The Jerusalem Hotel (my apartment)
WUJS may be over, but the tradition of communal living and mooching live on!
Our new apartment is fantastic, and everyone agrees so whole heartedly that they have virtually moved in. No, not quite, but we have had quite a few people stay over. There's been Petr, Brian, two of Brian's friends who I entertained while he drank with Petr (whoopee) and who were really very nice, Naomi, Juliet and Evan. Josh and I have even managed to be in the apartment at the same time, something that didn't seem possible the first week we moved in. Josh was in a pretty scary bus crash when he was traveling to Arad for WUJS check-out. Very grisly stuff and I'm glad he's ok except for a gash in his chin that I get to pour anti-septic on while he leans awkwardly over the tub and invariably gets the yellow liquid all over his back and pooled in his collar bone.
Petr has a great love of walking and exploring, which is contagious. It turns out my new neighborhood is perfect for little excursions. There is about one shul (synagogue) per 5 apartments, all either picturesque or so ugly you can't not stop to appreciate them. On our walks we take pictures of exciting apartments, little shuls, hasidic youth playing basketball, particularly ugly cats and pretty doors, the little touches on the neighborhood that date back over a hundred years. It's been so hot during the day, though recently it's cooling down, that these walks are done at night, which make them particularly fun. We once ran into a large group of South African dairy farmers ("We milk the cows" we were told by one of the stragglers), and on another night we happened past a first floor window that was wide open and just inside was an orthodox couple pracitcing the first mitzvah (go forth and multiply), an interesting note, the kippah was on.
Petr, Josh, and I took a daytime walk to the Temple Mount the other day. Visiting times are pretty strict and I went in skirt and large scarf to look respectable as well as carried a passport to get me through security, none of which was needed. It was so beautiful up there, and huge! I had no idea the area was so big. I went up with my family 10 years ago, when you could still go into the mosque and the Dome of the Rock, which are now closed off to non-muslims. The three of us were surprised by the friendly atmosphere and the beauty and spent as long as visitor time lasted to explore the whole area.
I head back to America in just a few days, 3 to be exact. It's going to be an intense two week visit packed full; In New York I have graduate school orientation and hanging out with Shira, her finacee Mike, and Asher, then over to Chicago where I have to pack up the last 12 years of my life, then a trip to Cleveland to see my new "home." And I'm going to try to see some friends in each city. All this with incredible amounts of jet lag. I'm excited though, I'm a bit burned out from Israel and a little time at home for the first time in almost 8 months sounds soooooo good. Like an emotional bubble bath. Myabe I'll come back all refreshed?
Still no volunteering in sight. The YMCA just doesn't know how much I want to work for them, or don't care. Israel you frustrate me so much! FREE labor I scream, FREE. If I don't have it figured out by the time I leave on wednesday then I am goign to try to babysit instead and actually make money. I need to get me some kiddies to play with and fast.
So, next post will either be written when I'm in America, perhaps discussing my impressions of Teachers College, Columbia, and scary NY, NY. Either that or I will be writing once I get back on the 28th about how nice it is to be back in a country where everyone pushing and shoving you is Jewish.
Goodbye WUJS, Shalom Nachlaot
In reference to my last post: It was a cat. Somehow a cat got stuck in our building and decided to take out it's anger on our doormat. We didn't realize the cat was there until the whole building began to smell like Zoo and then we came home to the vicious feline itself hissing next to our door. At some point it got let out, because its smell and gracious gifts have gone.
And so have I, gone that is. WUJS is over and changes are happening all over.
I spent the last Shabbat and week in Arad, visiting the mall and bar that make up my desert experience along with the people I shared it with. It's strange that the last week people seemed less friendly than ever, everyone quiet at the last concert and not even as lively as I remember at the last Shabbat dinner I was forced to face. Our little group, not intact, went to the Dead Sea for our last Shabbat outing. Graduation night was excellent though. Everyone dressed up and went to go get our diplomas (which I don't think many people actually received because they skipped too many classes). First were speeaches; self-involved and business-oriented Alon's speech, sweet and stuttering Jonathan, then Zahava the Ulpan wench all in purple (but this time in teal with her usual pruple glasses) told us something in Hebrew, and then Tugs threw as all with a very sincere, not at all cloying speech. I put together a presentation for PSJ which went over pretty well, people roughly laughed at the right times and no one was hurt. There was a hysterical movie put together by Meghan, and one put together by the staff, and then a montage which seemed to capture bad photographs of just about everyone.
So I'm a bit sad, or lonely. I'm happy WUJS is over, even that week back reminded me of how annoyed I am by the lack of organization and their hiring practices "Do you have no idea what you're doing? Come work for WUJS!" There was a great PSJ talk-back session and you know Jonathan was always trying.
SO NOW. I've just moved to an apartment in Nachlaot. It's a neighborhood made up of the very religious and the very derelict. It's "up and coming" so it has not yet come, so there's a lot of young people and you can find a handful of Americans. The neighborhood lies just south of the Mahene Yehuda Shuk, the big open-air market with rock-bottom prices but you're likely to get trampeled or assaulted by dying fish. I kind of love it. Just a block away and I can get most anything I want at individual stores that cater to cheese, salads, stuffed vegetables, or sponges. This area is made up of tiny little streets that cars can't fit through, and everytime I leave the apartment I get lost. The apartment itself is great. MY OWN BEDROOM, oh how I have missed thee! The apartment is a good flight of stairs up, and there's a kosher kitchen (Joshua, my flatmate is vegetarian so we're keeping it dairy), a living room with a COUCH, oh the joy of sitting on cushions, a half-bathroom, and a dining room table and chairs and bookcase, and a little balcony that overlooks the alley. The upstairs has two bedrooms and a bathroom with an AMERICAN-PRESSURE SHOWER, oh delightful thing that I don't mind holding since you get soap out of my hair. We also have an attic, which is now storing most of our friends bags. I'm already all moved in and today when I wasn't buying neccesity items like potato salad I was cleaning the bathroom. Oh yes, I CLEANED.
Back to my flatmate. You may have heard him called Yohoshua, Joise (French, pronounced Yo-sway), or even Yoshiyahu. He is one of my greatest friends from WUJS. British, funny beyond words, quiet to the point of being unintelligible, polite to the point of being obnoxious. He is a far cry from living with 4 other girls. He's left me alone, our first weekend together and he's gone to Tel Aviv, but hopefully when he gets back we'll be forced to amuse each other and have a lot of fun. Last night we walked back from Tmol Shilshom (near Ben Yehuda in the City Center) and he kept going on and on about how he is now a Jerusalemite! I'm so excited for us!
Still, I miss my ladys of the night.
