Shalom v'l'hitraot, Jerusalem! שלום ולהתראות י

 

Shalom v'l'hitraot means goodbye and see you soon. We'll be flying home to New Jersey tomorrow, so this is our last post from Israel. It is hard to believe that our time here is nearly over. Although we lived in Jerusalem for just four months, we were thinking about and planning this trip for nearly a year before we left.

During this last week, we've continued to have a great time in Jerusalem. In between celebrating birthdays and packing for our flight home, we've managed to get out and have some fun over the past few days, mostly going on our favorite walks through the neighborhood, and spending lots of time at the playground. Earlier in the week, Eric's former student, Melissa, who is visiting Israel for two weeks, came to visit us. We hung out on our porch before going out for falafel. The boys, as well as Eric and I, really had fun seeing Melissa again!

We're now wrapping up our final shabbat in Jerusalem. As I've mentioned before, even though we don't celebrate shabbat in a religious sense, if you live in this city, you can't help but slow down and pay attention a little more as the week comes to a close and places of business shut down for 24 hours. Most Friday mornings, including this past one, Eric and I split up in the morning to get our weekend groceries: he and Alexander go to the bigger supermarket to get a chicken and whatever else we might need for dinner. Benjamin and I go up the street to Tomer Bread to get challah and dessert (and coffee for me!). Benjamin and I had a great last walk up and down Gaza Street to Tomer yesterday; the street is cool and shady in the morning, and filled with people carrying flowers and bread and groceries for the weekend. I carry Benjamin on my chest, facing outward, and it's fun to have people stop us on the sidewalk, or in the bakery, and coo at him, calling him "Hamud," which means handsome in Hebrew. On our walk back home I tried to take in all the palm and cypress trees growing tall in the gardens of the apartment buildings, and said goodbye to the traffic and the pedestrians, the bookstore and ice cream shop, the market with the best fresh fruit, the used clothing shop, the beautiful new flower shop, the cafes and convenience store, the falafel shop and Pizza Bella. By the time we made it home, Benjamin was asleep, so we both took it easy in the living room while waiting for Eric and Alexander to get back from their morning adventure.

 

Later on, we took our last trip up to one of our favorite spots, the Israel Museum, where we saw a preview of the next show, "Color Gone Wild," and then had lunch in a shady spot near the sculpture garden.

 

And last night, we shared our shabbat meal with our new friends, Alon and Dahlia. Alon is a painter  and teacher Eric met during his research, and Dahlia is a photographer. Their son, Sheked, is just a few weeks older than Alexander. I took a picture of our table on the porch before our meal, but unfortunately, in the bustle of eating, watching kids and putting them to bed, I didn't get a picture of Alon and Dahlia...

 

... but I did get a shot of Alexander and Sheked sneaking into the cabinet while we weren't looking to pull out a bunch of CDs, staples, a stapler, and other assorted items that they weren't supposed to be playing with! I think Alexander was showing off the restricted cabinets to his new friend!

 

And here we are, in front of our home away from home. It's going to be hard to leave this place. I'll miss the wind blowing through the big windows and doors, the shadows of leaves and vines that seem always to be playing on the stone and tile floors, the beautiful gardens, and wonderful location of this truly one-of-a-kind house in Jerusalem.

Lastly, here are a couple videos of the boys, playing with the trees and vines that grow near the house.

 

We're grateful for the amazing four months we had in Israel. There is a lot more I want to say about our experiences here, but since we're leaving tomorrow, I'll stop the entry here. Perhaps I'll keep up the blog -- or start another one -- when we return home. We'll see! We'll miss Israel, but we're looking forward to seeing friends and family back home. Goodbye, Jerusalem. We hope to see you again soon!