Tuesday
I went to all of my classes on Tuesday. Wendy and I met up with Zev after his 4:30 lecture to drive back to the fancy apartment for a dinner with everyone at an Italian restuarant that Wendy and I failed to find weeks ago. He was with Zvi, who was nice enough to drive all of us down. Along the way, Zev showed me the best falafel place in Jerusalem, in his opinion.
We ate dinner at Angelo's. I give it 3.5-4 stars. It lost a star from because you could smell the freshly painted walls and it just didn't seem like they aired out the place much. I had salmon ravoli and tiramasu. We all shared grilled veggies and muschroom foccaica. It was a night of enjoyable company. Wendy couldn't stop gushing about Zev on our walk back to the bus- she said that she could tell that Zev was in love with Israel even though he didn't say specific things that gave her that kind of impression.
Wednesday
Since I had no classes after 1 PM, I decided to head to the center for an afternoon stroll and lunch since it was just a beautiful day out on Mount Scopus. Of course, the weather changed once I got down there. Darn it! It was just cooler. The gang were still on their Old City tour and were munching on falafels and schwarma when I called after classes to see what they were up to. I felt kind of disappointed because I want to do that with them! Grandma actually finished her schwarma- which is usual for someone like her who doesn't like fast food.
When they returned, I met them at Rose and Joel's hotel where they were having coffee. While Joel, Zev, and Grandma went off to pick up the rental car, I stayed with Rose. We spend quality time together just talking- she is just so pleasant. I am definitely going to miss them when they leave. Then I called Ellen to join us for a mixed-grilled dinner at Sima's.
Sima's is a very Israeli place up on Agrippas. They served all kinds of salads and gave us unlimited amounts of pita. We each ordered some kind of meat. I ordered the cocktail because I couldn't decide whether to have the kebabs or lamp chops! The real "Jerusalem mixed-grill" special actually contained chicken heart, liver, and something else. I thought about it... but I'd prefer seeing the description in a foreign language so I wouldn't know what I'm eating! Next time.
On the way back, we saw that Marizpan was closing up, Joel ducked in and asked if they had anything left. Of course, they did and he ordered the chocolate rugalechs. The man was good enough to heat them up so we could eat them on the spot! Mmmm even Grandma actually thought it was delicious. You just have to die for them.
Thursday
Mother, so you know, I did NOT skip class. I forced myself to go to school while everyone went to Tel Aviv!!! In my AJ-IJ class, we watched Avalon. It was an okay family movie. It's about a a Jewish family in the 1950's to 1960's America.
Friday
I trudged all of my stuff to the fancy apartment for the weekend. I made a quick stop at the shuk to pick up burrecas for breakfast and then walked for 20 minutes to the apartment. I thought about walking back to Ben Yehuda to have my usual Friday special treat but decided against it since I wanted to save my appeite for Shabbat. What I have learned is that if you're going to an orthodox family's house for Shabbat, it's basically a wedding celebration with means a very big meal. So the people who would be hosting us for Shabbat were orthodox. Grandma had a little list of things that she needed at the market so I went down there and picked up a few things to make a small lunch for myself.
Then Naomi called to see if I wanted to hang out with her later. Sure, so I met her on Zion Square. We were going to get some ice cream until we ran into her birthright trip guide, Anat, and her partner at the ice cream place. Anat invited us to see her sweet apartment, right on King George! I liked it even if it was small. We talked for a while about their travels to Aremenia, Georgia, and Spain, English vs. Hebrew language, and some other things. Then I walked Naomi back a bit and then we stopped to talk about Israeli men, why we love Israel and whether we'd make aliyah or not. Then she left to walk back to the apartment- I'd love to invite her over. But I had already tried calling the family to see if I could bring Melissa and Laura along but they didn't have room.
We visited Elihu and Doris Levine, very old friends of Zev's. They were wonderful and charming. Doris' kitchen was amazing- you could see that she spent all day preparing for Shabbat!! I also met another couple, which the wife made aliyah from Boston back in late 1960's. So the whole table was filled with Americans and it was all in English, much to my and Grandma's delight. The Levines recently made aliyah because they had been traveling back and forth so many times between Israel and the States and they had owned this place for many years. Finally, they had enough and their children were in Israel.
The menu went like this:
Amazing homemade challah
little meatballs served over rice
coleslaw or tossed salad with balsamic dressing
chicken, mushroom kugl, potato kugl
homemade soy ice cream (oh so sweet and good), parve cookies, watermelon/honeydew salad
Doris was a great cook. Joel and Rose were there too. Joel was getting a lot of education about Israel as he talked and asked questions about his impressions of kibbutzim (met the Ravids the night before), Orthodox Jewish life, and Israeli politics. We also touched up on match-makers, which Doris and one of her daughters do for living. I was amazed that this practice still continued. I said that I wanted an Israeli Army soldier! Orthodox Jews apparently still do it. If you don't know what a match-maker does, go watch Fiddler on the Roof.
Saturday
We walked over to Moshe and Phyllis Pollack's apartment nearby for a Shabbat lunch. They made aliyah almost 30 years ago from Toronto, Canada (though I think I hear that someone grew up in Montreal). They also have a big family of 4 children, but smaller than the Levines'. Her food was good but not fantastic as some of other Shabbats I went to. She served a beef stew with a big matzah ball (I forgot what it's all), little salad, shepard's pie, some stir-fry chicken, grains, and roast beef. Her dessert was very good- some kind of chocolate cake with white-chocolate whipped cream and strawberries. Overall, I enjoyed getting to know the Pollacks. Moshe and I talked about the value of birthright trips and the American Jewish youth and their attitudes towards Israel. Grandma and I conversed with Phyllis over questions that she had about Jerusalem. They got along well as they found common ground in Buffalo and Toronto. Phyllis offered to give her some of her Passover cooking supplies and found some caterers for her to check out.
For the rest of the day, we hung around the apartment. Joel and Rose were at the Dead Sea and Masada for the day. When they came back, it was decided that it would be not good for us to get together as they wanted a big meal and we did not. The three of us ended up going to Al Dente's a small Italian place on Usshkin Street. Their eggplant parm did not come fried! We also shared a salad and a pan of very thin crusted pizza.
Sunday
I made a bad choice to skip my European history class because I was supposed to meet Kobe but he came down with the headache. So I got all dressed up for nothing!!! (I checked my phone after the fact). I should've gone to class... but I wanted to join along with Grandma and Zev to meet this woman for brunch at Cafe Hillel. She picked us up and took us down to German Colony. Grandma and I found a new Max Brenner's shop- no need for a trip to Tel Aviv! It was actually a difficult lunch since the woman was ignorant of Grandma and only talked to Zev. But I did attempt to engage her about her children as she's actually American who made aliyah to Israel years ago. And she was talking about how to help her children balance their American and Israeli identities by taking them to America for summer camps.
For the rest of the day, we ran a couple of errands to prepare for Pessach/Passover. I felt that Zev and I have been ganging up on Grandma on quite a few things! We picked up some delicious herring and gefilte fish for a late afternoon meal.
I worked on my Hebrew homework and Yad Vashem project until it was time to go to dinner with the Feines. Even though I wasn't hungry at all, but I liked the Feines a lot so I wanted to go. We went to this amazing vegetarian restaurant called Te'ini (?) that's behind King David hotel and offered an amazing view of the Old City at night. It was all lit up beautifully.
I caught a cab back. Unfortunately, the driver was not very bright at all. He asked if I spoke Hebrew or French (I assumed that he was Moroccan). Good for me that I didn't ask for the meter as I told him that I wanted to pay 25 sheklim back to Mount Scopus. He just did NOT know where he was so I tried giving him a clue- the Hyatt Regency hotel. We sort of went to a different Hyatt... I told him that it was not the right one. I tried different names that worked for other drivers for where my apartment was. We finally made it and then he dared to ask for 40 sheklim. I argued with him and told him very firmly, "lo, lo, LO, you did NOT know where you were going!" He said, "I don't care, I went the long way!" I said, "lo, I came in the cab and asked to pay 25 sheklim and now I will give you 30." He protested. Then I reminded him that I was giving him a break because I originally wanted to pay 25. He gave in and gave me the right change back for the 50 that I gave him.
Then I realized once I got to the apartment that I had left my cellphone and keys at the fancy apartment. Fortunately, the security came quickly to let me in my room.
Cab drivers.... what stories I am bringing back to America....
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