more family time...

So on Wednesday, mom and jaime came over for breakfast, which was nice, then I headed out to class and they headed off to catch the Egged bus 99 double-decker bus tour of Jerusalem. they had a really good day, stopped off at Yad Vashem (hugemongous Holocaust Memorial) for a few hours...then they met me at Aroma when I was done with classes at 4. We then called my great-aunt, and decided to go to her place in Ramat Rachel for dinner and such. Headed out, barely caught the 19, which then proceeded to get caught in traffic and I almost got seriously motion-sick cuz i was sitting backwards. We then had to transfer busses, but managed to get seats on the super-busy #8, and find our way to Aunt Leona's apartment. We had a nice evening of chatting, looking at SUPER-old pictures (we're talking pictures that were taken on a Kodak Brownie, from the turn of the 20th century; i saw my great-great aunts, great-great grandparents, etc.); my other cousins Dvorit and Howard dropped in too...it was nice.

After that we just headed home, mom and Jaime had a little adventure cuz the taxi driver from my place to theirs didnt know their street and so got lost; they did eventually get home and got a good price too.

Yesterday, Mom and Jaime headed off to Haifa pretty early, had fun times while i was stuck inside in class, then after work I ran home, switched bags and grabbed a small snack, then ran out the door to get the bus to the central bus station, where I met up with my cousin Adina, and then we walked to the stop where the Superbus to Adina's son Ariel's house. We got on right away, it was a nice cozy bus. 45 minutes later, arrived in Hashmonaim, a tiny little town between Jlem and Tel Aviv. We waited a few minutes outside for Ariel to come get us; my mom and bro arrived on the train almost exactly at the same time as our bus, so he got us on the way back from getting them. Their house is...inSANE. three floors. spiral staircase to all. echo-y walls. and five children, ages 10mos, almost-3, 5, 8, and 10. it is LOUD. and MESSY. but AWESOME. and we had a really nice dinner, pasta and burekas (puff-pastries that are generally filled with cheese or potato) and bread and there was sole and salad and such. it was fun. baby Zohar is SO cute, and the oldest girl totally loves me, and so do the older boys...Itay, the almost-three-year-old, is just insane. lol. it was a wild and crazy and fun family night. Ariel drove us home, and yeah. 

Today, i got up early and showered and then waited for mom and jaime, who again had an adventure cuz they accidentally took the 4 instead of the 4A, and had to walk...but they made it. they got some breakfast at Aroma, ate in my room, then we got sarah and headed out. We went to Ben yehuda and got presents and bagels, then to the shuk and got the fixings for dinner (chicken, lafa, cheese, etc.). it was craaaazy, as the shuk always is on fridays, and i'm amazed that nobody got lost, but it was all good. spent lots of money though...oh well. i got cheddar cheese! and that makes life good. Came home, sat outside and snoozed for a while til it got too windy, hung out inside, watched some Jeff Dunham, made a delicious dinner, watched Juno, then mom and jaime left, and this time got home in like 5 minutes, as they should. 

tomorrow we head to Tel Aviv to hang out with my friend Adrienne...should be a lot of fun! Will let you know how it goes. sleepytime now...