Shabbat Shalom

Shabbat begins at sundown on Friday and continues until Sundown on Saturday. Most things in Jerusalem shut down around 2 in the afternoon for Shabbat. If you need any groceries, you had better get it Friday morning because stores won't open up again until Sunday morning. This weekend, I woke up on Saturday to find we were almost out of coffee. In DC, we had a tradition on weekends to go as a family to the local coffee shop around the corner every Saturday and Sunday morning. It was great - we knew them, they knew us and our usual order. This Saturday, I barely had enough coffee for a cup for Brian and myself. It was totally my fault because I had made coffee for the two of us the day before. Unfortunately, there was no coffee shop around the corner to help me out in a pinch. I don't think this is a mistake that I'll make again.

Somethings are open on Shabbat - the pool and the zoo are both open. Yesterday we were lazy most of the day but in the late afternoon, we were picked up by friends and all went to the zoo on the west side of Jerusalem. It's a great zoo with lots of open green space. The kids spent half the time looking at animals and half the time playing near a very shallow stream until Julia fell into the water and got all muddy.

We are about to start our second week here. I'm hopeful that our air freight may come soon because I heard its in country. I'm not really sure what has to happen to have it delivered but getting to Israel is a good sign. It will help to have a few more familiar things to feel settled.

Penguins at the zoo!

Muddy Julia after falling in the stream.