The start of today was focused on taking care of business and recovering from jet lag. We got house keys, Sim cards, and exchanged currency. Of course, it would not of been complete without our first culinary experience! Café café and the most delicious shakshuka. An accompaniment of Limon Nana and ice café rounded out a delicious culinary experience.
Somehow I successfully navigated us through the neighborhoods and made it through the pardesim to our grandparent's home. Driving through the streets of their neighborhood always conjurs up childhood memories and the difference of the streets are immediately visible and the changes since their rural beginnings vast. As a nice suburb to a small city, beit eliezer no longer has flocks of sheep or herds of cattle marching thorough its streets to graze at near by fields, or the roosters crowing at the crack of dawn or the horse and cart man selling seasonal "avatiach a la sakine." These occurrences are relegated to years past. But one quick look at the red dirt, nearby orange trees and the black and white fence of the home we spent many memorable summers in, and you can close your eyes and I can see (and smell the sheep, cattle and ripe watermelons) what it looked like in 1977. What a trek through memories, both new and old at meme's house... We spent the afternoon browsing through dozens of family photo albums and unearthed treasures and pictures of ourselves as young children. Some of these pictures, taken before the immortality of news feeds and Instagram, or even before duplicate prints, we don't ever recall seeing. Others are one of many memorable ones that adorn the walls of our parents' or even our own homes.
We had an amazing time laughing and crying and sharing strories. A day we will never forget...
