Chanukah!

Chanukah has arrived! Well, it arrived about 5 days ago but this is the first chance that I had to write. All in all, Chanukah in Israel has been really great. The most exciting part is that we are lighting outside for the first time! I went on Sunday to one of the local hardware stores and bought a glass box. Then it got interesting. I figured Elie would put it together because he's just waaay better at these things than I am. But after realizing that he was not going to be able to get home early from work and we really would just want to light right away - I had to attempt to put it together on my own. Oh dear. First I took it out of the box (good thinking, right?), and looked at all the various screws and panes of glass and thought - "there is no way that I am going to be able to do this, forget it". After about an hour of playing with Tani and looking over at the pieces lying on the table, I decided to try again. I must have tried it 4 or 5 different ways before finally figuring out where all the pieces were ACTUALLY supposed to go and, wait for it, I DID IT!!!! Let's not bring up the fact that Elie could have done it probably in about 10 minutes and it took me an entire afternoon, the point is - I DID IT!!!!
Anyway, Elie and I were really excited to light because Netanel has been talking about the chanukiyah, bringing home projects (including his own chanukiyah), etc. and we couldn't wait for him to actually see it. Well, as we were lighting we brought out Tani's gan chanukiyah so he could "light" too. So that may not have been the BEST time to bring it out. He was so obsessed with sticking his "candles" into his chanukiyah that he didn't even want us to pick him up to show him the REAL one. As anti-climactic as that was, it was by no means the worst part of the first night of chanukah. Tani's bedtime was right after we lit because Elie hadn't gotten home until about 7. Tani's bedtime also meant the time when Tani has to leave his chanukiyah downstairs - oh boy. We finally got him to stop crying enough to put him into his crib relatively calm. However, about 15 minutes later we started hearing cries of "chanukiyyyyyyaaaaah" that lasted for about 30 minutes until he must have tired himself out and eventually fell asleep. I think the funniest part of the whole episode is that when I told over what happened to my ulpan class the next day, they were all like - "that's so sweet, he loves chanukah so much - ayzeh yofi!" I guess it's all how you look at it.
On Tuesday, the 2nd day of chanukah, Elie took the day off and we went up north with Elie's parents and the Eisens. Elie's cousins, Toby and Tzvi Klein (some of you Baltimoreans probably know them) who made aliyah about 2 years ago had arranged a visit to an archeological museum near their house up north in Ein Dor. We rented a car for the week and we all drove the 2 hour drive to the museum. A few interesting points about this tiyul. First, a "day of vacation" in Israel means getting up at about 6 a.m. to daven and get everything ready because we had to leave at 7 to be there by 9 - sounds like a vacation already, doesn't it? Second, I was a little concerned about the museum part of the trip seeing as Tani, while he is smart, is not quite at the point of walking quietly and calmly looking at ancient artifacts. In fact, I am not really there yet, either. So I basically packed the diaper bag as if we would never see food again - pretzels, crackers, cookies, cucumbers, bananas - you name, I had it. I figured, if all else fails, we'll just stuff him to keep him quiet. Well, I have to say, I needed very few of those snacks. The entire 3 hour tour was filled with stuff for the kids. There was pressing olives, coloring, running around, and Tani even got a chance to paint his own ancient oil lamp. We all had a really good time. After the museum we went to Toby and Tzvi's house for a HUGE lunch and then headed home around 3 p.m. It was very tiring but a really great day and everyone had fun.
Last night (Wednesday) we had a family chanukah party at our house. Kleins, Eisens, and Roses were all in attendance for latkes, baked ziti, and salad. Afterwards, everyone stuck around for a dessert/Siyyum. Elie made a siyyum on finishing Seder Mo'ed so we invited a few more men from the block (to make a minyan) and had a big dessert after the siyyum. The star of the show, aside from Elie of course, were the AMAZING sufganiyot that Sara brought from a bakery in Modiin called Roladin. There were sufganiyot of everyone taste and color you could imagine and they were all great. I have to say, as much as I miss Dunkin' Donuts and Entenmann's - 8 days full of the most amazing sufganiyot in the world may make up for it - I'll get back to you on that. (Although, it is very sad that there is not a custard sufganiya to be found.)
Tonight we are heading to Jerusalem to see some friends and then going straight to the Rose's for Shabbat Chanukah.
Hope everyone is enjoying their chanukah and time off over there in the US (I do miss having Elie home knowing that it is Dec. 25 today).

Side note: Feel free to comment - I would love to know who is reading this!!!!

Tani Spins a Dreidel

Yes, folks, it's very exciting - Tani can spin a sivivon all by himself, the day has come. I promised myself I wouldn't cry.....

The past week and a half has been relatively uneventful. Bubby and Zaidy left last Monday (Dec. 8) - a tear. We really enjoyed having them here and are anxiously awaiting their next visit in May. I am very lucky because I will actually be seeing them in a few weeks. I am going to the States at the beginning of January for about a week for Michelle Schuster's wedding (yay Michelle and Avrami). Although it is going to be close to impossible to be away from Tani and Elie for that long (and especially because it includes a shabbat and Elie and I have never been apart for shabbat - awwww), I'm really excited to see all of our friends and family back in the old country.

To expound upon this entry's title, the Chanukah craze at gan has begun! About a week ago Tani came home talking about his sivivon and menorah and a bunch of other things that we couldn't understand. As the days have progressed, he has already brought home 2 Chanukah-themed projects, an ACTUAL sivivon, and he can swing (quite nicely) the entire "Sivivon, Sof, Sof, Sof". It was a little confusing at the beginnig to decode that he was saying "Nes Gadol Hayah PO" but we evenutally figured it out. And as much as we are thrilled that Tani is learning so much, he has become a little obsessed with the sivivon. And obsessed is an absolute understatement. From the minute he wakes up in the morning until he goes to sleep at night (and sometimes longer) he is holding onto his sivivon watching it go round and round - "Look Ima, it pins (spins)!"
In truth, we are all very excited for Chanukah becuase on our block, everyone gets those plexiglass container things and lights outside their apartments. Also, we've been told, that on the first night of Chanukah they light a big menorah at the top of the street and there is a big Chanukah block-party (and we love parties, but mainly, we/I love sufganiyot). We are also hosting a Klein-Rose-Eisen Family Chanukah Party/Siyyum for Elie on Seder Mo'ed that we are very excited about.

In other news, I did 2 VERY IMPORTANT things this morning. Firstly, I went to the Misrad Hapanim and applied for my Teudat Ma'avar. To explain, a new oleh cannot get an Israeli passport until he/she has been a citizen for a year. Obviously, this poses a problem to those of us who may be travleing outside of Israel within our first year of aliyah. The solution to this problem is the Teudat Ma'avar. Secondly, I went to the eye store (in the same shopping center as the Misrad Hapanim) to get my eye test and my ALL IMPORTANT GREEN FORM so that I may begin the horrific licensing process.
Let me explain that I was very apprehensive about both of these tasks because I figured that, given my luck, I would not have the correct documentation or form or what-have-you and I would be denied either one or both of these documents. Therefore, I made SEVERAL photocopies of my Teudat Zehut, Teudat Oleh and US driver's license. Additionally, I brought all those originals with me along with my US passport and passport pictures (those I knew I would DEFINITELY need). My purse was so heavy but I felt armed and ready - like nothing could stop me now. At the Misrad Hapanim I simply needed to fill out a form and hand them the form, my Teudat Zehut, and 2 passport pictures. The process went suprisingly smoothly and I should be receiving my Teudat Ma'avar in about a week. Hmmm, I wondered - surely I will need at least ONE of my many forms at the eye store! After waiting about 20 minutes for them to actually open the shop, I went in, got my picture taken and did a 30 second eye test (which was truthfully only hard because I was identifying the numbers that I saw very quickly in hebrew and was afraid that I would make a mistake...) I then got my GREEN FORM, paid 30 NIS and left. Sadly, no one needed my beautifully photocopied pages, sigh.

Turkey Day and Bubby & Zaidy Arrive!

I know it's been a while so here's an update on the past week and a half.

This past Friday was a very, very exciting day for us Kleins. It started off with our rental car being delivered (that's right, we use a car rental place that brings it to our door and picks it up when the rental is over - beat that!). We got the rental for the week because we knew it would facilitate being able to see BUBBY and ZAIDY who are FINALLY here! As soon as we got our car we piled in and headed out to Modiin to see them. I kept telling them how weird it is to be on the other side of the equation watching them walk half-asleep and in a total daze - not really sure what day it is or whose house they are in. They spent shabbat at Gila's and I think managed to catch up on their sleep - and then some.
Then, on Friday night we had our Thanksgiving dinner at Sara's house. And we did it the real way - sweet potato soup, a REALLY BIG turkey masterfully carved by my father-in-law, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pecan pie and lots more. There were also some Israeli-style additions - chumus, schug, deli roll, etc. We had to keep everyone happy. It was a lot of funny and we all really enjoyed our Israeli Thanksgiving. Although, I have to say, I really, really, really missed watching the parade and I also miss walking the streets of NY this time of year and going into the chaos that is Macy's to see it decorated in holiday fare. So for any of you who are there - take pictures for me!
On Sunday, I went with Tani to Modiin in the morning because the plan was to take a train at around 12:30 to a really nice park in Tel Aviv. I figured I would get to Modiin in the morning and let Tani nap at my sister's so by the time we were ready to go, he would be all energized. That was the ORIGINAL plan. It turns out that when Gila picked up the kids from gan, Yaakov's eye looked red and she had to make a doctor's appointment. The soonest appointment they had was 7 p.m. so we decided to just go to a park close by. This actually turned out to be great because I don't think Bubby and Zaidy realized that they wouldn't exactly be over their jet lag by Sunday. And they weren't. We went to a rock park just a few minutes away and Zaidy took Yaakov on a hike while Gila and Ariella explored. Bubby and I stayed with Tani and he was extremely happy playing on the 10 or so rocks by the picnic tables. I have to say that I was very proud watching him climb up and down those rocks with no problem at all. We had some snacks and then headed back to Gila's. We rested/played/made sure Tani didn't color all over the couch for a little while and then at 5:30 Donny came home and we all went out to a great place for dinner. It was a long day and Tani and I finally got home around 8:00, phew!
I decided to take advantage of actually HAVING A CAR for the week and got A LOT of errands done on Monday. Today (Tuesday) I went to Modiin in the morning to have a nice breakfast with Gila, my parents, and Gila's friend Lisa. Then we stopped at a bakery and bought treats and I got to take one home! Yay - I loooove treats!
Tomorrow morning my parents make the long move from Modiin to Bet Shemesh. After they arrive here, I am going with them to spend some time in Yerushalayim and then we have a big BBQ at the Klein's in the evening.

As for how the rest of the week goes, you'll have to check back next week to find out. Although, I'm not thinking about next week because that means facing the reality that Momz and Dadz AREN'T moving in with us until after the baby's born.

A Busy Week Has Passed and an Exciting Week to Come

This week was pretty routine aside from a few hiccups here and there (literally and figuratively).
On Monday I had an interesting experience at my doctor's office. To make a very long story short - I had to go to her office in the more charedi area of Bet Shemesh because that's where she has morning hours. I basically waited an hour and a half for my 10 minute appointment and RIGHT before it was finally my turn to see the doctor, a woman walks in with her doctor saying she NEEDED to see the doctor and it would only be "shtei dakot". Well it wasn't "shtei dakot" and, needless to say, I was grateful to finally get out of that office half an hour later (after my 10 minute appointment was over).

On Tuesday I finally decided to try to get in touch with Tipat Chalav again. For those of you who might not know, in Israel your child gets their vaccinations and "check-ups" (kinda) at a place called Tipat Chalav. Every neighborhood has one. The doctor's office is for sick visits and flu shots which are the only shots not done in the Tipat Chalav (very confusing, I know). Anyway, I called them about a month ago ready to say my whole shpiel about being a new oleh, wanting to make sure my son's vaccines were all up-to-date, etc. The woman who answered the phone immediately cut me off, asked me for my name and number and said someone would call me. One month later, I decided it was time to try again. I was told by everyone here to ask for a woman named Dina who is the very nice english-speaking nurse that I would be taking Netanel to see. I finally got in touch with her and she was, indeed, very nice. She gave me an appointment for this coming Tuesday but told me to drop off his immunization card (from the states) before the appointment so that she could get his file started and see what he will need. I went to drop off said card on Thursday and it didn't go as smoothly as one would have liked (one meaning ME). Dina, sadly, was not there when I got there so I had to try to communicate with the hebrew-speaking nurses who, I can only assume, didn't really care. I tried explaining (several times) that Dina told me to bring in the card in advance and they kept insisting that THEY would not be able to open my file, something about not being "accepted" (still trying to decide exactly what that means - is my son not good enough for the Israeli vaccines?) I told them to just leave the card for Dina and she would deal with it. Finally, one of them switched to english and said - "Well I guess I can just leave this on Dina's desk" - brilliant! Why didn't I think of that!? We'll see what the story is when I get there Tuesday morning....stay tuned.

Still on the topic of Netanel's health, thank G-d he has been very healthy since we got here and we have not had to see the pediatrician as of yet (poo,poo,poo). However, seeing as my son is generally in the doctor's office once every 6 weeks, I was getting antsy having not seen the inside of a pediatrician's office in 3 months, so we decided to just make an appointment to meet the doctor and get Netanel a general "checkup" (it's in quotations because they don't really do check-ups here, another story...) Thankfully, the doctor has Friday hours so I was able to have Elie come with us. We took him this morning and he is, thank G-d, very healthy and we even got him a flu shot (woohoo!) The only hiccup (I said there were a few) is that the pediatrician's office is not really walking distance from our apartment. Thankfully, the Tipat Chalav is very close but the doctor is not. This is when we are the most thankful to have Elie's family right around the corner. David, Elie's brother-in-law, picked us up and took us there on the way home from his food shopping and Sara, Elie's sister, was able to pick us up afterwards and take us home - THANKS GUYS!!

The third (or is it fourth?) hiccup in my week was my shopping experience on Thursday morning. I went to Supersol (the big supermarket here) with Sara to do my usual Thursday shopping. When I was in Supersol 2 weeks ago, I decided to give in and sign up for the stupid Supersol credit card basically because I was so sick of being harassed every week when I go in. It also has some perks, like I was happy to experience this week - basically, in every aisle, there were several products that were 10% off if you used your Supersol card - yay for me! Or so I thought....We got to the checkout line and it was getting a little late (I had to get Tani at 1 and it was about 12:35). Something important to note before I go on - I have not yet received the actual Supersol credit card yet but I have gotten some other info about it in the mail. In the meantime, I was told I could just give them my Teudat Zehut number and that would find me in their system. Or so I thought....The cashier asked if I had a "kartis moadon" (rewards card=Supersol credit card) and I was very excited to finally answer YES! I told her, in my fantastic hebrew (insert sarcasm here), that I did not yet receive the card but I gave her my teudat zehut number. She proceeded to tell me that I was not in the system and I have to open a new card - it's as if I never signed up. I knew this to be impossible because I had already received lots of info in the mail so I was obviously in the system. Basically, the rest of the story goes that the lady who sits in the tiny kiosk to sign you up for a new card and my cashier were yelling back and forth as the minutes quickly ticked by. I'm still not quite sure what happened but I did get some kind of temporary card and was able to take advantage of all the sales (phew!). I don't know what the situation will be next week when I go...stay tuned.

As I mentioned in the title, this coming week is very exciting because my parents are coming on Friday!!!! We are really excited to see them and look forward to all the goodies they are bringing us...I mean we look forward to spending time with them and showing them around. See you soon, Momz and Dadz!

One Week Later, Not Much to Report

Well this has been a pretty routine week and that is a very good thing. On Shabbat, Netanel was a little under the weather and we thought it may be strep so we called over "Dr. Sabba" and he brought his otoscope-shmotoscope thingy and an instant strep test. We all waited on the edge of our seats for the results and we found that it was negative - yay! It took about 2 days for Netanel to be totally back to himself but with no fever he was able to go to gan - double yay! We love Dr. Sabba. (Side note: It is extremely helpful to have a pediatrician who not only lives right around the corner, but just happens to be my father-in-law, what a perk).

While Tani was singing his heart out in gan, I was in ulpan trying to understand the difference between "orez" and "orayz" - spelled exactly the same in hebrew but the first one means rice and the second means to pack - go figure.
I skipped ulpan (hehe) on Thursday to do some grocery shopping and to make an emergency visit to the eye doctor. For those of you who don't know, since about a month after we got here I have been having on and off irritation in my right eye. I kept trying different things and it would go away for a few days to a week and then suddenly flare up again - redness, pain, itching, etc. I had an eye doctor appointment for Friday but, after seeing my bright red eye in the mirror on Wednesday night and Elie telling me as soon as he walked in the door from work - "That's disgusting", I decided to call today and get an earlier appointment. I found out that I am actually allergic to my new contact lenses that I switched to at the end of July (the allergic reaction was gradual). I didn't think one could be allergic to a contact lens but, hey, you learn something new every day. To cut this story short seeing as I'm sure you're all falling asleep at your desks right now - I am getting new lenses and my eye should be back to normal within a week or so.

Another interesting happening from this week, if this post wasn't already riveting enough, is that the city elections took place this past Tuesday, November 11. While it has been interesting to observe how local elections and campaigns are run in this country, I can't say that it was the most pleasant experience. For starters, all last week and this week leading up to Tuesday, the signs and posters that we were already seeing everywhere were now literally plastered every place you looked. However, worse than that was the way the city looked the day after the elections were over. The building that we have ulpan in was one of the polling places so we didn't have ulpan on Tuesday. But when we came back on Wednesday, it was actually impossible to see the steps leading up to the building because they were covered with the signs and posters from the day before. While I know that this kind of campaigning goes on in other countries, it was kind of sad to see that there was no effort made whatsoever to clean up the city once the elections were over. The building where we have ulpan was littered with papers, soda cans, tables, chairs, and garbage. By midday on Wednesday, they had one guy slowly cleaning it up. Maybe things will change with a new mayor, who knows.

To finish on a good note, countdown until "Momz and Dadz Come to Visit" = 2 weeks!

Winter in Israel - This Should Be Interesting

I figured I would write a short post now about something that has really been on my mind for the past few weeks.
So immediately after Sukkot, as I wrote in one of my first posts, it got rainy and actually quite "cold". At first I was pretty amazed that the seasons could change so drastically but I was really happy about it because I'm not the hugest fan of the freaking hot weather here in Bet Shemesh so the cooler air was quite a relief. However, in terms of Netanel, I had not really planned on this cold weather coming on so quickly. When I was planning Tani's winter wardrobe before we moved, well let's just say I basically didn't plan anything outside of buying him a zip-up sweatshirt from Target. I knew my parents were coming at the end of November and I kinda figured the warm weather would hold out until then. So now, that sounds like a really dumb plan but at the time, it sounded reasonable (look at the big picture, people - I've never lived here before and all I know of Israel, and Bet Shemesh in particular, is that it's hot, always). As the weather was turning slightly cooler over Sukkot, we took advantage of still having our rental car and went to a few stores to buy some long pants and long-sleeve shirts for Netanel to tide him over until Bubby and Zaidy come laden with Old Navy goodies. These purchases have been quite good and were extremely useful during that first cold and rainy week.
Here's the kicker, though - yea, it got warm again. It's kind of cool in the morning and it can get cool once the sun goes down but, during the day, it is really and truly warm (sometimes even hot!) outside! While this fluctuation in the weather has occurred, I have begun to notice some very interesting things about Israelis (or people who have been living in Israel for more than 3 years).
For example, last Shabbat it had to be in the mid-80's. It's wasn't broiling but it was definitely not cool. However, as I was pushing Netanel in the stroller to meet Elie at shul, almost every single woman I saw was dressed in long sleeves, black tights, boots, turtlenecks, etc. I even saw men in long sleeve button down shirts with sweaters on top! Throughout last week and this week I have been seeing even more of that, even though the temperature has stayed at a steady 80-85 degrees during the day. It's as if that one blast of cold air for a few days declared the beginning of winter and there is no going back. I'm convinced that in that week everyone changed over their wardrobes from their summer to winter clothes and now people are too lazy to change back so they act like they're all comfortable in their turtlenecks and Uggs in 85 degree weather when really they're sweating like pigs. Beauty is pain, I guess. Or laziness is......

"Momz and Dadz Visit to Israel Countdown" - 3 weeks!!

Forgot the Countdown!

I apologize but in my previous post I forgot to include the countdown for "Mommy and Daddy are Coming to Visit". As of tomorrow, Nov. 4 - 24 days!!!!! Oh, and go vote.

Update Time

I know it's been a few days since I've updated but things have been pretty status quo here.
On Thursday I went with my mother-in-law to a kibbutz about 15 minutes away called Netiv Halamed Hey. Just like every kibbutz has something that they do, the job of this kibbutz is to cook. During the week, aside from feeding the kibbutz, they also feed the army. On Thursday and Friday, they are open to the public. Basically, you walk into a medium sized room that has more food than you could ever imagine, it's really amazing. Literally, any kind of chicken, meat, fish, salad, or side dish that you can imagine is there. You take containers (they have varying sizes) and you fill it up with as much food as you want. I had been there before but this was the first time that I went and I was buying food for my own home. Let me tell you, it was very overwhelming (in an I love to eat but it's impossible for me to take home one of everything kind of way). The prices are great and the food is delicious. If you are ever going to be in the Bet Shemesh area, I highly recommend visiting this great kibbutz.
Shabbat was nice and relaxing and on motzei shabbat Elie's sister and brother-in-law took us out to celebrate Elie's new job. We went to a very nice dairy restaurant here in Bet Shemesh. Truthfully, the food was really good but Israelis sure do like their cheese. I don't think I ever realized before how celebrated cheese was in this country. Elie ordered what we thought would be a baked potato with a nice cheese sauce on top (kinda like that awesome lunch from the Stern caf...), but what came was a mountain of cheese with potatoes hidden inside. I'm starting to think that maybe it was supposed to be like a bobbing for apples game that they have at carnivals. Anyway, the food was actually delicious and we had a really nice time.
Then came Sunday and Elie's first day of work! He really enjoys it and is being given a lot of responsibility which is really great. It's nice to hear that people are respecting the amount of experience that he has and the talents that he has. It's a relatively predictable schedule - he starts at 9 and ends at 6. However, because there are no subways here and the only mode of public transportation is the bus, he is out of the house at 7:30 and comes home around 7. It's a long day but, again, predictable (whereas in the States, it was always a toss-up as to when Abba was going to walk in the door and whether or not he would be doing Tani's bath and bedtime).
Netanel and I have gotten into a nice routine although, I gotta say, I definitely miss having Elie around. I take Netanel to his gan in the morning then come home and either get a ride or take the bus to ulpan. Afterwards, I either get a ride or take the bus home just in time to pick up Netanel at 1. After his nap we try to figure out ways to fill the afternoons until Elie gets home without either of us going crazy....it's only been 2 days but it's been interesting.
I would just like to make a shout-out now to Sari Wittlin who was the best afternoon buddy EVER. I never had to worry about filling my afternoons because we would always do something together - usually that meant hanging out at her apartment, watching the kids play and feeding them snacks - but it was predictable. I miss you, Sari!

A few things I noticed while grocery shopping in the past few weeks that may be of interest to anyone thinking of aliyah (or to anyone else, really):
1. There is no frozen squash in this country. If you want to make squash kugel, muffins, etc. you either have to buy chunks of fresh squash, cook it in the microwave FOREVER until it's soft and then mash it up...or decide to make broccoli kugel instead.
2. There is no pareve condensed mushroom soup. It's not something that I thought I used that much but lately, I have felt it missing from my life...
3. One can learn a lot of hebrew simply by walking through the aisles of the local grocery store. While this can be very informative, it can also be very frustrating when you come home thinking you bought one thing while really you bought the opposite product.

Income!

I must start out this entry with some very exciting news. We are very happy to report that Elie got a job and will be starting B"H this Sunday, Nov. 2! He will be working as an Account Manager at Ruder Finn Israel which is a PR company. He will be working with non-profit clients (right up his alley) as their PR "guy". When we came for our trip in June, Ruder Finn was one of the places that Elie interviewed at but they obviously couldn't offer him anything because we weren't moving until September. And it's very true what they say about the time "after the chagim" being the time to find a job because Elie went for another interview this past Sunday and got the job! The office is located in the Har Hotzvim neighborhood of Yerushalayim in the beautiful Beck Science Center. Stay tuned for more details......

In other news, the weather has turned a lot cooler and along with the drop in temperature is a lot of rain. I know that rain is a blessing in Israel, and part of me is very thankful for that, but the part of me that has to walk Tani to gan in the morning - bumping the stroller down 36 steps and then the 2 1/2 blocks to the gan in rain with just a hooded sweatshirt - is not as thankful. Luckily, I managed to take Tani when it wasn't raining as hard so neither of us got all that wet. I don't know if I will be so lucky in the near future.

Elie's new job also means that, starting Monday, I will be attending Ulpan alone. I know other people in the class but it's been nice being in "school" with Elie for the first time. Speaking of Ulpan and Elie, here's a glimpse of what our time has been like together:

Today we were reading an ad (in hebrew, of course) for a lost dog. While this may seem odd, the point of the exercise was to learn words that we may see in everyday newspapers. After reading through the ad, the teacher had us write our own "lost" ads. For example, mine was about a lost cellphone, someone else's was about lost keys, etc. As we were doing the exercise, the teacher quietly walks around to each student to read what they have done so far and help them with any words or grammar issues they may have. When she got to Elie, he said he didn't want to read his to her yet, so she skipped him and went on to me. I thought it was slightly odd but, then again, that's Elie. When it was Elie's turn to read his aloud to the class, I have to admit that I was curious as to what he had written. He began with "Avda Ishti" - "Lost Wife". All I could think was, well now this is going to be interesting....nothing surprises me anymore. He went on to say (in hebrew, of course) that he lost his wife outside of the Ulpan building and he really wants her returned to him so that he has someone to make him dinner. Additionally, he offered 2,000 NIS as a reward.
I'll let you all ponder that one for a while.

Before I go, I'd like to give a shout-out to my sister, Gila, who is having a very tough first week of Choref Z'man. Hang in there, Gils. And keep calling me to vent - I'm here for ya! Also, FYI, your trials and tribulations make for excellent blog fodder....

Shabbat and (thankfully) the Return to the Normal Day-to-Day Routine

Shabbat here was nice, and quiet - 2 things I very much enjoy. We ate out on Friday night at a meal with three other couples, each of whom had 3 similar aged children - what a rush. Netanel was a little overwhelmed and managed to hurt himself 4 times within the first 10 minutes but he seemed to calm down (a bit) after that. On the plus side, because Shabbat basically starts at 9 a.m. on Friday (or 4:20 p.m. but, believe me, it feels like I just roll out of bed and light candles), it means that we were home from our meal by about 8:30 - another thing I enjoy.
Shabbat lunch was just us and we were done eating by 12:30, just in time to put Tani (and Elie) in for a much needed nap. Our afternoon was very eventful as we went to my sister-in-law's house in Nofei Aviv (about a 12 minute walk from us) where we were celebrating her son, Maor's, third birthday with a "Tzitzit Party". Let me clarify, a Tzitzit party is basically a good 'ol birthday party except that Maor got his first pair of tzitzit, made the bracha, and we all dove into a delicious tzitzit-shaped cake made by my mother-in-law. It was quite the festivity and we were glad to be able to be here to share it with the family.

So for those of you who may not keep up, we started saying "Mashiva Haruach u'Morid Ha'gashem" on the last days of Sukkot. I'm pretty sure that it's not a coincidence that it rained cats and dogs (I've always wanted to say that but now that I type it I think it just sounds odd) on Friday night and Shabbat day. The rain and thunder on Friday night actually woke me up and I sat in my bed terrified that our power was going to go out (oh, yea, it does that A LOT in Bet Shemesh). Shabbat morning started out cloudy but was actually nice and breezy when I went with Tani to meet Elie at shul. However, as soon as we were cleaning up from lunch and I was commenting how I hope it didn't rain again because we had the party to attend at 4 - the rain started coming down. Unfortunately, we have been a little lazy about taking our sukkah down and all of the decorations and the s'chach were still in there - oops. Elie is currently dealing with it now but I think we may be buying all new decorations in a year from now.....
The coolest thing about the rain was the reaction of the kids and parents around here. We had left our stroller downstairs, (we live on the top floor of a townhouse building so our apartment is up about 36 steps), and Elie wanted to get it for fear that it would be a pool of water if it stayed there. Seeing as he had no interest in going and digging out the raincoats from the box they are in, Elie decided to just run downstairs and get it. When he came back up he had the biggest smile on his face. He said that all the parents were standing at the doors of their apartments putting their kids in raincoats so they could go run around in the rain. I could hear the "shouts of glee" up in our apartment as the kids enjoyed jumping in the puddles and getting extremely muddy. In Israel, rain is such a blessing that kids and parents alike celebrate it when it happens rather than run indoors to get away from it. I'm not saying that I'm going to wrap up Tani in a poncho and let him run free outside the next time it rains, but it's a nice sentiment nonetheless.

That's all the news from Shabbat and this week finally start our routine again....ahhhh....Tani is back in Gan and Elie and I are back in Ulpan. Thankfully, our ulpan is only Monday through Thursday so Sunday is still kind of a "free day" for us. By "free" I mean - let's get everything done in the 5 hours that Netanel is in Gan - go, go, go!!
Additionally, I believe (and I think my sister, Gila, would agree with me) that tomorrow should officially start the "Countdown Until Mommy and Daddy Come to Visit" - 34 days!

Leezy

We Finally Have Internet!! A Summary of Our First 45 Days as Israelis

As many of you know, we were blessed to finally get our internet hooked up yesterday (Oct. 22). And while I have heard that many new olim have waiting much longer, this definitely felt like an eternity. It has been so hard not being able to update all of our friends and family with our adventures and our pictures. Well, all of that is about to change. I have to say that I was inspired while reading my sister, Gila's, blog (I finally got a chance to read it) and decided that I wanted to do something similar as a way of keeping all of the people that we love "in the loop".
I know that most of you reading this have already gotten the lengthy email from Elie describing our first 6 weeks here. He did an excellent job so I will try to do an even shorter summary highlighting some of the same but mostly some of the other aspects of our first 6 weeks as Israelis.

I guess I will start at the beginning (it's the best place to start...so they say).
Sunday and Monday, September 7-8 were the most overwhelming, exciting, hectic, terrifying, and unbelievable days of my our lives. Those first few steps off the plane were filled with so much emotion that I don't know if I will ever be able to adequately describe it. For now, let's just call it overwhelming and leave it at that.
The truly amazing thing that happened on September 8, aside from becoming Israeli citizens, is that, as we sat at the NBN ceremony, Elie got a call from the shipping company saying that our lift had arrived and we needed to come a claim it. So, 2 days later, Elie was on a train to Haifa to claim our lift and the next day (Thursday), it arrived at 6:30 in the morning - what a rush. It still amazes me to say that our FIRST shabbat in Israel we were sleeping in our own beds, sitting on our own couches, and eating at our own dining room table - totally incredible.

The next week was spent visiting/calling too many offices to name right now. Basically, we got our computer, cellphones, our washing machine hooked up, small plumbing issues fixed, set up our Sal Klita (benefit package), and signed up for Ulpan. It's funny to write all of this down now in one quick sentence because as we were dealing with all of these various offices and making what seemed like ten million phone calls, it felt like it would take months until we lived like normal people. However, only 45 days later, with the last peg in place (INTERNET), I think I can safely say that we are living as normally as possible.

Now to address the person you are all waiting with bated breath to hear about - Netanel. We had signed him up for a private Gan (daycare) when we were here in June so we were all set to go as soon as we stepped off the plane. We sent him for a few hours the first week we were here to try to get him settled. It was interesting to watch him try to understand what was going on. For the first week he went to Gan with no qualms at all. He didn't cry when we dropped him off, he played nicely, etc. The only minor issue we had was that he would get tired earlier than he normally would so we would go pick him up early (Gan is usually over at 1 p.m.) and take him home to nap. With things going so smoothly with him, all Elie and I could think was - "Sure, he's only a year and a half, the transition was bound to be this easy for him".....yea, not so much. It was only during week 2 that it hit him like a ton of bricks that this was for real - we weren't messing around. We were actually going to bring him to this strange place every day and leave for a good 5 hours and only then would we pick him up and bring him to this other strange apartment (our new home). So the second week was a little touch-and-go. We basically got calls from the ganenets (daycare teachers) that he was crying inconsolably. So, we decided to start sending him with a security item (his blankie) every day and that made a world of difference. He really just needed a small familiar item among all the strangeness.
You will be very happy to hear that Tani is doing amazingly well now. We still send the blankie but it hardly ever comes out of his "tik" (backpack) and he can't stop talking about Chaviva (the ganenet) and all his new friends. The ganenets are absolutely wonderful and they care a lot about the kids. They have done some amazing projects with them including a honey dish and a decoration for the "Yukka" (aka - sukkah). It's been a little hard with all of the time off from Gan because Tani gets confused as to when he is and isn't going but now that the chagim are over we will all be back on a regular schedule.

As mentioned above, Elie and I are taking an Ulpan class together. I was a little nervous about it simply because I had no idea what to expect. That, in addition to the fact that I JUST finished school and wasn't so keen on starting another 5 months of it. But, I have to say, it's actually a really nice class. The level we are in actually has a lot of new olim from our neighborhood in it so it's nice group and the teacher is really great. I'm not exactly fluent yet ("Yesh od rotev bevakasha")...but we're getting there. It's also so interesting how much you pick up simply because you are thrown into different situations. For example, I have had very lengthy phone conversations with what feels like hundreds of different Bezeq (phone company) employees in my broken hebrew. It takes time and I often feel like an idiot, but at the end of the day, things have to get done and you have to talk to these people and they simply don't speak english so you do what you gotta do. Additionally, I've had to go food shopping and learn how to say that I want 8 legs and thighs cut up or a block of cheddar cheese (don't worry, not to be eaten together). So, you learn from experience and, more importantly, you learn that you have to sound like an idiot if you ever plan on learning.

About 3 weeks after we got here, a funny thing happened. It was called CHAG! Keep in mind, of the 3 chagim that occur during September and October (Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot) - I had only "made" Yom Kippur. Now, all of a sudden, 3 weeks after completely turning our lives upside-down, I have to "make" all THREE! And of all the years to have this be our first, it's the year of the "Never-Ending Cooking Extravaganza" - yom tov, shabbat, yom tov, shabbat, yom tov, shabbat - AHHHHHHHHHHH! It wasn't easy but we did it, and did it very well if I may say so myself.
We were thrilled to have my sister and brother-in-law, Gila and Donny, with us for Rosh Hashanah along with their awesome kids, Ariella and Yaakov (or "Arilala" and "Yaafov" according to Tani). It was really nice to spend time with them in addition to us all having meals with my in-laws, Howie and D'vorah Klein, and my sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Sara and David Eisen and their kids - Avi, Doron, Shaqed, and Maor.
The kids had a great time together and really enjoyed playing with one another.
Gila and Donny came back for Yom Kippur basically so that Gila and I would have a friend to help out with the kids. It worked out very well - we were able to split the task of reading 9 million books over 12 hours. It was also very nice to have the fast over before 6:00. I don't care what people say, I know it's still 25 hours but it feels waaaaay shorter on this side of the ocean.

On to Sukkot! The first thing I have to say is that it was a truly incredible experience decorating our very first sukkah. It's small and you have to walk upstairs to get to it, but it was ours and that was all that mattered. We were able to host family and friends and it was really great to have guests seeing as we've always been the guests. On our first day of Chol Hamoed, Elie and Tani went with Howie, D'vorah, David, Shaqed and Maor to the zoo and they had a great time. On Thursday we took Tani and Shaqed to a gymboree type place (jungle gyms, ball baths, etc.) in Mod'iin called Eretz Nehederet and they had a great time. Friday night we hosted the Kleins and Eisens for a birthday dinner for Elie and David (they share a bday - Oct. 21) and everyone really enjoyed the chocolate cake and party hats.
Simchat Torah was very nice (especially the whole one day thing, still getting used to that). Tani loved being at shul and dancing with the "Tova" (aka - Torah). The best part was the look on his face when I was holding him and Elie came over to us during hakafot holding an actual Torah....

I guess that about brings me to about right now. Woops, I know I said this would be short...I lied. In general, the usual postings will be much more succint but once I started writing this one, my fingers kept going and I literally couldn't stop.
I hope you enjoyed this window into our new lives and I look forward to keeping you all posted as much as possible (yes, there will be pictures up too).

Shabbat Shalom,
Leezy