Status Quo

Well, life  has once again gotten in the way of my blog. Humph!!!

But I've managed to get some awesome pictures of the sky.

It's been quite busy here with the puppy. She has basically taken over our lives. Well, mostly my life, since I'm the one without  a job. At least she is cute! I now run home during the break in ulpan to take her out. Then race home after ulpan to take her out again. And then spend the rest of the day between her crate, my garden (bless my hubby for renting a house with a garden) and walking around the neighborhood. Everyone promises that all of the work will pay off with an awesome well adjusted dog. If they are lying, I'm going to make them dog sit.

What else has been going on?  We celebrated American Thanksgiving here. Last year we didn't and apparently my kids were disappointed. And by disappointed, I mean they didn't shut up about it.  So this year we ordered a turkey and paid five time as much as we would have in NJ for things like cranberry sauce. I refused to buy another can of pumpkin so I bought fresh pumpkin and cooked it. It was a lot of fun despite stressing over whether or not the turkey would fit in my Israeli oven. Verdict : it fits if you really stuff it.  Even though it wasn't like the Thanksgivings that we used to have, we had a lot of fun. And leftovers. Yummy.

And apparently it's that time of year again. No, not donuts. I mean, yes donuts, but first, something else. It's that time of year when two of my kids need the famous EKG done before they can compete in their sports. Last year all four needed it done, but two kids have since moved onto other pursuits with less contact.

One girl child takes a special taekwondo sparring class in Jerusalem, so she went with her coach and teammates to have it done. I just handed her sixty shekel. Then I had the pleasure of taking youngest boy child locally to get his done. Here is what happens.

#1 fill out long form
#2 try to understand questions on long form
#3 grumble because even though you hated medical ulpan, it was actually useful for something like this
#4 go to this little building behind one of the local high schools
#5 pay 60 shekel
#6 wait in line
#7 wait in the line of the left
#8 get called for your EKG
#9 not much privacy here (no privacy) so pretend it's a normal office
#10 go back out and get in the line on the right
#11 be seen by a super shady doctor, who asks no questions, glances at your form and at the EKG, listens to your heart and stamps your paper
#12 exit building and try to unlock the wrong car
#13 panic a bit that your car remote is dead
#14 find your car and chill
#15 suddenly realize that you are no longer freaked out about doing these things in Hebrew

So, I guess in the end it was good that we had to go. Because otherwise how would I know that I've achieved this level! Last year I made hubby come to help (do everything) in this balagan.

Other than that, not much is new. Chanukah is coming which means the smell  of sugar is in the air.  I finally bought my first round of donuts. Because hubby doesn't love birthday cake but he definitely loves donuts. So for the last few years I've been making him a donut cake. Aka, I stack up some donuts, add candles and voila, donut cake. Except here in Israel, we don't use candles. We use sparklers. Because we like to live on the edge. I shall post pictures if it all works out.

And finally. I am finished with ulpan. At least for now. I need to actually wrote my resume and look for a job. And between ulpan, the dog and the kids, I don't have any time. So starting Sunday I will be ulpan less. I hope they can survive without me!

Vacation like a boss! (or like an Israeli)

Wow, I did not realize how much time had passed since my last blog. I'll try and squeeze one in here while I have a few minutes free. And it will be short because I've forgotten everything!

Since the holidays, we have had a few exciting things happen.

Hubby and I went away together, aka, we left the kids alone, since we don't have any one to watch them. And the Israelis say that they are old enough. Despite their massive amounts of complaints before we left, they all admitted that it was actually  fine. We all survived! Already planning my next vacation.

We vacationed at the Dead Sea, because we can! We don't live too far, it's still quite hot there, and the hotels are kosher! No worries, they have an amazing Israeli breakfast there. We tasted everything.

We got a puppy. Her name is Goldie and she is a genius. A smelly genius, but a genius. If you remember our first time having a puppy (disaster) this time is going much better. And hopefully in a few months when she is finished teething on us, it will be even better.

I traveled alone to have an awesome vacation in Miami with my sister. My only other time in Miami was almost two years ago for the half marathon with Chai Lifeline. And while I enjoyed that experience and doing something for a good cause, it most definitely wasn't a vacation. This time, my trip to Miami consisted of: sitting in a chair by the pool. Sitting in a chair at the beach. Sitting in a chair in a restaurant. Sitting in a bed and watching movies. Perfect vacation with my sister.

 And get this. I had breakfast in the Israeli Airport. So I order my food and they take my name. Then you go to the other side and wait to be called. Well, in America no one can spell my name and for many years (pre Little Mermaid, no one could pronounce it. Well, no problems here. Boom. Spelled correctly!!

Then I did a quick two days in Philly with my parents. They like to make fun of the packages I ordered ahead of my visit. But I'd like to remind them that they have purchased luggage while on vacation to fit their extra stuff. So it's genetic. I did my usual amazing packing job. Each suitcase was at the exact weight limit. Woo-hoo!

Props to my awesome husband (who doesn't read my blogs) for holding down the fort while I was away. He had to take the dog to a dog sitter every day and deal with the usual kid stuff. Luckily my  pre-shopping for food,  my charts of dinners, chores , after school activities and what to do before and after school, helped him and the kids. And they tend not to text him with every little drama like they do to me. I think our next vacation will be together though.  It's possible that I have already started planning it. I can finalize as soon as tzofim plans their trips!

After the holidays! (Yes, it's finally here)

Ahhh, back to the blogging. It has been a long time it seems. Which means that life  is crazy and busy. And also that fewer embarrassing things have happened to me. Or at least I hope. Maybe I've just forgotten them.  Oh, here is one I just remembered. Last night I was texting with a neighbor about something about a suitcase. Apparently instead of typing the word suitcase in Hebrew, I typed lawnmower! Such is my life right now. At least the errors are further between than this time last year.

Tzofim trip!!
I've been waiting for the tzofim trip for a while. Last year they went away overnight, so hubby and I also went away. This year they did a day trip, so no vacation for us. Sad face. But on the happy side. I had a girls day out with a friend I've known for twenty years. Eek, that seems like a long time. It was a perfect day. Took the train, walked around, ate food, tested liquors at the liquor store, had a beer, (because why not?) and took the train home. Fun times.

Oh, and I think the kids had fun.

The holidays are over. Life is back to normal. Sort of. We spent sukkot entertaining which as a lot of fun. We had a l'chaim, a scout event, a party for my ulpan class, our fake cousins over, another group of friends over that hubby hasn't seen in years and half of whom I'd never met, (basically another scouting event.) This was in addition to the regular meals we ate in our sukkah. Note, this isn't a picture of my sukkah. This is the view from my kitchen window on sukkot.

#1 L'chaim was for me, as I passed the Israeli nursing exam!!! Now I have to look for a job!
#2 Scout event for my youngest. Someone has to volunteer their sukkah to host the 10 boys in his small group. Except only one boy and their counselor came. So they had  plenty of snacks available.
#3 friends and semi family over for meals. We can't fit everyone in our tiny sukkah but we made it work. We had a house full of kids, adults, etc.. Lots of food and fun.
#4 ulpan party for my new ulpan class and a few people from my last class. Towards the end we heard some loud music, so the men (okay, just my husband the husband of one friend) went to investigate. It was coming from the Chief Rabbi's sukkah.They went in, (after  telling security that they didn't have weapons) and got to see the speaker of the Knesset and some other people who they don't know.  You really never know what you'll see here.

My whole point of describing our sukkot activities here, is a very Jewish one. I cooked. Because Gd forbid someone should be hungry. Oy, my mother and ( I assume my grandparents) would never forgive me.  But forget the cooking. I have suddenly gotten very into baking, something I have always shied away from. Let's chalk it up to the miracles of the land.

So in this blog, I will give you a little idea of my cooking conditions here, VS America. I've never had a fancy big kitchen. But I've always had a full sized American oven and stove top. You know, the kind where you can fit two large pans or four lasagna pans inside, and theoretically cook in four pots on top of the stove.  That was always normal for me. We aren't a huge family, but we aren't a small one either. So I was always cooking something. Oh, I also used to own three crock pots. And I used them.

Now here in Israel, I've ummmm, downsized??? My kitchen is actually a decent size. It's about the same as the kitchen of my  first house, where I lived for ten years. So that's good. But I have a standard Israeli oven. Aka, it theoretically fits two lasagna pans, but if I do that, the bottom pan doesn't really cook. So almost always, it's a solitary oven, one item at a time.

Then we have my "stove top." We had an issue fitting the gas line for a four burner top. So instead, we have a two burner electric thingy. Except it isn't really two burners unless you only own pots that are small enough to feed one person at a time. If I put my regular pot on the burner, I can only fit one pot. So, that's interesting.

When we first moved here, I wasn't used to cooking in such a small capacity. It took  me hours to prepare dinner.  And then after a few months, I was able to develop a feel for the kitchen and reorganize my cooking. Now I can cook just like I used to, but it takes a lot of planning. And since I love planning and organization, it's worked out quite well. Now I'm wondering, why did I ever need four burners?? That's crazy talk!

Okay, sometimes I do have a lineup of items waiting to be cooked in the oven. But like everyone else in Israel, they have to learn patience. So they just wait quietly on my counter.

And thanks to the miracles of the land, I've been able to cook many delicious cakes and cookies and meals in my tiny appliances.

Just don't get me started on the washer and dryer.

Spoiled!

I'll admit it. I'm spoiled. I'm spoiled by the shorter holidays here. How we get more days where we can do more things. In one year, I've basically forgotten how to prepare for a three day holiday. What I mean by that is, I didn't plan any of my meals. Usually I make a nice list of each meal and what I am cooking and then check it off as I cook. This time, I basically bought food. Then I started cooking the food. Then I froze the food. Then I forgot what I had already cooked so I cooked some more food. And then I served food. So it was very unorganized for (ahem) a person who likes things to be organized.  But everyone ate and hopefully no one was hungry. As an added bonus, I still have cooked food in my freezer that I can use for the next set of holidays. Or you know, for when my kids want dinner (every single night!)

News flash: I finally snagged a Rosh Hashana chocolate at Aroma. Thank goodness. I was worried I wouldnt get a picture for my blog!

Now, I know that I promised that in my next blog, I would discuss similarities and differences between my life here in Israel and my former life in New Jersey.

Obviously, holidays are different.
Time in Shul: (when I'm awake enough to go)
Rosh Hashana
Israel 8am-12:10pm
NJ 7:45am-1:00pm (I don't remember exactly) Definitely a fan of the faster pace.

Regular Shabbat :
Israel 8:30-10:20
NJ: 8:45-11:45

Holidays Tunes :
Lots of new tunes, but many are the same. The main difference I felt, was the amount of singing. Here, I feel like the women are very into joining in and singing. It might be because my seat was the absolute front row of the shul (if you want to know anything about the front wall, I'm your gal) But considering how crowded our shul was, I was just happy to get seats. Also, you aren't distracted by anything, except the paint pattern on the wall. If you want to discuss the paint pattern, I'm still your gal.

Food Shopping
In NJ, I did a lot of grocery delivery. It started when I was working close to full time, but had free time at my desk. So I would grocery shop at work. Shhhhh. Then of course, I would occasionally go to the market, and I shopped at the small kosher market in my town for all of my meat. It was pretty laid back, and while it was more crowded before a holiday, it was never crazy.

In Israel, I have learned from my mistakes. Those being that last year I went to actual supermarkets before the holidays. The veteran olim called me on my rookie move. This year, I am rocking the grocery delivery. What that means is that the delivery guy has been here three times in the past week. I should probably invite him for sukkot or something.  Because, since I didn't make a menu, I kept not having things. Also, I went on a baking rampage and went though like 6kilos of flour and 3 kilos of sugar.

Speaking of flour and sugar, did you know that you need to put them in the freezer here? I heard way too many horror stories about pantry moths and such to take any chances. So I get flour, then I need to cram it into my freezer. Reminder that my freezer is smaller than in the USA and I have one instead of two. Then, before using it, I have to sift it. Then I keep it in airtight containers. And while this all seems like a huge pain, I was rewarded last week with finding a super gross (luckily dead) bug in my flour, while sifting. Vindication!

Cost of living :
This is something that people always ask me about. It's hard to compare, but we can try. In America, we owned a home. Also, we are the worst real estate investors ever. We never made money on either of our homes. In fact, when we sold our first home, we had to pay the new owners at the closing. That's how bad we are.  "Hi, so glad that you're buying our house. Please enjoy it. Also, we are giving you this bank check, cause, you know, we just feel generous." Or at least unlucky.

Here, we are renting. First  we wanted to see if we would like this city and neighborhood. Second, we aren't millionaires. If you think housing in NJ is expensive, come to Central Israel! And third, we are pretty happy not to have to deal with major home repairs while still learning the language and such. Bonus, we ended up on this awesome street.

I know that discussing actual money makes people uncomfortable. But I'm Israeli now and they have zero issue discussing money. I mean, when you leave a tip, if you want to put it on your credit card, the waiter says, "How much?" At first that made me uncomfortable, but now it seems normal.

Housing :
We pay about $1000 less per month to rent that we paid for our mortgage. Our place is smaller, but the location is fabulous.

Groceries :
I can't even tell you how many times people have told me that food is so much more expensive here than in the USA. I honestly don't know what those people are eating. Perhaps if you try to keep buying all of your American brands, you'll have an issue. But I did the calculations and we spend almost exactly the same amount, which is approximately $1500/month on food. That includes things like toiletries that I buy at the supermarket and paper goods and meat, etc... I could definitely spend less, but I certainly don't spend more than I did in my former life.  My main American products that I continue to buy: starkist tuna, cereal,  only when on sale, and occasionally shampoo. We use the Israeli brands as well, but if multi grain cheerios go on sale, I probably will own five boxes.

Transportation :
This is a biggie. Public transportation was fairly reasonable both in NJ and here. In NJ it cost my hubby about $250/month to take the bus and subway from NJ to NYC. Here, to take buses and trains to work, it costs about $80. So yeah, pretty sweet deal.

However, owning a car in Israel is like owning two cars in the USA. We paid more for our three year old used "huge for Israel but small for our family" car here, than I've ever paid for a brand new minivan in the USA. But such is life. So we own one car, something we lived with for many years in the USA before switching to two cars, and we are quite happy with one.  Also, if you know me, you know that I hate parking here. I can't even imagine parking a minivan.

Tuition:
Well, you've all heard me talk about this. I basically can't shut up about it. Here, my kids attend public religious schools.  In America, they attended private religious schools. Until I homeschooled them, but that's a whole other blog.

NJ: elementary ~$15,000/kid/year
Israel: elementary ~$250/kid /year

NJ high school ~$27,000/kid/year
Israel: high school ~$1300/kid/year

but you know, I get some kind of discount I think because I have three kids in the same high school. Or maybe I don't get a discount. Maybe it just feels that way because it's so cheap!!! Also, we do have to pay for books. In some schools you rent and in some you buy. Still a small fraction.

Summary
I'd like to reiterate, that as much I complained about tuition while in the USA, it was absolutely not the reason we made aliyah. We made aliyah for ideological and social reasons. We want our kids to grow up here, and experience life in Israel. That's the short story. But the tuition is an amazing fringe benefit.

Yes. Israelis earn less money than Americans. But we have some fabulous benefits as well. Don't let the money scare you. Come with a job (a job in Israel is preferable) but come.

A Few Funnies
Well, this is getting long. I'll end it with a few funnies.

When your kids have school uniforms, which consist of t-shirts that get stamped with their school logo, they often come out in the morning dressed the same.  Then they pose for pictures.

I attended another mother daughter learning event at my girls' school. This time, I'm glad to have understood more of the speeches. And at least I was prepared for the part of the event where 100 girls rush out and start dancing.

The other day, I looked over at my little guy and thought, wow, this is quite the little Israeli you've turned into. Scout uniform and milk in a bag.

And then I received a flyer about the scout sukkot trip. And who made it into one of the pictures? My eldest, except he is wearing his USA boy scout uniform. Haha! (bottom right to find Waldo)

Catching up before the chaos!

The time is just getting away from me. Not enough 'sofa sitting time' for me to write this blog.

Before I begin, how fun are these? I love the little surprises that pop up here. I mean, I don't like that I saw an entire case of sheep heads at the market last week. Ick. But these are fun.

The kids went back to school. And I was so excited because, finally, freedom! And for anyone who thinks I'm just another parent who can't wait to pawn her kids off, remember that I homeschooled my kids for two years and spent five years as a stay at home mother.  But back to the present. I couldn't wait to pawn my kids off. Everyone was hot and bored at home. Mostly because I was furiously trying to get them ready for school and study for my exam.

Finally, they went back, and instead of calm, chaos began. First, everyone needs books and supplies and shirts, and who knows what else for school. And I don't understand half of the instructions. I just told my kids to take pictures of their friends supplies and we will go on that.

And then my exam day arrives. No idea how I did. But the whole process was an experience. About two thousand potential nurses were there to take the exam. Nerve wracking. Especially because there were so many languages going on.. Hebrew, English, French, Arabic and Russian were the main ones that I heard. So now we wait. I would share a picture, but right after I snapped it,  someone else got yelled at for taking a picture. So I'll keep it to myself.

My big plan after my exam was basically to lie on my sofa for a few months and watch Netflix. But being the school nerd that I am, I decided to go back to ulpan. This time level gimmel /daled. I basically talk a good game of wanting to relax, but when it comes down to it, I'm a major school nerd. So anyway, I'm back in ulpan while I wait for my exam results. Thankfully, so far, this ulpan has been really good. I've became a major dork about grammar, because it finally all makes sense. Did I mention that ulpan bestie and I are back together?

What else is going in here? Oh yes, chugim, aka after school activities, aka, omg why are there so many choices. Let's just say that I haven't exactly been economical about it yet. I am letting them try whatever they want and then we will adjust after the chagim. Nothing happens anyway until October here. So the new things we are trying; judo, guitar, electronics, running, netball, flag football. And the old things ; taekwondo, special taekwondo in Jerusalem, and guitar. So lots going on.

Holidays are coming! So the cooking has begun. In the USA, we always had two refrigerators and freezers. Here, I have one and it is somewhat smaller than the USA. Yet, we are still feeding the same number of people.  I'll keep reminding myself that I am living in the land of miracles. The space will get bigger magically. Meanwhile I'll just be happy that I can afford to have this problem. We don't have family in Israel, although in the USA we also didn't do most chagim with our family. Luckily we have made some good friends and we will all be sharing the holidays together.

Victories of the Week!
#1 preteen dress shopping =success
#2 cranberry vodka, ordered
#3 pet shop owner and I had a good Hebrew conversation where he didn't switch to English at all
#4 insurance agent and I had a lovely Hebrew conversation as well. He is also an immigrant, except he came here the year I was born. I didn't share that info with him. Don't want him to feel old.
#5 finally, I feel like I can shop in Hebrew without making a total fool of myself
#6 except the butcher. I can't handle the butcher
#7 saw a show at the cultural center
#8 baked challah twice. Okay, that isn't exactly relevant to Israel, I just wanted you to know.

Funny moments of the week
#1 watching my son and husband move a bed. (child got too tall for his bed, so he now gets the giant guest bed) Pivot!
#2 me parking my  car in my garage every single day. I just can't.

Back to School Night 2.0 x 4
Perhaps you recall my back to school night post from last year. I was so nervous because I barely understood a word. And I was so nervous for the part where parents ask questions. I have four kids and I've been to many many of these meetings. They are all similar. Parents ask about homework  and the curriculum, etc... Well, not in Israel. Last year they asked only about the microwaves and the lockers.

Anyway, this year we had all four kids back to school nights on the same night. It was quite the adventure.  First we head to the sixth grade. He has the same teacher and the same kids in his class as last year. I understood most of what was said, aside from the things I can't understand because I didn't grow up here. Basically, the boys shouldn't act like gangsters, just because they are the oldest in the school. They start crossing guard duty next week I think. I figured I would email his teacher with questions. I always have questions. Oh, we handed over 100 shekel to the PTA, etc... The usual. That I understood!

Then we race to the girls' high school. With twins, we've been running a man to man defense for many years. So we split up and each arrived late to the classrooms. Let's just say that man to man defense works so much better now than it did when they were infants.  Those stories must be told in person though, for full effect. Anyway, we sit through those meetings. We have to go around and introduce ourselves. And guess who had to go first, in a class full of Israeli parents. That's right, yours truly! Thankfully, after my zillion hours of courses, I managed not to panic and I even remembered my name and the name of which child I was there for.  Eventually I hope to meet the teacher of my other daughter. But we had to leave early to catch the very end of my eldest child's back to school night.

Luckily, the next school is next door to the one we had been at. So we hustle over there, and slip quietly into the classroom. Or not quietly, because as we walk in, the teacher says, whoever is last, has to sit next to the teacher. (my son had the same main teacher last year so we know him) I spy an empty chair on the other side of the room. So I make a beeline for that, while pointing to my husband and saying, he is last! So, hubby had to sit in the dunce chair. He said it didn't bother him at all. Personally, I would have died of embarrassment.  Maybe because I spent a few years in after school care sitting in the 'bad chair.' Or because my 7th grade science teacher used to punish kids by drawing a circle on the board and you had to go and stand there with your nose in it.  I'm not traumatized. Really. Some things never change.

Anyway, no one asked about lockers or microwaves or really much of anything. Some complaints about the high school schedule, but overall, a busy but easy night. And the good news is, now we are done. At least until mother daughter night next week, where I get to slice myself in half. Oh, and of course we forked over some more cash for whatever.

Only in Israel!!

And for the only in Israel moments. My youngest child's class went to a program at the big park in our town, on Friday morning. And by morning, I mean 5:30am, with his entire class and his teacher. And tonight, my girls class is headed to the same park from 8:30pm-midnight. You know, just the usual! I think next week or the week after my eldest is headed somewhere until about 3am. I'm waiting for the permission slip for that to come home.

Always something going on here.

Can't wait to update everyone after the first set of chagim. I'm planning a blog showing some of the similarities and differences between my life in NJ and my life in Israel. Stay tuned. 

Until then: שנה טובה!