Day 1

So I slept like a baby last night, and woke up in an utter stupor at about 9:30 this morning. I was aware of where I was, but had no idea what time it was and exactly why I was so sleepy. No sleep aids, not even a glass of wine last night, and yet I slept like the dead.

I stumbled into the kitchen and put some water on the kettle. Now I know I am more than a bit of a coffee snob, I guess it's genetic, but I figured, while in Israel, I might as well do as the Israelis do, and I set out to making my Israeli coffee with instant coffee. Who would have thought you could mess that up? I certainly didn't, I figured, a few spoons of sugar, a few spoons of instant coffee, hot water, some milk, and voila. Not so...

My first attempt was hardly potable, way too strong, but I figured, I needed a bit more of a pick-me-up than usual, and went with it. My second cup was much more suitable, as I settled in for a few emails and planning my day.

My first order of business was to figure out a car to get me to Jerusalem and back for my evening at the Israel Museum for the reopening ceremony. I had emailed a family friend in Jerusalem to ask for his assistance last night before bed, but had heard nothing. I decided I'd call him if I heard nothing by noon. He called about ten-thirty to assure me he'd arranged a car that would meet me at my apartment at 4:30.

One thing down, I decided to google map my walk to the Ulpan (Hebrew school) I will be taking classes at for the next three weeks. Well, I have a decent understanding of the layout of Tel Aviv, and really if you point yourself to the sea, you can't really go too far astray. It's not like Jerusalem, where you make a wrong turn and find yourself in a bad neighborhood, or worse, in an Ultra-Orthodox neighborhood on Friday afternoon just before sunset (yes this has happened to me, and no I wasn't on foot so I did receive my fair share of dirty looks and hand shakes. That experience was similar to what I imagine it to be like driving through a herd of sheep, not one willing to move left or right to let you pass, just able to look over its shoulder to give the evil eye). I jotted down a few notes on a piece of paper, along with a list of things I needed from the pharmacy and grocery store (one trip was not enough), made a phone call to the Ulpan, and I was off.

Now the route was pretty simple, turn left out on Mazeh, then walk until it turns into Grunzberg, then Grunzberg is supposed to veer slightly to the left and turn into Shefer, then from Shefer left onto Hacarmel, then to Tomer Square where I was to turn at the first exit of the roundabout (if going counter clockwise) right onto Yosef Levi, and finally left onto Kauffman. I know it might sound a bit complicated, but if you look at a map, it seems pretty straightforward. Or so I thought. Now I'm a girl with a reasonably decent sense of direction. Put me in a city with a map, and I'm fine. But of course, I didn't have a map, and seeing as to how I am currently smartphoneless, I didn't have my back-up hand-help gps available to me. I don't know how or exactly where, but I veered completely off the beaten path, and slowly but surely found myself in the trendy neighborhood of Neve Tzedek, which is often times referenced as having a European feel to it.

Now having lived in Europe I wouldn't go as far as to say it has a European feel to it, but it certainly is quaint, artistic, and chic (at least for Tel Aviv standards). I could care less that I was lost, I just enjoyed wandering and slowly finding my way towards the sea. I used my method, when in doubt, point yourself to a landmark you know well, and walk there. In this case, in the distance I could make out the lettering on the side of a high rise saying Dan in Hebrew, and I knew if I headed that way I could only be near one of two hotels, either the Hotel Dan or the Dan Panorama Hotel, both of which I knew I could navigate easily and accurately from. I quickly found myself not only nearing the Dan Panorama, but walked directly underneath it, enjoying a quick respite from the sun before turning left on Kauffman and locating the building in which my Ulpan is based.

My ulpan, Ulpan Or, is a small and very cool place. I met my instructor, Ran if I'm not mistaken, who looks to be about my age, and seems lovely. I'll know more tomorrow. On my way home, determined to actually follow the directions I wrote, I wandered through the Carmel Market, and even picked up a few tomatoes, cucumbers (which are so much better here than in the US) and an onion to make Israeli salad for lunch. I managed to make it home without getting lost, complete with everything from my list and made lunch. (Please see photograph). :) Not much on the food presentation side of things, but it was delicious!!

I took a cat nap, got ready, and hit the road to go to Jerusalem for my evening event. When I spoke to Amir on the phone this morning he said to me "it seems you know all the right people. You're going to THE event tonight." My driver, Ilya, who moved to Israel 17 years ago from the Ukraine (the first in his family to emigrate), drove me a way I have never been to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv. It was the first time I had to go through a border crossing, although I must admit it was anticlimactic. I had my passport ready (not for the passing, for the event) and they didn't even look twice at us as we sped through with no problem. All of a sudden I could see Arab villages to the left and right of the road we were on. It is amazing to me to see the difference even between the landscapes surrounding the Arab villages when compared to those of Israeli villages on the ride to Jerusalem. It is amazing to witness, with my own two eyes, the way the Israeli's have literally brought life to this seemingly desolate landscape. I found a sad yet hopeful beauty about the villages. Some were larger than others, those it he distance, with minarets reaching towards the sky, towering over the surroundings. The rolling hills had patterns of what I can assume to be erosion in even increments along them horizontally, creating a visual rhythmic beat for my eyes as the car sped past. We drove past a sign pointing to Ramallah, the current administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority, and as I remember it best as the hotbed of anti-Israel sentiment and terrorist funding. It was the closest I've ever been to Ramallah.

Slowly in the distance I began to see the outline of the high rise buildings that signified our arrival in Jerusalem. And shortly thereafter, the point of the tip of the Calatrava bridge that was completed in 2008.

We made our way to the museum complex, and after a series of wrong turns (the usual entrances were blocked for the celebration, I finally made my way on foot to the line to security. The sun was still beating hot, and I was dressed in my red strapless number that I wore to Barbara and Giuliano's wedding, heels, and was sweating underneath it all, but kept on my perfectly powdered veneer of cool and calm on my face. The security to get into the event was tougher than any airport security I've encountered, even tougher than the security at the Hillary Clinton event where Elton John played and the Secret Security stole my treat-box. Tougher than the time I was forced to be x-rayed at Heathrow post 9-11 or Friday's frisking in the Montreal airport. I was questioned by a young woman about why I was there at the event alone (seriously? even in Israel, I am asked why I am going places alone? It's like what am I going to say "well they didn't invite me with guest so, you know, I decided, what they hey, I might actually enjoy myself on my own...!!") and who invited me. She wasn't quite sure I was telling her the truth, that I was invited as a guest of the director of the museum, so she called over her supervisor, head of security for the museum. He took one look at my passport, my name, and kept asking me the same questions. I, of course did not understand why would a well-dressed, young American woman show up to an event alone if she wasn't invited. Did I really look like a party crasher with my fancy blue ticket? So he called poor James who confirmed that indeed I was a guest of his and than I indeed had a seat at the event.

Apologies all around and then I was led to a holding area where I was asked to present both hands, first palms, then backs of my hands, which were swabbed, along with the hands of at least a dozen other people using the same swab, before the cloth was tested for gunpowder. Not the most hygienic of situations, but I reminded myself to wash my hands as soon as possible. We were all clean (I wondered what might happen if one of us had been in contact with gunpowder, but though better than asking what would happen) and let out of the holding tank. Onto the x-ray machines and metal detectors. As I placed my bag on the belt, a woman asked me if I had any weapons on me, as if I could really fit something into my lilliputian-sized clutch. Granted my balloon-shaped skirt might be concealing a classy revolver in a garter-belt pistol, which would have been completely useless filled with the sweat that was rolling down my legs, but really?? I of course said no, but as I walked through the metal detector. Off it went. The woman called over the big shot, who took me to a secluded area with a carpeting and another x-ray machine and metal detector. He again asked me if I was concealing any weapons, and I told him no, just some bones in the dress that might be setting off the metal detector. He laughed at my naivety and pointed out it was more likely to be my shoes rather than my dress. And he was right. So I was sprung and wandered into the welcome tent, where I made a quick glance of the guests, seeing no familiar faces, and bee-lined it to the bar to grab a flute of Champagne.

As my luck would have it, a woman from Berlin started chatting with me, as she was also on her own, and we chatted away during the cocktail hour while all of the guests convened. A lady who had been in line ahead of me before security stopped by to toast me, and we got to speaking for a while. She and her husband (who was also lovely ) live in Tel Aviv and in the end we exchanged numbers so that they "could help to work on the PR of Israelis". It's so refreshing that Israelis, at least in my experience, and perhaps it's because of my gregarious nature, are so warm and welcoming. While we were chatting, I noticed that Idan Raichel, a rather famous Israeli musician was standing roughly 10 meters away by the bar. My first "star sighting" of the night. The big shots were yet to arrive.

We made our way to the seats and I found a space next to David, the CPA for the museum and a British Ex-Pat who made Aliah roughly three decades ago. We chatted for a while as we were waiting for BB Netanyahu and Simon Perez and others to arrive. The next thing I knew, Idan Raichel and his guest sat down in front of us. Now I've seen him in concert a few times, and I am not entirely convinced he's not a complete douche. Israelis are notorious for not dressing up, as was his case, but I am convinced he hasn't taken off his IDF boots since he left service at age 21. I was, however, able to put to rest a question that had been at the back of my head for a few years now, are those dread locks real? The answer is yes, and boy sometimes I just think, white boys should not do dreads.

When BB and company finally arrived, the entire audience stood and clapped. The evening began with the Jerusalem Orchestra playing Aaron Copeland's "Fanfare for a Common Man" and opening remarks first in Hebrew by James Snyder (who doesn't speak Hebrew). I was in awe of his grace and courage to speak for several minutes in a language he does not know, or pretends not to know well at all. He luckily turned to English, and presented a short documentary of the first opening of the Israel Museum. It was amazing, to see Golda Meir, David Ben Gurion, Teddy Kollek, Simon Perez (as a young man) and many more on the screen in black and white. The film opened with Jacques Lipchitz speaking about the importance of having a museum in Israel of the magnitude that the Israel Museum has become. With every shot of a former prime minister, the audience burst into a round of applause.

The ceremony continued with speeches by Simon Perez (all in Hebrew so it was obviously mostly lost on me), BB Netanyahu, Nir Barkat and many more. James finished the ceremony thanking all who had helped to make this day possible, and the orchestra closed with Aaron Copeland's "Appalachian Spring". Hearing it brought tears to my eyes, not only was it a beautiful rendition, but I was reminded of how Aaron Copeland was, for one year, my grandmother's music teacher. Watching the violinists play, I could almost imagine my grandmother as a young girl with her braid playing her violin with Aaron Copeland conducting her and her classmates. Somehow, it felt so personal, this visit to the museum for the ceremony, I felt, though surrounded by over 1000 people, alone, as if the orchestra were playing for me and me alone. Following the conclusion of the music we were treated to an array of fireworks over the campus, and invited to visit the museum.

As I had to make it back to Tel Aviv at a decent hour, I made a quick trip up to the top of the campus and through a small part of the museum and back out. I had a brief chance to congratulate James and his wife Tina, and had the chance to see my friends Tzaly and Orna before heading back to Tel Aviv.

I got home in time to call Chaleigh and hear about her amazing weekend and date which included a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge (got to hand it to the guy, he planned a pretty unique first date) as well as call Lior. He told me it's raining cats and dogs in New York, so I'm certainly glad I'm not home for that, and would welcome this hot and sticky weather any day to a rainy Sunday in July in New York. He also reminded me it's Tu Be Av today, or the Love Holiday here in Israel (and in Judaism). So here's to a Hag Ha'Ahava to all of you out there! May you be spending the day with your loved ones.

Well I'm sitting here on the balcony at 12:45 getting eaten alive by the mosquitoes, so I best sign off and get to bed. I am so excited for my first day of Ulpan tomorrow!

Wish me luck!!



We made our way to