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!!!
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