Of course, this is not a sabbatical, so things will not be as ‘calm’ as in the fall/winter of 2008-09. We are still doing our regular jobs from afar, and will be flying back in mid visit for one week, basically for a conference and a CIHR meeting, and to check out how all of our respective parents are faring (fine, we are sure!). So if you see us in Canada (Montreal, Ottawa, Halifax…) it’s not a mirage.
This week, like many first weeks, has been an adventure in how to try to adjust to the different time zones. At least the jet lag had one advantage: we got to hear part of the Canadien’s game on Tuesday (too bad they lost). Other than sleep being very topsy turvey, we have set up our apartment (a new locale in Rehavia) and spent most of our free time hanging with Shoshana, Elan and Nomi, who are doing really great. We also had the honor of making a L’chaim
with Mary Ruth and Ronnie Gehr, in honor of the Brit Milah of Yosef Akiva, son to Carolyn and Gavi Kaufman and of course brother to Shmuel! Mazel tov and may all the children and grandchildren be healthy and bring lots of Naches (how to translate naches? Pleasure? Joy? All of the above) to their families.The week flew past, although in jet lag we did not really venture out and retake the pulse of this fabulous city. Well, maybe a little. The weather is amazing and the streets are full of people. The Mamilla mall, our gateway to Elan and Nomi’s home in the old city, is busy with natives and tourists, people from all walks of life and backgrounds. Truly an international city. Thursday night, we were invited to a siyum (finishing a tractate of Talmud) that Ryan Fiter was giving. It is very exciting, since finishing a volume of Talmud is no mean feat. However, it started at 2 AM, which means that maybe we didn’t go. If you go back in the annals of these posts, I did this once before for a speech Elan gave…..In any case we are very happy for Ryan; he makes all of Sunrise Ave proud!
As usual, Friday is an amazing day. I think that jet lag is over; we both got up at a more normal hour; I made it to minyan (where I used to go for prayers when we lived in Katamon, which is equidistant to our new apartment) and then to our old bakery and grocery store to pick up a bunch of things for Shabbat and home by 8:30 AM. We had breakfast and then off the Market, Machane Yehuda. This is the happening place on Friday mornings. It is an outdoor vendor street market, with everything you could possibly want; fruit, vegetables, meat, baked goods, wine; all sold at very high volume (I mean noise!) You have to be fast and know what you want and what you want to pay for it! Then, we met Ariel for lunch, saw Elan for a minute and back to the apartment.
We are very excited about Shabbat. Monty and Daniella arrived from Haifa a few minutes ago and look great! The rest of the Jerusalem crowd, including Ryan, are joining us as well. The apartment has plenty of room and an extra bed room, so in case you need a place to stay in Jerusalem, we are at Binyamin Mitudela 28, apt 6. Let us know in advance as the weekends are filling up fast!
More next week and hopefully more great pictures of Pre-Shabbat and Shoshana!
Wishing every one a Wonderful Shabbat!
Barbara and Bruce
PS: Special Mazel tov to the Gehr and Kaufman families on the birth of Yosef Akiva!
Refuah Shlema to our dear friend Sylvia Fruchter (Zysel bat Bella)
Refuah Shlema to Gilad Hillel ben Brach Mirell (Gilad Schwartz)
Happy Birthday to Bilha Fruchter!
Go Habs Go!
No comments:
Post a Comment