March 28, 2007
Israel - Leaving and first two days
So I promised to blog about the trip but have not had a free moment as of yet to do so. It is now 5:30 in the morning and I can't sleep - odd because jet lag would say i should be exhausted around now.
Saturday night final Devorah finished packing hers and the kids stuff and I started packing mine. Yitzchak and Dannielle brought Zevi over (he's really cute!) and went over all of the stuff we needed to know about their place. Sunday morning was a mad dash to pick up some final things (digital camera, nintendo DS for the kids, return library books, etc...) and then the Ziffs came over to send us off. Plan was to leave at 1 PM and we got out by 1:45 so really not too bad. Drive to Potomac was a little nerve wracking with all of the traffic on 495 but we got there and Margo got us to Dulles with plenty of time to spare.
Checked in for our flight and confirmed all of our meals. They switched the type of plane we were on so all of our seats got messed up and they actually had all 4 of us sitting seperately! They managed to move us to two seats together but the set of 2 were 3 rows apart. When we got on the plane we switched with some people and managed to be across the aisle from each other.
Just before take off they came around to confirm our 2 kosher meals. Lets just say I was not very happy. We had confirmed the week before and when we checked in but apparently it doesn't really make a difference.
Side comment on Austrian Airlines - they really need to learn English just a bit better - would help them handle irate customers without seriously getting them angry!
Flights were pretty good otherwise. Leah slept about 6 hours on the way to Vienna and Yaakov slept 2 from Vienna to Tel Aviv. But even with lack of sleep they were super well behaved on the plane. Leah was pretty excited when she woke up and realized it was the morning and her birthday!
We landed at about 2:30 and got out of customs and baggage claim by 3:15. It is absolutely incredible how much the airport has changed since the last time we were here 8 1/2 years ago. It feels like a real airport now, not like a place you expect to see a goat walking through. Rental car pickup was interesting. There was a line of about 10 people with 2 agents. There was a 3rd agent who was by the (empty) Eldan Gold line who refused to help anyone even though there was absolutely noone coming with a Gold card. Took about 45 minutes to get through the line (and that was with boxing out the creepy old guy who kept cutting in front of everyone in line one by one and pretending he was clueless when people started complaining to him). We upgraded to a bigger car as the one we were supposed to get didnt really have a trunk. Even so it was a bit crowded with all the luggage (see the pictures link at the end of this post).
We drove to Modiin and met Tamar Weissman and the kids at a gas station so they could lead us to where we were going for dinner. We headed over to Burger King (Leah's choice) and met the Barr's there as well. Leah was so happy to have two of her best friends there for her birthday party! After dinner we drove into Jerusalem and found our way to the apartment. People had been using it the week before we got there because their kitchen was being remodeled so asked us to wait by a neighbor while they finished cleaning. The neighbor is Rabbi and Mrs. Wade who I had heard him speak in Baltimore and Frederick. While waiting with them they were getting ready to head out to return a small oven they had bought that was missing a part and needed to be switched. As they said they were going to be carrying it to the bus and that it would take about 45 minutes each way I offered to drive once the kids were in bed. Kids got in bed pretty quick and we drove to the store and back in under 30 minutes. It was pretty good since they were able to pint out some shortcuts and get me used to the neighborhoods which I haven't been in for years. Didn't take long for it all to come back! Yisroel Reches came by to say hello and we chatted for a while. He is doing great and loving school.
Tuesday everyone slept until about noon. When we woke up Devorah and the kids walked down to the Makolet (mini-market) and picked up some cereal and milk for breaakfast. Kids got their first introduction to Shoko in a bag which of course Leah absolutely loved.
I left to go pick up Steffy from the airport with Yisroel and Devorah and the kids chilled near the apartment. Yaakov played on the playground a bit and a few neighborhood girls knocked on the door to play with Leah. Devorah was able to just relax and read a bit which was good because she hadn't really relaxed in about a week! We found Steffy pretty quickly and then switched the car at the rental office because the radio wasn't working. A bit of traffic on the way back and before we knew it it was 5 PM. We drove over to Kenion Malcha (the Jerusalem mall) and took about 25 minutes to find parking. I love how any blank area becomes a parking spot including sidewalks. Found parking and went to Pizza Hut for dinner. Kids loved it and Yisroel was happy as they had the Raptors game on TV. After dinner we walked around a bit and went shopping at a grocery store to pick up a few things (like normal toilet paper - an absolute neccesity over the Israeli kind!). The kids got to play in the animal "min-zoo" they have in the mall and held some birds and rabbits and things. We drove back and after getting a bit lost picked up Steffy's cell phone and headed home.
Everyone headed to bed as we have a big trip planned for tomorrow down to the Negev - will hopefully post an update tonight on that.
Day 1 Pics are here and Day 2 pics are here.
(If you want to be on the daily email with the link to the pics just let me know!)
March 10, 2007
The 90's
Someone at work recently pointed me to a great online comic - xkcd.com
Take a look at one of the recent ones:
