Take Me Baby. Take Me Now.

As it seems now, hunting for a new apartment is about to take less time than i would imagine.

We started yesterday. First there was a two-room apartment in Rehavia, one of central Jerusalem's better old quarters - quiet, not too religious, and with a lot character, just like i love it. The tennant that opened the door was surprisingly a student i took a course with in my first year. Quite expectedly, she had Hindi and Sanskrit dictionaries and grammar books all over the place, which gave me a warm feeling of homeliness. The second one was nearby - Gaza Street, a block away from Benjamin Netanyahu's home. The area was fine, but the apartment was not as nice as the first one.

Then we went to Pisgat-Zeev. It was the first time i visited that neighborhood. Apparently it is a pretty new one, quite like Ramot-Yitzhak, where i lived for the last 10 years. The apartment was all too white and clean and all too made-for-rental. So sterile it made us sick.

And then we went to Kfar-Adumim. Unlike Pisgat-Zeev, which the UN considers occupied territory, but Israel considers completely its own (annexed), Kfar-Adumim is a 100% settlement, hitnakhalut. It is a bit further from Jerusalem than Maale-Adumim, which is also a settlement, but being over 35,000 people strong it is widely recognized by most Israelis, even the left-wingers, as a part of Israel, "almost annexed", and essentially a suburb of Jerusalem. And Kfar-Adumim is a suburb of Maale-Adumim, further on the way to Jericho and the Dead Sea. Now i, of course, would happily live there, but i wasn't sure at all about Hadar, who's not as deeply Zionist as myself and who seemed to value proximity of the apartment to her campus more than anything. The ride there seemed a bit long; Hadar was scared a little by the sign directing to Jericho and Ramallah and was dubious even when i told her that the actual cities of Jericho and Ramallah are many kilometers away. When we finally arrived at Kfar-Adumim, we realized - despite the fact it was night already - that the view from that village should be absolutely amazing. Jericho, Jordan Valley, and the northern parts of the Dead Sea and Judea desert are all visible. There was also a horse farm on the way, which made Hadar feel a little better. The home was large, nice and fully equipped; moreover, the landlady was very nice too and if that's not enough she was apparently employed at NDS ("carpool" springed to my mind right away). So many coincidences in one day. When we went away, Hadar was eager to take the place immediately. I was completely surprised by the fact that she decided so quickly in favor of an apartment which is pretty far away from the city and rather deep into the territories. But who am i to object? We're supposed to decide quickly, maybe even today.