Initial thoughts on Jerusalem

It’s the same, almost. Many of the favorite (and not so favorite) old haunts are still here, from Yankee Bar to Tmol Shilshon to Schnitzee’s to Capricorn (no news on O’Connell’s yet). It’s fantastic. It didn’t really sink in that I was here. In Jerusalem. For a year. Until after I moved into my swanky short-term studio and started walking toward campus. I was here. I am here. It’s marvelous. It’s like coming back to a familiar part of my home again.

And yet it’s totally different. My favorite Kebab restaurant is gone, which saddens me terribly. There’s construction all over down town. I was walking around the city center, turned a corner, and there was a Coffee Bean. I walked another half block, and suddenly I’m face to face with an American Apparel. It sunk in, hard, that while I came to Jerusalem to get away from LA, LA is quietly stalking me.. Jerusalem really isn’t as oriental as we think it is (or as I think it is).

I did, however, have Hummus and Meat at Pinati for lunch, and it was better than I remembered.

My apartment (two week long sublet while I find Adam and my kick-ass all-Hebrew all-the-time apartment) is gorgeous. It’s a little studio on Shamai street – if you knew Jerusalem, it’s on block over from Kikkar Zion. But it looks over a balcony, so it’s quiet and shady and great décor. My “landlord” is an architecture student at Bezalel, Hebrew U’s art school, and he has his own really neat models and paintings on the wall. It’s a great location too, which makes going to campus and going apartment shopping and going to the shuk (tomorrow! I’m so excited!) convenient.

My memory of the city has stood pretty steady. I have a really good grasp of where things should be in relation (east, west, which street to get where) to everything else. Where I’m totally lacking is remembering distance. Jerusalem is a big city. In my mind, the whole central area, from Emek Rafaim to the Russian colony to The Central Bus station is all 20 minutes – or less. It may be so because when I was here before I was living on Mt. Scopus, and that is really really far from everything else. It may also be my mind. And the jet lag. And the heat (which isn’t too bad; it’s dry and nice in the shade).

But the jet lag. I’m exhausted, and it’s about 10:30 PM in J’lem right now. I parted company with my classmate earlier – we were eating ice cream (they were eating; my stomach is still in knots from the sleep deprivation) on Ben Yehuda – about an hour ago to go to bed but while I’m exhausted, I’m still wired. Hopefully I’ll fall asleep soon because it’s a big day tomorrow.

One word about my classmates before I sign off. As of now, about 10 hours since I started to meet them, I really like the ones I’ve met. They’re all pretty Jewy (as one might expect) but down to earth and fun. They’ve had a lot of hanging out the past week and a half, and I missed out on that, so it’s a little weird jumping in when there are connections and groups already formed. The flip side of that, however, is I have an allure about me. I’m still an unknown quantity.