Summer has come and gone

I would love to say that I have not had time to write because we were busy being Israeli and vacationing all of August.  I mean, you are welcome to think that. But...

The reality was that we were busy being crazy people this summer and while we did sneak in a few short trips, we were mostly working, staying out of the heat, sending kids to various camps, working and occasionally, sleeping.  In the air conditioning of course.  It is still really hot here.

Work Update:

Well, I am still so happy that I switched jobs.  I really love working in the NICU.  I finished my training, so now I usually only ask approximately 20 questions per shift instead of my previous 50.  I love the work that I do, even when every baby is crying and I am trying my best to keep up with what everyone needs.  I love dressing the babies in the stash of preemie clothing we keep there.  And I love it when the parents come in and they see their babies in real baby clothing and not naked in an incubator or in the hospital issued baby clothing.  I still struggle with the language a lot.  But the parents are almost always very understanding and helpful.  Hopefully my Hebrew will continue to improve because next, I want to study Arabic.

What I don't love: I don't love the part of my job which involves caring for babies that are born with fatal conditions.  It was not really an aspect I thought about.  I knew there would be babies that would not make it because of their size or they were born too early.  But so far I am only working on the step-down unit so I have not dealt with the teeny babies yet.  It is hard not to get too attached to babies that we have for months and months, especially if they do not have any visitors.  So I just do my best to give them and their parents the best care that I can while we can. But that is definitely hard.

Summer plans:

Everyone had a different schedule this summer. One worked at a Judaica Store.  He has learned the lesson that work can be really boring and you have to work a lot to make money.

One child was home all summer aside from the week at tzofim camp and the week of netball Maccabiah.  She learned that she likes to pass her time with baking.

One child was at Hacker camp, tzofim camp and then two weeks of surf camp.  Israel is cool.

One child was at Hacker camp for most of the summer, save one week of tzofim camp and two weeks of being at home bored camp.

Both boys had a guitar concert which was really fun.  But the funniest picture I got was when I was taking a picture of the vice mayor, sort of on the sly.  One child was less than pleased.

Family Trips:

One day, I had the brilliant idea that we should all go camping on the night of this huge meteor shower.  And we should take the dog.  And we should do all of this at the beach.  So we did.  It was basically a comedy.  First, the dog was having too much fun.  Our puppy is kind of overly friendly and wants to lick everyone.  She is offended if you don't come over and give her belly rubs.  So while she loved the beach, she couldn't chill.  So after a few frantic texts, hubby drover her back to a friend to keep for the night.

Then all went really well.  Kids played in the water, I took fun pictures, we ate delicious food and we did some stargazing.  Or sort of searching for stars behind clouds, because during the big meteor shower night, it was cloudy and we saw basically nothing.  I saw one shooting star and one child saw two.  But anyway, we were having a fun family time...until it was time to go to sleep.

I was under the impression that once it got dark, it would cool off.  Umm, I am quite sure that it got hotter out.  I could not sleep at all.  Four family members were sort of sleeping and one daughter and I could not sleep at all.  So after a few hours of sweating and not sleeping, I woke up everyone at 2am and we packed everything up and came home.  Camping fail!!!


The next family trip was better.  This one was heading down south to Mizpe Ramon to do stargazing and see the Machtesh Ramon which is a giant crater, of a type that exists only in Israel.  This time I was smarter and made reservations at a youth hostel.  After a long drive down, where us generous parents let them buy whatever junk they wanted at the gas station, we arrived in time to watch the sunset in the Crater. 

My choice was ice cream and Arak

We asked for directions at the youth hostel and they sent us to a great space to take pictures.  But they also said, there is water there but do not go in, it has been standing already for four months.  No problem, we weren't about to go into water anyway.  We arrive at said spot, and what do we see?  Tons of Israelis not only in the water but with inner tubes and arm floaties for the kids. Guess no one warned them or they didn't care.  We were satisfied with looking around and taking pictures.  I learned while there, that I am too short and not skilled enough to take cool jumping pics like my kids and husband do.  I need to practice.

We finished off the night by attempting to see another stargazing event that night "downtown" in Mizpe Ramon.  But again it was too cloudy so we ended up just wandering around, having a few snacks (of course) and watching my eldest join a Wii Just Dance Party that was him and twenty pre-schoolers.

The next day included a decent youth hostel breakfast, a visit to the Ramon visitors center and more awesome pictures.  I have been to the visitors center before but now it is also based on the Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon.  The museum is really great and because it is a national park, it is reasonably priced.  Then rush back home because it was a Friday, buy shabbat food, get the dog and relax.  A great end to the summer.

Teenagers love early wakeups

Don't fall backwards kids

Alone:

Okay, the next week began with hubby flying off to NY for work.  He doesn't really travel for work but he had some sort of event, not 100% sure (okay to be honest, he has been at the same company for 18 years and I still don't really understand his job)  I just know that I love his company.  So he flies off while I am at at work.  The kids are home alone with the dog.  I am working overnight.  I get a text around 11pm, that one daughter went to the laundry porch (our laundry is outside) and a big fat mouse was staring at her.  But I shouldn't worry because she isn't afraid.  I just tell her to shut the door and I will investigate tomorrow.  No big deal.  Then I start getting texts at 1am that the same daughter thinks the dog has an ear infection because she wont stop barking and scratching her ear.  I come home from work at 8am, and take the dog to the vet, where yes, she does have an ear infection.  Fun times giving the dog ear drops.

Let me just say, I did come home and look for the mouse.  It wasn't hard to find since it was peering out at me.  Ugh.  Aren't there enough cats in this country??  We set a trap and just didn't do laundry while the hubby was away.  Because I didn't want that little guy getting into my house.  Fun times!  We survived, he came home and the mouse has not been spotted again.  Hopefully some cat enjoyed him.  We did however, name him Gus-Gus.


Back to School:

Finally, the first day of school rolled around.  I asked not to work that morning so that I could be around for it.  Everyone was groaning about the first day but I was doing a happy dance.  I took the usual pictures, made sure they had their bus passes and waved goodbye.  Then I sat alone with a sleeping dog and drank coffee. But with the Jewish holidays, they have had one week of school and now they are basically off for a month give or take.  In that one week, here is what has happened:

#1 went to the opening day ceremony and saw my favorite Mayor

#2 went to another opening day ceremony and was one of five parents there

#3 the five of us there received a blessing from the principal
#4 the boys school had a fire (everyone was fine)
#5 so my boys had a half day
#6 city bus full of high school girls got into an accident with another city bus (everyone was also fine)
#7 my girls were on that bus and called me like it was no big deal
#8 I took them for ice cream, because what else do you do when your girls call and tell you that?
#9 snagged lockers at the boys school.  if you've read my previous blogs you'll see that lockers are a key element of back to school
#10 and yes, the microwaves have arrived in school, phew.  All is right in the world

Finally:

Well, the chagim have arrived, earlier than usual.  I am thankful for so many things, but especially for being blessed to able to live where I live, for having a big family who keeps things exciting, for our health and safety and for the feeling of safety we have here.  I am thankful for my dream job even when it is hard.  And I am thankful for my husband who is awesome in every way and who keeps me calm, especially when I call him and inform him that when he comes home the first thing he needs to do is investigate a mouse situation.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year and a wonderful year ahead.  And if you made aliyah this year and joined us, well wouldn't that just be the cherry on top???

Who's on 1st?

Welcome to the latest and great version of my life in Israel.  

Let's begin with a laugh.

Hebrew and other assorted language errors of the past month (the ones I can remember)

Hebrew word for yes: Ken
Hebrew word for nest: Ken

Why is this relevant to my life?

Well, for all of the time (just over a month) that I have been in the NICU,  we make the babies these little nests out of cloth diapers. It helps then to feel more secure.  So a few weeks ago, I was being shown how to make this nest. I make one. Then the nurse I'm following comes over and asks me something and I say yes (ken).  I often just answer people without pausing to see if I understood everything.  So she asks me again. I say yes (ken). Finally I say, wait. What's this thing called? (Pointing to the nest). So she says Ken.

Haha. Then I explained my confusion. Hopefully I seemed less like a total idiot.  We both got a good chuckle out of that one.

Update, yesterday I was working, and I had prepared a nice little nest (ken) for a new baby.  A different nurse comes over and tells me that even though this particular baby is in an open crib and not the incubator, I can still put the Kees, into the crib.  I am thinking, hmm, kees means pocket, so what in the world is she referring to.  So I point to the nest and say, umm, is kees another word for ken.  She looks at me like I am loony and says, yes. (which ps, is also the same word for nest)

I cant make this stuff up people!

That is my biggest Hebrew funny of this past month.  I have plenty of other times where I start speaking and then completely blank.  Like, I cannot even pull out the words in English, so forget Hebrew.  I just stare at people until my brain reboots. Like, when I put a blood test into our machine, and wanted to tell my head nurse that, before I went out to grab some coffee, that yes, I had put it in there.  But I could not remember the word for machine or the word for this specific machine.  So after trying a few words, I say, I put it in the, whatever.  So she says in Hebrew, centifuga?  I'm like, dang, I cant even remember an English word.  Hello, centrifuge.

Then there was the time this week where I was speaking for a while to a few English speaking families at work (I love when I get them as patients) and then I walk over to my head nurse to ask a question and I asked her the entire question in English.  Now, I am sure she speaks English or at least understands it.  But it took me a few seconds to figure out why she was staring at me.  That must be what I look like most of the time.  Oops.  Switched to Hebrew and got an answer.


And then we have the language issue of patients families who neither speak Hebrew, nor English.  Sometimes one spouse speaks some Hebrew or understands some English.  But it is a lot of pantomiming or asking other staff members who speak their language.  Next language on my list is Arabic, maybe in a few years when my Hebrew is more solid.

KIDS
Well, the summer is officially here and the kids are all over the place.

Kid #1 - working at a Judaica store.  Not sure what he does, but he sold himself to the owner as someone who can help with anyone who doesn't speak Hebrew but wants to shop in the store.  Apparently the owner does not speak English.  I think he shleps boxes, sells stuff and sits around a lot.  But he is happy, his boss seems happy and I am just glad he is not working in food service.  (I have seen him in my kitchen.)  Then he will spend a few weeks at Tzofim camp, where his job is DJ.  And then he and his friends are planning to work on a farm/kibbutz somewhere way way way up north for a few days or a week.  Because they can!

Kid #2 - she is spending three weeks at Hacker Camp in Jerusalem.  I cannot even explain how cool it seems, so I will link you.  Then she will go to Tzofim camp and then two weeks of surf camp.  Because Israel!

Kid #3- she refused to do most things I suggested for the summer. So she is busy with netball practice a few times a week, piano lessons crash course for a few weeks, and then soon she heads up to Haifa for the junior Maccabiah games to play netball.  Then off to Tzofim camp and then back home to complain that she is bored.  At least she has conquered important tasks like organizing her knitting.

Kids #4 - he is doing 6 weeks of the same Hacker Camp as kid #2.  Then also Tzofim camp, and then a few weeks home.  Today Hacker Camp has taken my kids to Shuk Machane Yehuda for a scavenger hunt and food tasting and who knows what else.  Jealous!

WORK IN GENERAL
So, I am just over a month into my new job and I am about to be set off on my own.  I am so happy that I switched jobs and hospital units, but wow, NICU has so much to learn.  Here are a few things I have done to keep my sanity while I navigate this new world and job.

#1 - text with a friend in America who has been a NICU nurse for almost 20 years.  Also, she is almost always awake.
#2 - Facebook message a different friend, same story
#3 - take a coffee break every shift, I have learned form my last job to ASK, and they are very good here about making sure everyone gets a break. My hospital has a mall. Once I even went to it and got  a sandwich!  Big Day!

#4 - ask to do skills even when I am scared to do them.  Because I had better learn them now while I have supervision
#5 - after successfully placing a feeding tube, totally alone, on a brand new, 2.5lb baby, it is possible that I high-fived that baby's teeny hand.  Now I am wondering if anyone else saw me.
#6 - when I try and calm a baby while taking blood or something like that, I say, awww, you're okay, you're going to be okay, you're doing a good job.  I am not sure if I am talking to the baby or to myself most of the time.

WHAT ELSE IS NEW?
I am enjoying my new part time work schedule.  It gives me time for important things like laundry, eating Israeli breakfasts and even seeing my kids.  I even managed to spend a whole day with one teenager, do an art project, go shopping and eat lunch, and we are all alive to tell the tale.  It was even fun (I hope she agrees).  She has, gasp, asked to do it again!!!

DOG
Well, Goldie is still stuck in her puppy stage.  Someone remind me again why I got a dog? Should have just gone for having twins again! But seriously, she is a lot of fun when she is being normal.  We have finally braved the dog parks, and go only when they are empty.  She has discovered how much fun it is to run like a lunatic and then flop over.  She is also enjoying her occasional visits back to her homeland, the farm where she was born.  She goes for days where no one is home here and she gets to exhaust herself playing with her puppy friends.  Although last time we picked her up, it seemed like the puppies were bullying her and she was put with two big Golden Retrievers.  Perfect for my 8lb dog who thinks she is a big dog.

LIFE IN ISRAEL
Well, we continue to be very happy with our decision to move ourselves here.  I mean, sure, I still have not found where to shop for certain things, or how to be a bit pushier, but we love life here.  We feel less stressed, our kids have amazing opportunities that they would not have had in NJ, their education seems better and they seem happier.

My biggest fear about moving here was that I would never learn Hebrew.  And here I am, making embarrassing mistakes every single day, but working in an intense job, in Hebrew.  And ordering food in Hebrew, going to the doctor, speaking to the schools, all in Hebrew.  Sure, some people act like they cannot understand me,.  And I probably sound like a three year old with a bad accent.  But then there are the others who act like they understand me perfectly and promise me things will get easier. One day I might even conquer speaking to my neighbors in Hebrew, emphasis on the maybe.  I am really just helping them to practice their English.

Keep On Keeping On

So you know that I will start this off with food.  But I meant to start it off with friends.  The main reason we chose this specific neighborhood in our town, is because of friends.  We do not have family in Israel (save a semi cousin who I will get to later)  Anyway, we have good friends that I/we have known since we are 18.  We now live on the same street, maybe a seven minute walk.  However, it is oddly hard to see each other.  We finally made a breakfast date.  And I had totally been planning to get the waitress to take a picture of us but after I got home I realized that I had forgotten.  Thankfully I at least got a picture of the food.  Next time, selfie!!!

Netball:
As I have mentioned in the past, one daughter is doing netball this summer and has finally gotten her own netball.  I begged her to let me take a picture because I love that it is an Israeli branded ball.  Go Junior Maccabiah Netball Team!  Kids, I can't help it that I like to take pictures of you.  (Although I have recently realized that I take way more pictures of the dog)

The dog:
Yeah, she is still a cute pain in the bum.  Because of my work schedule we were slightly late to get her groomed.  So now she has a summer haircut.  Still cute, just looks a little naked.  Follow her on Instagram @GoldieFlufferNutter  (I think. I cant keep up with Goldie and her social media)

Hebrew missteps:
Part I

So we are all eating dinner, acting normal. Hubby was not home, so he was probably at shul or work, I do not remember.  Anyway, we are discussing children.  And how one child  thinks I treat another like the Golden Child. So said child says, I am a golden child, I am special, like Yosef. He was also a ben zekunim.  At first I was offended because ummm, I was 27 when this child was born and a ben zekunim means a child of old age.   Well, apparently this child thought that meant the youngest child. HAHA.  Kids, they do make you laugh!

Part II
One girl went to the zoo with her class. The safari actually. There was an exhibit and the zoologist said in the exhibit there was a tarnagol hodu.  Supposedly this animal was acting crazy.  So at dinner this child is telling us this story in English and says, and we saw Indian chickens.  Hubby and I look at each other and are like, what the heck is an Indian chicken.  We said, ummmm, what did you see?  What was it called in Hebrew?  And this is where the truth came out.  What she saw was a turkey.

Cue the laughter.

Now, tarnagol means chicken.  Hodu means India. But Tarnagol Hodu means a turkey.

#IAmNotTheOnlyOneMakingThesesMistakes

Work:

Okay, so life has been whirlwind since my last blog.  Why you may ask?  Well, I was happily keeping myself more than busy with my new job.  Navigating a new profession, a new language, new friends etc..  I was starting to get the hang of everything and how everything worked at my job.  (never did figure out the shortcut from the time-clock to the locker room though) One afternoon, out of the blue I see that I have a few missed calls.  I never can check my phone at work.  It was a lucky day if I had a chance to get to the bathroom more than once a shift.  And even if I do see my phone ring and I do not know the caller I always assume it is Shufersal calling me to tell me they don't have some item and then we start a fun game of Hebrew miscommunication.  Anyway, I see that I have a few missed calls. So I listen to the voicemails on my way home.

It was the nurse recruiters from a different hospital.  When I started job searching I applied to two hospitals at the same time.  I wanted to work in the NICU which has always been my dream.  But one hospital only had openings in Medical/Surgical nursing and one said I needed a special NICU course.  I have not even been in Israel long enough to take this course.  Anyway, thanks to friends, I did manage to get my resume to the right person and snag a job in the postpartum unit at hospital number two, where I had been happily baffled in Hebrew for almost two months.

And then I get this call.  Hospital that did not have a spot now had a spot in the NICU if I wanted it.  I had told them that was what I really wanted.  I started off by thanking them and saying, no, I have a job, etc..  I have never left a job in the middle, only if the school year were ending or something like that.  Then they called me again the next day and I said, okay, I will just come and visit the unit and ask questions. Ha - famous last words.

To make a longish story short.  I now work in the NICU at Hadassah.

I have gone from white to green

This sort of blows my mind.  I am not usually one for brand names and such, but Hadassah is just a part of my life (I am even a lifetime member thanks to my mother in law)  And another fun and strange fact: My very first job out of college was working for Hadassah - in New York.

When I told this to someone and they had no idea there was also Hadassah in America, I said, umm yeah, that is where a lot of the money comes from #ReinforcingAmericanStereotypes

cue "The Circle of Life"

Now, I have only been working for a few days and yet I already have a story (stories) for you, oh faithful readers.  Every new job comes with the dreaded paperwork and the dreaded, 'I don't know where any office is located, where do I park, who can I hound to answer all of my questions, etc'..  It does not help that this hospital is a maze.  And let us remember again that everything is in Hebrew.  And even though my Hebrew is much better, I am still not super confident about it.  And I will never have the full Israeli attitude needed to get things done.  Even in America I sort of waited for people to ask if I needed something instead of asking.  I vividly remember in preschool when the teacher walked around pouring juice glasses, always hoping she would just hand me one and I wouldn't be left without and then have to speak up.  Not much has changed.

Anyway, I get to my first day on the unit and my new manager hands me (and the other new nurse) a uniform.  You have to go down to the laundry and get set up in the computer for your uniform.  They have to sync the machine to your ID card and size.  And then you get uniforms dispensed from a machine.  Anyway, she hands us extras of her uniforms because we don't even have ID cards yet so we cant get anything.  I am like, umm, this isn't going to fit.  She says, I think it will, try.  Awww, isn't she so sweet.  So I try.  The shirt is good.  The pants are good if I only need to be covered from knees to ankles.  So I tell her that the pants aren't happening.  She hands me a different pair, one size bigger from some other cabinet.  I manage to yank those suckers up and all is good as long as I have no plans to breathe or sit.  Even if i have plans to breathe or sit, I will not be able to follow through on those plans.

The next day comes and I still just have this one little uniform which I washed because I am not yet in the system.  So I go in on the second day and I say to the nurse I am following.  'Look, these aren't my pants.  I need to go and talk to the laundry and get me some pants.'  So I go down and the guy who is needed to place me into the system is gone for the day.  But I tell the guys sitting there, 'look, I cant breathe.  I need pants.'  Thankfully one took pity on me and handed me a pair of scrubs and wow, not only could I breathe after that I could even sit if I wanted to.  Life is glorious!  You know it was a desperate situation if I walked up to someone and asked in Hebrew for new pants because I cannot breathe in mine. Ha!  Nailing it!

Driving:
Okay, driving is not exactly my favorite activity.  But I had to drive on the orientation day and the first day of work.  I am very trusting of Waze but now I am in a fight with them.  Let me begin by, Hadassah is at the top of a mountain.  Like, it is plopped into this amazing setting.

But that means that it has a beautiful (narrow) winding road leading up to it.  This American is too faint (feint?) of heart to handle it.  But I have done it a few times and lived to tell the tale.  Anyway, on the way home from orientation, Waze takes me on a different route.  I guess it doesn't understand that I would prefer sitting in traffic versus going a new difficult way.  Long drive short, I went down the road that our semi cousin calls, The Wall of Death.  And she is Israeli Israeli (which is why I asked her to look at my route and tell me where I had been.)  It was terrifying.  She tells me it is one of the most beautiful roads in Israel but you really have to know what you are doing or it can be very dangerous.  Yeah, ummmm, check me off for not knowing what I was doing.

Day #1 (the lighter blue is the scary road)

Next day comes and I check Waze first and I choose the longer but easier route home.  All is good until I guess traffic starts to build and we switch routes.  Suddenly I am going a way I have never been.  I should have stopped and turned back when Waze took me through the parking lot of Yad V'Shem.  I mean, that can't be a good sign.  But no, I kept going.  Lets just say the second route made the first one seem simple.  There was much praying and breathing.  Another reason this is such a holy place.  Everyone is praying while driving.

Day #2 (everything is the scary other route)

Thankfully I am now registered for the work provided transportation and will always be skeptical of you WAZE!

On that note, I think I need to end this blog.  It is bringing me back stress from my drive.  Ah, but did I mention the view from the NICU.  It is amazing.  One day I will snap a picture of it.