My friend and old roommate Noah very quickly extended the offer of refuge from bombarded Beer Sheva. His wife Livia's in the States for a bit, so I'm glad to keep him company here in Jerusalem.
After the previous night of an alarm every hour from midnight to 3am in the form of an air raid siren, after a morning when Hamas wouldn't even let me use the bathroom in peace, I'm immensely enjoying the little things here...also enjoying some hearty laughs while watching absurd YouTube videos with Noah, reading about the insane mind of the Lakers' Metta World Peace, and playing some Wii baseball and tennis.
Cardio workouts and New Balance shoes vis-a-vis survival
Let's go back to Wednesday night. It's a good thing I've been making about three visits a week to the Ben-Gurion University pool, where you can find me "pool running" in the "slow lane." I kept the running shoes ready to go (thanks so much Mom for buying me those back in September in Dallas!). My new roommate Amatzia didn't bother taking his off and just slept with them on. He pulled a muscle on one run down to the shelter. I've been telling him since we moved in he needs to hit the gym with me!
The squeaky wheel gets the shelter unlocked
As for the shelter, I'm very grateful for my downstairs neighbors who called the Municipality ad nauseam until they came to unlock it for our use. Thankfully it's very spacious and clean. That same assertive neighbor must be in her fifties, and struggles with a sore knee to get downstairs to shelter and back up.
Three fellow Israelis were killed yesterday when a terrorist rocket hit their house in Kiryat Malachi. May their memories be a blessing.
They were reported to be by the window. Please know that I am uber-serious about following the orders of the Home Front Command, and will always put my running shoes to use to get to shelter. And for now I used the trusty 470 Egged bus to get out of range. About 45 minutes after we left, we were out of the range of rockets that Hamas had used.
But then last night, sirens were sounded in Tel Aviv.
I'll let my Prime Minister Netanyahu speak for me about the background and the untenable situation of a decade of terrorist rocket fire, with the insidious aim of killing as many of my brothers and sisters as possible:
As for last night's post, I failed to explain what Sheva Brachot is. After the wedding ceremony and for the next six nights, a series of festive meals for the bride and groom are followed by the traditional seven blessings (שבע ברכות/sheva brachot = seven blessings). So the party continued, but I was able to give a taste of the Southern experience to the room of Jerusalemites amidst blessings for the amazing Mark and Racheli.
A successful aliyah
I mentioned last night the countless offers from friends here. Ironically, a ton of friends in Tel Aviv offered shelter by them, then had to run to shelter themselves yesterday evening.
I believe very firmly that a successful aliyah means meeting and encountering good people. With that in mind, my move to Israel has been an overwhelming success, with an unbelievable, diverse mix of great people who've entered my life here. Praise the Lord Halleluya for these awesome folks!
As Ben-Gurion--obviously--closed the pool, I am overdue for a workout. So while my heart and mind are with my brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews and grandparents in the South, and the brave soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces, you can find me on the basketball court for a direly needed ventilation session. Hoping to hit a basket in this Jerusalem pick-up league for the first time. I'm thinking something like this:
אריק/Eric
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