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