We're in Israel!!!

Hard to believe, but we're in Israel. After months of planning, the excitement of Miriam's bat mitzvah, weeks of packing, bitter cold and snow that delayed our flights, riots in Egypt that have everyone on edge, we left Boulder on Wednesday, Feb 2, just a day late. All flights were uneventful. We landed at Ben Gurion on Thursday, were met by a driver who took us to Sde. Boker, and were in "our" house by noon.

Our main goal for Thursday was to stay up until bedtime, as all the frequent travelers we know say this is the best way to counter jetlag. A girl Miriam's age, Omer, whom she knew from JCC Ranch Camp, came over to the house to show us around. Rebekah went to visit Marva, a girl from her class she had been emailing. She decided to stay there for a while, so Jay, Miriam and I went to the organic farmers' market. Miriam is practically asleep on her feet. I'm trying to figure out exactly how pushy to be. If I wait my turn as we do in the US, people keep jumping ahead of me. If I get right on the heels of the person in front of me, someone gives me a dirty look as if I'm cutting the line.So I'm standing there, puzzling, and two boys come up to me and say "Are you Rebekah's mom?" Only a few hours in town and already they all know who she is! I reply in the affirmative and they ask "Where is she?" I tell them and they run off to find her. A few hours later, Marva and the boys walk her home.

This kind of friendliness is the norm here. Each day people stop by the house to bring homemade bread, ask how they can help, or invite us over for meals. Miriam and Rebekah have friends already. The town (midrasha) is quite small. You can walk from one end to the other in 15 minutes. I'm sure you're curious what it looks like. Here are a few pictures from my bike trip in October. I will take some more pictures and post them soon.

 The canyon

A common road sign in these parts

 

 The "center" with grocery store and bike shop 

Our house and yard

A bit more about the market, as it's definitely a highlight. There are just a few stands, but have an incredible bounty of organic produce. There is also delicious homemade food, a special treat in this town where otherwise you have to plan ahead and do all your own cooking. No China Gourmet to bail me out here! We had flatbread, cooked over a big drum, filled with sour cheese and spices, and rolled up like a crepe or burrito. We saw they had nutella too. Somehow, we passed on that this time, but I'm sure we'll try next Thursday. There was also homemade hummus and falafel, stew, and rice and lentils. Thursday will be our night to eat out!

This is my first blog post, so please let me know if it works.