Shabbat

We had our first shabbat here in Jerusalem and it was very nice. The kehila (community) here is really amazing. We had dinner and lunch with friends from the kollel. Really sweet couple who just celebrated their first anniversary. We were their first guests to bring kids! Hope we did not wear them out too much. Our down stairs neighbor invited us for a late afternoon meal toward the end of Shabbat and I went to a kiddush for a neighbor down the way that just had a baby girl. The woman hosting the kiddush has twin 15 year old daughters, so that was nice to see. It was very nice seeing everyone out and about on Shabbat and even though we are in the center of the city, our neighborhood is set off so that we don't really feel it. Everyone has been really friendly in introducing themselves and making sure I knew about the kiddush and offering help etc. It is not at all what I would expect to find in a big city and it really feels like a small community here. Our downstairs neighbor said that the whole area here which is comprised of Romema(the neighborhood we are actually in), Mattersdorf, the neighborhood below us and another neighborhood connected are really nice and are all connected community wise. She said that it is really unique in Jerusalem. I really like it. The other nice thing is that people are on all different levels here so I am not so self conscious about where I am religiously. That is a really nice feeling too. And surprisingly I am really finding a lot of green. The park is dinky and S. was bored in about 10 min. but there are lots of big large pine trees and they really smell great and cover up the city smell. All in all things are going well. Maybe it will be a good summer after all!