From flight to today...oy vey!

  Jerusalem, Israel
Thursday, July 5, 2007

6/26/2007
So, our flight boarded 1 hour later than scheduled. There are 309 passengers waiting to board this flight to London.  Finally they call for boarding.  There is 1 rude woman checking tix for everyone.  There is no line, just a crowd of people trying to herd onto the plane.  They are only letting the "upper class" on, & are literally pushing us peons aside.  No organization at all, just 309 people pushing & shoving.  So we finally get on the plane & start trudging back to row 61, walking past 1st class with a real sit down bar, then past the premium section with those cushy seats, making our way down the ever so narrow aisle.  When I made our reservations, I requested one of those rows with the slight aisle in front because with my knee injury, I was afraid if I wasn't able to stretch my knee, I'd be in tremendous pain.  So, as I'm looking for our row, there it is, row 61, in the center, in a row so narrow, we don't even have a fold down tray to eat.  I spoke to the attendant, who confirmed that it was indeed, the narrowest row on the plane.  When it was time to eat, Evette had to go to the back where the attendants stand & I used her seat as a table.  We were a little uncertain about the irritated looking Brit woman who was the 3rd in our row.  We were pleasantly surprised that we all played on the same team.  She was flying back to London from NY, where she was at the Pride festival in the Village.  Yeah!!  So, anywho, we get about 4 ½ hours into the 6 ½ hour flight & I feel like I'm having a psychotic breakdown from the pain of my knee being in 1 position for so long.  I get up & beg the attendant to let me sit in the jump seat for just 30 minutes or so, just to stretch my knee.  They say "no" because it's against the rules.  I can't the aisle, because the "seat belts fastened" sign is on due to turbulence.  I'm still not quite certain how I survived the rest of the flight. 

So, finally we are in London.  Cranky, tired & hungry.  We decide that since we have not slept & I am in pain, instead of trying to explore London for a few hours, we would try to find some empty seats to stretch out & try to get some sleep.  After all, we have at least 7 hours to kill!  Long story short, very little sleep was had by all.  First of all, trying to find your way through the London Airport was a true headache.  When we finally got to the security gate, they don't tell you until you get there that you can only have 1 carry one.  Coming TO London, you can have a carry on AND a purse (stop laughing)!  So, here's the 2 of us, with 3 laptop computers, Evette's school books & about 20 reading books for me, plus my Hebrew dictionary & of course who can go anywhere without 501 Hebrew Verbs, our IPODS, meds, important documents, etc...etc...etc...all stuffed in our backpacks & belly packs that transform into purses (I said stop laughing!).  The guy starts yelling at us & sends us to the side to compact them into 1 bag each.  We knew this was impossible, as they were all stuffed to the gills.  We are trying to stuff books in our pockets, & basically trying everything short of trying to fold our laptops in half.   An agent comes over to us & says "Why don't you just check your extra bags?"  That's about when I start crying because we have already spent $125x2 for us each to check a third bag already.  After all, how the heck do you pack for a year?  So, somehow we managed to do it with us each carrying 2 books as what we were currently reading (yeah, right!) & I had to leave 3 books behind.  Very sad, indeed. 
So, once we finally boarded the El Al flight, we were done in.  Of course, we did not get our seat requests here either, but it was either much more comfortable, or we were too far gone to really care. 
Finally, we arrive in Tel Aviv.  It took about 2 hours to get through security & the passport control areas.  It was around midnight, Israeli time at this point.  So, we get our baggage &  are trying to figure out which of us is conscious enough to drive the rental car we had reserved.  We made the responsible decision & canceled the car & took a Shirut, which is similar to Dave's Airport Shuttle, except they take you right to your address.  So there we are, at our new home, at 2:30 am after traveling for almost 2 days with 6 big duffel bags, 2 backpacks stuffed beyond capacity & 2 fat, tired lesbians.  So, we have no keys, so I stand on the street with our stuff while Evette goes next door to the landlords house.  As he is about 5 ft tall, 95 lbs & at least in his 70's, he held a flashlight while we carried all our stuff up these steps.
  We are not certain how we dug down & found the energy to carry everything up, but we did.  So, here we are.  The apartment is clean, cute, fully furnished (we only need a few things to personalize it for us), we have a pretty view, a great cross breeze, etc...Apparently, most places don't have screens on the windows, so I am being eaten alive. Someone told me if you take vitamin B-1, it keeps them away.  I bought some today.  It can't hurt because I researched & it's also good for arthritis & it turns sugar into energy.

Sooo, It is no longer July 5th when I started this.  It is actually July 9th.  So, I give the highlights since we've been here & then my plan is to journal as stuff occurs.

Grocery shopping in Israel is definitely a learning experience.  As my Hebrew skills are not great (yet), I bought some stuff solely based on the picture on the package.  For example, I was so pleased to find sugar free cookies for Evette.  I looked up how to read if something is sugar free.  So i bought 2 packages; 1 brown & 1 tan.  I assumed brown might be chocolate & tan might be peanut butter.  I was wrong on both counts.  We still are not sure what they were, but they tasted just like brown & tan. 

Evette took me to the Jerusalem film festival, which is held all over Jerusalem.  we went to the Cinemateque.  We did not see any films, but there was lots of music & vendors & we had a wonderful view of the outer wall of the Old City.  I've been very emotionally overwhelmed since we've been here, so that was another tearjerker moment for me. 

 We have been all over Ben Yahuda Street, where there is sooo much going on, shops, falafel stands, performers, cafes.
 
We also went to the Shuk, which is an outdoor market where you can buy fruits, veggies, spices, baked goods, fish, meat, etc...you name it.  It was crazy, but sooo much fun.

Apparently, it is not popular for women to wear kippot.  As you all know, Evette chooses to always wear one.  At home, in school, when we travel, etc...she can  be herself & no one bothers her, here, we come to our country, our land & she (and other women who make the same choice) are harassed.  The clerk in the Makolet (corner store), kept asking "Why does a woman wear a kippa?"  She explains her reasons, but he continues to argue.  One of Evette's classmates was so harassed by a taxi driver he pulled off the road & really started berating her.  Men take offense & think women who wear a kippa are trying to be men. If she is traveling at night by herself, or depending what area we are in, she will wear a baseball cap or bandanna.  Isn't it crazy that in Israel, a person should be harassed for that?

I started Ulpan (intensive Hebrew classes) on July 1st.  I go Sunday through Thursday from 8am -12:30.  Evette goes at the same time, but I am at the beginner level & she is in the highest class.  She doesn't really need it, but when she starts classes full time in the fall, they will be all in Hebrew, so this is a good refresher for her.  Two days a week, she is taking a class on Job in the afternoon.