Our first week in Jerusalem

Lunch with the other service couples, Jan  & John Clayton, Linda & Dennis Brimhall,

Marvel & Mark Earnshaw

 At the Garden Tomb

Playing Jerusalem Carillon Bells

We had a good flight to Jerusalem with some unexpected high points and low points.  The high point in Seattle was that we were able to check our 200 pounds of luggage at the curbside so we didn’t have to drag it through the airport.  The next high point was that we sailed through security with our 5 carry on bags  and didn’t have to spend 45 minutes explaining why my insulin pump supplies couldn’t go through  They insulin supplies and hand checked it.  It was the easiest security line ever!

The Delta flight was so nice—we had upgraded to have more leg room, and unbeknownst to us, that also meant we didn’t have to pay for our luggage. Lee slept a lot, and I slept a little.  When we landed in Paris, we had a 4 hour lay over.  We bought a chocolate croissant and did a lot of walking!  We had to go through security again in Paris, and that went smoothly, and I thought we had made it!  But just as we were boarding the plane for Tel Aviv, we got stopped and all our carry on luggage was hand inspected and we were both body-searched—and all this as the other passengers filed by gawking at us.  Of course, they found nothing (the lady did wonder about the Herbs de Provence I had) and we were questioned about the insulin needles-the security man actually took  one out, took the top off, brandished the needle, recapped it and put it back in the bag—as if we were interested in reusing that particular needle (NO WAY).  This flight was more like a crammed Southwest Airlines flight, but it was only 4 ½ hours long, and we made it.

Jan and John Clayton, the music couple we are replacing, met us at the airport and we got home, with ½ hour to change and go to a dinner at the home of Neomi, who helps with the music concerts. They were also so kind to have given us some food, and we also ate at the Oasis (the cafeteria here) for breakfast and dinner.

We were grateful to climb in to bed about 10 pm Jerusalem time, and I promptly woke up at 1:30 am and stayed awake until 3:30 am.  I was able to get a couple more hours of sleep, but then was awake, so started putting things away. This was Saturday, the day we have church, so we went to church where we gratefully greeted Lee’s sister, Lynne, who had brought some luggage and a 4 pound bag of chocolate chips!!  We also saw Gina Macdonald  and her husband, Brian and their son, Isaac, who is here this semester.  That was a real treat to talk with them—Gina grew up in our ward in Redmond, and lived down the street from us.

I honestly can’t remember what we did the rest of that day, but Sunday was CRAZY busy—we went to the Carillon Bells in West Jerusalem and helped 10 students play them for an hour, then we had lunch at a restaurant with the other service couples, then went to the grocery store, gas station, and ATM so the Clayton's could show us how to do all of those things. By now we raced home to get ready for the weekly music concert.  We learned how to set up the refreshments for the performers, the flowers, the tickets, the stage, etc, etc,..  Finally, we went to listen to the concerts, after an hour of handing out tickets and waiting for the standby line to go in (there was some ruckus among those waiting in line and the security guy came in to help) and I dozed through most of the concert!  By now it was 10 PM and I couldn’t even think.  We came back to the apartment, ate dinner of Pita bread and cheese and fell into bed.  This night I woke up at 1:30 am but was able to get back to sleep.  I feel like a ton of bricks fell on me, but I know this will get better in a week or so.

Today, we are trying to get the phone system and computer system set up so we can call our family!