It’s easy to bleed money when we’re traveling. It’s also easy to bleed money living in a city like Jerusalem. Lucky us, there are lots of free things to do in Jerusalem with kids. Explore the Old City The Old City in Jerusalem is beautiful and full of history. Whether you’re exploring the Church of the Holy Supulcre, walking the Via Delorosa, or visiting the Western Wall (aka the Kotel),...
Saturday morning, we drove to the Mount of Olives and picked olives as Jerusalemites have been doing for thousands of years. The technique of harvesting olives is simple. Wait until the olives begin to ripen, then rake the lives out of a tree. In our case, at the Lutheran World Federation, the caretakers had spread thick black tarps under the tree to catch the olives as we raked them. After...
One of the most amazing things about living in Jerusalem is living within spitting distance of thousands of years of history. Caesarea (pronounced Keh-sar-ee-ya) is an old Roman town on the Mediterranean coast of Israel. It’s about an hour North of Tel Aviv, and about 90 minutes from Jerusalem. On the first official day of my “staycation,” we loaded the kids into the car and headed to Caesarea bright and early,...
My husband and I worry about the effect of our Foreign Service lifestyle on our children. Raising expat kids is a real challenge! Will they grow up rich with experiences, polyglot, and appreciative of all that they have? Or will they grow up spoiled and entitled, used to having the world at their feet? We hope the former, and fear the latter. A recent blog post from another mother who’s dragging...
One of the best kids’ activities in Jerusalem is the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo, and I was tired of my coworkers’ surprise when I told them, “No, we haven’t been to the zoo yet.” So on Sunday morning, we got up, picked up the house, packed a lunch, and dragged the kids to Jerusalem’s zoo. It was lovely. The work week in Jerusalem for everyone but Consulate folks is Sunday – Thursday,...
How do I know I’m getting old? All of my friends’ halloween parties started at 6 last night. And we didn’t go to any. My husband picked me up from FSI with the kids already in costume, but fast asleep. We went grocery shopping, and then came up and rushed to get the house picked up for trick-or-treaters. Our building has a sign-up for families with toddlers, so nobody has...
I raced my first 5k over the weekend. Camille, my awesome amazing and to be much thanked running buddy, and I have been training both separately and apart. She, to get back to running after a few kids, and me, to get to a point where I wouldn’t embarrass myself by collapsing on the course after the first mile. We both succeeded, and I made it through the entire 5k while...
I am a planner, but I hate putting shit away. My husband is a fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants kind of guy, but can’t stand a mess or a disorganized room. Between the two of us, we’ve finally got our (short) trip routine down to a science. Or at least, as much of a science as it can be with toddlers in tow. I usually take care of the up front planning and packing,...
I woke up yesterday morning to the unsettling realization that I’m leaving in a week. After a brief discussion that went long the lines of OMG THE SKY IS FALLING THERE IS SO MUCH TO DO, Bertrand reminded me that he doesn’t cook vegetables. Because this week is going to be ridiculously busy for both of us, I tried to cook as much today as possible so that our veggies...
I am an expat, logistician, traveler, writer, paper crafter, lover of books and coffee, and occasionally doting mother. I am occasionally foul-mouthed, not nearly as diplomatic as my professional would imply, and fiercely feminist.
Disclaimers:
The opinions expressed here on SVO are my own and do not reflect the opinions of the Department of State or the USG.
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