Nice To Be Home

Friday August 2nd

Friday morning I woke very relaxed and ready to go with the flow of what Shai and Michal had planned. Michal thought it would be nice to go out for breakfast and then walk around the art fair and the farmers market (all things I love to do). Shai, Michal, Maya and I went to breakfast at a small cafe in Jerusalem and ordered some breakfast spread that was for two but came with 2 cold drinks, 2 hot drinks, to egg entrees, bread, veggies, and like 10 spreads. It was more than enough for all 4 of us and quite tasty. After we ate we walked through the upper part of the art fair but since I had been there 2 weeks ago there wasn't too much to see and I didn't have enough money to get anything I would have potentially wanted. 

Tire Chairs

The farmers market was located at the Jerusalem train station which was just redone to be an actual communal space with a bike path, restaurants, and performance spaces. As someone who tries to go to a farmers market whenever I travel I was quite excited. This farmers market wasn't quite as good as the one in Burlington (by far one of the best I have ever been to) but I was able to buy some nuts, see some pretty jewelry, taste some cider, and just relax and walk around. There was also a game store that was full of those challenging mental games where you have to fit the blocks in the space and such. Unfortunately all 4 of us were stumped by the games. We also found some pretty interesting chairs made out of tires. We had mixed reviews on their comfort level though. They were pretty creative nevertheless though.

After our adventures through Jerusalem we picked up Itay from his grandpa's house on Tzuba and just relaxed around the house for a little bit. It was during this time when I learned that Shai makes homemade bread. Itay wanted to know about the effects of yeast so Shai grew (correct term?) and then figured he might as well use it and just kept doing so.

The process of bread making

During the school year the kids have fresh homemade bread for their sandwiches and when there are family functions he always makes it because the family gobbles it up. I really enjoyed getting to do a little baking of sorts since its been a while since I've gotten to use a mixer and bake something. Plus I got to learn how to make bread! While the dough was rising we all went back to Tzuba for a while to go to the pool. Surprisingly despite living there for 4 months, this was the first time I had been to the Kibbutz Tzuba pool. Again it was nice to just be at the Kibbutz were I felt completely comfortable; especially because nothing has really changed in 3 years. 

Walking down the stairs to dinner at Sunset

For Shabbat dinner we went to Shai's moms apartment in the city.  All of the grandchildren and most of Shai's siblings were there. I think I had higher expectations for all of the family functions I would be attending throughout the weekend than I should have. I felt pretty out of place because of the language barrier. Seeing as all of the family members speak English (having grown up with a British mother and American father and grandma) I was hoping that someone, other than grandma who I am always thrilled to talk to, would try and talk to me. The only person who really did was the mother of one of Shai's brother's girlfriend. She grew up in Canada but made aliyah 30 years ago. Most of her careers here have revolved around English though so she hasn't completely assimilated into Hebrew. I had a great time talking to her about what she does, about why she made aliyah, and she graciously acted as my translator all night. Having her and Shai's mother certainly made things a lot easier. And none of this is to say the rest of the family wasn't pleasant to be around because I did have a good time but surprisingly the language barrier was harder to deal with at dinner than it is at the shelter everyday.  Nonetheless I had a nice time and it was a calming night in Jerusalem. When we left both kids decided to sleepover to be with their cousins so I was an only child for the night which was a little weird but actually kind of nice because I haven't gotten to be completely alone for that long in a long time.
*to add to the happiness that being in a calming and comfortable environment brought me-- both Itay and Maya were wearing the shirts I brought them from America and their mom says they wear them all the time :)