All the answers

Heartfelt thanks for all the comments that you all have left. It's nice to know I'm not writing into the void. And for the thousandth time, I swear to post more regularly. I think it's finally time to answer some questions you all have sent me, so here goes. Nate, this one's for you. This is part I. I'll write part II after doing some research, which will mainly consist of asking my neighbors for the answers to your questions.

Can you see the ocean? Can you smell it?

Well, first of all if you call it the ocean, people correct you really quickly, and point out it's the sea and give you a condescending look. (I still call it the ocean all the time. It's not my fault. I'm an American. This whole sea thing is new to me.) And unfortunately, I can't see or smell the sea from Jerusalem. The closest beach is at least an hour away. But it's still closer than Colorado and we try to go as much as possible

Can you smell the desert?

Hmmm, difficult question, but yes I think I can. I think the first thing I notice in the desert is not having to smell the dirty city smells. But then I think you can smell faintly all the herbs, like the zatar (oregano) and maramiya (sage) that grow wild all over. A month ago, the desert was covered in a glory of wild flowers like the ones below, but now it's getting hot and the plants are drying out and dying.



Are you asking your neighbor about fruit in English? Can you go to the market with English? I take it you can go to the office with English, right?

Yep, yep, and yep. I'm incredibly spoiled and almost everyone around me speaks amazing English. Especially my neighbors who are language teachers and the whole family is fluent in four languages. Sometimes, I have trouble in markets or taxis, but can usually get my point across for what I need, if not to have an actual conversation. Now that I'm learning Arabic I can communicate some very basic ideas, but my pronunciation is so bad, the people I speak with are pretty much humoring me. I have found that some things don't translate though, like sense of humor. I realize I have this running commentary going in my head of things I'm saving up to tell another American who will understand my strange ideas of what is funny.

How old is your apartment? When was the building built? Do the stairs creak?

It's not too old, maybe 20 years old. The family that owns it built it themselves with some help from neighbors and students. The stairs don't creak because they're marble, which is very common here. (Not much wood available!)

Are there stray animals (dogs/cats/other)? What about rodents? Surely it's not as bad as NYC's famous rats?

So many stray cats. They're constantly having turf wars outside our window and then limping around covered in war wounds. But our neighbors' five house cats quite efficiently fend them off from our yard. There are rats because I'm still traumatized from stepping on a dead one the other day, but I don't see them much. There are also scorpions that apparently come into houses! But everyone says scorpions don't come up to the third floor where we live. Plus, the cats hunt them. The idea finding a scorpion in my shoe still gives me the creeps though. Also, lots of lizards and so many birds. I've never heard so many birds singing as I do in the mornings here.