Meatballs, cribbage, and goodbyes

Friday afternoon was a whirlwind of tidying and sweeping and washing. And, unfortunately, the much procrastinated beginnings of the search for a plan for next year.

We invited Darja and Yishai (neighbors) to join us for Shabbat dinner, which Max and I planned to cook for his family. Max's mom and sister: wine and challah. Darja and Yishai: side dish and dessert. Max and I: spaghetti and "meat"balls and a salad (which had a remarkable resemblance to the salad at Olive Garden, if you don't mind my bragging).

Dinner was delicious and a lot of fun. Although, when I offered to make french toast out of the leftover challah, Yishai said he'd bring the hummus. I didn't end up making french toast, so whether or not he was kidding is still up for debate.

The next morning Max and I were supposed to meet Max's family at the Islamic Art Museum, but, luckily, I checked the website and discovered (at about 1:30 pm) that it closes at 2. After an unexpected refrigerator incident (a lot of water was involved) we walked down to Emek Refaim to meet Beth and Robin for tea and cribbage - a rather confusing, but very fun, card game. We switched to Spades briefly and then left to meet Michal Kabatznik (camp friend) for dinner at Luciana's - a very nice Italian restaurant. When Max and I got home, we got to talk to Sammy ... and Mike and Ben and Alyssa and Navah and Greta and Daniel on Skype!

Max had to work this morning, but I was free to meet Robin for breakfast and spend some time hearing stories about Max's annoying big brother days. And then Beth and Robin left, and I did dishes and more job hunting and some homework and signed up for more ulpan and made granola. And missed home.