2010 Year of Herring

I slept through the beginning of this decade. On December 30 of 2009, Karen and I, in the company of my parents, flew from New York to Tel Aviv, arriving about nine hours before the end of the year. We rented a car and drove to Holon, where Karen's grandmother lives. None of us had slept much on the overnight flight, so there wasn't much hope that we would all be able to stay awake into 2010. We watched some fireworks from the balcony of the apartment, we were well fed with hummus and ktsitsot by one of the world's most hospitable hosts (Tamar, Karen's grandmother), and then we nodded off one by one.

But I woke up on the first day of 2010 (Shana Tova!) feeling more rested than I have in months, if somewhat disconnected from routine: it was 8 am and sunny and 18 degrees C in Tel Aviv, but 1 am and dark and frigid in New York. We had another generous schmeer of Israeli foods for breakfast, including fluffy challah and some delicious pickled herring. And soon, we'll be met by Karen's mother who will take us sight-seeing in Jaffa (Yafo). It's my parents' first ever visit to Israel, so there are a lot of sights to see. It's been four years since my last visit here. Between studying maps and studying to improve my Hebrew, I'll try to post occasional updates.