We might be in Israel, but there is still baseball

Well,  this week was full of "Only in Israel"  moments.

My youngest child had to do some sort of science project.  I don't know the details, (aside from that it had to be made from recyclable materials),  because thank goodness he took charge of it.  At first,  he was making a hot air balloon with a classmate,  but then the other child had too many days where he couldn't meet,  so the group went independent.  So my child made an aqueduct.  Because you can't have a more Israeli science project than that.  I mean, an aqueduct.  At least he didn't give it a biblical name.

Twin moment.  The other day my girls were walking somewhere, I think to scouts.  And one of them apparently was wearing sneakers that no longer fit and her feet hurt.  So her twin donated one shoe to her so they would each only have one shoe that hurt.  Not exactly an only in Israel moment,  and it's not quite as twinny as when they used to share a hard boiled egg,  and one ate the yolk  and one ate the albumin, but pretty darn cute when they sent me this picture.

Then last week, the adults in this family went to an appointment of sorts.  Basically in Israel they have this program for first time home buyers (first time Israeli home buyers)  and if you quality,  then you receive a certificate that allows you to enter low cost housing lotteries.  So anyway,  we found out about this program,  made an appointment and went.

Considering the number of people in this one small room, it was surprisingly organized.  We only had to wait about ten minutes for our turn.  So we sit down,  hand over our ID cards and answer a few questions and sign a few forms.  Apparently we seem to qualify for all of the projects (in Hebrew,  that's pronounced proyect).  So while we are filling out some papers,  the realtor that is helping us is snacking on cucumbers.  Because, well,  Israel.  Then  I kid you not,  the person who was assisting all of the Realtors,  but actually seemed to be the boss,  hands our person a date,  that she had pitted for her.  Because that's normal to just pit dates for people and hand them to them as a snack.  Oh Israelis.  I love you.

I went on a nature walk last week with a friend.  I made the mistake of telling my ulpan teacher about it because she loves nature.  Well,  I say mistake because then she asked if I wanted to take a nature tiyul with her.  And I can't say no to her.  So,  we went on a tiyul.  We'll,  first I went to her house and she made me cappuccino,  because Israelis want you to have a drink all of the time.  Then we walked from her house to one of the nature parks around Modiin.  In case you want to go,  here are the instructions.  First you slide down some gravel,  then you cross a busy street and then suddenly there is a little fence with a rope chain,  and a sign that tells you to close the rope chain behind you.  What is the rope for,  you may ask?  Well,  it is to keep the cows inside the fence.  You know  because cows are just grazing around.  Just a regular day it seems.  So,  free Hebrew lessons for over two hours.  And by lessons,  I  meant that we spent two hours speaking Hebrew and she spent those two hours correcting my many grammatical errors.
But hey,  cows. And flowers.  And fresh air (except near the cows)

Next up is Friday,  one of my favorite days.  Because on Fridays,  I actually get to go out with my husband and say three words to him without children around.  Love you kids,  but it's hard to get a word in.  We didn't have time for a full breakfast due to baseball,  but we hit the mall for halva,  olives,  and coffee.  Because that's what you need on a Friday in Israel.   Then we were in the mall supermarket picking up a few items.  The cashier was explaining that something similar to what was in my basket was on sale.  So I went to look for it but couldn't find it.  So she abandons her register to come with me.  This wouldn't  seem so odd,  except here,  the cashiers don't help you bag your stuff or anything.  They scan the items and then kind of sit there patiently waiting.  So I was pretty surprised,  but in a good way.  In the end,  everyone was happy because I bought two of the items they are always hawking at the checkout.  Win win!

Finally, baseball.  The three younger kids are playing in the league here,  so we all went down to watch.  Well,  one teenage child went to the game and took a nap,  but whatever.  My kids team got clobbered but they played pretty well.  There is a ton of stealing bases in this league  and that was a killer.  But hey, one of my daughters also stole a base  so that's cool.  Did I mention that my girls are the only girls on their team and I believe in their age division in our city?  Their main goal is to prove they can keep up (aka surpass)  the boys.

And  finally, I  will leave you with this.  Their team has a mascot.  It's one of the coaches dogs.  And yes,  he is wearing a team shirt.  Because every team needs a dog mascot!

Catching up...

I've been slacking on writing my blog because I've been very busy watching Netflix.  Between homeschooling for two years and making aliyah,  I've had zero alone time.  So now that I'm on an ulpan vacation,  I've been super productive and have already watched two full seasons of "Friends." I also finally decided to make a cake in a bundt pan.  Said pan was a gift for my bridal shower,  has moved with me four  times,  and finally,  as one of the miracles that happens in Israel,  I used it.  I made a cake for shabbat in that pan.  And today, I made  a lemon cake in it,  using my neighbors fresh lemons from her tree, and a friend's famous secret recipe.
 Ahhhh,  Israel!

Real news from our family :
Little guy started at his new school full time.  He graduated from ulpan and they had such a nice ceremony with a video of the kids,  speeches and little gifts for the kids.  And every child planted a tree at the school since it was also Tu B'Shvat.  I have definitely never planted a tree at the many many other ceremonies we have attended at my kids schools.

So he started his new school and I was super nervous of course.  He has been going on Fridays for a month but Friday is an even shorter day.  (elementary school in Israel has really short days).  So he gets home on the first day and actually admitted that school was good.  And then he received a phone call and was suddenly chatting on the phone with a classmate in Hebrew.  Oh,  did I mention that he seems to be the ONLY English speaker in the fifth grade boys class? Not so common where we live but I think it will be really great for him.

And so far in one week of school,  he has had two friends over and gone over to one kid's house.  Today I had a little boy here who wasn't familiar with Skippy peanut butter and couldn't find the kashrut label.  When I showed it to him he didn't understand.  So today,  even though I was not in ulpan, I had to practice my Hebrew with a kid,  so I could explain it.  At least he didn't correct my grammar (or maybe my grammar was perfect).

Other children :
Everyone else received their report cards this past week.  No surprises which is always good.  And only one teacher seems to have confused my girls (in a not very significant way)  so that's also awesome.  And at least now I know their teacher's names because it is written on the report card.  :-)

Last week,  all of our kids had a full day of scouting activities.  Not 100%  sure what they did but they all came home happy and smelling like a campfire.

This week we finally managed to take the eldest out for breakfast.  Aka,  we will feed you fancy food and you will answer all of our questions.  It worked out well for everyone.  This child got to order a decaf latte and a salmon sandwich.  Two things that have never appeared in my house.

Also this week, eldest boy got a new bike.  About two hours later  he crashed said bike when he had to swerve to avoid hitting someone.  First trip to urgent care (husband took him,  not me,  someone had to cook for shabbat)  and all is fine.  And the bike is now repaired.  I'm glad he has lots of freedom with his bike but I don't need to buy the bike shop guy a second home.  He and the bike shop guy are total Besties.

Girls and little guy had their first official baseball game and I hear that they did a great job.  Well,  one child apparently made a great catch,  one child was a solid player and one child got hit with a pitch and fell over.  Sorry I missed it kids.  I'll catch one of your 500 games I'm sure.

Must attach random unrelated photo of one child.  Because I'm a middle child so I try to keep it semi-even over here,  especially for my two middle children.  So here she is holding up the sunset a few weeks ago.

We spent shabbat having some friends over for dinner,  which was a lot of fun.  And them the usual neighborhood gathering on the street on shabbat afternoon.  (brag coming)  Usually I spend my time trying to follow one Hebrew conversation and asking a lot of questions when I can't follow it.  And sometimes someone is speaking to me in English.  And I usually understand that.  And sometimes,  someone with amazing English is speaking to us and can't remember how to translate a word.  But thanks to ulpan,  I knew this obscure word.  The Hebrew word for canteen.  I learned it from a video that you really must watch.  If you understand Hebrew at all then you will enjoy it.  And if you just enjoy clothing from the 1980's,  then you'll also enjoy it.
Click to watch video to learn how I knew an obscure word

And finally,  today,  I made it out there  to see some nature.  Well,  actually I was going to meet a friend for coffee and she said why don't we also go on a nature walk.  So we did and I feel like I'm finally a part of the Israeli culture of February.  Which means I took a picture of the red flowers that are blooming all over.  I'm now one with the people!  Thanks for dragging me out.  It was fun and now I know where these spots are that everyone keeps posting about.

Free time in Israel

Well,  I've been busy doing nothing,  so it's been a little while since I've written.  Which means you must be very eager to read this!

Good news: my ulpan exam is over
Bad news: it was crazy hard
Bad news: I thought maybe it was only hard for me since I was taking the next level exam.
Good news: apparently it was hard for everyone who was taking the gimmel exam.
Good news: I'm off from ulpan for a week.
Bad news : I won't know my results for a month.

What am I doing with my free time? (I know you're curious).  Well.  First, I enlisted some ulpan friends to go to Jerusalem with me.  And by "with me"  I mean,  they drove,  dealt with parking,  and bought me food.  So basically the best tiyul!  I'll get you next time guys.  Except I'm not driving.  But I'll pay for the food.

We had some important Jerusalem errands to run.  First, they took me to this supermarket that has a lot of interesting things and often carries Costco products.  Truthfully,  there are very few products from America that  I miss.  (kedem grape juice and Duncan Hines brownie mix) But when I saw that they had disposable pans from Costco,  I did a little dance.  Because disposable pans here leave much to be desired. And well,  we've been eating the Israeli peanut butter but I spotted huge Costco sized Skippy jars,  and now those live in my pantry.  (and by pantry  I mean plastic closet we put into our kitchen).

Next important errand was the search for a new ACDC  kippah.  Because  an unnamed child wore his every day until it faded into his hair color and then he lost it.  So he wanted to buy a replacement.  So we went on the hunt.  Headed over to Machne Yehuda aka the Shuk.  No luck finding the kippah there.  So we walked down to Ben Yehuda Street to our old buddy,  the kippah man.  If you've been to Israel in the past 20+ years  you know the kippah man.  Well,  he didn't disappoint.  ACDC kippah was procured.  A few more shops and then back to the Shuk.

We wandered the shuk and sniffed all of the wonderous delights,  but didn't buy anything.  Oh wait.  We did buy a tablecloth for me off a tablecloth roll.  Because all over Israel they sell plastic tablecloths on rolls.  You just measure your table and they cut it off for you.  So that was my big purchase of the day.

Anyway,  in the shuk,  we (actually me,  but who is checking?)  decided to have lunch.  In all of my times in the shuk  I've never eaten anything unless it was a marzipan rugelach or a gummy bear (20 gummy bears).  We went to my friends' fave fish n chips place,  aptly named פישנצ'יפס. (fishnchips).

I have also never had real fish n chips.  (hmm,  didn't realize I was going to write a whole saga on my food) Well,  I was glad I waited because this fish n chips was amazing.  Freshly fried and of course with 4 dipping sauces per person.  I've told you how serious Israelis are about their sauces.  Take my advice.  If you order takeout,  never tell them you don't want sauce.  You'll get a look.   Anyway,  it was a delicious end to a fun day.  Who is taking me on my next tiyul??

But the day didn't end there.  Oh no.  Another friend had arranged for a group of us to take a cookie decorating class at night.  You might have seen my photos documenting the event.  I rarely bake.  When I do, its usually challah (okay,  that's most weeks), banana cake,  brownies from a box (but not in Israel because they are expensive!)  the occasional chocolate chip cookie,  etc...  Nothing fancy.  I prefer cooking to baking.  So this class was out of my comfort zone.  I mean,  the instructor owns three kitchen aid mixers.  And I'm all like, "hey,  can I just mix by hand because I don't own a mixer?"

The class was really fun and we made some super awesome cookies.  We learned a few techniques and tricks,  made a mess,  someone decorated an apple cookie with purple and blue (me),  and we all went home with fancy cookies.  And now,  I'm on a mission to recreate the cool cookies for Tu B'Shvat.  Wish me luck!!! (I actually bought a hand mixer and something called meringue powder.  It's getting serious!)

Monday,  I had planned to do some food shopping and errands because ulpan was supposed to restart on Tuesday.  So I went food shopping with a friend,  and we discovered a super cool fruit and nut store.  Of the many dried fruits there,  the absolute coolest is the dried pomela.  Oh my gosh.  It's neon green and super funky looking.  So I had to buy it.  A child promptly took my purchases and made a dried fruit salad for a school party.

And best news... Ulpan didn't start today,  it was delayed until Sunday.  So I am officially a lady of leisure.  Which meant I spent today dropping the kids at school early because one had a cool class trip.  Making cookie dough because like I said, I'm on a mission.  Tossing the kids junk while they aren't home (kidding not kidding to my kids who read this) and I started a Netflix marathon.  Pretty awesome.


I will end this with a little description of my son's class trip today.  He had to be at school early with the requisite Israeli trip gear: water,  hat,  closed shoes,  food.  They went to a kibbutz and picked food for Israel's food bank,  called Leket Israel.  Today they were picking oranges to be donated.  My child told me it was super awesome and they picked enough fruit for 800 people!  And then they had a tour of the kibbutz which he loved and he has already asked me if he can volunteer on a kibbutz when he is older.
Click here to learn about Leket Israel

And finally, apparently his class made him a little goodbye party today on the trip.  This is his last week in this school and he has made some good friends.  So sweet that they made him a party.  And I hear there was chocolate cake.  He came home with a bit of a tan,  with a few new grass stains,  and he was exhausted.  Oh Israel!!!