As many of you know, Eli was one of the recipients of the Outstanding Oleh award. Basically he was one of a handful (or two handfuls) of kids who were recognized for how they have adjusted and integrated into life in Israel. I can't promise that's actually the description of the award, but that's the best that I can do. So I won't go on about him too much because I might have done a Facebook brag. But he was recognized for his integration both socially and musically. Or something like that. Nachas!! And, we made it into the newspaper again.
Then we shall move to the two weeks of non stop celebrations. I am quite sure that everyone was trying to get their Simcha in before the Omer. (as one friend said, thank goodness the omer is coming, so we can all rest :-))
We had:
#1 wedding in Jerusalem. Went the wrong way and drove through a neighborhood that we've been to before and didn't want to go back to. Well, waze had a different plan. Imagine one lane streets that barely fit one car. But they take two way traffic. Fun times.
#2 Oleh awards
#3 wedding. Did not get lost! Beautiful wedding of our neighbor's son. I just love all of the outdoor venues here in Israel!
#4 Bar Mitzvah of an ulpan friend's son. I won't post the photos, but my ulpan teacher was there. I kept making the same grammatical mistake with the same word, and we got the mother of the Bar Mitzvah boy to have a few drinks. Even funner times!
#5 Sheva Brachot hosted by the street for the wedding a few days prior. This was beautiful and was held in the amazing garden of one neighbor.
#6 Voca People. If you haven't seen them you need to buy tickets. It was fabulous, aside from a few uncomfortable moments of 90s songs that weren't exactly appropriate for all of the kids. Of course, we listened to them as kids. Best part was when they did a rendition of "We are the World." Epic, as my kids would say.
#7 Bar Mitzvah of a neighbor's son. Apparently the neighbors write a song and then perform it.. It's perfect when you're short because I just stood behind a few people and tried to keep up.
That is it (I think) for the celebrations. It's so nice to be here and to be taken in by our new neighbors and new (and some old) friends and invited everywhere.
And now, we move onto the weeks of trips for my children. My children are living the good life here for sure.
All of my kids are in the Israeli scouts. So they all had a chance to go camping this past week. 3/4 took advantage of that. Despite my mild disappointment that we didn't have one night when all four were away (please work on that scouts, I need a vacation for adults!!!) everything ended up working out.
Sunday-Monday
#4 goes camping with the scouts. I am not exactly sure where they went but I think it was the Jerusalem area. He went hiking and camping, slept in a tent, got rained on, came home dirty and had a blast. Can't really ask for more than that. #1 child also went on this trip, to learn a bit about being a leader for next year.
Tuesday - Thursday
#3 leaves for camping at the bright hour of 5:30am. Eek!!! I'm sure I looked fabulous when I dropped her off. She went camping up north I think. Truthfully, I do my best to keep up with the emails and texts and stick to the info that I need to know. Otherwise, I'm trusting 18 year old to look out for them. They seem fairly responsible.
She also had a blast. Between the campfires, the learning to cook while camping, making salads outside and the hiking, she couldn't have come home happier. Or dirtier.
Tuesday - Friday
#1 goes on the special camping thing. Basically a much more intense hiking and camping. It's his last year (and first year) as a kid in scouts, so this is their big trip. They all had to pack an exact list of items and then take their bags to be weighed.
He also came home filthier than I could have imagined but smiling his face off. They had a great time. He loves hiking and camping. And luckily, I'm married to an eagle scout and we moved here with all of our gear. So he was all set for the hike.
And finally, child #2. She did not go camping because she had a Taekwondo competition that conflicted. If you are on Facebook, then you've already read about it. In America, we never did a competition. Shabbat conflicts. But here, this child attends taekwondo once per week and a special sparring class once per week. So she sort of knew what she was in for, but I did not.
It's basically an arena with four sections and sparring matches are going on in each section. Pretty wild. The competitors are divided by weight class. Oh yes, the week before she had to go to Jerusalem just to be officially weighed.
Long story short. She had one match. She lost (but looked to me like she did well). But somehow she came in 2nd place. So I still have no idea if there were only two girls in the 37 kilo weight class or what??? But anyway, it was a good experience. She told me that she wants to continue and so I guess for the near future this will be my life? I guess we shall see. So many new experiences here. And yes, during the matches, child #4 was whispering quotes from Karate Kid. Pretty amusing.
It was actually so interesting to see the cross section of Israelis at this event. You have Ashkenazi, Sepharadi, secular, religious, long peyos, skirts, head coverings, shorts, different languages, just so many different types of Jews all coming together. And of course, coming together to knock someone else down, but let's ignore that for now and just enjoy the camaraderie.
And in case you are curious: When they speak Hebrew over a PA system it sounds just like the NYC subway system. You can't understand a word!
And now, back to my pesach cleaning. Or at least pretending that I'm cleaning. Don't forget, only one seder here, and we got invited out for it! Make aliyah and you too can enjoy one seder. You can also enjoy the spirit of the holidays in the air. Or if not in the air, at least in the elbows out, melee of the supermarket. Ahhhhh, Israel!
And one more bonus to living here. It seems standard for your company to give you a little holiday bonus. They even have special gift cards for pesach. Love!!!!
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