My new housemate Tal, along with Hunter, gave us a ride back to our apartment in Jerusalem from the airport. Tal had just finished her workday at El Al’s customer service department, where she fields phone calls and addresses customer’s complaints. She greeted me and helped me & Hunter throw my huge bags into the car, and then presented some cookies and fruit she had brought from the office. This girl, I thought, is someone I am going to like.

Driving to our apartment through the Israeli countryside, Tal opted to take an alternative route. She said that Route 1 is the most common way to get between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, but considering she makes the commute very often, she opted instead to take the 443, a slightly longer route that has less traffic. “Hmm” I thought, wondering what the importance of this announcement was.

“You see that?” Tal pointed to our left at what looked like a military compound. She explained that it was one of many checkpoints to enter Palestine, and the 443 actually runs on the edge of Palestine/outskirts of Israel as it winds through the countryside. On either side of the road the hillsides were dotted with small towns, each building contributing a shade of khaki to the already sandy landscape. Tal stated that you can always tell the Arabic villages from the Israeli villages “because they look so different.” These differences were lost on me, the nuanced aesthetics of arabic vs. Israeli buildings is still a foreign concept. Hunter pointed out that the arabic buildings each had a water tower on the roof. He explained, tactfully, that Israelis use water as a means to maintain authority over the Palestinians, particularly during contentious periods in recent history.

After another 20 minutes, we arrived at the outskirts of Jerusalem. The city unrolled before us, again with row after row of sandstone buildings, but this time there were also large traffic lights, highways, billboards, movie theaters, government buildings and parks to admire. Before I know it Tal is somewhat miraculously parallel parking on a tiny street. We are home.

The apartment is as I pictured from the video Hunter sent to me. It reminds me immediately of the apartment I lived in with my friends in Argentina. It’s a little dirty, randomly decorated, and there aren’t two dishes remaining from the same set. It’s comfortable, inviting and very homey immediately. Hunter bought me a small welcoming gift of fancy pasta, along with a very adorable homemade card. I think all of this time Hunter is the one with the calligraphy skills!

I showered and washed away the Russian airline, along with it my stress of arriving to Israel and meeting up with Hunter. I couldn’t believe I had actually made it – the next phase of our life could finally begin. In the other room Tal prepared some curry and we ate our first meal together as housemates.