Getting here and our first week in Israel....

So we’ve arrived…. And yes, to all those who have sent emails and messages asking whether we’re settling in, yes, slowly but surely things are starting to get a bit more organized… but let me start at the beginning.

As many of you know, we were supposed to leave for Israel on Wednesday, November 19^th. The night before our planned departure, Gerrit got news that his sister was going to the hospital the next day to have her baby early, as there were some concerns with his heart beat at her regular check up. We were rather worried, and decided to stick around for an extra couple of days to make sure she and the baby were alright…. Baby Jonathan came early Thursday morning, and after a short NICU stay and a slightly bumpy start, we were able to visit with the newest member of the family on Friday and even got to hold him (see photo of Gerrit charming his new nephew)! Both mom and baby were doing great when we saw them, and we were able to leave, relieved, on Saturday evening. The advent of Jonathan also saved us from a very chaotic last 24 hours in Canada…. Had we left on Wednesday as planned, we would have barely been able to get through all the last minute packing and organizing. As it was, we were busy the entirety of the extra 3 days that we stayed for.

So late Saturday evening, we loaded our suitcases into the airport limo through the foot of snow on our driveway, bundled up in coats, scarves and gloves and were off on the big adventure. After a blissfully uneventful 12 hour flight (the scary landing at the end of our honeymoon was more in flight excitement than I care for frankly), we arrived at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv. It was just after 5pm local time when we got here, and the sun had set. As Gerrit got the paperwork figured out for our car rental, I stood outside their office in the parking lot with out 5 suitcases, 2 laptops and 2 carry on bags… and suddenly, it hit me: I was standing outside in just my jeans and top, no coat, no mits… not even a sweater or fleece, and it was pleasant! What a contrast in climates! My next shock came when the rental car showed up. It was a tiny compact, a Hyundai Getz. I looked from the two trolleys full of luggage, to the car and back again and said no way is it all going to fit!! Gerrit felt we should at least give it a try. Can you believe, with the rear seat down, we got 5 suitcases, 2 laptops and one carry on in there!! And the 2 of us still fit comfortably in the front, with just a small backpack on my lap! I was very impressed; this breadbox of a vehicle got us and our possession home with only a slight struggle on the uphill drive to Jerusalem.

The Jerusalem neighbourhood we are renting our 2 bedroom apartment in is called the German Colony. The major street that runs through it is called Emek Rafaim . It is a mini city within the city: the street is lined with a number of restaurants and boutiques and also features a gym with swimming pool, a dance studio, several grocery stores, a bakery, a post office, several florists, a hardware store, dry cleaner etc… all of the essentials of daily life, no more than 500m away! This photo is of the corner of Emek Rafaim and our street, called Masaryk St.

That first night, with the help of a rented GPS system, we found the German Colony without getting lost (a stark contrast to our night time misadventures in several of our European destination during the honeymoon – the difference being we had no GPS). We got into our apartment without issue, parked the car, got some basic bed stuff and toiletries unpacked and headed to dinner at one of the restaurants in our neighbourhood. Thing seemed off to a smooth start.

On our first day in Israel, Gerrit, who is not at all a morning person, got up around 7am, showered, went out to get the house keys copied at the local hardward shop and even came back with some breakfast stuff, all before I woke up! After breakfast, he was off to work and I stayed at home to tackle the unpacking and cleaning. I soon discovered that the apartment hadn’t been cleaned by our landlord at all!! As it has been unoccupied since April, everything has a 7 month layer of dust on it. Furthermore, it also became quickly evident that the previous tenant was a bit of a slob, as underneath the dust, there is a layer of grime, grease and hair! Yuck. Add to this the abundance of miscellaneous junk found in all our cupboards and storage areas (for instance, I have a collection of Tupperware where most of the lids and containers do not fit together, 4 sets of teacups and saucers, 4 sets of plates and bowls, a drawer full of assorted cuttlery, but no drinking glasses, a pressurized soda making contraption, several old speakers and DVD players, a radio from the 40s, enough wire hangers to start a dry cleaning business with, two large model plane building sets, a pair of old work boots, an assortment of stained and stale smelling pillows…. You get the picture!). Basically, I have my work cut out for me!

I spent the next few days trying to make sense of it all… and I’m still at it, one week later! Basically every time I want to put something away, I first need to sort through the contents of that area, throw half of it out, clean the rest, then clean the storage space proper, and then I can unpack the item we brought (and this is just the content of our 5 suitcases, we haven’t received out air cargo shipment yet). See photo of our kitchen in progress! My first week here was also marred by exhaustion and jet lag… which have now turned into a full head cold. Between the honeymoon colds and this one, I’m starting to wonder whether my body likes to travel!? Oh, and by the way, Gerrit’s early bird ways lasted only a couple days and he’s back to sleeping in as long as he can before heading to work every day.

Work wise, Gerrit is doing really well: he comes home enthousiastic about his day most nights! This is great encouragement for me, as his excitment helps me to keep plugging away at the disaster that is the apartment.. Frankly my early eagerness to get it all cleaned up is waning, one week later.... As for my work, between being sick, and trying to dig us out from the grime and junk, I have not yet had an opportunity to pursue my contacts. It is on my agenda for the next couple of days, to at least get the ball rolling and get out of here a bit.

One funny thing that you may not know about Israel is how their weekends work: things shut down by about lunch time on Friday (and when I say shut down, I mean completely, streets are dead and deserted, you can’t even get a cup of coffee somewhere) and on the Israeli side of town, don’t reopen till late evening on Saturday night, once the Jewish Shabbat is over. On the Palestinian side of things, they have their holy day on Friday, and thus on Saturday their shops and market stalls are open again, both in the Old City and East Jerusalem (their side of town). People who work office jobs basically have Friday and Saturday off for their weekend, and then Sunday is a regular week day, making the work week Sunday to Thursday. On our first weekend here, we spent a lazy Friday morning in the apartment (it was the first and thus far only day that it was grey and rainy outside), then went driving around town a little to get further acquainted with the roads and areas. Things were completely deserted! On Saturday, we had an amazing sightseeing adventure involving views of the Dead Sea, the Mountain of Olives and the Old City…. But I will have to describe this in my next post, and this is getting rather long and besides, I need to save something for later.

For now, Shalom from Israel, with the first week under our belts!

Tereza (& Gerrit)

Top five moments of the week

1. Our Saturday sight seeing adventures around Jerusalem – stay tuned!
2. Waking up to beautiful sunshine almost every day
3. Making our first full dinner in the apartment… starting to feel more like home
4. Walking around outside without a coat mid day
5. Eating at Luciana’s Italian Restaurant just down the street, one of the best Italian restaurants I’ve ever eaten at! Yummy!
   

Bottom five of the week

1. Feeling blah/having a cold our first week here
2. Sticker shock at the grocery store, is food ever expensive here
3. Weird power outage… 3 times in 30 minutes, with one light bulb exploding in the process and the main heated floor no longer working now =(
4. Finding anti-nerve gas poisoning and anti-anthrax meds in the old first aid kit here, talk about a scary reality!
5. No heat, little hot water on the first day…. Solar water heaters just don’t make enough water for Gerrit-sized showers