Computer is on!

It's been running for more than 5 minutes... I think I'm getting my hopes up that it is fixed :-)

I made cookies last night. Ken has been craving something sweet. I finally found all the ingredients at the store so I gave it a try. I was a little skeptical when I tasted the dough, but once they came out of the oven we couldn't stop eating them!!!! I tried to get Ken to take them to work to share but didn't win that battle. I put them in the freezer, maybe that way we won't eat all of them by the end of today.

Success! I found a place to park down by the market :-) It was a bit of a struggle getting downtown on the right street but I was able to find an excellent parking spot within 2 blocks. I purchased my fresh veggies, fruit, and juice and was done within 30 minutes! And it only cost 2 shekels to park vs the 11 shekels to ride the subway. I'm hoping it will be that easy next time.

As I was washing dishes last night our water turned off for no apparent reason. I decided to wait a bit and come back about an hour later. It seemed to be back on, so I started washing dishes again and then this nasty rusty brownish water came out of the spout..... uggh. I think it's better today, but I'm a little nervous about drinking water out of the tap now.

The highlight of my day yesterday was a gift of two blocks of cheese! One of the other expats are on home leave in the states and the husband brought us back some cheese!!! WE ARE SO EXCITED! We are looking forward to tacos tonight :-)

Hoping this post goes through....

Shopping

Today the neighbor kids invited me to go the grocery store with them so I could become more familiar with what to buy. It seemed really nice of them, so after swimming I went with them. I didn't realize I would be gone for 4 hours!!! We walked through the entire store and they described to me what each item was, what it compared to in the US (from their visit 4 years ago), and what dishes they make with it. It was quite a tour. It was actually fun and I'm glad I went.

Ken was out picking onions today. I guess they had a team building/community service event. I'll be anxious to hear how that went :-) It seemed really hot outside when I was out today. It's only 95 but the humidity makes it seem hotter.

Out with the Neighbors

About two weeks ago our neighbor (my grocery store friend) had offered to take us out with some of their friends (that know English) for a day. I said sure that sounds great. That was two weeks ago and on Friday I could not remember exactly what I agreed to (was it lunch or doing something specific???). So we decided to not plan anything and just go with the flow. They stopped by at 9:30am and said they were ready but that their friends (and our other neighbors, the husband works at the same place Ken does) would be ready shortly. So we waited for a while and then took off. We followed them in our car and took one of the neighbors kids with us (13 yr old boy, who can talk, talk, talk!). We ended up driving to the Carmel Forest for a hike. I wish I had known ahead of time to pack ice water! We drove around quite a bit and then found a place to park in the shade. The Shermans (grocery store neighbors) and their 3 kids - 15,13,9, the Bears (other neighbors) and their 2 kids - 17,15, and Ken & I set out for a hike. The Bears son and Father seemed to be the ones with the map and had the game plan. None of the trails were marked. I guess this was a popular biking trail and they have been there dozens of times and "know the area" quite well. Well we walked for about 2 hours up and down, all around, (seemed to be in circles) stopping frequently to look at the map. At one point we did stop and have some snacks that the Shermans brought with them. We eventually ended up walking past the same run down ranger station that we saw when we first started the hike. It was actually a nice hike, I'm just not sure if we actually made it anywhere. The kids seemed to have a lot of fun both hiking and talking in English. Both these families lived in CA for a 2 year relocation assignment about 5 years ago.


After our hike we headed off for an authentic Arabic meal in En Hod. Our reservations were for 3pm so we took the scenic route which was absolutely beautiful. At one point I thought our poor car wasn't going to make it up the steep hill that led to this lonely hilltop village. I guess until recently they didn't have electricity or running water. The restaurant was started by a family who just invited friends over for dinner. They loved the food so much, they invited their friends and pretty soon they had to build a separate building for their restaraunt. It's an interesting place. It was totally packed. It was 90 shekels a person... but it was all you can eat. You don't order off a menu. They just bring you a 15 course meal and you eat what you'd like. No soft drinks, only water and juice (squeezed from dates... it tasted a little like bubble gum to me). So the 11 of us sat down and they brought pita bread with all sorts of hummus and salad (cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions). After that they kept bringing all sorts of dishes to the table... rice stuffed red peppers, kebab in a white cream sauce (kind like a small hamburger patty), rice and pot roast (my favorite!), creamed spinach, roasted chicken, creamed sauteed onions,and potato salad (not like our friend Miss Mary's!). I think Ken and I tried everything, even though towards the end I felt sick and couldn't bear to put one more bit in my mouth. I take that back I pulled the "I'm allergic" card on the Okra. Ken did make me try the chicken liver. Had we not known what it was it might have been easier to stomach. I washed it down with pita bread and water. Overall it was a fabulous experience and we were so glad our neighbors took us out. Afterwards, we went down stairs in the restaurant where there were couches and large cushions on the floor to relax and rest. Everyone down there looked like they were about to explode from such a large meal. They offered tea/coffee and a pistachio dessert. I had to pass. The whole day was really fun. The kids seemed to like us quite a bit. The Bears invited us over to their house once we arrived back home. We visited with them for a bit longer and shared a green tea slushy and coconut cornbread cake (ahh more food!). The kids really love to cook (they don't even let their mom cook dinner anymore!) and wanted to show us some of their talent. The Bears were just as nice as our other neighbors. We are so blessed to be where we are at!

A day trip to the Old City

Friday we took a drive to Jerusalem. We got started a bit later than I had planned and realized that by the time we go there, most of the museums would be closing for Shabbat (by noon or 1pm). We decided this would be our first trip just to get a lay of the land and that we can come back another weekend. It was good that we had this mindset because it took us over an hour to find a place to park! We tried a hotel and they were kind enough to tell us there was a mall across the street that was much cheaper. We drove through all 5 levels of the parking structure for about an hour looking for a spot/waiting for someone to leave... Uggh. We finally found a spot and began looking for the exit. We found the main floor rather quickly and started walking towards the Jaffa Gate. Once inside we saw a tourist shop and thought we would get a map of the old city (we just had one from the Rental car place and it wasn't very detailed). As we got closer the tourist shop was completely empty. I don't know if they were just moving in or just moved out... but we ended up with the map we had. We basically wandered around the streets trying to get our bearings and taking in all the sites. The streets were narrow and there were tons of shops on either side, each with a person saying "Come into my shop, see my stuff, you don't have to buy, just come and look". We didn't take the invitation from anybody... we just did "window shopping" as we walked through the streets. At noon the cathedral chimes were ringing. As we were walking we noticed more and more we were going against the grain to where it was near impossible to make any progress as thousands of people were headed the opposite direction not sure where... We walked down the Via dolorosa (the street where Jesus carried his cross). There are 12stations that mark significants spots along this street. It was really hard to visualize what things may have looked like 2000 years ago with all the shops and the crowds. We did stop at the church of the Holy Sepulcure. As far as I can tell, the church is supposed to mark the spot where Jesus was crucified. I only heard Italian guides and Chinese guides so we didn't get the full scoop. There were a lot of ornaments hanging from the ceiling and murals on the wall. I will try and post a few pictures. We spent the rest of our time looking for the wailing wall (which shouldn't be to hard to find right?) By the time we had left the Church of the Holy Sepulcure it seemed like a ghost town in the streets. Apparently everyone who was going somewhere made it through the city to where they needed to be and most of the shops had closed up (with all the merchandise gone, you can actually read the street signs now :-). We found a few tourists groups, but for the most part the streets were much quieter. After circling the city for an hour we did finally find the wailing wall. What an interesting place to be. It was divided into two sections men/women. There were lots of people standing very close to the wall with their heads buried in their Bibles. Many people were writing notes of prayer and sticking them in the cracks in the wall. Quite an experience.
After finding the wall, the heat was getting to us so we decided to call it a day and try to find where we parked. On our way out of town we found a nice park and stopped to eat our picnic lunch. I didn't put any mayo on the sandwiches this time so they were dry but edible. It was a long drive home and we slept hard that night.

Happy July 4th

We hope you are able to enjoy a nice BBQ and firework show on our behalf. We are sad to miss out on the Hillsboro parade and spending time with family and friends. Please eat something really yummy for us. I did go to the grocery store and get some over priced hamburger buns so that we could have hamburgers (made on the gas stove), chips and watermelon. Enjoy the long weekend!!!!

A night out

After such a long, busy week we decided to take the night off and go to a movie. We were thinking about the Indiana Jones movie (mostly due to the fact that was the only picture we could recognize at the box office) but it started at 10:15pm and it was 7pm. So we asked what movies were starting now or in the next half hour or so. The gal mentioned a few (most we have not ever heard of) and then said something about the Hulk. So after confirming the movie would be in English (Hebrew subtitles) we thought why not... and bought two tickets. The gal told us we would be in row 5 seats 4&5. Assigned seating??? Strange. When we got inside there were plenty of seats so we sat where we wanted (didn't ever become a problem :-) We sat there for a couple minutes and then heard a doorbell (ding, dong) sound. 1 minute later we heard it again. Everybody around us seemed to think this was normal. After one more bell, the movie began. I guess it was a warning bell in case anyone was in the lobby getting popcorn. About an hour and half into the movie the screen flashed something in Hebrew and we heard the door bell again. Yep. Intermission time. They stopped the movie for about 15 minutes and after a warning bell, restarted the movie. It was quite an experience.

Something to be thankful for

On Tuesday I headed to visit a gal who is also here with her husband (she has a 2 & 4 yr old as well). They plan to be here for a year and they are from Hillsboro. I had the best time swapping "moving to Israel" stories ,traded ideas about what to make for dinner, and lamented the price of things here. Actually I just stole her ideas for dinner... she's been here since March and has had more time to come up with ideas. It was her first day with both kids in summer school so we enjoyed a nice quiet house until lunch time. For lunch we decided to head to IKEA. Yep, they have one here, and I asked her if they have their swedish meatballs. Mmmmmm. Probably my second best meal here in Israel (now you know how good I cook :-) Anyway, we had a terrific day. I was there till about 3pm when it was time to head back and pick Ken up from work. Oh yes... and the thing I was most thankful for (beyond the wonderful day with someone who knew exactly where I was coming from) was that they have experienced lizards, cockroaches and even a snake! in there house on a intermittent basis!!!!! Thankfully we haven't seen any of those... and I now have an incentive for keeping the screen door shut!