It’s practically summer in Jerusalem: The lavender and wild rosemary are going gangbusters, we had our first triple-digit day (that’s Fahrenheit), and the lush strawberries in the markets have been replaced by sweet cherries. (Still no limes, but, alas, that is my new reality). Jerusalem is starting to feel more like home. I’m moving past […]
Every grocery store here seems to have “Super” in its name, like Super Deal or Super Sol. I don’t read Hebrew, so I’ll just go ahead and assume the grocery store closest to my apartment is called Super Sad because everyone in it wears a frown and if it was sunny when I entered the store, nine times […]
Readers of this blog know I’m not a big fan of our suburban apartment in Jerusalem. But as we’ll be here for three years, I’ve got to make the best of it. And making the best of it for me is transforming our apartment into a space in which I want to hang out in, cook in, work […]
I’ll be honest with you, readers. Lately, I haven’t been super stoked about being in Jerusalem. I’ve been feeling sad, isolated, a little lonely, and just very cooped up. I’ve tried hard to get out lots, as I’ve realized sitting around all day in our dreary suburban apartment is a recipe for depression, but I […]
If you open my fridge, there is at least a 50% chance you’ll see a container of freshly-made pesto. I can’t get enough of the bright, herbal, nutty condiment and I make a big batch a few times a month. Usually, I make enough to last for several days, although it never seems to last […]
First, I’ve more or less recovered from my everything is broken phase. Fixed my bike brake, swept up most of the shards of glass, and recovered much of my novel (in earlier drafts anyway, but a little rewriting can only be a good thing). I did shatter my iPhone in Ikea the other day, […]
The following things have broken in the past week: My bicycle brakes: I’ve become a biker out of necessity. After a deal to buy a car from a Chinese diplomat fell through, I decided I better get over my mild fear of city biking. We simply live too far out, are not allowed to take […]
When we first set eyes on our dreary Jerusalem apartment, located in a complex that abuts a field of trash, we weren’t stoked, to say the least. But that’s the rub with this whole Foreign Service being-assigned-a-house thing: Sometimes you get winners, like our spacious and well-located Madrid pad, and sometimes you get dropped in […]
Last weekend, hoping to catch the Christmas spirit, I went on a tour of Bethlehem (which is just a 15-minute drive from Jerusalem, a fact I was totally oblivious to until arriving here two months ago). While my new city is the place where Jesus is believed to have died and been resurrected, Jerusalem […]
One time I was walking on U Street in Washington DC, holding hands with my boyfriend, when an older black man said to us with a smile, “It’s just so good to see a man and a woman holding hands in this neighborhood, you know? I still think about my lack of reaction and wish […]
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