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.

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.