My First Two Weeks in Israel - Day 7 - Meeting Leah and My First Stroll Alone

Tuesday, April 5, 2015 – Meeting Leah and My First Stroll Alone

Today I felt good cleaning Yaffa’s balcony windows, and then meeting Leah, Yaffa’s sister. She was in the neighbourhood and decided to pay us a visit. She brought fresh bread and stayed for lunch. I improvised a salad that we all enjoyed.

This was the first day that I spent time on my own. I left home hoping to deposit money to Bank Hapoalim but the bank was closed!  I asked myself, – why is a bank closed on a Tuesday?? I then treated myself to a glass of fresh pomegranate juice that I watched being extracted from three ripe, juicy pomegranates. I then sat in a café and was very moved by a FB message I received from one of my first cousins in Mexico, a person with whom I have not connected for over 40 years. For some reason, she had heard about my move to Israel and found me on Facebook. This unexpected outreach brought me to tears. In our texting, I learned that her sister, also my first cousin who has my same age lives in Ashkelon and she suggested that we get in touch.