Summer is here, and we go exploring

After braving through the cold winter spring is here, and with it an invitation to go exploring. So when the oppurtunity presented itself, with a moments notice we were off. This time to Pennsylvania.
My desperate need for some outdoors, fresh air, and someting completely different landed us in the Dutch Amish Country.

In researching places to stay I was very excited to find a bunch of listings that said they were B & B on Amish farms, but had no websites. Suddenly not seeing any pictures of where we were going to stay, the positioning of the bed in the room, the view from the window, and the table we will sit at while eating breakfast seemed very appealing. If an adventure - all the way. We ended up staying in Jonathan & Lydia's house in a tiny village called Gap. Jonathan & Lydia belong to the New Order Amish, which means they are slightly less strict, but they looked Amish enough for us.
So Erev Shavuot was celebrated on a dairy farm, and eating ice cream in an extremely bizarre, unbelievably American buffet restaurant. I found the recommendation on a blog of a guy who dedicates his time to reviewing all you can eat buffets around the country. I have to share the introduction to his blog -

There is an art to eating at an all you can eat restaurant. There are Do's and Don'ts that you need to know to get the most out of this dining experience. The rules will be presented as we go along ...

It's definitely one of those experiences one has to have while here. The kids absolutely loved it. To be fair the food was good and fresh, and the display of dessert meant the kids rushed through dinner, to get to the end.

The next morning we walked through Intercourse, Bird-in-Hand and Paradise. Walking through these villages it felt like someone might feel walking through "Mea Shearim". Strange-looking people who just go about their daily business in such a different way to ourselves. They dress differently, they have a different language, and here they also ride around in horse and carriage as if it was the most natural thing ever. We decided we need some explanations about the Amish. Wikipedia could only take us so far. 

      

The designated area for the horses behind the bank

"push bikes", bikes with no pedals

We resorted to doing the the tourist thing and went on a buggy ride, through Amish farm lands, hearing explanations about their lives, and habits. The kids couldn't get over the fact that the guy who took us around had 26 grandchildren. We continued to have a terrific lunch in Lancaster at the Lancaster Dispensing Company.

Kids sitting on the buggy

We took the scenic route back to the farm and visited a few of the 29 covered bridges of Lancaster County.

So glad to be running around in the fields

At the end of the day we returned to the farm we were staying on, and went on a lovely walk through some fields all the way to a little creek. Everyone was very excited when we spotted water.

    

Pay close attention to who is wearing what on the way to the creek, and on the way back. Despite the water being very cold, and Poppy tumbling in, a great time was had by all.

The sunset. You don't get that view in NYC

On Thursday we went to Philadelphia. Not really knowing what to expect, but with anticipation of plenty to do.

We started off at the National Constitution Center, which talks all about "We the People" and was actually a really good introduction to America, how it came to be, and why they think they are the Greatest Nation in the World.

Poppy being sworn into office

We met some really important people there

Nomi having a moment with Benjamin Franklin

Can't remember who's lap Tomer decided to sit on,
or shake hand with...

From there on to hamburgers in Franklin Square and on to the Liberty bell, which is treated as an icon and a national treasure. After seeing it, reading about, and hearing what it meant to people - I still don't get it. This is definitely not the first time, and I am sure not the last when facing an American national monument and not quite understanding the fuss. I recall visiting the sight of the Boston Massacre along the Freedom trail in Boston. 5 people were killed in the massacre.  Sorry, but where I come from, you really need to try harder to impress me.

From there we walked on through the lovely streets of Old City of Philadelphia, beautiful homes and gardens, quick visit into the Quaker meeting house, and then Betsy Ross's house, ending up walking along Elfreth's Alley, aka "our nation's oldest residential street".



Much to the children's disappointment we didn't get to the Please Touch Museum. We promise to be back.

Hibernating

I met some people last week, and they were talking about how people hibernate in NYC during the winter. I wasn't quite sure what they were taking about. Who hibernates? Who can even dream of hibernating with three kids, work, and the longest school bus strike since 1979.
When I gave the whole hibernation issue a second thought I realised that a combination of being bogged down by the need to set up life here, and the coooold winter maybe has meant the last 4-5 months were spent trying to keep the balls in the air, our ship afloat, my head above water. So not quite the warm relaxing image of hibernation I had in my head, but definitely something I feel we are emerging from.

So here are some highlights from the past few months. Promise to try and keep y'all updated more often.

Lots of love, and belated Chag Sameach

From New York

Exodus from Egypt

לשנה הבאה, אולי שנה וחצי...

יציאת מצרים- חציית ים סוף

חברות יקרות,

שישה חודשים לתוך החוויה / החיים החדשים שלנו אני מוצאת פיסות של זמן לכתוב לכן, ואולי חשוב מזה, מוצאת את היכולת לשדר החוצה. עד עכשיו הייתי במצב צבירה של ספיגה, עיבוד, ואיך עוברים את היום כדי להגיע למחר ומחרתיים, להגיע ליום בו אוכל ליצור תמונה שלמה לעומת בליל של פרטים. 

אז עכשיו אני שמחה לדווח שהגענו. 

שלושה שבועות ראשונים עברו עלינו במלון דירות, מאד נוח למעט בעיית עכברים קלה. שמחנו למצוא כאן דירה מאד נוחה, ומרווחת עם שכנים נאים. 

ניו יורק בנויה כשתי וערב של רחובות ושדרות. הרחובות ממזרח למערב השדרות מצפון לדרום. ובאמצע סנטרל פארק = אויר לנשימה. אי ירוק של טבע בתוך עיר שבאמת אין דומה לה. 

בחישוב מהיר אני וג׳ונה גילינו שבעשר שנים האחרונות גרנו בירושלים, תל אביב, לונדון וכפר סבא. ניו יורק אחרת.  

זה פשוט המווווון עיר. המון אספלט, המון המון בניינים, ואנשים!!! כל הזמן אנשים כל הזמן בכל מקום. משאיות הזבל אוספות את הזבל בימי שני. כל הבניינים מרוקנים את המרתפים אל המדרכות בראשון בערב. מדהים לראות את הרי שקיות הזבל על המדרכה בימי שני בבוקר. 

ג׳ונה בילה את החודשים הראשונים פה בסיום כתיבת הדוקטורט ולפני שבועיים חזר מלונדון, אחרי ש״הגן״ עליו בהצלחה. לי השבוע בלונדון היה מאתגר במיוחד, הוא נוסע, אני עובדת, שלושה ילדים בלי סבא/סבתא וטלפון לליאת ויגאל תאספו את תומר בשבילי בבקשה. 

אנחנו בסדר. 

הילדים נהנים בבית הספר. 

מחכים שיגיעו האביב והקיץ. החורף היה קר במיוחד, אבל לא הקור הפריע לי כמו היעדר הצבע. עם עצים ערומים בלי טיפת ירוק, העיר יותר נוקשה, השמיים יותר אפורים. 

אנחנו מאד עסוקים ואין הרבה זמן לעצור ולחשוב על געגועים, אבל מתגעגעים. לחברים, למה שמוכר, למרגיז, לפירות וירקות טעימים וטריים, לשווארמה!

יש כל כך הרבה לספר, את המייל הזה אני כותבת בטפטופים כבר חודש. וסיימתי אותו בנסיעה של שמונה שעות לאחותי שגרה במיין, המדינה כמעט הכי צפונית במזרח ארה"ב, שם חגגנו את פסח. 

חג שמח!

נשיקות לכולכם,

אוהבים ומתגעגעים,

אורלי, ג׳ונה, נעמי, תומר ואלה-פופי 

סוף סוף יש גם שמש

A special Shabbat Shalom

Sitting at dinner tonight with Gilad Shalit was more moving than I had ever anticipated.
I knew that working with the BJ community would bring my way fantastic opportunities, just from having met the people I am working with. When dinner with Gilad Shalit was put on my schedule I was laissez faire, it's not about him I said to myself, he just stumbled into a situation, no big deal.

Now that all is done and dusted, tonight, sitting across the table from him, with friends from his unit around the room, during dinner, was a special thing.

Being a mother, I had to hug my kids a little tighter,
Being inquisitive made me question how in the world did he survive, and does he appreciate his food more today than before
And i dumbed the cynic in me when we sang together ״להיות עם חופשי בארצנו״ . Here is a man who truly knows what it means to free.

Shabbat Shalom xxx

Zoom in, Zoom out

Saturday a couple of weeks ago we went to visit a real gem in New York, the High Line park.
The High Line is an old elevated railway which was abandoned for many years and eventually, and extremely skillfully converted into a beautiful park.

One walks along the old train line, which has been decked, dotted with benches, works of art and planted up on either side, and one feels great.
You are very much in the city, you are surrounded by buildings, and yet it is all very serene and calm, very different to how you feel walking along an average NewYork street. It's almost as if you are invisible to the city, you see it but it can't touch you. You are there, but separate from it. It's a liminal space, a time out of time, a space out of place.

Living in this new city as I have written before, is constent work. In order to contain it and make sense of  it, we are constantly zooming in & zooming out, moving from micro to macro and vice versa, existential questions (what the f@#%¥k are we doing here), alongside daily minutia (what lunch should I send with the kids to school). I believe that it's these transitions that allow us to enjoy our experience. Looking from the outside, and at the same time live the daily life from the inside. There was something about the walk along the Highline which made me feel this much more.

Here are some pictures from the day.

View from the Highline onto 14th street, walking abvoe the city

The kids, note the road below

amazing architecture

Crazy windows

Zoom in

Walking above the city

Zoom in

And then we ran into a really interesting character. David is an artist who was very active in making posters for the occupy wallstreet campaign. He sits in his box while promting thinking outside the box, and invites anyone who walks buy to paint an iTOMB, which is a small piece of cardboard 3' x 3'. The kids had a great time and if you look on his blog he has a slideshow of all the iTOMBS painted with the name of painter and Date they were painted. Lookout for Nomi & Tomers from Sep. 22nd.

Zoom in

Art along the way

Zoom in

Zoom in

One of the deckchairs along the Highline

Kids getting "run over" by deckchair "rail car" on the track

The day ended with fooling around at FAO Schwartz