I Still Love Jerusalem!

Seriously. It's great here. I don't know how I survived Tel Aviv.

Some recent updates/thoughts:

-Egypt is a BALAGAN (the Israeli term for mess) right now, and I find it frightening that Cairo is just a few hours from here. It's always so easy to brush off news events like this as things that are happening far away, but here it's very, VERY close to home. There's a lot of concern here that if a group such as the Muslim Brotherhood comes into power, our 30 year peace treaty with Egypt will go down the drain, and jeopardize a very long border, which also contains the Gaza Strip. Speaking of Gaza, due to all the chaos here, Hamas militants in Gaza have also become more active, and rocket launches have dramatically increased in the last couple of days. No one's been killed, but a few people were injured, and there was some infrastructure destroyed near Netivot. The other main concern as far as the mess in Egypt goes is that what if the whole Arab world starts revolting, and Jordan also goes into chaos? Unlike our relatively cold peace with Egypt, Israel has maintained a fairly stable friendship with Jordan, and for that to be jeopardized in any way means SERIOUS trouble for Israel. So yeah. Everyone here is freaking out. Hopefully Egypt can resolve this as quickly and quietly as possible.

-Jacob Liverman is here! I mean, not here in my apartment (although he was a few days ago), but he is in Israel and I am SO excited! He is working and learning on a kibbutz called Maagan Michael, near Caesarea, but he gets free food if he comes to Jerusalem, so hopefully he'll visit often. :) It's really, really nice to have a piece of home here.

-I'm just getting over an unpleasant battle with strep throat, which, until this week, I hadn't had since I was like, ten. It was horrible, but I actually, for once, had a really good experience at the 24 hour clinic I went to the other night. I got there, was triaged, saw a doctor, got swabbed in the throat, got some drugs, and got out all within less than an hour. It was literally the fastest medical care I've ever gotten on any continent. Now I have a whole bunch of penicillin, and some special Tylenol with codeine in it, and I'm well on my way to being healthy. :)

-Today is Yom HaMishpacha (Family Day) in Israel. My madricha says it's a day that you're supposed to spend with your family, appreciating them. Too bad my family's across an ocean... Instead, I'm spending this evening with a mixed group of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv Aardvarks, celebrating Shabbat with a Superbowl themed dinner and activities. Weird, but I think it'll be fun.

-So I'm about to spend the next four months comparing Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, which means that anyone who's reading this is going to hear A LOT of propaganda about why Jerusalem is better. I'll start off easy.... Jerusalem has BAGELS. Tel Aviv has two bagel places, both far away from where I lived, and the bagels there are just not made the right way. I think they're baked but not boiled, or something like that. In Jerusalem, there are so many Americans that they have to be able to make good bagels, and believe me, they do. My favorite place is called Tal Bagels (although nothing beats the name 'Holy Bagel' in terms of creativity), and it's on Emek Refaim about fifteen minutes walking from my building. The bagels there are the perfect combination of chewy and a little bit crispy on the outside, and they know how to spread a generous shmear of cream cheese. Today I went there (to celebrate finally being able to swallow again) and got a (very dark) whole wheat bagel with veggie cream cheese, and it was one of the single best things I've eaten in the last five months. Take that, Tel Aviv.

-So I haven't really told people this, but now it's official so I can let everyone know... I'm coming home for Pesach! I arrive in Boston on April 15th, and I'll be home through the 28th. I'm SO EXCITED! What's really cool is that on the way I have an eight hour layover in London. Does anyone have any suggestions of things to do in London for a few hours?

Shabbat Shalom and go Packers!

P.S. I've sort of stopped posting pictures here because it's a hassle, but I still post pictures on Facebook. If you're interested in seeing them, feel free to add me. :)

P.P.S My new address, in case you want to send letters, is:
Sarah Robins
34 Yossi Ben Yoezer, Apt. 3
Katamonim, Jerusalem 93301
ISRAEL