From NY to Jerusalem!

This morning I woke up and went to "Cactus" to get my hair dyed. I came home and packed and then BigSis and I went to Barnes & Nobles to buy books for the trip. When we got home, my mom and stepfather were there and we made the cab driver wait forever while we did last minute packing (as usual). Finally we loaded into the car and were off to the airport.

My mom was being cranky about food and we had to eat weird airport food. I was really tired. Finally, at around 11:00 PM we got on the plane. I think I fell asleep during takeoff even though I hardly ever sleep on the plane. I woke up some time for dinner and then again at 5:00 AM Saturday morning. I had never felt so exhausted. I missed breakfast, but my mom saved me a bagel. I showed her some of my pictures from Russia. Finally, the plane landed at around 8:30 AM (NY time) which was really 3:30 PM in Israel.

We got our luggage and caught a group van into Jerusalem. Some boy from Tokyo rode in the van with us. We got to our hotel-- the King Solomon, which is not far form the King David-- and we checked in. My stepfather really wanted steak or meat so the bartender in the hotel recommended a restaurant-- something like "Meretia," I don't remember. Anyway, we walked there and had an absolute feast of Middle Eastern cuisine. There were all kinds of salads and dips and falafel and then for the main course- shashlika and all these different kinds of kabobs-- lamb, beef, chicken and with grilled onions and tomatoes. IT was good.

After dinner, my stepfather went back to the hotel and all of us walked through Jaffa Gate (newly renovated on the outside!) to Nana's. The whole place simply smelled of Jerusalem and I Felt as if I had always been there.

Anyway, we go tot Nana's and she wasn't home. So, we decided to try Uncle A's. We walked to the Armenian Convent and there appeared to be no one there either. BigSis and LilSis went ot ask some kids if they knew where El, Ar and Arsen were. Some girl signaled for us to follow her. We walked through a dark cobblestoned passageway, under smooth stone arches. Finally, we came to an open clearing where a bunch of boys were playing basketball. Among them was Arsen who grew up so much!

He led us back to the house where it turns out that El and Ar were really home. We also saw Garineyah and Mirahn who remembered us. El, Ar and Arsen showed us photo albums until Aunt M came home. We all sat around and caught up for a while. Then, because the Convent was going to close at 10:00 PM, we had to leave.

We walked over to Nana's where she smothered us t death with kisses. Aunt H was there too. We all talked for a while. Nana was so happy to see us. Finally, though, we were dropping dead of exhaustion, so we said our goodbyes and headed home.

Back at the hotel, BigSis was trying to figure out how to work her hairdryer and caused some big commotion setting off a fire alarm. Now it is 12:30 and we just heard LilSis do a cute sneeze from the shower!