Yom Kippur and on to the next!

Here is what is exactly the same about Yom Kippur in America vs Israel

#1 Shul is long and kids complained
#2 I still felt sick and had to leave shul early
#3 Jon still managed to stand basically the entire day.  I don't understand him.
#4 All of my children except for one fast like pros.  I will not take responsibility for the one who feels sick.  It can't possibly be my fault.

Here is what is different.

#1 After Kol Nidre,  my neighborhood set up their chairs and we all sat around for a while chatting outside.  Well,  I don't chat much.  I try and listen to see what I can understand.
#2 No one drives cars here on Yom Kippur
#3 But it seems like every  bike,  scooter and skateboard is out and in use. Helmets?  Not so much.
#4 As soon as everyone has eaten after the fast,  it sounds like a bunch of woodpeckers outside as everyone is working on their sukkah.

So here was another "only in Israel"  moment that happened to me today.  After ulpan,  there was traffic getting back to pick up from school.  There has never been traffic at 12:45pm (which is when school ends).  So I'm thinking,  ugh,  how late am I going to be for pickup.  What was the delay you may ask? Why,  it was workers cutting down palm branches to hand out for sukkot.  You know,  just another normal day here!

Ulpan updates : in addition to my Hebrew improving,  my French has never been so good.  Today I even explained a Hebrew word to a French speaker using French.  Felt pretty proud of myself.  Except I only remember a few phrases and words and once those are used up,  I'm out.  Except I know how to say bless you in French,  so I get to use that daily.  Who would have thought that ulpan would also help my French??

And finally,  evidence that I'm not as quick of a learner as I thought I was.  I went through the chaos of supermarket shopping before Rosh Hashanah.  Did I learn to stay away???  Oh no.  Tonight the whole family went.   If you haven't had this experience,  it's sort of what I imagine a supermarket in the USA is like if Thanksgiving,  Xmas, New Year's and Easter all fell into a three week period.  That was where I was tonight.  Maybe I'll learn eventually.  I just promised myself that I would do online grocery shopping only for the rest of the month.  

Coming soon to a blog near you: We were in the newspaper again.  I haven't read the article yet,  but I'm interested to see what "we"  said.  And also  we almost all fit on one sofa.  So close!!!