It's true, I'm not. I always say I'll blog more but it's been about 2 months since my last post. I really do want to write more but I'm not so motivated. However, I will try. Really. Maybe. Kind of.
I would say "not much has happened since the first day of gan and that' why I haven't written" but that's really not true. Life here is pretty hectic - that's why I haven't written. But it's no excuse. NO EXCUSE! Bad Leezy.....
Let's go in age order this time: Elie is doing great at work. Very busy getting new clients and keeping his clients happy. I'm totally impressed with how many articles he's gotten in local and worldwide newspapers. In fact, he had a very exciting milestone this shabbat when he got a feature 2-page spread in the magazine of the Jerusalem Post Weekend edition. It was a really great article about his client, Nishmat, and we're very proud.
Onto myself (I did say age order) - I am working really hard and my days are extremely hectic. I basically drop off Tani, come home, drop off Amichai and go straight to work. Directly from work I go get both boys and come home for dinner-bath-cleaning up toys-cranky time that is always the 3 hours between 4 and 7. I do like working but my days are totally exhausting. But, I really like my job (I even just got a little raise!) and I'm glad that I got this job.
Tani's turn (oh he would love for me to say that more often) - he is, thank G-d, doing amazing at gan. He's speaking to the ganenet (and me) in hebrew, he totally gets what's going on and is really participating and he is THRILLED to go every morning. The ganenet loves him and often says - "hu me'od chacham - chaval al hazman!" Just to clarify, I grew up thinking "chaval al hazman" had a negative connotation. However, as I have learned here, it is actually a positive thing but I honestly don't know the best english translation. The point of this digression - the ganenet is NOT saying that Tani is wasting everyone's time (I hope...). Back on topic - we are thrilled with the gan and the ganenet so that's going great. Tani otherwise is cute, as always, but SUCH A 2 YEAR OLD!! I love that kid more than anything but, I admit, I do sometimes google "boarding schools for kids under 3".
Last, but most definitely not least, Amichai. He is, thank G-d, doing great. He has started eating some solids (the mush) and we actually, just tonight, took out the high chair! I can't believe that he is 5 months old already, I honestly feel like I just had him. He's rolling over, trying to get everywhere, and trying to eat EVERYTHING (including Tani's face). He really likes the babysitter and she is really great, we're really happy with her.
So that's it for the fam. In general, thing here are going well. I just wish it would COOL OFF! It is so freakin hot, it's unbelievable. I can honestly say that I am jealous of all the rain and cold weather that you guys in America are experiencing. I am so ready to not be dressing the kids in the short sleeves and shorts anymore (my parents brought my whole order of cute Old Navy stuff!!!) and Tani has officially grown out of his sandals.
Oh, shoes, I must discuss the Israeli children's shoe situation. So it was supposed to start getting "cooler" and Tani was really growing out of his sandals so I decided to take him to the shoe store one day last week for winter shoes. I went into a different store than last year because his shoes weren't the best quality last year so I wanted to try somewhere new. I figured I could at least find ONE normal pair. Well, that task has proven very difficult. All of the closed toe shoes basically look like hiking boots. I mean, come on, the kid's legs are small enough as it is, do we need to cover them entirely with the shoe?!? Needless to say, I left without buying any shoes and very nostalgic for all the adorable shoes I saw on Piperlime and Zappos, sigh.....So I have basically decided that I have to buy him a pair of sneakers and a pair of shabbos shoes. Oy.
So that's it for now, hopefully the next update will be sooner than January (but, let's be honest, probably not).
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
First Day of Gan!
Yes, folks, the new school year has officially begun. Here in Israel we have a staggered first week of school. Now, I understand the reason is to try to get the kids acclimated, but, honestly, it's a HUGE pain in the neck.
Here's our schedule for this week:
- Monday: 9-10 a.m. with the parent the whole time
- Tuesday: 8-10 a.m. - parent leaves after kid is "ok"
- Wednesday: 8-11 a.m. - same as above
- Thursday: full day (8-4) - FINALLY
I know this may not seem so bad to some of you out there but I am actually just beginning a new job this week so having Tani home for basically the whole day doesn't really work so well. Basically, I have been working in the evenings as I'm being trained and starting Thursday I'll work my normal hours from 9 - 3:30.
To backtrack a little - I got a job! I am working as an Office Manager/Personal Assistant at Kosherica (the big kosher cruise company). They just relocated their headquarters from Miami to Israel this past May because the couple who own the couple moved with their family to Israel. And, conveniently, the offices are in Ramat Bet Shemesh, about a 7 minute drive from our house - yay!
I actually got the job the day before I had Amichai - I went to interview with my very large belly and I basically got the job. The owners of the company were basically on one of their cruises all summer and they just got back at the end of August so I started going in the evenings for training.
I'm really enjoying the work and I'm definitely looking forward to being on a regular schedule. The only stressful part is that until after the chagim, I'm going to have Amichai with me in the office. I just felt like he was too little to have him with a babysitter just yet. Thank G-d, he's a really good baby so I'm hoping that it won't be too difficult. We shall see.
Back to Tani and gan. So today was the first day of him being there for a little while without me. He said goodbye really nicely but by the time I was about 10 feet out the door, the crying began. I stood by the door hoping he would stop any minute, but after about 3 minutes I gave up and left feeling, of course, like a terrible mother. I had told the ganenet that, if it was necessary, he has a blankie in his tik (bag) that he can use as a security item. So that's what he had when I picked him up. Hopefully, after a month or so, he won't need it anymore. We also decided to send one of his small stuffed animals (the infamous monkey) instead of his blankie because the blankies tend to get dragged on the floor and get disgusting.
The other thing about his gan is that it's an all hebrew gan. We are really happy about this because he is definitely at the age where he's ready to learn. But it's also hard because the ganenet basically speaks no english so for the first little while, she'll be simply nodding and smiling whenever he says anything to her. There are several other kids in the gan who speak english so he'll have people to play with. As my mother said, this is definitely harder for me than it is for Tani. I know, I know, it'll be over quickly and before I know it, he'll be translating the letters that come from our insurance company and telling us how much we owe for our car payments this month.
So, I'm basically just wanted to fast forward about a month to when things are all settled and in a nice routine. And, in a month - Momz and Dadz come for Sukkot!! Yay! Let the countdown begin!
Here's our schedule for this week:
- Monday: 9-10 a.m. with the parent the whole time
- Tuesday: 8-10 a.m. - parent leaves after kid is "ok"
- Wednesday: 8-11 a.m. - same as above
- Thursday: full day (8-4) - FINALLY
I know this may not seem so bad to some of you out there but I am actually just beginning a new job this week so having Tani home for basically the whole day doesn't really work so well. Basically, I have been working in the evenings as I'm being trained and starting Thursday I'll work my normal hours from 9 - 3:30.
To backtrack a little - I got a job! I am working as an Office Manager/Personal Assistant at Kosherica (the big kosher cruise company). They just relocated their headquarters from Miami to Israel this past May because the couple who own the couple moved with their family to Israel. And, conveniently, the offices are in Ramat Bet Shemesh, about a 7 minute drive from our house - yay!
I actually got the job the day before I had Amichai - I went to interview with my very large belly and I basically got the job. The owners of the company were basically on one of their cruises all summer and they just got back at the end of August so I started going in the evenings for training.
I'm really enjoying the work and I'm definitely looking forward to being on a regular schedule. The only stressful part is that until after the chagim, I'm going to have Amichai with me in the office. I just felt like he was too little to have him with a babysitter just yet. Thank G-d, he's a really good baby so I'm hoping that it won't be too difficult. We shall see.
Back to Tani and gan. So today was the first day of him being there for a little while without me. He said goodbye really nicely but by the time I was about 10 feet out the door, the crying began. I stood by the door hoping he would stop any minute, but after about 3 minutes I gave up and left feeling, of course, like a terrible mother. I had told the ganenet that, if it was necessary, he has a blankie in his tik (bag) that he can use as a security item. So that's what he had when I picked him up. Hopefully, after a month or so, he won't need it anymore. We also decided to send one of his small stuffed animals (the infamous monkey) instead of his blankie because the blankies tend to get dragged on the floor and get disgusting.
The other thing about his gan is that it's an all hebrew gan. We are really happy about this because he is definitely at the age where he's ready to learn. But it's also hard because the ganenet basically speaks no english so for the first little while, she'll be simply nodding and smiling whenever he says anything to her. There are several other kids in the gan who speak english so he'll have people to play with. As my mother said, this is definitely harder for me than it is for Tani. I know, I know, it'll be over quickly and before I know it, he'll be translating the letters that come from our insurance company and telling us how much we owe for our car payments this month.
So, I'm basically just wanted to fast forward about a month to when things are all settled and in a nice routine. And, in a month - Momz and Dadz come for Sukkot!! Yay! Let the countdown begin!
Sunday, August 2, 2009
I Really Am Going to Try to Update More Often....
To tell you the truth, I would totally update more but I just don't feel like there is so much to tell. Here's a little overview of our first summer as Israelis:
First, the baby. He is, thank G-d, doing really well. He's getting nice and chunky and he is really happy. He loves it when people talk to him, smile at him, etc. He loves to laugh and, in general, just be around people. Unfortunately for him, he's a second child and he is definitely trumped by his older 2 1/2 year old brother in the attention department. But, as they say - ma la'asot.
Speaking of the older brother, Tani is also doing really well, thank G-d. His gan "turned into" a kaytana (camp). What does this mean? Basically, since July 1st, they go swimming every Monday and Wednesday. That's about all the differences there are. However, this is the last week of, as we call it, Camp Gan. This is very sad because Tani LOVES his ganenet, Chaviva, and he doesn't even know how said he's going to be when it's over. (I know how sad he's going to be....)
So starting next Sunday, Tani is starting a different kaytana in my in-law's neighborhood, Nofei Aviv. It's about a 5 minute drive from here and he has a friend going with him also so I think he'll be ok (think=desperately hope). The REALLY sad part about this change is that Elie will no longer be able to take Tani to camp in the morning (as he has been doing since Amichai was born) because he gets a ride to work and doesn't have enough time to get there and back before his ride leaves. You may be wondering why this is so sad and I will tell you. If Elie can't take Tani it means....I HAVE TO! And that means that I have to, wait for it....GET DRESSED BEFORE 9:30 AM!! Not that I have necessarily been lazing around in the mornings but I have been pushing off getting dressed until I ABSOLUTELY have to and I will be sad when that time is over (sigh).
In other news, it's freakin' hot here. No one goes out in the afternoons anymore and, for the most part, we try to organize play dates in the afternoons or else we GO CRAZY! Unfortunately, we have no vacation planned for this summer because it just didn't work out (meaning - it's too expensive and Elie is VERY busy at work). I'm keeping Tani in his new camp for two weeks and then, for the last week of the summer, it's CAMP IMA. Oh baby, it's gonna get crazy over here. Hopefully Elie will take off one day that week and we will DO SOMETHING - whatever that means.
We have been really taking advantages of long summer Fridays and we try to do something every week. 2 weeks ago we went to the beach and that was amazing. You really feel like you are on vacation when you go to the beach so it's really nice. We went with a few friends and all the kids played in the sand the entire time so it was even slightly relaxing for the parents.
That's about all that's happening over here. I really, really, really will try to update a little more often but, seriously, who's reading this anyway aside from my mom who I talk to every day anyway?
First, the baby. He is, thank G-d, doing really well. He's getting nice and chunky and he is really happy. He loves it when people talk to him, smile at him, etc. He loves to laugh and, in general, just be around people. Unfortunately for him, he's a second child and he is definitely trumped by his older 2 1/2 year old brother in the attention department. But, as they say - ma la'asot.
Speaking of the older brother, Tani is also doing really well, thank G-d. His gan "turned into" a kaytana (camp). What does this mean? Basically, since July 1st, they go swimming every Monday and Wednesday. That's about all the differences there are. However, this is the last week of, as we call it, Camp Gan. This is very sad because Tani LOVES his ganenet, Chaviva, and he doesn't even know how said he's going to be when it's over. (I know how sad he's going to be....)
So starting next Sunday, Tani is starting a different kaytana in my in-law's neighborhood, Nofei Aviv. It's about a 5 minute drive from here and he has a friend going with him also so I think he'll be ok (think=desperately hope). The REALLY sad part about this change is that Elie will no longer be able to take Tani to camp in the morning (as he has been doing since Amichai was born) because he gets a ride to work and doesn't have enough time to get there and back before his ride leaves. You may be wondering why this is so sad and I will tell you. If Elie can't take Tani it means....I HAVE TO! And that means that I have to, wait for it....GET DRESSED BEFORE 9:30 AM!! Not that I have necessarily been lazing around in the mornings but I have been pushing off getting dressed until I ABSOLUTELY have to and I will be sad when that time is over (sigh).
In other news, it's freakin' hot here. No one goes out in the afternoons anymore and, for the most part, we try to organize play dates in the afternoons or else we GO CRAZY! Unfortunately, we have no vacation planned for this summer because it just didn't work out (meaning - it's too expensive and Elie is VERY busy at work). I'm keeping Tani in his new camp for two weeks and then, for the last week of the summer, it's CAMP IMA. Oh baby, it's gonna get crazy over here. Hopefully Elie will take off one day that week and we will DO SOMETHING - whatever that means.
We have been really taking advantages of long summer Fridays and we try to do something every week. 2 weeks ago we went to the beach and that was amazing. You really feel like you are on vacation when you go to the beach so it's really nice. We went with a few friends and all the kids played in the sand the entire time so it was even slightly relaxing for the parents.
That's about all that's happening over here. I really, really, really will try to update a little more often but, seriously, who's reading this anyway aside from my mom who I talk to every day anyway?
Sunday, June 7, 2009
It Has Been Waaay Too Long, I Know
I know it's been way too long since my last post but for good reason - we welcomed a baby boy on May 25, Bet Sivan - Amichai Tzion. I know what some of you are thinking - the baby was born on May 25 yet your last blog was April 29 (or something) - what's the deal? To be honest, I was so not in the mood to update those last few weeks of pregnancy. That is the total honest truth. And then, as it got closer, I just wanted to wait until the baby was born - so here you go.
It was a really incredible birth and Amichai's timing couldn't have been more perfect. Let me explain. It was the week before Shavuot and I still hadn't given birth. Now, my parents had originally decided that they would just come as soon as I gave birth. However, Shavuot was upon us and my parents had no interest in being alone for Shavuot not knowing what was happening with me. Additionally, they were worried that if I gave birth right before Shavuot and it was a boy that they wouldn't be able to get here in time and would miss the shalom zachor. So they decided that they would just come on the Tuesday before Shavuot. Conveniently enough, I went into labor Monday morning. We called to tell them that I had been admitted to the hospital as they were driving to Newark for their flight. Then we called them not too long after that (they were still in the car) to tell them that "It's A BOY!" I was even able to talk to them before they got on the plane and I was all settled in my room. They arrived on Tuesday and after a brief stopover to drop their stuff at Gila's in Modiin, they came on over to Hadassah Ein Karem to visit me and Amichai (who was, obviously, still nameless at this point). It was so great that they got to come to the hospital. Amichai and I went home on Wednesday and Shavuot started Thursday night.
The shalom zachor was interesting because it was Friday night but we Friday was Shavuot. So lots of people brought stuff by on Thursday, some came Friday before Shabbat, etc. We held the shalom zachor downstairs in the parking spaces in between our building and the building next door. I know it sounds weird to those who don't know the area but it was really very nice and it allowed us to use the apartment for the women so I didn't have to go downstairs at all.
The brit was Monday, June 1 at a shul in our neighborhood. Again, lots of friends and relatives showed up and a good time was had by all, except for Amichai of course. And Tani was slightly under the weather but he did pretty well, considering. For those of you who weren't there, Amichai Tzion is basically named for the sentiment of our successful aliyah and our unbelievable happiness at being able to live and raise our children in Eretz Yisrael. And just like we switch off between Netanel and Tani, we will be switching off between Amichai and Ami.
Speaking of big brother Tani, he is doing amazingly well in his new role, thank G-d. He loves Ami's tiny fingers and toes. His favorite activity is taking Amichai's arms, waving them and saying "Hello!" We are all settling into our routine now that the excitement has died down and I think everyone is grateful for that. Although we were very sad to see Mommy and Daddy/Bubby and Zaidy leave. Their trips always seem way too short. Oh, wait, that's because they are!
I will try to update as often as I can but the whole 2 kids thing keeps me kinda busy so you may have to wait a while.
Thanks for reading!
It was a really incredible birth and Amichai's timing couldn't have been more perfect. Let me explain. It was the week before Shavuot and I still hadn't given birth. Now, my parents had originally decided that they would just come as soon as I gave birth. However, Shavuot was upon us and my parents had no interest in being alone for Shavuot not knowing what was happening with me. Additionally, they were worried that if I gave birth right before Shavuot and it was a boy that they wouldn't be able to get here in time and would miss the shalom zachor. So they decided that they would just come on the Tuesday before Shavuot. Conveniently enough, I went into labor Monday morning. We called to tell them that I had been admitted to the hospital as they were driving to Newark for their flight. Then we called them not too long after that (they were still in the car) to tell them that "It's A BOY!" I was even able to talk to them before they got on the plane and I was all settled in my room. They arrived on Tuesday and after a brief stopover to drop their stuff at Gila's in Modiin, they came on over to Hadassah Ein Karem to visit me and Amichai (who was, obviously, still nameless at this point). It was so great that they got to come to the hospital. Amichai and I went home on Wednesday and Shavuot started Thursday night.
The shalom zachor was interesting because it was Friday night but we Friday was Shavuot. So lots of people brought stuff by on Thursday, some came Friday before Shabbat, etc. We held the shalom zachor downstairs in the parking spaces in between our building and the building next door. I know it sounds weird to those who don't know the area but it was really very nice and it allowed us to use the apartment for the women so I didn't have to go downstairs at all.
The brit was Monday, June 1 at a shul in our neighborhood. Again, lots of friends and relatives showed up and a good time was had by all, except for Amichai of course. And Tani was slightly under the weather but he did pretty well, considering. For those of you who weren't there, Amichai Tzion is basically named for the sentiment of our successful aliyah and our unbelievable happiness at being able to live and raise our children in Eretz Yisrael. And just like we switch off between Netanel and Tani, we will be switching off between Amichai and Ami.
Speaking of big brother Tani, he is doing amazingly well in his new role, thank G-d. He loves Ami's tiny fingers and toes. His favorite activity is taking Amichai's arms, waving them and saying "Hello!" We are all settling into our routine now that the excitement has died down and I think everyone is grateful for that. Although we were very sad to see Mommy and Daddy/Bubby and Zaidy leave. Their trips always seem way too short. Oh, wait, that's because they are!
I will try to update as often as I can but the whole 2 kids thing keeps me kinda busy so you may have to wait a while.
Thanks for reading!
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Pesach, Yom Ha'atzmaut and Car Purchasing
I know it's been a while since I last wrote so here is an update of everything from Pesach until Yom Ha'atzmaut (which just ended about 30 minutes ago).
Pesach was tiring but really nice. We were at Sara and David for the seder along with my in-laws, David's parents and David's brother. The seder was really nice with lots of shmoozing, grape juice drinking, afikoman finding, and (eventually) eating. We had thought that of course Tani would just end up crashing and falling asleep on the couch/floor at some point. But, alas, he was un-tired man! Thank G-d, he played/ate really nicely and stayed up for the whole thing. Most importantly, he sang all of his songs beautifully.
The first day of chag we had friends over for lunch and it was really nice to host our first Pesach meal ever. Even nicer - NOT having to have a second seder! What a difference that makes. However, it was quite odd that we couldn't talk to my parents until Sunday. It's weird having an entire day and THEN shabbat while they were technically in chag mode the whole time.
So on Friday (our first day of chol hamoed) we went to the Monkey Park about 10 minutes out of Modiin. This was super convenient seeing as we were going to Gila and Donny for shabbat. It's a really nice park with, of course, monkeys among several other animals. It wasn't too crowded (we got there early) and there were a lot of shaded places to sit down throughout which was, truthfully, the best part for me! It is also the place where we purchased a stuffed monkey for Tani that he literally has not put down since. It was really cute because the whole way from the park to Gila and Donny's house, Netanel was talking to the monkey, telling him about Pesach. Very entertaining.
We had a great shabbat with Aunt Gila, Uncle Donny, Ariella and Yaakov. It was really nice watching the kids play and Ariella has turned into one fine babysitter. She sat reading books to Netanel for like an hour on shabbat morning and he loved it. However, probably the best part of the whole weekend - Donny's Pesach sponge cake!!!! Even better, he made us one to take home! Elie ate his traditional 5,000 pieces at each meal so he was a happy camper.
I will give a shout-out here to my sister who hosted the first day (seder and all), shabbat, and second day - having guests for each leg. Kapayim L'Gila!
The second day we were back home again. At night we invited friends from the neighborhood and enjoyed an inaugural meal from our grill! Let me explain - we brought this grill on our lift but neglected to open it right away. Then, as Pesach approached, Elie and I both had the brilliant idea to use it for the first time on Pesach seeing as we had not yet used it for chametz. So, while we did miss the buns, the food and company were terrific.
For the day we went to my in-laws for my father in law's yearly Pesach birthday lunch. Much fun was had and (good) cake was eaten.
Another weirdness about the whole 1 day here vs. 2 day in America thing was that we had basically completely turned back over to chametz and were eating pizza before chag was even over for my parents. Quite a weird feeling....
Once we got our lives back in order and sent Tani back to gan (if you recall, gan was out for 2 1/2 weeks), it was time to get down to business.
We had rented a car for about 2 weeks over Pesach and were planning on renting one again for about a month once the baby is born, iy"H. However, we also had in the plans to buy a car sometime this summer. I said to Elie that, while the prices here for car rentals are quite good, why not just start the car buying process now rather than waiting to do it with a newborn. And that is exactly what we did.
We went to the Eldan (one of the largest car rental companies in Israel) office in Bet Shemesh. Aside from renting cars, Eldan is also in the business of selling used and like-new cars and several of our friends from the neighborhood have bought from them. To make a long story short, we found a car for a pretty good price and it is currently (technically) ours. We are waiting to take it for a test and to finalize the insurance but, in short, we are very soon to be car owners!! Not only is this exciting for the obvious reason that it's going to make life a million times easier having a car, but this is the first big purchase we have ever made. We feel all grown-up and stuff, it's kinda weird.....
Now, onto Yom Ha'atzmaut. What a celebration! Netanel's gan (and all the ganim) have been aptly prepping the children for Yom Ha'atzmaut. One day he came home talking about Medinat Yisrael; the next day he was singing Am Yisrael Chai. On Tuesday (Yom Hazikaron) the ganenet made the kids pita with chumus and falafel for lunch which, I was told, Tani scarfed down very happily. He also came home with his very own Degel Yisrael that he has not stopped waving.
On the eve of Yom Ha'atzmaut (Tuesday night) we went to a BBQ at our next door neighbor's house. (Just a bit of info for those who many not already know - Yom Ha'atzmaut = BBQ and lots of it). On the day of Yom Ha'atzmaut we had friends over for a pancake breakfast, went to friends for a BBQ lunch and then headed over to my in-laws for a BBQ dinner. That's right - 3 BBQ's in the span of 24 hours - I think that is very impressive for our first Yom Ha'atzmaut as Israelis. We should get a trophy.
All-in-all, it's been a great month with many reasons to celebrate. We are now really in the baby countdown - just a few weeks left (a.k.a. - any day now). Who knows what the next post will be about......
Pesach was tiring but really nice. We were at Sara and David for the seder along with my in-laws, David's parents and David's brother. The seder was really nice with lots of shmoozing, grape juice drinking, afikoman finding, and (eventually) eating. We had thought that of course Tani would just end up crashing and falling asleep on the couch/floor at some point. But, alas, he was un-tired man! Thank G-d, he played/ate really nicely and stayed up for the whole thing. Most importantly, he sang all of his songs beautifully.
The first day of chag we had friends over for lunch and it was really nice to host our first Pesach meal ever. Even nicer - NOT having to have a second seder! What a difference that makes. However, it was quite odd that we couldn't talk to my parents until Sunday. It's weird having an entire day and THEN shabbat while they were technically in chag mode the whole time.
So on Friday (our first day of chol hamoed) we went to the Monkey Park about 10 minutes out of Modiin. This was super convenient seeing as we were going to Gila and Donny for shabbat. It's a really nice park with, of course, monkeys among several other animals. It wasn't too crowded (we got there early) and there were a lot of shaded places to sit down throughout which was, truthfully, the best part for me! It is also the place where we purchased a stuffed monkey for Tani that he literally has not put down since. It was really cute because the whole way from the park to Gila and Donny's house, Netanel was talking to the monkey, telling him about Pesach. Very entertaining.
We had a great shabbat with Aunt Gila, Uncle Donny, Ariella and Yaakov. It was really nice watching the kids play and Ariella has turned into one fine babysitter. She sat reading books to Netanel for like an hour on shabbat morning and he loved it. However, probably the best part of the whole weekend - Donny's Pesach sponge cake!!!! Even better, he made us one to take home! Elie ate his traditional 5,000 pieces at each meal so he was a happy camper.
I will give a shout-out here to my sister who hosted the first day (seder and all), shabbat, and second day - having guests for each leg. Kapayim L'Gila!
The second day we were back home again. At night we invited friends from the neighborhood and enjoyed an inaugural meal from our grill! Let me explain - we brought this grill on our lift but neglected to open it right away. Then, as Pesach approached, Elie and I both had the brilliant idea to use it for the first time on Pesach seeing as we had not yet used it for chametz. So, while we did miss the buns, the food and company were terrific.
For the day we went to my in-laws for my father in law's yearly Pesach birthday lunch. Much fun was had and (good) cake was eaten.
Another weirdness about the whole 1 day here vs. 2 day in America thing was that we had basically completely turned back over to chametz and were eating pizza before chag was even over for my parents. Quite a weird feeling....
Once we got our lives back in order and sent Tani back to gan (if you recall, gan was out for 2 1/2 weeks), it was time to get down to business.
We had rented a car for about 2 weeks over Pesach and were planning on renting one again for about a month once the baby is born, iy"H. However, we also had in the plans to buy a car sometime this summer. I said to Elie that, while the prices here for car rentals are quite good, why not just start the car buying process now rather than waiting to do it with a newborn. And that is exactly what we did.
We went to the Eldan (one of the largest car rental companies in Israel) office in Bet Shemesh. Aside from renting cars, Eldan is also in the business of selling used and like-new cars and several of our friends from the neighborhood have bought from them. To make a long story short, we found a car for a pretty good price and it is currently (technically) ours. We are waiting to take it for a test and to finalize the insurance but, in short, we are very soon to be car owners!! Not only is this exciting for the obvious reason that it's going to make life a million times easier having a car, but this is the first big purchase we have ever made. We feel all grown-up and stuff, it's kinda weird.....
Now, onto Yom Ha'atzmaut. What a celebration! Netanel's gan (and all the ganim) have been aptly prepping the children for Yom Ha'atzmaut. One day he came home talking about Medinat Yisrael; the next day he was singing Am Yisrael Chai. On Tuesday (Yom Hazikaron) the ganenet made the kids pita with chumus and falafel for lunch which, I was told, Tani scarfed down very happily. He also came home with his very own Degel Yisrael that he has not stopped waving.
On the eve of Yom Ha'atzmaut (Tuesday night) we went to a BBQ at our next door neighbor's house. (Just a bit of info for those who many not already know - Yom Ha'atzmaut = BBQ and lots of it). On the day of Yom Ha'atzmaut we had friends over for a pancake breakfast, went to friends for a BBQ lunch and then headed over to my in-laws for a BBQ dinner. That's right - 3 BBQ's in the span of 24 hours - I think that is very impressive for our first Yom Ha'atzmaut as Israelis. We should get a trophy.
All-in-all, it's been a great month with many reasons to celebrate. We are now really in the baby countdown - just a few weeks left (a.k.a. - any day now). Who knows what the next post will be about......
Sunday, April 5, 2009
"Mikooool Halyeloooot"
Well Pesach is just around the corner although it feels like it's been Pesach for about 3 weeks now.
Here in Israel there is an interesting custom which I am working on amending for next year. The custom is - let's close the gans a week and a half before Pesach. Now I know that those 12 year olds who charge 250 NIS for a "kaytana (mini-camp)" for 3 - 5 year olds in their backyards truly enjoy this time of year. But I don't. Not that I don't love driving around in our rental car with Tani to do all of my various errands while hearing him sing over, and over, and over - "Mikoool haleylooot" or "Dy dy yaynu, dy dy yaynu, dy dy yaynu....." - yes, he refuses to sing the rest of the songs, even though he knows them quite well.
Anyway, it's been quite busy. As many of you know, this is the first time that Elie and I are actually making Pesach. Our first 2 Pesachs married we were in Israel and and the last 2 we were in Baltimore. On the one hand, it has been kind of nice being able to start amassing our Pesach pots and pans that we will use, G-d willing, for many years to come. However, in case you didn't know, Pesach is freakin expensive! Geez! It kind of makes me wish we lived during the time of cavemen and we could just find a new cave for Pesach, build our fire, break off new twigs to use as cutlery and be done with it.
And to make things even more difficult, we are currently living in the land flowing with kitniyot and kitniyot. Seriously. Everything that one could possibly want to eat on Pesach that may taste remotely normal is "L'ochlei kitnityot bilvad". Kinda makes me wish the Kleins were sefardi.....if only.
It's a very different experience shopping here for Pesach food. One would think that it would be easier seeing as this is indeed the land of Jewish people where one can say "Chag Sameach" to the cashier. However, one would be wrong. The Pesach stuff didn't really come out until last week. For all of you in the US who are like my mom, shopping for Pesach started about a month ago. If you went looking for Pesach products in Israel a month ago, you would be laughed at, literally. So all of the preparation, cleaning, buying, etc. basically happens within the span of one week. Oh right, and that's the week that you have your 2 year old home with you, all day. Enough said.
However, I do believe that we are doing a pretty good job preparing. The kitchen is almost completely done and most of the shopping has been done as well. Tani and I are actually having a very nice time together, although I am beyond exhausted, and it's definitely been nice having that rental car.
Most importantly, Tani is able to recite the Ma Nishtana in its entirety and loves singing his Pesach songs so much that he actually wakes up at 3 a.m. to sing. That's right, from about 3 - 4 a.m. one night last week I woke up to hear "Avadim hayenu, hayenu" for about 20 minutes and then "Ma nishtana halayla hazeh mekoooool haleyloooot" for another 40. He's got a great little Israeli accent and we will definitely try to get him to sing on video for all to see.
If I don't get to update again before chag - have a Chag Kasher V'Sameach and may we all celebrate Pesach together in the coming years. Enjoy!
Here in Israel there is an interesting custom which I am working on amending for next year. The custom is - let's close the gans a week and a half before Pesach. Now I know that those 12 year olds who charge 250 NIS for a "kaytana (mini-camp)" for 3 - 5 year olds in their backyards truly enjoy this time of year. But I don't. Not that I don't love driving around in our rental car with Tani to do all of my various errands while hearing him sing over, and over, and over - "Mikoool haleylooot" or "Dy dy yaynu, dy dy yaynu, dy dy yaynu....." - yes, he refuses to sing the rest of the songs, even though he knows them quite well.
Anyway, it's been quite busy. As many of you know, this is the first time that Elie and I are actually making Pesach. Our first 2 Pesachs married we were in Israel and and the last 2 we were in Baltimore. On the one hand, it has been kind of nice being able to start amassing our Pesach pots and pans that we will use, G-d willing, for many years to come. However, in case you didn't know, Pesach is freakin expensive! Geez! It kind of makes me wish we lived during the time of cavemen and we could just find a new cave for Pesach, build our fire, break off new twigs to use as cutlery and be done with it.
And to make things even more difficult, we are currently living in the land flowing with kitniyot and kitniyot. Seriously. Everything that one could possibly want to eat on Pesach that may taste remotely normal is "L'ochlei kitnityot bilvad". Kinda makes me wish the Kleins were sefardi.....if only.
It's a very different experience shopping here for Pesach food. One would think that it would be easier seeing as this is indeed the land of Jewish people where one can say "Chag Sameach" to the cashier. However, one would be wrong. The Pesach stuff didn't really come out until last week. For all of you in the US who are like my mom, shopping for Pesach started about a month ago. If you went looking for Pesach products in Israel a month ago, you would be laughed at, literally. So all of the preparation, cleaning, buying, etc. basically happens within the span of one week. Oh right, and that's the week that you have your 2 year old home with you, all day. Enough said.
However, I do believe that we are doing a pretty good job preparing. The kitchen is almost completely done and most of the shopping has been done as well. Tani and I are actually having a very nice time together, although I am beyond exhausted, and it's definitely been nice having that rental car.
Most importantly, Tani is able to recite the Ma Nishtana in its entirety and loves singing his Pesach songs so much that he actually wakes up at 3 a.m. to sing. That's right, from about 3 - 4 a.m. one night last week I woke up to hear "Avadim hayenu, hayenu" for about 20 minutes and then "Ma nishtana halayla hazeh mekoooool haleyloooot" for another 40. He's got a great little Israeli accent and we will definitely try to get him to sing on video for all to see.
If I don't get to update again before chag - have a Chag Kasher V'Sameach and may we all celebrate Pesach together in the coming years. Enjoy!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Purim Arrives!! And so much more.....
I assure you that I will tell you all about our first Purim as Israelis but a few things transpired before Purim so we must go in order......
First, I have officially finished ulpan! That's right folks, I took the test and said "shalom". The day of the test was quite interesting. I would like to preface the story by tell all the readers of this blog that my sister has cursed ulpan test day forever. All of those who read her awesome blog - AliyahbyAccident.blogspot.com - know that her child and husband were both sick on the day of the ulpan test. You see, the test is given from 1 to 4 p.m. and I had planned to keep Tani in the tzaharon (afternoon) program at gan so that I would be able to take the test. I was very happy with this plan seeing as I could do my food shopping in the morning and take the test in the afternoon, and then the day came - du du duuuu. I was giving Tani breakfast, trying to memorize the hipheels and hoophals, and realized that his left eye looked slightly swollen and red. I then remembered that when we put him to bed the night before, he had had some gunk in his eye that I had thought nothing of at the time. Well, now it was pink eye - du du duuuu. I knew that I would be unable to take him to gan so I immediately called my in-laws. To make a long story short - it ended up being a long day of shipping Tani to and from the doctor and my in-law's house so that I could get done what I needed to. The test went pretty ok, I hope, and I'll let you know when the results come in.
Now, onto Purim! So I don't know how many of you know this but "Purim" as an ideal is about 2 weeks long and the chag itself is actually 3 entire days. I know, incredible! The things you learn when you make aliyah. Basically they prep the kids at gan for about a week before (there are more intense preparations as the kids gets older) and then there is no gan on Taanit Esther, Purim, or Shushan Purim. 3 whole days. Really long days. On Sunday all the kids had to come to gan dressed in their costumes for the Mesibat Purim. It was so cute walking my little dragon to gan and seeing all the other kids walking to school in costumes. When I picked him up he came with a whole bagful of Purim paraphernalia. They had made a megilla with a toilet paper roll holder (fancy, I know), a ra'ashan (grogger), mishloach manot, and hamantashen. Tani was totally in love with his megilla but I'm pretty sure his favorite part was watching as I rolled it up every 2 minutes. However, the best line he had the entire Purim was when I was folding up the megillah (for the billionth time) and he started saying - "bad man, bad man" while pointing to Haman. I asked him "what's the bad man's name" and he said - "Hamantashen". Gotta love it.
Purim day was a lot of fun. It was really beautiful weather here despite people saying it was going to rain - sunny with a nice, cool breeze. We delivered mishloach manot and got to eat lots of candy (I did most of the candy eating, I'll admit it, I'm not ashamed. Don't judge me). Tani was a little perturbed at first that he had to give away our shiny mishloach manot but he recovered quickly when he realized that he can have someone else's shiny bag in return. After a nice nap (we actually all fell into a Purim candy coma) we headed off for our seudah. We did a pot-luck seudah at a friend's house with 4 other couples and it was great. There was, of course, waaaay too much food but the kids (and adults) all had a great time. On Shushan Purim, I went with a friend and her son (the same age as Tani) to a Purim carnival in the neighborhood - music, food, games - the usual.
All-in-all, a very successful first Purim in Israel although we truly missed hosting our Purim seudah that we have hosted for the past few years. And we definitely missed all of our friends in Washington Heights. We hope to see you all here next year!!
First, I have officially finished ulpan! That's right folks, I took the test and said "shalom". The day of the test was quite interesting. I would like to preface the story by tell all the readers of this blog that my sister has cursed ulpan test day forever. All of those who read her awesome blog - AliyahbyAccident.blogspot.com - know that her child and husband were both sick on the day of the ulpan test. You see, the test is given from 1 to 4 p.m. and I had planned to keep Tani in the tzaharon (afternoon) program at gan so that I would be able to take the test. I was very happy with this plan seeing as I could do my food shopping in the morning and take the test in the afternoon, and then the day came - du du duuuu. I was giving Tani breakfast, trying to memorize the hipheels and hoophals, and realized that his left eye looked slightly swollen and red. I then remembered that when we put him to bed the night before, he had had some gunk in his eye that I had thought nothing of at the time. Well, now it was pink eye - du du duuuu. I knew that I would be unable to take him to gan so I immediately called my in-laws. To make a long story short - it ended up being a long day of shipping Tani to and from the doctor and my in-law's house so that I could get done what I needed to. The test went pretty ok, I hope, and I'll let you know when the results come in.
Now, onto Purim! So I don't know how many of you know this but "Purim" as an ideal is about 2 weeks long and the chag itself is actually 3 entire days. I know, incredible! The things you learn when you make aliyah. Basically they prep the kids at gan for about a week before (there are more intense preparations as the kids gets older) and then there is no gan on Taanit Esther, Purim, or Shushan Purim. 3 whole days. Really long days. On Sunday all the kids had to come to gan dressed in their costumes for the Mesibat Purim. It was so cute walking my little dragon to gan and seeing all the other kids walking to school in costumes. When I picked him up he came with a whole bagful of Purim paraphernalia. They had made a megilla with a toilet paper roll holder (fancy, I know), a ra'ashan (grogger), mishloach manot, and hamantashen. Tani was totally in love with his megilla but I'm pretty sure his favorite part was watching as I rolled it up every 2 minutes. However, the best line he had the entire Purim was when I was folding up the megillah (for the billionth time) and he started saying - "bad man, bad man" while pointing to Haman. I asked him "what's the bad man's name" and he said - "Hamantashen". Gotta love it.
Purim day was a lot of fun. It was really beautiful weather here despite people saying it was going to rain - sunny with a nice, cool breeze. We delivered mishloach manot and got to eat lots of candy (I did most of the candy eating, I'll admit it, I'm not ashamed. Don't judge me). Tani was a little perturbed at first that he had to give away our shiny mishloach manot but he recovered quickly when he realized that he can have someone else's shiny bag in return. After a nice nap (we actually all fell into a Purim candy coma) we headed off for our seudah. We did a pot-luck seudah at a friend's house with 4 other couples and it was great. There was, of course, waaaay too much food but the kids (and adults) all had a great time. On Shushan Purim, I went with a friend and her son (the same age as Tani) to a Purim carnival in the neighborhood - music, food, games - the usual.
All-in-all, a very successful first Purim in Israel although we truly missed hosting our Purim seudah that we have hosted for the past few years. And we definitely missed all of our friends in Washington Heights. We hope to see you all here next year!!
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Our First Road Trip in Israel
It has been an interesting few weeks but the most interesting part was mine and Elie's road trip to Eilat.
Elie's grandmother, who lives in NY, needs to leave for the winter due to her asthma. Every winter she either goes to relatives in California or comes with a friend or relative to Israel. This year, Elie's parents were successful in convincing her to come to Israel even though she had no one to come with. They found a great hotel in Eilat (Bet Shemesh, believe it or not, is actually still too cold for her) and they brought her there in the middle of January when she arrived in Israel. Every week that she was there, someone from the family (Elie's father, sister) went to spend 2 days with her to keep her company. Our "turn" for going served the purpose of spending time with her along with transporting her back to Bet Shemesh (she is unable to fly/take a bus by herself). So this past Wednesday morning, Elie and I embarked on our first ever Tani-less vacation. My in-laws and sister-in-law graciously offered to be the babysitters for the 2 days that we were gone.
The drive was truly fascinating. It took only about 4 hours, with one stop, and it was absolutely beautiful. We drove through desert areas where there were miles and miles (or kilometers and kilometers) of what seemed to be Bedouin villages. There were signs to beware of camels in addition to quite a few real camels and other livestock. We stopped after about 2 hours to stretch our legs in a town called Mitzpe Ramon. Immediately after leaving Mitzpe Ramon, we started the long descent down a HUGE mountain (I'm sure it has a name). The drive was basically one big zig-zag down the mountain until we reached the bottom where we basically drove through about 2 hours of actual desert, only seeing another car every 10 or 15 minutes. What was really cool was seeing some army training areas with tanks and chayalim and big empty stone buildings. Elie wanted to know if they had paint-balling there, we're still looking into it.
We finally arrived in Eilat which is basically just a resort town with a big ocean, lots of hotels, and tons of stores. The hotel we stayed in was really beautiful and the staff was so nice. Once we changed out of our "winter" clothes, we took a walk with Elie's grandmother along the boardwalk.
Israeli boardwalks are much like the run-of-the-mill Ocean City boardwalk - food, cheap clothes, odd looking figurines, half-naked people, and a wonderful sea breeze. I thought that the one difference would be extremely beneficial to us - surely the food (ice cream, smoothies, etc.) would all be kosher, right? Well, not exactly. After asking nearly every ice cream place we came to (don't judge me), we realized that, while they all use kosher ingredients, they are all open on Shabbat and therefore had no teudat kashrut. Bummer, big bummer. However, the walk was really nice and when we got back we had some time to sit by the pool and put our feet in!! I literally don't even know when the last time either of us has done that so it was a real treat. We ate dinner in the hotel dining room - amazing buffet, tons of food, tons of variety.
The next day we awoke to some clouds and found out, from Elie's grandmother that "this is the first cloudy day we've had in a month" - of course, just our luck. After an AMAZING, HUGE buffet breakfast the likes of which I have never seen before, we took a walk to another shopping mall and bought, what else, toys and clothes for Tani. The great thing, well ONE of the great things, about Eilat is that you don't pay tax so it's really worth it to do some shopping (woohoo). Additionally, because of the "matzav hakalkali" (economical situation), they are not experiencing nearly as much tourism as they usually do so the prices in general are greatly reduced. In the afternoon, Elie and I went to a place about a 10 minute walk from our hotel called "Ir Hamelachim". It's set in this huge castle-like structure and there are 3 different "exhibits" you can visit. One had all kinds of cool science type stuff. One was an IMAX movie about the history of the Pharaohs. And the coolest one was a walk through this cave that had little mini exhibits taking you through history. You pressed a button marked either "Ivrit" or "English" and were told the story behind each model, starting with Adam and Chava. It was really fun (even though we know how the story ends) to see how they depicted some of our major Bible personalities. We spent about 2 hours there and then went back to the hotel. It still wasn't so hot but the sun had come out and it was nice enough to sit by the pool.
Our full day of vacation ended with another amazing dinner at the hotel.
On Friday we ate a hearty breakfast (and that's an understatement), while being visited by a variety of the hotel staff who couldn't stop talking about how amazing Elie's grandmother is and how much they loved having her as a guest. She had been there for about 5 weeks so they had all really gotten to know her and were genuinely sad to see her leave. The trip back was uneventful, thank G-d, and we got home in plenty of time to do some Shabbat prep. Elie's mother had gotten us basically all of our food so I just made soup, dessert and we were all set.
We were very happy to see Tani again and to give him all the presents we had gotten. He seemed kind of confused but I think he's over it now. The first thing Elie and I said when we saw him was that he looked bigger, even after just 2 days.
Shabbat was very nice but very rainy. While rain is excellent and we pray for it every day, it still a bit annoying when it rains all Shabbat and I can't take Tani out at all. We were all a little stir-crazy come 7:00 but hopefully the rain was as replenishing as we all needed.
Elie's grandmother, who lives in NY, needs to leave for the winter due to her asthma. Every winter she either goes to relatives in California or comes with a friend or relative to Israel. This year, Elie's parents were successful in convincing her to come to Israel even though she had no one to come with. They found a great hotel in Eilat (Bet Shemesh, believe it or not, is actually still too cold for her) and they brought her there in the middle of January when she arrived in Israel. Every week that she was there, someone from the family (Elie's father, sister) went to spend 2 days with her to keep her company. Our "turn" for going served the purpose of spending time with her along with transporting her back to Bet Shemesh (she is unable to fly/take a bus by herself). So this past Wednesday morning, Elie and I embarked on our first ever Tani-less vacation. My in-laws and sister-in-law graciously offered to be the babysitters for the 2 days that we were gone.
The drive was truly fascinating. It took only about 4 hours, with one stop, and it was absolutely beautiful. We drove through desert areas where there were miles and miles (or kilometers and kilometers) of what seemed to be Bedouin villages. There were signs to beware of camels in addition to quite a few real camels and other livestock. We stopped after about 2 hours to stretch our legs in a town called Mitzpe Ramon. Immediately after leaving Mitzpe Ramon, we started the long descent down a HUGE mountain (I'm sure it has a name). The drive was basically one big zig-zag down the mountain until we reached the bottom where we basically drove through about 2 hours of actual desert, only seeing another car every 10 or 15 minutes. What was really cool was seeing some army training areas with tanks and chayalim and big empty stone buildings. Elie wanted to know if they had paint-balling there, we're still looking into it.
We finally arrived in Eilat which is basically just a resort town with a big ocean, lots of hotels, and tons of stores. The hotel we stayed in was really beautiful and the staff was so nice. Once we changed out of our "winter" clothes, we took a walk with Elie's grandmother along the boardwalk.
Israeli boardwalks are much like the run-of-the-mill Ocean City boardwalk - food, cheap clothes, odd looking figurines, half-naked people, and a wonderful sea breeze. I thought that the one difference would be extremely beneficial to us - surely the food (ice cream, smoothies, etc.) would all be kosher, right? Well, not exactly. After asking nearly every ice cream place we came to (don't judge me), we realized that, while they all use kosher ingredients, they are all open on Shabbat and therefore had no teudat kashrut. Bummer, big bummer. However, the walk was really nice and when we got back we had some time to sit by the pool and put our feet in!! I literally don't even know when the last time either of us has done that so it was a real treat. We ate dinner in the hotel dining room - amazing buffet, tons of food, tons of variety.
The next day we awoke to some clouds and found out, from Elie's grandmother that "this is the first cloudy day we've had in a month" - of course, just our luck. After an AMAZING, HUGE buffet breakfast the likes of which I have never seen before, we took a walk to another shopping mall and bought, what else, toys and clothes for Tani. The great thing, well ONE of the great things, about Eilat is that you don't pay tax so it's really worth it to do some shopping (woohoo). Additionally, because of the "matzav hakalkali" (economical situation), they are not experiencing nearly as much tourism as they usually do so the prices in general are greatly reduced. In the afternoon, Elie and I went to a place about a 10 minute walk from our hotel called "Ir Hamelachim". It's set in this huge castle-like structure and there are 3 different "exhibits" you can visit. One had all kinds of cool science type stuff. One was an IMAX movie about the history of the Pharaohs. And the coolest one was a walk through this cave that had little mini exhibits taking you through history. You pressed a button marked either "Ivrit" or "English" and were told the story behind each model, starting with Adam and Chava. It was really fun (even though we know how the story ends) to see how they depicted some of our major Bible personalities. We spent about 2 hours there and then went back to the hotel. It still wasn't so hot but the sun had come out and it was nice enough to sit by the pool.
Our full day of vacation ended with another amazing dinner at the hotel.
On Friday we ate a hearty breakfast (and that's an understatement), while being visited by a variety of the hotel staff who couldn't stop talking about how amazing Elie's grandmother is and how much they loved having her as a guest. She had been there for about 5 weeks so they had all really gotten to know her and were genuinely sad to see her leave. The trip back was uneventful, thank G-d, and we got home in plenty of time to do some Shabbat prep. Elie's mother had gotten us basically all of our food so I just made soup, dessert and we were all set.
We were very happy to see Tani again and to give him all the presents we had gotten. He seemed kind of confused but I think he's over it now. The first thing Elie and I said when we saw him was that he looked bigger, even after just 2 days.
Shabbat was very nice but very rainy. While rain is excellent and we pray for it every day, it still a bit annoying when it rains all Shabbat and I can't take Tani out at all. We were all a little stir-crazy come 7:00 but hopefully the rain was as replenishing as we all needed.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Things I Will Never Get Used To
I should really start off this post by saying that we are really quite happy here in the Holy Land. I didn't think that we would be this settled and "normalized" after only about 5 months, but here we are.
However, there is one thing that I don't think will ever be normal for me - no Sundays. You'd think it wouldn't be so bad because then, as Elie puts it - "Tuesday is already the middle of the week, only 2 more days left". And while that does give me a slightly warm and fuzzy feeling on Tuesday, I really wouldn't mind pushing off that warm and fuzzy feeling until, shall we say - WEDNESDAY. Friday is such a short day that it, in no way, replaces Sunday, especially in the winter. Maybe my tune will change slightly once we change the clocks and Fridays are "longer", but it's not looking promising. Even though it's great having Elie home on Friday to watch Tani while I cook, help clean up, etc. - I would still take Sunday over Friday any day. Maybe I should lobby to get it changed......
In other news, I have begun a job search. That's right folks, you heard me right, I will not be a free-loader forever (although I do love having a Sugar Daddy, or Sugar Abba as it is known here). We decided that we really want to get a car (and by we I mean that I am basically insisting on it). You see, when we lived in NYC, it was fine not having a car because the subway was our car. And towards the end of our time in the city, I kept saying that I was so ready to get out and move to a suburb with trees, driveways, etc. Well, I don't know if I was specific enough, but in the picture in my head, that driveway had a CAR IN IT. That being said, car = money = need more = Leezy has to work. So I really need something local or work-from-home and it also has to be part-time. Ulpan is ending at the end of the month (a tear...) so I will have the mornings free which is why I am now beginning my search. I've sent my resume and made some contacts but have heard nothing yet. We'll see......
Speaking of ulpan ending, I had my oral test today. I can't say that I studied, but our teacher basically told us what we were going to be asked and how the test would be conducted so I've been practicing in my head. We were told she would ask us a few questions and then tell us to tell her something/anything about ourselves. I figured I would talk about aliyah so I've been practicing the little speech I would give. When I got to her office, she basically asked me 2 questions - how long was I in school and what was I in school for. She then sat back, folded her arms and said - "Ok, sipri lee (tell me)". I was like - "uhh, duhh, uhh, ok". Anyway, I basically started spewing and was surprised at how well I felt I was doing. To that end, after about 3 minutes of verbal spewage, she asked me if I would be interested in taking the written test on ramah (level) daled!! That's right, pepole, I'm basically an ulpan GENIUS! (Thanks, Morah Leah!) So I was honest with her and I said that conversationally I feel pretty ok but when it comes to the written test with the dikduk (grammar), that is waaay harder for me and I don't know how well I would do. We talked about it a little more and it became pretty clear that it didn't really matter how I felt about talking a higher level test, she had basically already decided that's how it's going to be (welcome to Israel). Luckily, she said she'll give me a few practice ones before the actual test.
That's all that's happening now. Netanel is continuing to entertain us and he is really becoming to smart for his own good. He totally gets our humor and he himself is very funny. The other day I asked him to get something that rolled under the table. Once underneath, he decided it would be fun to play there. I HATE it when he does this because it always ends with him bumping his head, no matter how many times I tell him not to stand up. So I kept saying to him - "Come out, Tani....Time to come out....Let's go....Come out...". He finally looked up at me and said, just like I say it - "C'mon Tani!"
Just one more story - the other day when I was dropping him off at gan, a parent of a good friend of his (him and the little boy are about the same age so they play together a lot at gan) came up to me and said that over shabbat they were looking at a book with their son and he was naming all the colors in the book. The parents were amazed so when the father dropped him off he asked the ganenet if she had been teaching his kid colors. She was like - "No, Tani did". I told him that we charge 20 shekels an hour and his kid could come by every day at 4 for lessons. It's about time Tani starts bringing in some cash.
However, there is one thing that I don't think will ever be normal for me - no Sundays. You'd think it wouldn't be so bad because then, as Elie puts it - "Tuesday is already the middle of the week, only 2 more days left". And while that does give me a slightly warm and fuzzy feeling on Tuesday, I really wouldn't mind pushing off that warm and fuzzy feeling until, shall we say - WEDNESDAY. Friday is such a short day that it, in no way, replaces Sunday, especially in the winter. Maybe my tune will change slightly once we change the clocks and Fridays are "longer", but it's not looking promising. Even though it's great having Elie home on Friday to watch Tani while I cook, help clean up, etc. - I would still take Sunday over Friday any day. Maybe I should lobby to get it changed......
In other news, I have begun a job search. That's right folks, you heard me right, I will not be a free-loader forever (although I do love having a Sugar Daddy, or Sugar Abba as it is known here). We decided that we really want to get a car (and by we I mean that I am basically insisting on it). You see, when we lived in NYC, it was fine not having a car because the subway was our car. And towards the end of our time in the city, I kept saying that I was so ready to get out and move to a suburb with trees, driveways, etc. Well, I don't know if I was specific enough, but in the picture in my head, that driveway had a CAR IN IT. That being said, car = money = need more = Leezy has to work. So I really need something local or work-from-home and it also has to be part-time. Ulpan is ending at the end of the month (a tear...) so I will have the mornings free which is why I am now beginning my search. I've sent my resume and made some contacts but have heard nothing yet. We'll see......
Speaking of ulpan ending, I had my oral test today. I can't say that I studied, but our teacher basically told us what we were going to be asked and how the test would be conducted so I've been practicing in my head. We were told she would ask us a few questions and then tell us to tell her something/anything about ourselves. I figured I would talk about aliyah so I've been practicing the little speech I would give. When I got to her office, she basically asked me 2 questions - how long was I in school and what was I in school for. She then sat back, folded her arms and said - "Ok, sipri lee (tell me)". I was like - "uhh, duhh, uhh, ok". Anyway, I basically started spewing and was surprised at how well I felt I was doing. To that end, after about 3 minutes of verbal spewage, she asked me if I would be interested in taking the written test on ramah (level) daled!! That's right, pepole, I'm basically an ulpan GENIUS! (Thanks, Morah Leah!) So I was honest with her and I said that conversationally I feel pretty ok but when it comes to the written test with the dikduk (grammar), that is waaay harder for me and I don't know how well I would do. We talked about it a little more and it became pretty clear that it didn't really matter how I felt about talking a higher level test, she had basically already decided that's how it's going to be (welcome to Israel). Luckily, she said she'll give me a few practice ones before the actual test.
That's all that's happening now. Netanel is continuing to entertain us and he is really becoming to smart for his own good. He totally gets our humor and he himself is very funny. The other day I asked him to get something that rolled under the table. Once underneath, he decided it would be fun to play there. I HATE it when he does this because it always ends with him bumping his head, no matter how many times I tell him not to stand up. So I kept saying to him - "Come out, Tani....Time to come out....Let's go....Come out...". He finally looked up at me and said, just like I say it - "C'mon Tani!"
Just one more story - the other day when I was dropping him off at gan, a parent of a good friend of his (him and the little boy are about the same age so they play together a lot at gan) came up to me and said that over shabbat they were looking at a book with their son and he was naming all the colors in the book. The parents were amazed so when the father dropped him off he asked the ganenet if she had been teaching his kid colors. She was like - "No, Tani did". I told him that we charge 20 shekels an hour and his kid could come by every day at 4 for lessons. It's about time Tani starts bringing in some cash.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
It's Been Too Long, I Know....
I know it's been a while since I posted but it takes a lot of patience to sit down and write a blog and we are not all as well-spoken as my sister, Gila (check out aliyahbyaccident.blogspot.com).
Anyway, the main reason why I haven't written in a while is because I just got back from the US this past Friday, and what a trip it was. It started out a little bumpy (literally and figuratively) because I was slightly sick the morning I left. I think I can safely say now that it was just nerves, it's very weird to leave your family for 9 days and a lot harder than I had anticipated, but the plane ride there was less than fun. Thank G-d the seat next to me was free and I had bought some food at the airport before I left so that I could completely avoid eating plane food. I did such a good job that, towards the end of the flight when they were handing out the "breakfast", a stewardess actually said to me - "Honey, you have to eat, you're gonna get sick". Little did she know, just the smell of that "omelet" almost sent me over the edge. Thankfully, my mom had decided to come and meet me at Newark (I was supposed to take a train from Newark to Baltimore) just in case I was so sick that we would have to rent a car rather than take the train home. (Side note: my mother actually told me that she was pretty sure I was going to come out of the baggage claim on a stretcher. She's kind of a worrier, and that's a total understatement). So my mom and I took the train to Baltimore together - it was delayed and the 2 hour ride turned into a 3 hour ride - but by 10 p.m. we were finally at Momz and Dadz house eating deli sandwiches...mmm.....
The first leg of my time in Baltimore can basically be summed up in one sentence - Target, Towson Mall, Target, lunch with Dadz, Target, Owings Mills Mall, Target, Toys 'R Us, Target, visiting Bubby/Aunt Devorah/Friends, Target, Shabbos. The trip got slightly more exciting once Shabbos started (however, Target was AWESOME). I went to Michelle Schuster's Shabbos Kallah (the reason why I went to the US in the first place) and to the wedding on Sunday. The wedding was amazing and I got to see so many friends that I hadn't seen in a really long time. It was great to be there for Michelle. On Monday, we hosted the first sheva brachos for the happy couple and, if I may say so myself, we did a darn good job. It was at my parents' house and it was really beautiful.
On Tuesday, I headed off with my HUGE suitcases filled with stuff from TARGET, to NY to spend a day and a half with my friends Sari and Noam Wittlin. I stayed at their apartment in Washington Heights (a place that used to be mine and Tani's second home) and got to see some great friends (thanks for the Cinnabon, Gidz). On Wednesday, Sari and I did something that we have actually never done together before - shopping in the city! It was so great to spend time with her seeing as we used to see each other about 4-5 times a week and nearly every shabbos. It was also great to see how big their daughter has gotten. However, I must admit, it did make me miss Tani A LOT.
I got back to Israel safely, thank G-d, on Friday morning and was greeted at the airport by my sister-in-law and....ELIE AND TANI (who was sleeping). The look on his face when he finally woke up to see Ima in the car was priceless and I was very happy to be home.
All-in-all, the trip was really great but it was SO HARD to be away from Elie and Tani. Another huge thanks to Sara and my in-laws for all the babysitting, feeding, carpooling, etc. And the HUGEST thanks goes to Elie who was so great and never once made me feel guilty for going away (although I know he will probably milk this in the future and I totally allow it - I know I would).
So now that I am back, all those things that have been slightly pushed off because of the "The Trip" are now back on. Believe it or not, it is time to start signing up Tani for gan NEXT YEAR. That's right, in January/February one must sign their child up for September gan. Seeing as Netanel is still young, he will still be in a private gan next year so the signing-up process can be nerve-wracking seeing as each gan only has about 10-15 spots and there are definitely some gans that are better than others. I have been doing A LOT of asking around and we are going on Friday to visit the gan that I'm pretty sure we will put Tani in. I actually called the ganenet last night - let me clarify - she only speaks hebrew! I have to admit that I was really nervous about calling her, I even tried to play out the conversation in my head several times before I dialed. I was able to get out my spiel relatively easily but then the ganenet said - "V'hu b'misgeret achshav?" I had to think quickly so I hoped and prayed that "misgeret" was some kind of reference to the program/gan that he is currently attending. I was......CORRECT! After I told her that "Hu b'gan Chaviva" she replied "Ahhh. Ok". Phew, dodged a bullet there. I asked my ulpan teacher today and she explained that the word "misgeret" literally means "framework" and can be used in many capacities. The translation here is used to mean program/gan/schooling/etc. I guess ulpan is kinda paying off.
Speaking of ulpan, we are beginning to prepare for our TESTS. That's right - one oral and one written. And boy am I studying hard. Ok, that's not true, I'm not studying at all except for actually attending ulpan most days of the week (c'mon, a girl needs a break). Basically, the oral part is having a conversation with one of the ulpan teachers (not our own - darn it!) and that takes place sometime at the end of January - we have yet to receive an exact date. The written test will take place the last week of February. We have been preparing with old tests that our teacher hands out. The test basically has 2 parts - one part is paragraphs that you have to read and then answer questions to. This is, for me, the easy part because you can answer the questions straight from the text. Additionally, while the paragraphs start off easy and get harder, I can figure out the concepts of the harder ones without knowing every single word and can therefore answer the questions. The second part of the test is dikduk (grammar) - yuck!!! I have always hated dikduk and, while ulpan is definitely helping me improve in that area, I still find that I just don't have the head for it. I'll keep you posted as the test gets closer.
For those of you who are wondering what it feels like to live in country at war, I'm honestly not sure how I feel. We are checking the news very often to find out the latest updates but our day-to-day lives are going on as normal. Tani goes to gan every day, I go to ulpan, Elie goes to work. I do food shopping, errands, etc. just like I always do. It is really nice to see the posts on the e-mail lists every day about this person collecting food to send to soldiers and that person collecting clothes, money, etc. We are all just hoping and praying for a swift resolution.
Anyway, the main reason why I haven't written in a while is because I just got back from the US this past Friday, and what a trip it was. It started out a little bumpy (literally and figuratively) because I was slightly sick the morning I left. I think I can safely say now that it was just nerves, it's very weird to leave your family for 9 days and a lot harder than I had anticipated, but the plane ride there was less than fun. Thank G-d the seat next to me was free and I had bought some food at the airport before I left so that I could completely avoid eating plane food. I did such a good job that, towards the end of the flight when they were handing out the "breakfast", a stewardess actually said to me - "Honey, you have to eat, you're gonna get sick". Little did she know, just the smell of that "omelet" almost sent me over the edge. Thankfully, my mom had decided to come and meet me at Newark (I was supposed to take a train from Newark to Baltimore) just in case I was so sick that we would have to rent a car rather than take the train home. (Side note: my mother actually told me that she was pretty sure I was going to come out of the baggage claim on a stretcher. She's kind of a worrier, and that's a total understatement). So my mom and I took the train to Baltimore together - it was delayed and the 2 hour ride turned into a 3 hour ride - but by 10 p.m. we were finally at Momz and Dadz house eating deli sandwiches...mmm.....
The first leg of my time in Baltimore can basically be summed up in one sentence - Target, Towson Mall, Target, lunch with Dadz, Target, Owings Mills Mall, Target, Toys 'R Us, Target, visiting Bubby/Aunt Devorah/Friends, Target, Shabbos. The trip got slightly more exciting once Shabbos started (however, Target was AWESOME). I went to Michelle Schuster's Shabbos Kallah (the reason why I went to the US in the first place) and to the wedding on Sunday. The wedding was amazing and I got to see so many friends that I hadn't seen in a really long time. It was great to be there for Michelle. On Monday, we hosted the first sheva brachos for the happy couple and, if I may say so myself, we did a darn good job. It was at my parents' house and it was really beautiful.
On Tuesday, I headed off with my HUGE suitcases filled with stuff from TARGET, to NY to spend a day and a half with my friends Sari and Noam Wittlin. I stayed at their apartment in Washington Heights (a place that used to be mine and Tani's second home) and got to see some great friends (thanks for the Cinnabon, Gidz). On Wednesday, Sari and I did something that we have actually never done together before - shopping in the city! It was so great to spend time with her seeing as we used to see each other about 4-5 times a week and nearly every shabbos. It was also great to see how big their daughter has gotten. However, I must admit, it did make me miss Tani A LOT.
I got back to Israel safely, thank G-d, on Friday morning and was greeted at the airport by my sister-in-law and....ELIE AND TANI (who was sleeping). The look on his face when he finally woke up to see Ima in the car was priceless and I was very happy to be home.
All-in-all, the trip was really great but it was SO HARD to be away from Elie and Tani. Another huge thanks to Sara and my in-laws for all the babysitting, feeding, carpooling, etc. And the HUGEST thanks goes to Elie who was so great and never once made me feel guilty for going away (although I know he will probably milk this in the future and I totally allow it - I know I would).
So now that I am back, all those things that have been slightly pushed off because of the "The Trip" are now back on. Believe it or not, it is time to start signing up Tani for gan NEXT YEAR. That's right, in January/February one must sign their child up for September gan. Seeing as Netanel is still young, he will still be in a private gan next year so the signing-up process can be nerve-wracking seeing as each gan only has about 10-15 spots and there are definitely some gans that are better than others. I have been doing A LOT of asking around and we are going on Friday to visit the gan that I'm pretty sure we will put Tani in. I actually called the ganenet last night - let me clarify - she only speaks hebrew! I have to admit that I was really nervous about calling her, I even tried to play out the conversation in my head several times before I dialed. I was able to get out my spiel relatively easily but then the ganenet said - "V'hu b'misgeret achshav?" I had to think quickly so I hoped and prayed that "misgeret" was some kind of reference to the program/gan that he is currently attending. I was......CORRECT! After I told her that "Hu b'gan Chaviva" she replied "Ahhh. Ok". Phew, dodged a bullet there. I asked my ulpan teacher today and she explained that the word "misgeret" literally means "framework" and can be used in many capacities. The translation here is used to mean program/gan/schooling/etc. I guess ulpan is kinda paying off.
Speaking of ulpan, we are beginning to prepare for our TESTS. That's right - one oral and one written. And boy am I studying hard. Ok, that's not true, I'm not studying at all except for actually attending ulpan most days of the week (c'mon, a girl needs a break). Basically, the oral part is having a conversation with one of the ulpan teachers (not our own - darn it!) and that takes place sometime at the end of January - we have yet to receive an exact date. The written test will take place the last week of February. We have been preparing with old tests that our teacher hands out. The test basically has 2 parts - one part is paragraphs that you have to read and then answer questions to. This is, for me, the easy part because you can answer the questions straight from the text. Additionally, while the paragraphs start off easy and get harder, I can figure out the concepts of the harder ones without knowing every single word and can therefore answer the questions. The second part of the test is dikduk (grammar) - yuck!!! I have always hated dikduk and, while ulpan is definitely helping me improve in that area, I still find that I just don't have the head for it. I'll keep you posted as the test gets closer.
For those of you who are wondering what it feels like to live in country at war, I'm honestly not sure how I feel. We are checking the news very often to find out the latest updates but our day-to-day lives are going on as normal. Tani goes to gan every day, I go to ulpan, Elie goes to work. I do food shopping, errands, etc. just like I always do. It is really nice to see the posts on the e-mail lists every day about this person collecting food to send to soldiers and that person collecting clothes, money, etc. We are all just hoping and praying for a swift resolution.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
America, Here I Come!
Well things have finally gotten back to normal since the end of Chanukah and we are all back in our routine. Relatively.......
Tani was actually sick right after Chanukah (last week) with a little cold so I sent him to gan(everyone has a cold here now so it's pretty normal to send your snot-nosed kid). Anyway, I thought he was on the mend and then last Wednesday night he started getting crankier and crankier and was complaining that his ear hurt - not a good sign, AT ALL. However, we are VERY FORTUNATE to have a Dr. Sabba. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Dr. Sabba - my father-in-law, Tzvi Klein, lives about 5 minutes away and he is a pediatrician. He does not practice here (he does child development/psychology now) but his 30 or so years of experience come in very handy. So Dr. Sabba came over around 7 p.m., looked in Tani's ears and proclaimed that he, indeed, had a double ear infection. I must say that, thank G-d, Tani has been in very good health and hasn't had an ear infection in a long time. Anyway, back to the story - Dr. Sabba had brought along some antibiotics that he had (AWESOME) and we started Tani on them immediately. Within a few days he was feeling better and I just took him to the doctor this morning to find that his ears are ALL CLEAR, thank G-d. WE LOVE DR. SABBA!
In other Tani news - today, Jan. 6, is his 2 year birthday!!!! Seeing as today is also Asara B'Tevet, I decided that his gan party would be yesterday (so that the ganenet could partake in the food). Because many of the kids in Tani's gan are so young, they don't like having parents come to the party. So on Sunday afternoon Tani and I baked some delicious cupcakes for Tani to bring for his party on Monday. According to Tani, the cupcakes were made with "eggs and prinkles!" I truly wished I could have been a 2-year-old yesterday so that I could have been at this amazing party. The ganenet said that all the kids had a blast (sometimes the kids aren't so into it). He got a beautiful crown with a big "2" on it that he proudly wore ALL DAY in addition to a booklet that said "Happy Birthday Netanel" on the front and inside were colored pictures from all the kids. It was really great and, according to the ganenet, it should be his birthday every day because everyone, especially Tani of course, enjoyed themselves so much.
To explain the title of the blog - I am leaving tomorrow to America for a short trip for Michelle Schuster's wedding (a very, very good friend of mine and long-time neighbor from Baltimore). The trip is short and I am going alone. No, I'm not a bad mother, it just didn't make sense to ruin Tani's routine for such a short amount of time. And as much as I would have loved to have the whole family go, Elie was not able to take off time from work (so it's really his fault that I HAVE TO go alone). So thus begins the "Abba and Tani Days of Fun!" I really couldn't have planned this trip at all without having my in-laws and sister-in-law so close as they are doing all of the picking up from gan, watching, feeding dinner, etc. part of the program. I am really, really, really going to miss Elie and Tani but am really happy to be getting this chance to see some good friends and family (yay Mommy and Daddy!), and to do a little shopping.
Hopefully I will get a chance to blog from the US - catch you on the other side!!
Tani was actually sick right after Chanukah (last week) with a little cold so I sent him to gan(everyone has a cold here now so it's pretty normal to send your snot-nosed kid). Anyway, I thought he was on the mend and then last Wednesday night he started getting crankier and crankier and was complaining that his ear hurt - not a good sign, AT ALL. However, we are VERY FORTUNATE to have a Dr. Sabba. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Dr. Sabba - my father-in-law, Tzvi Klein, lives about 5 minutes away and he is a pediatrician. He does not practice here (he does child development/psychology now) but his 30 or so years of experience come in very handy. So Dr. Sabba came over around 7 p.m., looked in Tani's ears and proclaimed that he, indeed, had a double ear infection. I must say that, thank G-d, Tani has been in very good health and hasn't had an ear infection in a long time. Anyway, back to the story - Dr. Sabba had brought along some antibiotics that he had (AWESOME) and we started Tani on them immediately. Within a few days he was feeling better and I just took him to the doctor this morning to find that his ears are ALL CLEAR, thank G-d. WE LOVE DR. SABBA!
In other Tani news - today, Jan. 6, is his 2 year birthday!!!! Seeing as today is also Asara B'Tevet, I decided that his gan party would be yesterday (so that the ganenet could partake in the food). Because many of the kids in Tani's gan are so young, they don't like having parents come to the party. So on Sunday afternoon Tani and I baked some delicious cupcakes for Tani to bring for his party on Monday. According to Tani, the cupcakes were made with "eggs and prinkles!" I truly wished I could have been a 2-year-old yesterday so that I could have been at this amazing party. The ganenet said that all the kids had a blast (sometimes the kids aren't so into it). He got a beautiful crown with a big "2" on it that he proudly wore ALL DAY in addition to a booklet that said "Happy Birthday Netanel" on the front and inside were colored pictures from all the kids. It was really great and, according to the ganenet, it should be his birthday every day because everyone, especially Tani of course, enjoyed themselves so much.
To explain the title of the blog - I am leaving tomorrow to America for a short trip for Michelle Schuster's wedding (a very, very good friend of mine and long-time neighbor from Baltimore). The trip is short and I am going alone. No, I'm not a bad mother, it just didn't make sense to ruin Tani's routine for such a short amount of time. And as much as I would have loved to have the whole family go, Elie was not able to take off time from work (so it's really his fault that I HAVE TO go alone). So thus begins the "Abba and Tani Days of Fun!" I really couldn't have planned this trip at all without having my in-laws and sister-in-law so close as they are doing all of the picking up from gan, watching, feeding dinner, etc. part of the program. I am really, really, really going to miss Elie and Tani but am really happy to be getting this chance to see some good friends and family (yay Mommy and Daddy!), and to do a little shopping.
Hopefully I will get a chance to blog from the US - catch you on the other side!!
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