It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Ah,  acharei hachagim ,  the magical time I have heard so much about.  It seems so mysterious .  For a month or two,  everything has been revolving around,  acharei hachagim ,  after the holidays.  We'll,  today is the day after the holidays and nothing has happened yet.  But it is isru chag,  so maybe the magic happens tomorrow ? ? ? Okay,  it was isru chag when I started this post.

First let's take a moment and check out this awesome picture Jon took while waiting for the bus this week.

Okay,  post chagim updates .

Let's see.  The girls birthday has finally ended.  Their birthday lives on for weeks every year.  We had two cakes,  a cake made of pastries ,  and candles that were sparklers .  Because ,  Israel!

Sukkot was really fun.  Having extra days of Chol hamoed is really nice.  And for the first time ever,  we were all home together .  Normally,  Jon can't take off any extra days for Chol hamoed because most of his vacation days are dedicated to the chagim .  But now we are  in Israel ,  and his office is closed for the chagim.  This is a huge life change for us.  So we took some fun outings on Chol hamoed .  The kids favorite one of course was the beach.  They have been begging us to go,  but we didn't have a car that we could all fit into. Did I mention that the beach had a sukkah ?  That's right !

Also,  I must mention my new bestie from ulpan.  She held a party over sukkot and invited the whole class.  We had loads of fun,  and it is always interesting speaking in  a mix of Hebrew and English in a big group.  Luckily our teacher was there if we needed help with words.  But I must say that the funniest and most informative part of the night was when the South African classmates gave us Yankees an English lesson.

Curious what a BBQ is called in other places?   In Israel it is called a mangal or Al ha eish.  Which means,  on the fire.  In South Africa,  apparently it's called a Braaii,  or something like that.   Have you ever wondered if a car horn is called the same thing in other English speaking countries?  Well,  it's not.  Apparently in South Africa it is called a hooter .  Like,  stop honking your hooter.  Imagine me hearing this after having one drink.  That's right.  You're welcome.

Finally on Wednesday the kids went back to school .  I think we are  all semi happy to be back in a routine .  Of course,  I just decided that we are all going to a soccer game tonight with Nefesh B'Nefesh,  so we will get home very late and be out of routine.  Oh well ,  shabbat is soon.

You are probably waiting for an ulpan update and I won't disappoint .  Finally we are back in ulpan and my teacher is back.  She was out for a few days before vacation.   So we are all trying to get back in the swing of things.  Since the first day of class, we have been working on using certain proper words instead of easier or more common words.  So today when someone used the wrong word ,  my teacher was like, " oy,  no no no,  not like that,  you say it like this.  That other word is the word you use in this other situation .  Anyway to make a long story shorter,  it led me to sharing (over sharing )  one of my favorite Hebrew phrases that I must have learned when I was here for the year.  It's hot in Israel ,  so you always need to remember to bring water with you on long walks or hikes or whatever .  Here it is.

פיפי צהוב לא טוב .  פיפי לבן מצוין .

Well,  after that,  I wasn't sure if my teacher was going to burst out laughing or make me sit in the hallway.  In the end,  she informed me that I know that only because I'm a nurse.  Ha.  And that my friends,  is some real world Hebrew for you.  You're welcome.