Shalom from Jerusalem...

Well....we made it. We landed safely in Tel Aviv at about 9:30am Sunday morning after a long and uneventful flight. All of us are a little beat and jet lagged. Ben and Andy did great on the flight.

Upon arrival, we made it through the long line at "Passport Control", picked up our bags, found an ATM to withdrawal some shekels, rented a cell phone, hopped on a shirut (i.e. shuttle), took a 45 min. drive up to Jerusalem and arrived at our apartment on 7 Hillel Street. All without a hitch. Thank you Spurlock family for all the good advice on phone rentals, money exchange, etc. It was immensely helpful and worked like a charm.

Katherine, our landlord/property manager, met us at the apartment to let us in and show us around. She is really nice. Originally from England, she and her Dutch husband made aliyah five years ago. According to her, "she would not live anywhere else but Jerusalem." They have two children ages 3 and 1. Katherine has been kind enough to provide us a sukkah large enough for 10-12 people: 6 of us and up to 6 ushpitzin (i.e. guests).

The apartment is nice and cozy. Three bedrooms plus a sleeper sofa, full kitchen, wireless Internet and a garden patio for the sukkah. Much smaller than what we are used to but cozy. Great location in the heart of Jerusalem. One block from the famous Ben Yehudah Street where there is lots of shops and restaurants. Twenty minute walk to the Shuk outdoor market. Fifteen minute walk to Jaffa Gate and the Old City. Thanks Joshua Spurlock for helping us select the best location.

Jonathan, Noach and Adrian came by this evening after they got off work. We were delighted to see them. They are both doing well. G-d is blessing them. Adrian is a new volunteer at The Joseph Storehouse. He is here from Romania. Really nice guy with a cool testimony of how Hashem led him to Israeal. He is multilingual with fluency in Romanian, French, Spanish, Italian, English and German with a working knowledge of Russian. Makes me feel like a dumb American.

For dinner Jonathan took us to a "shawarma" place on Ben Yehudah. It was great. Then it was off to the Shuk to pick up a few supplies for the week. Great experience. We had to explain to Benjamin that the people yelling are not upset but rather just trying to attract shoppers to their stand. So, the frig is stocked with the essentials: water, eggs, bread, soy milk (yes we found Rice Dream at the Shuk), fruit, veggies, nuts, dates and, of course, tortilla chips and salsa.

Hope to post some photos tomorrow.

Still hard to believe that I am in Israel with almost all of my family (...wish you were here Crysta and Alex). Also, if any of you have a prayer (..that you don't mind us reading) that you would like us to take to the Kotel and leave in the Wall please email it and we will print or write and take it with us on one of our many visits to the Kotel.

Shalom from Jerusalem,
Greg & the Upham Clan