advised that a shared taxi, or sherut, was the way to go. I found one, but quickly learned that it doesn't quite work the way I expected. First, the driver refused to leave until he had enough people to make the trip worthwhile in his estimation. For quite some time, it was just me and this very nice couple, and the driver kept haranguing us, asking where everyone else was. We kept assuring him that we had stopped to get bags, change money, etc. and that there really weren't swarms of people just behind us--we, in fact, had been at the end of the exiting passengers. He seemed to take this very personally!



Finally, after waiting about twenty minutes, with us asking every five minutes when we would leave and being told, "in five minutes," he managed to round up three other passengers and finally decided to go. The time crunch was making me nervous, though, as it was getting towards 11 am, and most of the stores in Jerusalem close early Friday afternoon. I was worrying that I wouldn't be able to buy any food or anything until Sunday if he didn't step on it.



Once we got under way, I tried to enjoy the beauty around me, but I got pretty motion sick pretty quickly. Jerusalem is very beautiful and very, very hilly. But I got a full tour, as all five other passengers were dropped off before me--I was the last stop. The driver let me out at my address, 21 Yehuda Street, in the neighborhood called Talpiyot. The only problem was, I was over an hour later than planned, and Michelle was nowhere to be seen. Truth be told, I couldn't even find #41 for a moment and had my first real panic.



But here's the funny part--someone then stopped me for directions! Poor woman. She was, needless to say, disappointed. I could barely tell her I couldn't help in my sad Hebrew. But she quickly found another option, as a very nice young woman speaking on a cell phone passed us. Once she had sent the first lost soul on her way, she helped me find #41, drag my bags into the courtyard, find Michelle's very nice note, and then call Michelle on her cell phone. Two minutes later, Michelle appeared (she lives two doors down) and gave me my key, a quick orientation to the unfamiliar appliances, directions to the nearest grocery stores, and an invitation to Shabbat lunch tomorrow.

Once in, I set up my computer, emailed home, and then set off for the grocery store. What followed was an exercise in humilation and education which I will perhaps elaborate upon another time (all the labels are in HEBREW!), but after some confusion and aimless wandering, I managed to secure some expensive provisions, shlep them home, and have an initial Skype conversation with Matthew and Miri, though our connection wasn't great.

Well, most of this seems very practical in nature--the challenges of getting adjusted to a strange country where you only speak a bit of the language. So, what is it like to be in Israel, though?

I'm not sure I know how to answer the question yet--it still feels very surreal. It feels both utterly foreign and somehow very familiar. It's amazing to see so many flavors of Jews in one place, especially as they aren't "diluted" into a much larger general population. It's weird to understand enough Hebrew to get the gist of most conversations but never understand completely and be almost useless when it comes time to answer.

It also just feels strange to be half way across the world. But exciting. My goal is to stay open to new experiences and to soak in as much as I can. To try to roll with the punches a little, which isn't always easy for me. I'll sign off now--time for a shower and to get ready for Shabbat. With love from Jerusalem--