It hit me the other night that I’m leaving the convenience and culture of living in a city; a friend of mine came over to me as we left a party to wish us a good last Shabbat in Jerusalem… And I was like – wait, what??

But that’s ok. It’s very exciting to move to a new situation with it’s own pros, cons, culture, characters… And as we move on to this new place, I’ve been reflecting the good, the bad and the hilarious of Katamonim, where I’ve lived for the last two years.

-> אלתיזחן: I’m going to miss these guys… The dudes from the nearby Arab neighborhood who, by foot or by pick-up truck, come around every morning shouting, “Altizachen! Altizachen!” They come around to pick up anything useful – electronic, furniture or otherwise – to renovate and sell again.

-> Makolet guy: I truly will miss our local makolet guy… And he will, I’m sure, truly be disappointed not to see us in the Kurdi shul up the block this Pessach, after he enthusiastically invited us to partake in all the wonderfulness that is a Kurdi shul kiddush on chag.

-> בורקס גן עדן: If heaven were in the form of bourekas, well, this is where heaven would be baked and sold and eaten by me.

-> The local brood of Kitlers: I think we’re trading up, since we’re moving from this cat infested building to a dog infested town… But I can’t help but admit that I’m sorry I won’t see our local Kitler population grow old and have kitlers of their own…

-> Beitar games: How else would we know whether Beitar won/lost/trampled on itself if we don’t here the firecrackers/sighs/shouting from outside our windows?

-> אמא and לידור: Surely, one of the more annoying aspects of my ‘hood are two characters who clearly go by the names of Ima and Lidor. When Ima isn’t shouting from upstairs out the window, “Lidor! Lidor! Lidor! Lidor!”, little Lidor is shouting up to the window, “Ima? Ima? Ima?”