Shpafter or Hefpak?

So we have finally moved into our own apartment and it is starting to feel like home again!  Our lift arrived from the states and although I don't know what Christmas feels like, after unpacking I have a pretty good idea.  We are still missing some staples, like a fridge and a range, but all and all things are coming together.

The tempurpedic is here so we have been sleeping like champions.  The bed made the shipment worth every penny.  The cheese grater found its place on the wall and has been a major topic of conversation.  My best friends, the orchids, have doubled as I have been given 2 beautiful new ones as housewarming presents.  We have at least double the amount of space we did in San Francisco with a guest room and an office so let me know when you're coming to visit! 

We bought a beautiful cream colored couch and chaise lounge, but had some minor complications.  I have learned that it's important to stick up for yourself here in Israel or else you won't get what you want and what you deserve.  The couch was delivered with a few pen stains and then white out was applied to the cream colored couch to cover them up...genius.  I was floored when I saw it and argued with the delivery man while Tom's sister Naama phoned into the couch store to argue with the woman in charge.  She was very nice and apologetic (we did buy a floor model) and so we got a really great discount.  You'll see the beauty below.

Another thing I have learned since moving into our new home is that it is very easy to lock yourself out and be left with no choice but to pay a locksmith approximately $100 to stick a screwdriver under your door, leveraged by a hammer, and unlock it.  Fortunately we have now been locked out twice, so two for the price of one isn't so terrible, at least we're getting our moneys worth.

Everyone here has plaques on their door with their family name so the question is, do we get Shpafter or Hefpak? 

Restarting our wine and booze collection

Our amazing bed

Our mini fridge and camping stove...what more do we need

New TV, cheese grater (housing our magnets until we get a real frigde), Trombone Shorty & Abu Johnny

4 orchids & flowers from Tom...you can't see the whiteout from this angle

Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year my friends!

Thanksgiving Virgins

Before I begin to tell you about my first Thanksgiving in Israel, let me apologize for not blogging the past few weeks.  It's my own fault and I am sorry to keep you all in dark about what's going on with me here.  Yesterday I was reading a friends blog and she was reflecting on the past 6 months of blogging while writing her 50th post (congrats Shirmz) and she said "that when something happens that inspires me to write a post, I should do it as soon as possible."  Alas, here I am telling you about Thanksgiving 2 weeks late...

I have always enjoyed Thanksgiving, but my family was never one to host this holiday.  We went to various family friends each year and my mom would buy a ready made turkey dinner from Gelson's so we could enjoy the leftovers.  This year I felt a strong desire to host Thanksgiving dinner and was excited to share this delicious holiday with a bunch of Thanksgiving virgins.

About two weeks before Thanksgiving I told Tom I wanted to do this.  I sent a Hebrew text all by myself (mostly) to our friends inviting them.  We asked Tom's dad where we could find a turkey and he made some calls.  He was turned down by one butcher who claimed turkey was not in season, but found another who had a few birds reserved for the Americans.  With the help of my dear friend and recipe consultant Rachel, I found some simple but delicious recipes and began preparing for Thanksgiving 2011.

A few days before, Tom and I went to the market and I attempted to cross everything off my list.  It was impossible due to the lack of American ingredients, but I made some modifications that worked pretty well.  We picked up our 7.2 kilo (almost 16 pound) turkey on Wednesday evening and I stuffed her on Thursday afternoon.

                

There were 16 people around the table that night and none of them besides Tom had ever had a Thanksgiving dinner.  I made the mistake of mentioning turducken to everyone, and now they're all expecting one next year.

Here is the menu...feel free to ask me for any recipes.

- Turkey with a pomegranate molasses glaze
- Stuffing
- Butternut squash and chickpea salad
- Sautéed green beans
- Sage and butternut squash soup
- Cranberry pecan pie
- Mashed potatoes
- Cranberry sauce
- Gravy

Not to toot my own horn anything, but I had no help mostly because I insisted on doing everything by myself.  It was one of the least stressful cooking experiences I have ever had.  If someone hadn't like something, worst case I would have just said, well this is how it tastes in America...

2 New Best Friends

Those who know me well know how much I love plants and flowers and how difficult it was for me to leave behind the 4 orchids and numerous other plants I had collected over the past 5 years in San Francisco.  Last week I was strolling in Tel Aviv and low and behold I found an orchid man!  I had just spent my last bit of cash on frozen yogurt (my love for frozen yogurt hasn't changed since moving) and he was selling orchids for 60 shekels (very good price considering I had seen them a few weeks earlier for 200 shekels at a little flower shop).  I freaked out, called Tom immediately and went in search of an ATM.  The ATM ate my card and then the bank was closed (they like to close from 1-4 in the afternoons) so I was shit out of luck.  He only sells the flowers 2 days a week in preparation for Shabbat so I was lucky enough to return the next day with money and purchase my 2 new best friends!

He didn't have many varieties, but I was still there for over 30 minutes examining the flowers and trying to decide who would be lucky enough to have me as a mommy.  In my broken Hebrew (which is getting better by the day) I explained to him that I used to have many orchids in San Francisco and that I was excited to start my new collection in Israel.  I also told him once we had our own apartment I would be back to buy more (we're still living at Tom's dads house) and I think he thought I was crazy.  I don't think anyone has ever come to his shop (it's actually just a bootleg operation on the sidewalk) and spent as much time as I did staring at the beautiful flowers.

Here are my 2 new best friends...

Hebrew...

It's been awhile since my last post....Hebrew has really been consuming my life.  Here is a brief update.

Number of times I have cried since my last post = 1
Number of protests I have attended = 1

So 2 weeks ago I started an intensive Ulpan (Hebrew learning program).  It's 5 days a week (Sunday-Thursday), 5 hours a day (8:15am-1:15pm), for 5 months.  I'm supposed to be fluent at the end of March...at the rate we're going it's looking pretty good for me.  It's very fast!  Luckily I have my own private tutor at home, as do most of the women in my class.  Everyone has an Israeli boyfriend or husband, its quite amusing.  The 3 single American guys in the class are looking though and are quite disappointed in the lack of single women.

The American's are the minority in the class; there are tons of French and Russians.  We started as 4 Americans, 3 boys and myself.  One dropped out after a week, another is going to the army in a month, and the last one has talked back to the teacher quite a few times so he will either get kicked out or leave depending on how much patience the both of them have.  The class is taught solely in Hebrew which is the best way to learn.  You don't want to associate the words with their english meanings, but it makes it very difficult when the teacher hugs herself to demonstrate the word "with"...interesting logic.

I have also made friends which is very exciting!  We hang out during the breaks and after class and commiserate with one another.  The class is hard and moves very quickly, and when your lost you better find yourself fast or else you'll be lost for good.  I'm even scared to go pee because I am afraid I'll miss something important and then get called on as soon as I walk back into class.  She instills this extreme anxiety in you...it's really quite fun!

Until we move to Tel Aviv (we found an amazing apartment and are in the process of signing the lease and you are all invited to come and stay with us) I commute about an hour and a half to school each day due to traffic.  It's only about a 25 minute drive in the car, but by bus takes way longer.  The bus is very nice though and equipped with wifi, but at 6:30 in the morning I'd rather be sleeping.  It will be nice once we move and it will only take me 10 minutes to walk...I'm looking forward to that day.  I will send an update on the apartment once it's all signed, sealed, and delivered.

More to come this week...hope you are all well!

Sleeping With A Smile

To say that things have been easy the past 10 days would be a lie...to say that things have been incredible the past 4 days would be the truth!

Number of times I cried the first 6 days = 7
Number of times I cried the last 4 days = 0!

I tried doing things with translators.  Tom and his Aunt Ilana took me around town to all the important meetings I had and I found it to be very difficult.  They would speak in Hebrew and then would translate back for me.  The problem with this is that although I knew they were not withholding any information from me, I felt like I wasn't in the know and was out of the loop as far as the steps I needed to take to get done what I needed to get done.  So last Wednesday I chose to venture on my own.  I went to the bank and dealt with everything I needed to by myself.  They had no choice but to speak English to me and we communicated just fine.  Their English is better then my Hebrew (for now) so we had to make it work.

I felt amazing on Wednesday because I had done it on my own and everything went smoothly.  I also got my cell phone which made me feel like I actually lived here.  I linked my old 818 number to my Israeli phone so all of you can call me whenever you want.  Please keep in my mind the time difference and don't call me at 1:15am (my parents already made that mistake).

On Thursday I had the best day yet.  We had plans that night to go to a steak dinner in Tel Aviv with Tom's friend Shmulik who said he had a groupon to use.  Side Note: I signed up for groupon in Tel Aviv, but I can't read the Hebrew and can only look at the pictures and see if it's something I think I might want...I haven't bought one yet.

So earlier in the day I decided I would go to Tel Aviv in the morning and attempt to get my teudat zehut, Israeli ID, even though I didn't have everything I needed.  I only had a copy of my birth certificate and not the original, it's on the lift somewhere between San Francisco and China (story for another day).  I was feeling very uneasy, but wanted to attempt this feat on my own and I had nothing to lose.  I got to the Misrad Hapnim (ministry of the interior) and got my number, 036...they were on 976.  So I waited 2 hours, but made an American friend so the time passed quickly.  I ended up with the nicest lady in the whole office (people were walking away from some of the clerks crying and throwing papers).  She issued me everything I needed even though I was missing some documents, and I walked out of there with an Israeli ID.

Ok, I lied, I did cry this day (one of the past 4 days) because I was so overjoyed, but I don't think it should count towards the crying tally because they were happy tears.  After feeling incredibly autonomous, I decided to continue making moves and see what else I could accomplish now that I had my ID.  I went to the Misrad Haklita (ministry of immigration absoprtion) and was able to get my Ulpan voucher (I'm taking my Hebrew placement test this evening), see an apartment, eat frozen yogurt, and find the bus back home to Kfar Saba.  I was looking forward to dinner and showing off my ID to Tom's friends.  We got picked up at 8 from the house for our groupon meal.  Shmulik told us it was a new restaurant in Hayarkon Park, and after wondering around the park for 10 minutes, we walked up to a group of people and they yelled, "SURPRISE!"

Tom's friends had successfully thrown us a welcome surprise party!  We sat in the park for an hour drinking endless bottles of champagne and gin because we were told we had to drink up, the surprise was not over yet.  Around the corner awaited our party bus!  We boarded and partied all night long, it was unreal.  We were in shock and glowing the whole night!  I woke up the next morning early (we had an appointment to see an apartment at 9am) and Tom said, "you slept with a smile."  It was the first time since we arrived that I felt at home, that I belonged, and I was utterly confident that I had made the right decision.



Pictures from the surprise party!

 

LAtoTA Flight

I am excited, anxious, exhausted, and overwhelmingly emotional right now.  It is 1:45pm pacific time on October 18^th, and my flight just took off from California.

The past 4 months have been a whirlwind…Tom and I returned from a 2 week trip to Israel in June and all we could talk about was whether or not it was the right decision to move.  In our hearts we knew it was right, but was it what we wanted…was it what I wanted?  When we first began dating, I would tell select people (none of which included Tom) that sure, yeah, if Tom wanted to move back to Israel I would join him…and then the time came.

We packed up our little life in San Francisco, said goodbye to our family and friends, and I cried…a lot.  

Our official goodbye party

Tears of sadness to be leaving such an amazing city and all of my phenomenal family and friends, and tears of joy and excitement about the new chapter ahead…not only was I looking forward to our move across the world, but also our vacation. 

Tom and I spent the past 30 days on an adventure in Costa Rica, Colombia and Ecuador.  Without giving you a complete play by play of the trip, I will highlight a few magical moments.

Banana Azu

The Costa Rica I remember from our family trip almost 12 years ago doesn’t exist anymore.  It’s great for the country that it has become such a tourist destination, but I was overwhelmed by how transformed the country actually was.  Everyone spoke English, they preferred the US dollar and gladly took as much of it as they could from us.  The best part about Costa Rica was when we found Banana Azul, a wonderful, small resort right on the beach in Puerto Viejo.  Once we got there we truly felt that we were on vacation.  Prior to our arrival on the Caribbean coast we had been staying in places all alone and now we were surrounded by newlyweds, Vegas showgirls, old couples celebrating their anniversaries, and a white trash family who was there for a wedding that apparently had been called off.  We went surfing, hiking, snorkeling and relaxed in hammocks…vacation.

After our journey to Costa Rica, we landed in Bogota, Colombia where we were greeted by Sam and Oksana, Tom’s dad and his wife.  Bogota is a city of 10 million people and it was enormous and overly crowded.  I thought LA traffic was bad, but honestly, it has nothing on Bogota.

The highlight of the entire 30 days for me was the floral aspect.  Tom will now be working with his dad in the flower business, and I got to see it all first hand.  For those that know me well, you know I love flowers, and giving away my plants, and especially my orchids when we left San Francisco brought tears to my eyes.  (Friends who inherited orchids and various plants, I am waiting for picture updates.)  Walking into a convention center completely full of roses, carnations, daisies, lilies, and many other flowers in all varieties and colors was remarkable.  As you can see from the pictures (I took 101 this day) I was surrounded by pure beauty.  One of the days in Bogota we also visited a flower farm and got to see the production of the flower, from growth, all the way to the packaging…Trader Joes $3.99 Alstroemeria.

After spending 4 days in Bogota we arrived in paradise…Caratgena.  There were numerous times during our 6 days in Cartagena that I asked Tom to pinch me…it was surreal.  Every morning we went for a nice swim in the pool with our junior sized goggles, and then followed that with some freshly made arepas.  One of the highlights from the trip was our journey to the private islands where we snorkeled, ate fresh crab and lobster, and relaxed in the sun.  On the ride to and from the island, Tom and I sat shotgun laying out on the front of the boat.  We ate tons of good food, walked around the old colonial city, saw live music, and attempted to salsa.  It was great.

Lunch on the island

View from our room (that's Tom)

After our 10 days in Colombia, we made our way to Ecuador.  Ecuador is an amazing country and since we decided we had already had a lot of beach time, we hung out in the Andes the whole time.  Banos was definitely the highlight of Ecuador.  From the 20 kilometer bike ride we took to numerous waterfalls, to the grueling hike up a huge mountain where 70 year old men and women were farming, to the banos de cajon (a personal steam shower up to your neck with ice cold water poured on you every 15 minutes), to the 2 massages I had, to the upset stomachs from ice in Colombia, to the monkey that stuck his fingers up my nose, and not to mention the $2 lunches…it was incredible.

The monkey had never seen something so big

The center of the world

Tom and I truly had a wonderful time on our month long adventure and I feel so lucky to have had that time to relax, do some exploring and reflecting.  There is about an hour left on the flight, my anxiety has settled (for now) and I am ready for the next journey to begin.  I don’t really know what I am getting myself into, but I know I am in good hands, and I am excited!

I am a new blogger so bare with me as I document this new chapter of my life.