5) The daily high temperature in Jerusalem has dropped below 30 Celsius
4) I have now woken up before 8:00am twice in two weeks
3) We have opened an Israeli bank account
2) I am about to apply for a work visa
1) Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf has opened in Jerusalem!

In case you were wondering, all of the above are true, and they serve as an excellent introduction to my attempt to catch everyone up on what’s been happening around here over the last week or so.

Yesterday I was walking to our landlord’s place to pay the rent, and I suddenly noticed that it was dark outside. While it does normally get dark here at night (go figure), the timing of this occurrence is what struck me. It was only 7:30pm, a full hour before the 8:30pm onset of darkness that we had grown accustomed to over the summer. Furthermore, I noticed that I was actually cold and wishing for a sweatshirt for the first time since arriving in Israel. These changes prompted me to consider our time here thus far, and I realized that we were almost exactly 2 months into our stay and had only 8 months to go. While on one hand, that seems like an extraordinarily long time (especially since I chatted with our friend Michal this week as she was walking through Costco, a store I dearly miss), it also dawned on me that for the fourth year in a row, I would be working at an organization for less than 12 months before moving on. While each move was of my own volition and fully excusable, this thought nonetheless made me look forward to the prospect of some stability when we return to California.

Last week, I participated in a unique opportunity to see some of Jerusalem from a slightly slower mode of transportation. I woke up early on Friday morning (no, not my version of earl…really early, like 5:30am) and met up with a bunch of other HUC students and related people to start a bike ride that would take us down out of the city on mountain biking trails (Jerusalem is up at 1800 meters/5900 feet above sea level) and then back up again. While I must say I enjoyed the first part, it was still very tiring as parts of it were still very steep uphills, and even the downhills required significant effort to hold the brakes while dodging rocks, gravel, and other imperfections in the road.

At the halfway point, our leader informed us that we had a very significant climb left to get back into Jerusalem, and that those that didn’t feel up to the task were welcome to hop back on the chartered bus that had been following us. Not feeling quite done for the day, I decided to tough it out and try the climb back up. Oops. Let’s just say this was the most difficult ride I’ve ever done, and I think I did more walking than riding on the second half. The good news is I wasn’t alone, and there was nonetheless a great sense of satisfaction knowing that I got myself and my bike from the bottom of the hill to the top by whatever means necessary.

Numbers three and two from above are intimately connected, as they both stem from the fact that I am now in full swing with both my jobs. Both have provided great insight into the Israeli way of doing things, but I’m slowly learning the ropes in both places. I’m especially grateful for the opportunity to do fundraising at Julia’s school, as my singular goal for my time here in Israel was to gain some fundraising experience. I’ve been thrown into the deep end and asked to swim, and in some cases, to help others to swim as well, and I’m loving it. While my other job is less invigorating and a bit more frustrating (at least so far), it nonetheless will start paying the bills, once I manage to get my work visa taken care of.

And last but certainly not least, the big news of the week is the grand opening of Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf here in Jerusalem! For those of you not from the LA area, CBTL is a chain of coffee shops that, quite honestly, but Starbucks to shame. The coffee is much better, their “fru fru” blended drinks are a million times better and, not so exciting here in Israel but extremely exciting in California, the entire place is certified kosher. The signs have been up announcing CBTL’s imminent opening since we’ve arrived here, and this week it finally happened. We marked the occasion by joining fellow Angelinos Lindy and Matt for a celebratory Ice Blended yesterday, and it was one of the best Ice Blendeds I’ve ever had, if not for the wonderful taste, than for the wonderful reminder of home it provided.

Speaking of home, I realized tonight that when I refer to “home,” I really have no clue what I’m talking about. Somewhere in my head, I’ve got this mixed up image that combines a bit of where I worked last year with a bit of where I lived last year, with just a dash of where I grew up thrown in for good measure. Again, I’m very much so looking forward to the relative stability of the next four years in the same place.