Wanderings

A brief summary of what has happened since leaving Chicago:

MONDAY

1. Run into family friend/former babysitter at the airport in Newark with her two boys

2. Sylvie Render's (camp) parents sit the row behind me on the flight to Israel

3. My luggage does not arrive to Tel Aviv

4. The girl I sat next to on the plane is on my monit sheirut (ie: group taxi, ie: tro tro (Julie!)) to Jerusalem, and lives 3 blocks away from where I'll be living

5. Get to Shani's house (!!!!!) and hang out with her for a while, then go meet Amir [both Mechina friends] for late-night hamburgers and catching up. 

6. Avoid jetlag by waiting until a little after midnight to go to bed

TUESDAY

1. Wake up at a decent hour (ie: 10am?)

2. Around noon, leave to visit the Mechina--who should happen to be on my bus to the Central Bus Station but Maxim Leyenson?! (Mutual recognition).

3. Arrive at the Mechina, talk with Dan (madrich) a bit and Gilad (head of the mechina), meet the chulnikim (non-American Mechina kids) that I recruited last year, including Rachel Hirsch, who I actually know.

4. Get a ride back to Jerusalem from the Mechina from Noa Asher's husband, Daniel (Daniel Gastfriend, this is for you!)

5. Wander around a bit, walk past the apartment (have not yet moved in)--looks nice, it's by a park, there's a garden...

6. Meet Jonah Rosenberg at his sister-in-law's house, where we ate delicious home-baked muffins and played with her baby chicks, and planned our route for our hiking trip

7. Wandered around some more and ended up at Anna B.'s house (Hyde Parkers...) and succeeded in seeing each kid for at least 5 minutes (!), and had dinner there

8. Back to Shani's house to receive my suitcase (yay!) and finish planning the trip with Jonah:

    we're going hiking for two days in the north. Not really sure where, but Jonah's got the maps. Should be nice! I'll post about that (and hopefully with pictures) when I'm back.