Who renews each day in His lovingkiness המחדש בטובו בכל יום תמיד

I arrived in Israel around 10 am on Thursday, and after davening quickly at the Airport synagogue, I hopped on a Nesher taxi to Jerusalem. An hour and a half after leaving the airport at 11, and following a grand tour of Meah Shearim, I was dropped off at Beit Nativ and left my bags there for the afternoon while I reacquainted myself with Jerusalem.

Well, even though the changes I've noticed haven't come directly from God, I figured this would be a good place to talk about all of the changes I noticed since I last left Israel, and the quote, from weekday shacharit, is fitting since after all, this is Israel. Some of them are pretty minor, but after living here for almost a year and then coming back 7 months later. Here's a quick run through:
-The new kvish 9 is open at the entrance of Jerusalem, which goes directly from the main Road to Ramot and Har Tzofim.
-No more jaywalking from Beit Nativ to Supersol...the finished the construction across the street, and now there's big barriers there to prevent that.
-The Beitza Ayin (ask anyone from the Conservative Yeshiva) delivery motorcycle now has a big egg on top.
-Remember that old, run down restaurant on King George south of Hillel; it's now being turned into a new Cuppa Joe (Kosher, of course).
-The first stage of the Mamilla project is open (directly across from the Jaffa Gate) and includes a collection of upscale shops and cafes.
-There's more traffic than ever.
-Remember the 'museum of taxes?' ein od! That whole block is currently a mess, and it and the former palace hotel (where mishehu larutz ito was filmed) is now being turned into a lucury hotel/condo complex.
-The Hurva synagogue (where the commerative arch used to be in to Jewish quarter) is a long way into its reconstruction, and the exterior shell is almost built.
(addendum)-you may remember the block at the top of Ben Yehuda which was open for cars...that's no longer, since the municipality decided to permanently close this and a few other streets surrounding Ben-Yehuda to cars and add to the pedestrian mall. right nown, the area is a mess, bu when the changover is complete, downtown shouls be even more pedestrian friendly.
Well that's it for now. After spending last night with the Moshe's in Talpit, I'm going to head to Kibbutz Sa'ad to visit friends for Shabbat, which should be lots of fun.

שבת שלום!