Our First Week

We're staying in apartment with a pomegranite tree in the front yard, a loquat--or sheseq--tree across the street, and an orange tree with very sour oranges next door.  We have the most beautiful flowers near us.  One smells us like a juicy grapefruit.  We have a little park near us, two doors down, and right at the corner of our street is a falafel stand, a great pizza stand,  a little cafe called "Coffee in the Garden," and a yummy fresh fruit and vegetable store.   Jonah and I love playing at the park next door and, one night, as I walked to the park alone, just to be there for five minutes, I picked loquats and ran around having fun in the park.  When I noticed I'd been out too long, I got in a real rush and feel knee first on the ground and got a gash.  I limped up to my house, cleaned it, and went to sleep.  Fortunately, it's been healing just fine.

In our first week, while we were settling in, we started acting like real tourists.  We walked and walked.  In our traveling around the city on foot, we went to a great Israeli bike and scooter store and got a great scooter.  Then, when we went to see the Old City, I could scoot there and help my mom carry groceries and other packages back on the scooter's handles.  In the Old City, I put wishes in the Wall and also went to the Arab Market, where I got a princess-like headband with gold coins hanging down and a very pretty blue skirt.  The next day, Dan, Jonah, and I had a great time at a beach in Tel Aviv, where Dan got me one of my favorite kinds of candy and Jonah got an Israeli ice cream.  

After only a week of being in Israel, we left to go to Kibbutz Lotan.  

Finally there!

As I walked  through the New York City airport, I knew to take a good look around because it would be the last I'd be seeing of the United States for two months. Boarding the airplane, we noticed we were an hour early, so Jonah, my mom, and I would have to wait one more hour.  When the plane finally took off, we had dinner, watched a little bit of "Hotel for Dogs" on the airplane screen, and then we tried to fall asleep but didn't succeed.  Except for Jonah.  He was the only one who slept the whole time.  Just when we started to fall half-asleep, for about an hour, they called out, "two hours til breakfast."  Our time, it was eight o'clock at night, even though it was starting to get light.  They didn't really serve much of a breakfast.  They only served a little bit of pizza that was way too salty.  

Yeah!  Only an hour 'til landing.  Then, everyone started clapping.  We were finally there!

new york city

Out of all the different towns, cities, and countries I've been to, I've never been to New York City (except for when I was three and I don't remember that).  We stayed at our friends, Yoni and Sheva.  As Jonah would say, we had a "poopy" great time.  We started out walking on the Brooklyn boardwalk where we had a great view of the Statue of Liberty.  

My favorite thing there was meeting some of my half-siblings--Julia and Henry (9, a month older than me), who are twins, and then Sarah (13) and Miriam (17), who are really greats actors.  Miriam's been in a movie.  But we know there are really eleven people in the donor family and probably more.  

We were in New York for five days in all, and we also did things like go to the Natural History Musueum, go to the Met and have Yoni as a tour guide, have a picnic in Central Park (and getting a gigantic thorn stuck in your foot), go to FAO Schwarz and the American Girl shop.  

These were my adventures in New York. 

P.S. We got to eat my favorite food in NY: bagels.  Those were the best bagels I've ever had.