Meeting

Went to Tel Aviv again this week. I really can't describe how I feel when I go to Tel Aviv. Yes, there are palm trees, yes, it's somewhat reminsicent of Los Angeles, yes, it's got trees and cafes on the tree lined median of Rothschild, but it's looks overwhelmingly like a real city. We drove in - Jess, Jen (friend and now, business associate - more on that later), and I, in my parents lovely jalopy that we're driving and as we approached the city, I felt that excitement of being there. It's really a great place and all those people who've naysayed Tel Aviv in the past - me being among them - I recommend rediscovering it on your next trip.

Ira and I were discussing this week that we are definitely edgier in our discourse then many that we meet here. We speak more quickly, talk more sharply and feel, how can I put it, just snappier than many of the Jerusalemites that we meet. Will we lose this sharpness, we wonder with a feeling of panic? Will we lose that essential New Yorkerness? It's a disturbing notion.

We were on our way to a meeting. A business meeting. I haven't had a business meeting in a billion years. That's not quite true but I'm not the conventional meeting type. And, this wasn't a conventional meeting. We went to Hadass's house (Jess's friend, who's a PR person and a writer). Hadass lives, with her husband, Dan, in an apartment building that looks initially like a dump but which they renovated before they got married, sometime over the last year. They live, right near the heart of the action on Shenkin, and they represent that other demographic - secular, left, city types, living and working in Tel Aviv - that other part of the country from Jerusalme. The four of us, met to discuss a project that Jessica and I hatched and are in the process of writing a business plan for. We talked about the plan and how to finetune it, and make it more professional over tea, excellent cake (this country is teeming with good baked goods but this was actually a cut above the ordinary) and fruit. I'm excited about this and looking forward to a project that could be successful, will keep me out of trouble and might even generate some income over the long term.

At 12:00pm, we decided that we needed a quick shopping trip as part of our research. Jen, never gets to TA, having recently had her third child, and we zipped over to a part of town to check out one store that Jess and Hadass like. Thirty minutes later brought success to some of our party - I window shopped. We hopped back in the car and returned back up to our hill hear in Jerusalem. But oh, the big city. We may get back there this week with the kids during the Hannukah break.