Bailey Romano : Resting, Lighting, and Nesting

I've been a busy bee as usual this week. Go figure! So many things have been going on. I'm not even sure I can list them all here, but I'll try!

On Erev Shabbat I went with a group of pre-ulpaners to Tachane Rishona (The First Train Station), a really hip place to get food, drinks, go to a man made beach minus the water, and to listen to live Jazz (because Israeli's love Jazz and New Orleans). While we were there we saw Nava Tehilah, a really interesting group of Jewish musicians associated with the Renewal movement in Judaism. Towards the end of the concert Sasha and I joined a group Israeli dance. It was so much fun! At the very end, we even managed to get Ira to dance! What a wonderful way to spend Kabbalat Shabbat! Shabbat dinner last week was hosted by Joey, one of our fellow pre-ulpaners. We had an absolute blast!

Shabbos morning I slept in until 10am!!! (This is such an accomplishment in my world in general but also following five days of waking up at 7:30.) Later Ira finally convinced Sasha and I that we should probably leave the apartment at some point during the day (like we don't get enough sun during the week or something?). It was quite a lot of fun, actually. I took some time to draw the trees in the park while the boys played frisbee, and while Sasha went off and made new friends with some American and Canadian ex-pats. After a while, Sasha and I went to explore the Tachane Rishona where we discovered the really cool man made beach and cabanas with refreshing smoothies. When we got back to the park, we saw that there was an Ethiopian Jewish wedding taking place. The music was fantastic and was really quite something to see.

After the park, we went to a restaurant called the Paradiso. There we had one of the most entertaining and awkward interactions with a waiter I've ever had, who so happened to be from Berkeley, CA. In spite of the interesting service, the food was fabulous! Unfortunately, it will be closing in a few weeks. Oh well! A pizzeria is opening up next door to it!

For Havdallah were led by our YII intern, Amanda G. (there are two Amandas=Amandot, so initials are necessary), to an absolutely breathtaking view of the Old City. There we did havdallah and had a lovely song session led by Zach and Ira. Afterwards, we went to Ben Yehuda St to get Gelato. Let's just say Snickers gelato wins all the points!

Sunday began my second week of ulpan! It's crazy how fast these weeks have been passing. I've been in Israel for 18 days! I still cannot believe it. In pure Bailey fashion, I was overjoyed to hear, after I expressed complete boredom in class, to receive EXTRA WORK! I know who else would be excited about this? In any case, my boredom level has greatly decreased even if I am just doing busy work.

On another note, I learned a plethora of things from living with Danielle, Pratima and Sarah my first year of graduate school, but two things from Danielle have really stuck out to me in the last two weeks 1) the need for proper lighting that reflects the way our bodies naturally respond to light--in this case--eliminating overhead lighting during the evening and using small lamps instead 2) cooking and experimenting with food.

I don't recall ever not having some kind of alternate lighting in my room, especially reading lamps. When I arrived in my new apartment, there wasn't a reading lamp in my room. I figured one couldn't be too hard to find. It's just a lamp after all. Boy was I wrong. I can't even tell you how many stores I explored and only two of which, outside of IKEA, had lamps. I'm not sure why Israeli stores don't sell lamps, but it's definitely a real question I have.

On Monday we went to the mall to search for a lamp for me and some tupperware and a scale for Sasha. We went to the HOME GOODS section of the mall and there was not a single lamp to be found. No lamps. Leah said she had been to one store near her that had lamps, so off on a second adventure we went post ulpan. Magically, and for what reason I do not know, the store which was akin to Ace Hardware, had three kinds of lamps-Black-Red-Silver. I took the silver. The man put it together and got it all settled for me. I was elated. Never have I been so excited to have a lamp in my life. I can truly say, "I love lamp."

On Monday night we had a really fantastic outing. We went to a lovely hotel, the name of which escapes me, where we had yet another phenomenal view of the Old City at sunset. We had wine and cheese and gabbed with two new members of our cohort, Jordie and Alicia, who arrived that evening. While I was there, I also had a chance to speak to the new Amanda, which was lovely.

Afterwards, we headed to the Old City for the Jerusalem Lights Show. Throughout the Old City there are different tracks you can take which show off different kinds of lights paired with music. It was a cross between Celebration in the Oaks (NOLA minus the Holiday themes) and the lights show at Washington Square Park (Cincinnati). I think my favorite had to be the elephants (see below!).

Now, if you recall, I had been having a completely and utterly ridiculous time trying to get internet in my apartment. On Tuesday, drum roll please, I finally succeeded! On Monday, I got a hold of a human and scheduled an appointment for a technician from Bezeq, not HOT, to come install the service. I ended up with a technician from Netvizion (our ISP provider) on the phone while the Bezeq technician got everything together and walked me through the log in process. The two of them were the best. I was so immensely thankful for their assistance. Interestingly enough, the Bezeq technician told Ira and I about his grandfather who was apparently a Rosh Yeshiva and Talmud Hacham (head of a yeshiva and talmud scholar). He was so proud of his heritage and of his grandfather even though he himself, the technician, was religious but mostly secular. When we told him we were Reform/Progressive Jews, he was quite happy about this fact. What lovely interactions one can have with a perfect stranger!

After installing the internet, you can only imagine my joy. Now I can iMessage on my phone and more importantly, I can watch Netflix. My current list is The West Wing, 24, and seeing the recent season of Orange is the New Black in addition to my long list of shows I'm uber behind on. I can't wait!

Wednesday, today, was really exciting! Today I had a fantastic adventure with five of my classmates, including Sasha. Today we rented two cars and drove to IKEA, which is an hour away. I still cannot believe 1) I rented a car in another country 2) I drove in Israel 3) I, my passengers, and the car remain totally undamaged 3) I went to IKEA in Israel 4) I managed to get back to Jerusalem and to navigate around Jerusalem without a map and to eventually find a parking space in the HUC parking lot. It's been a crazy crazy day. All in all, however, I am so grateful to have had such an adventure with Sasha, Jen, Leah, Jordie, and Alicia. Also, IKEA in Israel gets all the points for their pareve chocolate mousse. It's so good! This week, all the brownie points go to the Ace Hardware Like Store/Guy, Bezeq and Netvizion for taking my money and being kind and amazing and giving us internet, and IKEA for being IKEA even when in Israel. Because I just set up my room tonight, I will post more pictures of my newly nested space later this week!

Look forward to adventures in the shuk and my shabbat post last this week!