Our new neighborhood - Purim - Iran

Wow!! It's been a while since our last blog....with the renovations & Hebrew classes, we haven't had a lot of extra time.  And when we get it, first priority always seems to be much needed rest :)  However, Hebrew lessons are 8 weeks in, and the major renovations are done and Spring is on its way - this weekend is a tease - 70's!!!  But it's supposed to go back down to the 50's next week with more rain possible (always received as a blessing - many are saying this was the wettest winter Israel has seen in decades!!).  So tomorrow we shall meander about the Old City with several friends and enjoy the weather together after being inside for so many cold wet months.  


In the last blog we promised update pictures of our apartment, so here are a few before and after pics.  We are very happy to have made it through to the other side of this, and to get our locks changed!  The contractor (and a few of the workers) had our keys for over a month, so we wanted to get them changed ASAP.  With A LOT of cleaning away of construction dust, grout mud, and unpacking our stuff (after a few months of being here) it is finally beginning to feel like home.  We do sense that this apartment and neighborhood has a more "homey" feel for us.

Bath before with tub

Bath after with glass shower wall

Bedroom window before

Bedroom window after

Living room windows before

Living room windows after (during Chanukkah)

Kitchen before

Kitchen after

Once we began to clean and decorate, the first picture we wanted on the wall was this canvas original.  It was recently given to us, and was painted by a holocaust survivor.  He said it was one of his memories from where he used to live.  It is an honor to have this in our home.

Our new neighborhood is different in a lot of ways than the last one.  Before, we were on the far west side of Jerusalem.  Now, we are on the far east side (and south of the Old City).  The other neighborhood was definitely Jewish - every Friday evening at sundown we could hear the siren announcing the beginning of Shabbat.  Although we do miss that, it's a joy to hear the little children playing here, and it's a wonderful family type neighborhood - we feel very welcome here. But, instead of hearing the siren for Shabbat, we can hear the call to prayer(s) from the adjacent Arab village (which is 5 times a day).  The mosques have a minaret with loud speakers on them, and can be heard all the way to our neighborhood.  Some of the volunteers at different apartments have had much difficulty sleeping, with the first "wake-up" call being around 5 am.  We took this into consideration when choosing which bedroom we wanted.  The one by the road would have us woken by the Muslim call to prayer, the one by the walkway would have us woken on Shabbat morning as people were on their way to Synogogue.  We chose the bedroom by the walkway, and sleep very well :)  Until now the windows have been shut, so we're not sure how it will be with them open.

Looking out the living room windows we get 2 views.  

To the left is an Arab village just on the other side of the valley. 

The minaret is on the left.

To the right is a Jewish neighborhood near ours.

The walk to the bus stop is only 5 minutes for us - very convenient.  We just go out our door and walk on the garden pathway.  There is even a view of Herodion along the way.  Herodion is volcano-shaped and near Bethlehem.  It was built by Herod "the Great" around 40 BC with a fortress and a palace on the top.  We're hoping to visit there soon, it's a national park.

Also, our new neighborhood is near the United Nations headquarters.  By some, this area where the UN is located (the neighborhood of Abu Tor) is known as the "Hill of Evil Council".  From Wikipedia: "The hill on which Abu Tor stands was called "Jebel Deir Abu Tor" (mountain of the monastery of Abu Tor), or the "Hill of Evil Council", referring to a legend that it was the site of the house of Caiaphas, where Judas plotted to betray Jesus."  Not far from the UN is a fairly new place called "Tolerance Park and Monument".  This past September a conference was held there by religious leaders of all faiths to promote global tolerance.  Another sign of the last days...

See the "golden seed of tolerance" growing amongst the branches?

Not far from the UN headquarters and Tolerance Park is the Haas Promenade, about a 15 minute walk for us.  Many who have been to Jerusalem have been to this overlook.  It's a great place to pray as you get an amazing panoramic view of both the new and old parts of Jerusalem along with the Mount of Olives.

Hebrew class has been moving along slow but sure.  We have been very blessed having a "private" class at our organization.  That is not the norm for sure.  Usually you go to a class with a bunch of strangers, and what you grasp you learn and what you don't, well, you don't... We were approached by an Israeli believer who is a Hebrew teacher who wanted to know if our staff would like to learn Hebrew, so a dozen of us said YES!!!  She is an excellent teacher who is getting to know us all individually very well.  She knows when we understand, and when she needs to slow down or find a different way to explain.  She knows who needs more help, and is very, very patient.  We are a very blessed group to have someone like her to teach us the "mother tongue" of all mother tongues.  Well, being the honest and upright class that we are :) we talked her into letting us take our "end of the first 8 weeks" test at home!!  And trusting us as she does, she said yes.  Instead, we spent the class studying things we really needed more practice on.  This week we will begin the next 8 week session.

Our tests - the test is in print, and we have to write in cursive Hebrew.

This past Thursday evening began Purim in Jerusalem.  It is a day later here because Jerusalem is a walled city.  Although it was really celebrated for most of the week...But in the synagogue, the Megillat (scroll) of Esther was read on Thursday evening.  Along with our Hebrew teacher, none of us wanted to be in class, so we all played "hookie" - including the teacher, and went out to celebrate.  Several of us went to The Great Synagogue to hear the Scroll read, and enjoy the music and dancing afterward.

Purim may be considered a "minor" festival, but as it is written in the Bible to celebrate it, the Jewish people still do!  It is very important never to forget when God delivers you from your enemies - and to rejoice in His goodness.  "So they called these days Purim, after the name Pur. Therefore, because of all the words of this letter, what they had seen concerning this matter, and what had happened to them, the Jews established and imposed it upon themselves and their descendants and all who would join them, that without fail they should celebrate these two days every year, according to the written instructions and according to the prescribed time, that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city, that these days of Purim should not fail to be observed among the Jews, and that the memory of them should not perish among their descendants." Esther 9:26-28

Video - Rejoicing at the synagogue after the reading of Esther.

Although we worked on Friday until 2 pm, this is what greeted us on Ben Yehuda Street on our way home. It was a carnival atmosphere for sure!  Although Shabbat would begin in a few hours at sunset, the Purim celebration would continue to the very last minutes of the day.

Here's a little "Esther"

As Iran continues to threaten the existence of Israel, we wonder how many people consider the Biblical story of Esther?  It was only in 1935 that the Biblical Persia of the book of Esther  began using the name Iran (which interestingly means "Land of the Aryans").  Because the Jews are different and won't bow down to other's demands, some over the millennia believe they have no right to even exist.  Because there is nothing new under the sun, in each generation, there is always someone who would want to destroy God's chosen people.

As Esther 3:8-9 says: "Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from all other people’s, and they do not keep the king’s laws. Therefore it is not fitting for the king to let them remain. ⁹ If it pleases the king, let a decree be written that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who do the work, to bring it into the king’s treasuries.”

As our Prime Minister met with President Obama last week to discuss Iran, Benyamin Netanyahu presented him with a Megillat (Scroll) of Esther - just days before Purim would be celebrated by Jews worldwide.  We see this as a declaration:

"For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish." Esther 4:14a  

President Obama says that his commitment to Israel's security is unshakable - now it's time for him to prove it.  Either way, deliverance will come for God's people - by God alone.  We each have a choice what part we want to play in these last days.

Please keep Southern Israel in prayer as it is being barraged with rocket attacks in the past 24 hours:  "Palestinians have fired 100 rockets into Israel after an IAF strike on Friday killed the secretary general of the Popular Resistance Committees, Zuhair Qaisi."  

http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=261248

  We choose to be on God's side, and align ourselves with His plan  for Israel, the Jewish people, and those who have chosen to be grafted in to His olive tree. 

Romans 11

~ another beautiful ending to another beautiful day ~

The Renovation

Almost 2 months ago we moved from our first apartment in Israel to our current apartment.  There were several reasons for the move, but it mostly came down to the cost increases.  Once the previous tenants moved out of our new apartment, we were able to assess what work may need to be done.  We would have preferred to have the work done before we moved in, of course, but the timing didn't work out considering the landlord's availability to look at the apartment needs and also the timing of leaving our old apartment.  Therefore, we lived in the new apartment during the renovations, which ended up being much more extensive than we ever imagined.


The praise report is that the landlord agreed to pay for all the work that needed to be accomplished - which was a lot.  During the entire process, the landlord has been very responsive and accommodating.  

Below shows the work that was to be done.

In the bathroom, all we requested was to have the bathtub fixed or replaced, but the landlord decided to redo the entire bathroom!  Including the floor and walls...

The windows in 2 rooms were rotting from the frames, and needed to be fixed.

The windows in the bathroom had glass slats, and it was cold and airy .

The living room windows had been replaced long ago, but not all of the old windows were removed.  The bottom panes remained along with the original framing, and the new windows were installed outside of the original windows - and theses were not airtight.  This allowed for the wind and moisture to come in, which was again cold and airy.

So the result between the old window framing and the new exterior windows was - moss.

The laundry room was interesting.  The laundry room is not heated (which is normal) and included a balcony that had been enclosed, but the railing was never removed.  Also, the floor of the balcony was not a safe structure, and you could see through the cracks into the neighbor's apartment below.

The radiator in the living room had been previously replaced with a new radiator.  The problem was that the new one was slimmer in design and the original plumbing wouldn't allow for it to be situated properly on the wall.  An attempt had been made, but as you can see it wasn't successful :) This caused the radiator to be un-parallel with the wall, and to be insecurely attached.

The kitchen cupboards and countertop were replaced at some point with these 30 year old cupboards (I guess these colors were not only popular in the US at that time, but also in Israel).

But the need for replacement was not because of the lovely color.  There had been a leak at some point, and even though it was fixed, the damage was already done.  There had been water damage behind the cupboards with some molding.

So, as we held our breath and braced ourselves for 2 weeks of major renovations, and men in and out of the house, we emptied the kitchen since we were told that is where they would begin.  For almost 2 weeks, all food (except in the fridge) and dishes, etc were kept in the living room covered with sheets to keep the dust out - and boy was there a lot of dust!!!

We were told they would arrive at 8 am on Sunday morning on December 18, and we got off to a great start when they arrived at 8:10 am.  Let the fun begin!!

Well, needless to say, they didn't start in the kitchen, but in the bathroom - with a very large jack hammer.  We quickly went downstairs to our neighbor to warn them, it sounded like they were going to go through their ceiling!!!  Our neighbors were very kind during the whole loud process.

We learned that the bathtub was cemented into the bathroom, and it was not an easy process to remove.

After gutting the room, they filled the holes with mud, and started putting the plumbing in place.  

After the bathroom got going with a bang, other men came to install the windows.  We were very happy it was a sunny day, right before some cold weather was due to roll in.  The new windows are great!

New window in the bedroom.

New windows in the bathroom.

With the railing gone, they began to prepare the floor to be installed in the laundry room.

Here you can see they have added dirt to the floor in the bathroom.  This is common is Israel - dirt is an insulator. The bathroom was the project that ended up taking the longest.  In fact, it's still not complete...

The apartment also has a 1/2 bathroom - thank God since we were without the other bathroom for 2 weeks!  They had to break through the wall in this bathroom the reach some of the plumbing in the other one.  

Surprise, surprise!! We needed to give the contractors a key to the apartment so they could continue the work while we were gone each day.  As we mentioned in the previous blog, we provided Turkish coffee every day for the workers to drink throughout the day.  After their first day alone, we came home to this!! They actually washed the cups and left them to dry - amazing!!  Sad to say, though, this was the first & last time we would see this...

Oops!  Something got broke - don't know who or how....

The bathroom is starting to look like a bathroom again!  And the dirt smell that lingered in the apartment for a few days is beginning to dissipate.  Along with the smell of cigarette smoke - Jim had to put his foot down and tell them they would have to smoke outside - it took a few requests for this to become a reality. 

Wow!  It's really beginning to take shape!

All we need now are the shower walls! :)

And all in one day we got new cupboards (minus the countertop - that would be the next day, with the sink).  The landlord agreed to replace the bottom cupboards and sink and countertop, and to put new doors on the top original cupboards.

Here's our old cupboards :)

And there they go.....about 3 weeks later the trash men went on strike!

The laundry room is coming along nicely with a wood floor

 and drywall to help insulate it.

Hmmm.....well, they fixed the hole in the wall of half bath, but they didn't seem to remember to clean up afterward.  This seemed to be a common practice over the 2 weeks - not cleaning up after themselves.....So who is expected to do all this cleaning?  Well, when Jim asked them about it, they explained how all he needed to do was use water... :)

Uh-oh!  Is that our extension cord?   Ummm, it doesn't seem to be as long as it used to be, there's a few feet missing.  Don't worry, we found it - they needed more wire when they moved the light in the bathroom to be situated over the new sink.  They ran it along the top of the tile and covered it with tile grout so it wouldn't be quite so obvious...

Not only that, but something about this light doesn't seem quite right....it's broken and crooked and points into the corner.....

Wow!  That's a nice piece of glass - high quality.  They told Jim they forgot a "part".  He asked if it was the shower door.....no, silly, the curtain rod!  But is there a shower floor to catch the water?  No, that is what the squeegee is for!

And how did you "fix" the radiator so it would be parallel with the wall?  You bend the pipes, of course!  Well that ended up not being a very good idea, because as you can see, it began to leak.  So we needed to turn off the water running to the radiator until a plumber could come fix it - because the contractor said he couldn't fix it.  So that means a few days with no heat in the living room, but a mobile electric heater.

We experienced many "unusual" trials during this adventurous season of renovation.  And it was quite a challenge for us.  Every day we'd come home to something else, here are just some of the highlights:  they cut a bath towel in half (guess they needed it for something...), they used our dish scrubbies to clean the mud off the walls in the bedrooms along with a washcloth & dish towel, they used Jim's paint, paintbrushes and roller to paint the walls where they installed the new windows (not only did they not ask, but they didn't clean the brushes or roller, and they used the wrong color paint.  We now have a peach wall in a white room.), and they never cleaned anything - that's left for us.  One day we came home to not only the coffee cups we left for them to use (dirty), but disposable ones we had packed in a box in the living room and covered with a sheet.  Guess they needed more than what we provided and went looking for more...

Men were coming and going for 2 weeks - with the keys to our home.  They would leave the lights on when they left, and sometimes the windows open.  They said they were finished (more than 2 weeks ago) but they are definitely not finished.  We still don't have the keys back.  The landlord is not very happy, and has agreed to let us hire someone to complete the work and have it deducted from the rent. He doesn't know about our recent discovery today - the new toilet is leaking :) We will also be changing the locks on the doors, although we are happy to say we have had no issues of things missing during the renovation.

Trying to keep the right perspective while taking sponge baths in the kitchen for 2 weeks and coming home each day to see what happened while we were gone was quite challenging.  Jim did much better than I did.  We tried to laugh about it as much as possible, but I shed a few tears as well.  One day another volunteer told me I was looking "quite fragile", and she was right, I was.  But my dear, sweet husband always helped me see things clearly.  One day about 1 1/2 weeks into the kitchen sponge baths, I didn't think I could take it any more.  I must have had a look on my face, because Jim said, "Well, we could be in the jungle of Africa."  I imagined myself having to walk to the river and bring a bucket of water back to take a bath.  It immediately gave me the right frame of mind to be able to keep going and know "I can do this".  

One of the many opportunities we have here in Jerusalem is to help poor and needy families with various apartment and home repairs.  We'll attempt to do the repair ourselves with our volunteer staff, if the repairs are minor, or we'll either coordinate an effort with a visiting volunteer group to complete the repairs or if need be, hire a local contractor.  Well, this experience certainly allows us to relate to some of the challenges they face.  We really do love the people here - it's more of a cultural difference that we notice and experience, rather than an attitude problem.  The last attribute we would label the people here with is, lazy - they are far from it, and we hope this story doesn't suggest that.  We chalk this up to an "Adventure in Israel".

Life will throw many challenges our way that we never even considered possible.  It's our job to see them as opportunities.  An opportunity to have the right attitude, to act and speak with the right character, to 'walk the walk' & 'talk the talk', to not "lose our witness" to those around us who are watching what we say and how we act when the difficult times come.  Are there things I wish I'd done differently?  Absolutely.  But we're making it through this most recent adventure, and if we were to experience it anywhere, we're glad it was here in Israel.

The good thing about the last story with the radiator leaking, is that Jim had me go get Yitzak (the va'ad man) who is our next door neighbor.  This is the nicest couple you'll ever meet.  They are the ones who collect the va'ad for all the apartments (maintenance fee).  They have  been very kind, and offered their assistance throughout the renovations.  Anyway, the day before, he had looked at the radiator to see why it wasn't heating properly for us.  It's not his job, but he is a very kind man, and offered to take a look.  While Yitzak was at our apartment looking at the radiator, another neighbor (Shimon) showed up to pay the va'ad as well (Yitzhak's wife told the neighbor that he was at our house).  These two men looked at the radiator to determine what was wrong and what needed to be done to fix it.  

When the contractor came the next day, Jim had me go get Yitzak so he could talk to the contractor in Hebrew on our behalf.  So when I went next door to ask if he would come over, his wife answered the door and said, "Yaffa! You miss me already?" :)  She calls me by my Hebrew name :)  I said, "Yes I do!  Can Yitzhak come talk to the contractor about the radiator?" As he was leaving with me, she gave me a hug and said, "I am like a mother for you."  My heart melted right then and there!!!  Later, after Yitzak explained everything to the contractor, I told him thank you and gave him a big hug in front of everyone :) After all, he is now like a father to me as well, yes?  Yitzak was born in Israel before it was even a nation, and has fought in all its wars.  We look forward to spending much more time with them, especially when it gets warmer.  Jim and Yitzak are going to trim the shrubs together :)  We love making new friends...

We look forward to posting the completed pictures in a blog soon.  Praise be to God who always finishes what He starts.

THANK YOU LORD FOR TEACHING US THROUGH THE GOOD TIMES 

AND THE HARD TIMES. HELP US TO ALWAYS KEEP 

EVERYTHING IN YOUR PERSPECTIVE.