the garden that is my mirpeset

It is no secret that, especially in Tel Aviv, a good balcony can make or break and apartment, and I knew from the minute I walked into my apartment for the first time, and out onto the balcony, I knew that this was where I would spend the majority of my time when at home.

As of yesterday my מרפסת (balcony) is even more enticing as my new roomate, Amitai, and his darling mommy brought all sorts of flowers, plants and herbs to join us at Nachmani 46 :-) Luckily Amitai will be able to help when my nose can't distinguish between them...(note: it's the first time I've seen zatar in plant form, so fun!)

In a couple weeks we'll be able to start cooking with them which will be GREAT! And beyond that all I need is for the weather to start warming up a bit so that I can spend more time out there in the evenings after work. And of course for my kitten to not eat any of our new little green friends :-)

if you don't scrub that kitchen floor...

you ain't gonna rock 'n roll no more...

these were our best buddies...especially with all the piles of dirt and leaves out on the blacony :-)

a bathtub full of cleaning supplies...the bathtub was the cleanest thing in the apartment since they just put in a new one that day...


our very first lunch @ home!
the other picture is the "mirpeset sheirut" outside our kitchen

mmmmm...yummy.

we poured about 10 buckets of water throughout the apartment to get all the dust and dirt out...


riiight. well there were no "papers to take out" but we definitely took out the trash -- mostly bags full of sand and dust that clearly proved our theory about how often they cleaned that apartment!

It was good times...well, quite tiring, but overall we enjoyed making our apartment into a swimming pool with the "sponja" of a lifetime :-)

The difference between yesterday at 10am and when we left at 7:30 or so was amazing, and definitely necessary. We even had our first meal at the apartment, sitting on the porch.

Random funny things to note:
1) I ran after 50 sheckels that blew away in the wind during our lunch break -- right into the street with oncoming traffic. Luckily I realized it, quickly ran away, and even mangaged to catch up with my 50 sheckels as soon as all the cars went by. But it was pretty ridiculous scene to watch, and yet, coming from me, not all that surprising.
2) Our neighbor works at a coffee/bistro type place on the corner near out apartment and recognized us since her window looks out into our "mirpeset sheirut" (the little porch/balcony outside our kitchen) and I was like, oh, that's the one who had to listen to me sing myself silly while cleaning the kitchen for two hours... oops. She was very nice.
3) So it turns out that when you wash the floor in our apartment, there are two routes for the water to go -- one is in one balcony near the living room and the other from the balcony near the kitchen. We pushed all the water through the kitchen as to avoid making dirty what we just cleaned -- and in the process all the water goes out this little pipe and down to the ground three stories below. The only problem is that people hang their laundry out to dry exactly where the water falls and so the poor soul on the first floor who apparently washed his/her slippers and left them out to dry, will be unpleasantly surprised with the now EXTREMELY not clean water filled slippers...oops. we left a nice note and apologized so hopefully we haven't caused too much neighborly damage.

It's actually quite amazing the way things worked out. Despite the total mess that we were in with everything on Monday, by Wednesday evening everything was all set, including my sort of random but very cool cousin giving me his bed since he's moving to the states for a while -- the girl who lived in the apartment who was supposed to be leaving me her bed decided at the last minute that she was taking it, apparently.

By mid-next week we should be more or less in place -- this weekend will require lots of moving (more or less up and down the the stairwell in our building) and next week will require lots of buying (dresser, hopefully finding furniture for our living room, porch, etc.)

In the meantime I am back at work but totally exhausted...have a lot to do but not so much motivated to do it...maybe I'll even manage to sleep some sometime soon?

movin' right along

well, it's officially move-in week. Sivan and I have it all planned out...not that we expect that things will really go exactly according to how we want them to, but it's nice to think positively, no?

Tuesday - keys and buying cleaning supplies in the evening
Wednesday - cleaning...cleaning...some more cleaning, and if need be, more cleaning
Thursday - exterminator (after all, it is an old apt in Tel Aviv, better to be on the safe side)
Friday - moving most of the stuff in -- maybe painting if really needed
Saturday - resting, at least a little bit, invite over people who are supposidly bringing us furniture/other things for the apartment (a garage buy, rather than garage sale, as my co-worker put it)
Sunday evening - trip to IKEA
Monday - depending on trip to IKEA, buying little or lots of furniture from south tel aviv

and then lots and lots of random trips to places to buy things we need...it'll be a long process, but a fun one I think...it's my first time getting to really decorate my own place!

since the last time I wrote...

this past Friday we walked around on rachov Hertzl in Tel Aviv where they sell lots of furniture (much of it on the waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too expensive and not even really my style kind of places) and we did manage to see some good deals on large dresser/closet type furniture, and some cute stores with fun accessories that we'll definitely come back for once we have a place to accessorize.

things otherwise have been going pretty well. This past weekend was very walking oriented -- lots of time with Tiferet and Sivan at Park H'yarkon, as well as walking around Namal Tel Aviv and the Dizengoff area of course. It's actually been quite warm out and last night was crazy weather with hot winds and sandstorms on the beaches in Tel Aviv. I've actually never even seen anything like it before here, and I think everyone was a little shocked.

I know Tel Aviv is not a big city, but i'm still always surprised at how often I run into someone I know, considering I don't really know that many people. Just this weekend I ran into my co-worker in the morning on Friday, then later that day I saw a couple that I met at Eyal's birthday party, then on Saturday I ran into Eyal's crew from Petach Tikva who I've known forever at this club/bar place in south Tel Aviv (I think it was called Blend but i don't remember). Well, it is a nice feeling -- makes me wonder what it will be like once I actually LIVE in Tel Aviv...in a good way.

Pesach, derech agav (by the way) was very nice here, especially having the time off to hang out and relax. although two less than great things resulted: 1) It made me really miss all the little things that happen at Pesach in CT -- quirks that just won't exist anywhere else and can't be replicated and 2) it makes getting back into the full week of work schedule pretty difficult. what can i say, i'm too busy daydreaming and thinking about the apartment to-do lists to really pay attention despite having quite a bit to do at work now...anyone want to provide some motivational thoughts? you know you do... knowing me i'll end up consulting despair.com for some words of wisdom.

lucky for me, i am taking this wednesday off to clean the apartment (which will be much harder than being at work, but FOR SURE more fun -- i even made a "cleaning mix" to blast on my iPod during the day) and then next week on Wednesday we have the day off for Yom Hatzma'ut (independence day). sweet. I'm actually really psyched to be here for it, I've always heard about fun parties and such in Tel Aviv, and now I'll be able to wander and enjoy and at the end of the night (morning?) come back to my very own place in the city.

que mas? Oh yeah, Riki is due this week so I keep checking my phone all day making sure there aren't any missed calls...it's a matter of days (maybe hours!?) till "schnitzel" will have a real name and a little doll face to match :-)

ahhh, i'm tiiiired. i should be wise and go to bed considering this week is going to be pretty nuts and tiring. the key words in that sentence being "should be." I think the next time I post I'll probably have pictures to post from the new place -- even if it's just gross horrible shots of sivan and i scrubbing the bathroom floor or something :-P Sounds enticing, doesn't it? I thought so as well.

tov...until next time...yala, bye.

Nachmani 46 :-)

Yup...that's it. MY NEW (well, soon to be) ADDRESS!

Sivan and I went this morning to sign the lease and on the 25th of April we will officially get keys to our new place!

I'm so excited...and so relieved...weight lifted off my shoulders doesn't even START to describe it. And not because I don't like living with my family, I do. They are so so great and have helped me in a million ways. But let's face it, I need my own place, my own kitchen, and my own stuff --- a place all our own in the center of Tel Aviv...bring it on.

The place is so cute, and in such a great location (for those of you who know Tel Aviv, it falls on Nachmani between Rothschild and Yehuda Ha'levi). The apartment will require some major cleaning and refurnishing, but Sivan and I are up for that and it'll be fun to go furniture shopping and such.

Ok, must get back to work, but i just wanted to share the good news :-)