While in the US, "the dude" refers to an indelible Jeff Bridges character (OK, actually this one), here in Israel it refers to the boiler. In many buildings, including the one that houses my apartment, the water heater for the building is solar-powered, but in many others, including Irena's apartment, it's electric-powered and requires you to turn on the switch to get hot water. Inconvenient when you wake up, because it means you need to wait a half hour after turning on the switch to take a shower. There is a timer, but if you take a closer look at the photo you'll see that figuring out how to set the timer requires an advanced degree from MIT.
Another appliance that's foreign to me is the toilet flush, which you can see upon closer inspection has two buttons. The small one is for Number One, and the big one is for Number Two. I'm not sure what the slang in Hebrew is for a Number Two, but I think it should be "big button". As in, "I need to press the Big Button. Back in 10 minutes. Have you seen the Sports Section?"
The last one is the electric tea kettle. Coffee machines are actually somewhat uncommon, though not totally absent, here, as the main types of coffee they drink are essentially instant (though taste quite a bit better). With the electric kettle, you drop it into its dock, which is plugged into the wall, press a button, and it heats up your water within a minute. Much faster than a tea kettle.
Headed out for a run where I'll stop at the Farmer's Market at the Namal to buy produce for the week. Later I'm headed back to the Novosolok's for Shabbat lunch. TTYL.
I now have a bed in my apartment, which was just about the last piece of the puzzle in setting myself up here in Israel. Moving countries is quite an ordeal, as you can imagine, fraught with lots of errands and things to buy. That's especially true when you pack only enough that will fit on a plane. In any case, Irena's cousin's new husband helped me shop around and buy a bed yesterday. It was his wedding with Irena's cousin that I attended a few weeks ago. Which reminds me...I never wrote anythign about the wedding!
The party was very similar to what we have in the States. Dancing, salad, dancing, appetizer, dancing, entree, dancing, dancing, dancing. And of course lots of drinks, leaning heavily toward vodka as a majority of the attendees were Russian. If you've been following my blog closely, you'll recall that I've been fooled a few times by appetizers, mistaking them for the entree. At the wedding I ate a whole (tasty) plate of fish and vegetables, thinking that it was the last thing I'd eat that night. I was quite full afterward, only to sit down again a half-hour later for a dish of duck and potatoes. And this was after an hour of appetizers, which I always approach very aggressively. Wait...Jonathan...stop...this is not going to be another post about food. Talk about the wedding! Ok...
The two big differences between the wedding here and weddings in the States are that they're less formal here, and the cocktail hour precedes the service. The two go hand-in-hand really. After an hour of arriving, greeting people, noshing on appetizers and throwing back a drink and maybe a shot or two, everyone is feeling pretty good by the time the ceremony starts. Being loose helps because the ceremony has a little beck-and-call element, where the rabbi will say a few words, smiling, and then cue the audience to respond. I wasn't able to discern what everyone was saying, but it was not a stoic "amen" kind of response, but something more spirited and energetic. You definitely don't see this kind of interaction during weddings in the States, which, for better or worse, mainly consist of observing the ceremony up on the altar.
Speaking of the altar, it was a beautiful setting, outdoors and immediately beside the reception hall. In that first picture you can see the long walkway to the bema, which of course serves as an entrance for the bride and groom. Unlike in the States, though, it's a less stoic entrance. Everyone hoots and hollers a bit as your side of the wedding (that is, the bride or the groom) walks in. It's really nice. You feel like you're celebrating the person's life as well as the union that comes later. Once the bride and groom have taken their place on the bema, everybody stands and remains standing for the remainder of the ceremony. Nobody stays in their seats.
Speaking of the union, once it's completed, everyone rushes the bema to hug and kiss the bride and groom. Mazel tov!
Long time no see. Writing to you from my lovely new apartment where I'm typing with Seinfeld on in the background. It's the episode where they all get on the subway. Jerry's going to Coney Island ("No hitting? They got no pitching!"), Elaine to a lesbien wedding, George to the unemployment office (where he gets sidetracked by a swindling poseur), and Kramer to the pay off a parking ticket (though he gets sidetracked by Off Track Betting).
What's notable about this episode is that it's the only one to feature even a moment of drama. If you recall, after winning a small fortune on a longshot horse (the one whose "mudder was a mudder"), Kramer is followed out of the OTB venue by a shady looking gentleman who follows him back onto the subway. After a few shots of Kramer trying to lose his follower on the train, one shot featuring a blind man collecting money. Just when Kramer thinks he's cornered on an abandoned subway, the blind man comes to the rescue and tackles the would-be mugger, revealing himself as an undercover cop.
What more could a boy ask for but a run along the seaside promenade followed by a veggie burger, vegetable and hummus dinner in front of Seinfeld? A shorter commute, for one. But otherwise, so far so good in the new apartment. As always, more details to come...
