I'm Here

I'm now in Jerusalem! It's hot as hell, but I'm chillin' in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Getting Here

It was a loooooong trip. The first leg of the flight was from Boston to Charles De Gaulle. Then my co-instructors and I endured Paris' inefficient airport system and rode 3 bus shuttles between planes. The highlight of the layover, other than bonding with my MEET peeps on the flights, was in the last bus ride from the gate to the plane. Two European men behind me started talking and pointing towards my direction. I was confused by what they were pointing at and kept looking around me to figure it out. They eventually asked me where I got the Akamai backpack that I was wearing. Turns out they were sales folks from the Akamai Paris office on their way to win some customers in Israel. We chit chatted, and I wished them luck on their engagements. It was fun to make connections with total strangers abroad just by standing there with company swag.

Home

We arrived in Tel Aviv in the afternoon and surprisingly easily passed through passport control and customs. Guess they thought we were harmless American teachers. Two MEET staffers met us at the airport and drove us to Jerusalem. The drive's scenery was very similar to that of many Western cities -- highways, buildings, traffic, trees, hills -- except for the Hebrew and sometimes Arabic signs. We arrived in Jerusalem less than an hour later and went straight to our apartment in the Nachlaot neighborhood. Our 2-unit building was near the end of a small hilly one-way street in the center of the city. I felt like I was in an MTV Real World show walking in to a completely new apartment with 8 people who I hardly know who would be my housemates for the next 7 weeks. Our place wasn't nearly as trendy as those in the reality show, but it was nicely set up. The beautiful unit is furnished with a mix of comfy rented furniture, cheery accessories, and even tons of good healthy food. There are two balconies with great views of the quiet but dense neighborhood plus a patio. The place will be cramped with eventually 11 instructors in 5 rooms and 3 bathrooms, but it's a great place to work and sleep in during this, our prep week, and the long working nights after classes start. This is our cozy home away from home.