Rak Shniya: Our Aliyah Story

I'm Not Such a Great Blogger

2009-10-24T12:42:00.000-07:00

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).

First Day of Gan!

2009-09-01T01:29:00.000-07:00

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!

I Really Am Going to Try to Update More Often....

2009-08-02T21:38:00.001-07:00

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?

It Has Been Waaay Too Long, I Know

2009-06-07T00:53:00.000-07:00

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!

Pesach, Yom Ha'atzmaut and Car Purchasing

2009-04-29T10:13:00.000-07:00

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......

"Mikooool Halyeloooot"

2009-04-05T04:43:00.000-07:00

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!

Purim Arrives!! And so much more.....

2009-03-11T05:33:00.000-07:00

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!!

Our First Road Trip in Israel

2009-02-21T09:54:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-03T04:51:00.000-08:00

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.

It's Been Too Long, I Know....

2009-01-20T11:05:00.000-08:00

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.

America, Here I Come!

2009-01-06T02:36:00.000-08:00

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!!

Chanukah!

2008-12-25T04:57:00.001-08:00

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

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

Tani Spins a Dreidel

2008-12-14T01:01:00.001-08:00

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

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

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

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

Turkey Day and Bubby & Zaidy Arrive!

2008-12-02T05:27:00.001-08:00

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

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

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

A Busy Week Has Passed and an Exciting Week to Come

2008-11-21T02:27:00.001-08:00

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

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

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

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

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

One Week Later, Not Much to Report

2008-11-13T09:59:00.001-08:00

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

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

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

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

Winter in Israel - This Should Be Interesting

2008-11-06T13:35:00.000-08:00

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

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

Forgot the Countdown!

2008-11-03T10:18:00.000-08:00

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

Update Time

2008-11-03T09:55:00.001-08:00

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

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

Income!

2008-10-28T10:04:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

2008-10-25T11:55:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

Leezy

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

2008-10-23T14:31:00.001-07:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shabbat Shalom,
Leezy