To Texas and back

Oh boy,  so much to share.

We set off on our wedding adventure to Texas on Tuesday morning. Our plane was delayed for five hours which was good and bad. Good because at least the airline called us hours before so we could plan. Bad because we got to Texas late and got a late start on seeing people and going sneaker shopping (priorities).  I should note that this was also the final journey for my backpack that I've had since high school. It still has my initials with my maiden name. My new bag was waiting for me in Texas. I chose not to have my married initials embroidered. Let's say that my old initials are ASP and my married last name begins with an S. That's not a good situation for things with initials. Goodbye backpack. You've had a great life.

The trip. Okay, while I love ElAl because they are the national airline, and the food is kosher, I was not a fan of the ancient plane we took. Suffice it to say that you know your airplane is past it's prime when the armrests have ashtrays in them. My kids have never seen such a thing. We eventually made it to Boston and then Dallas to see cousins.

We arrive safely in Boston and then take a comparatively luxurious plane to Dallas. Land in Dallas, all is well, minus one suitcase. (not mine, but hubby's, phew). Anyway, since we were delayed, we decided to meet our cousins at the restaurant instead of their house. The adults had fun, half of the kids were basically asleep on the table. We spent a fun night at our cousin's house in Dallas, our kids and their kids got to spend some time together, my kids' dream of rice krispies was realized, and all was well. It was a short but nice visit.

Now we had the prospect of driving from Dallas to Austin. After a fairly quick stop at the airport to pick up our missing bag, we were off. Okay, I admit that while living in the USA, I was a slight HGTV fan. I didn't have a problem, really. I could have stopped anytime I wanted.

One of the HGTV shows has a shop on the way from Dallas to Austin. It's a shop where they sell their housewares that are featured on the show. So of course, I planned that into our trip. We basically jumped out of the car, walked around the outdoor area that we've seen on the show, snapped a few pics and hopped back in the car. Dreams are easily fulfilled in this family!

Eventually, we made it to Austin, tired but in one piece. One supermarket trip later, one surprise visit from uncle Jon in the supermarket and all was good. Checked into our airbnb and got some sleep.

Thursday : we go shoes shopping for my still shoeless girls. After I faint from the price of Italian sandals, which shockingly we didn't purchase, we go to this neat looking  toy shop next door. We are all wandering around and having fun. It's one of those shops that has so many interesting and random toys. So as I'm walking by the register, I hear one of the cashiers say to a customer, "A square is a rectangle, but a rectangle is not a square." This freaked me out because my littlest child, Aka Mr. Wizard, says this all of the time. So about 20 minutes later, we are ready to pay and I ask the cashier if he is the one that said that (there were several people working) and he says yes. I told him that my son (points to son) says that all of the time. And then, as though scripted, both the cashier and my son turn to me and say, "well, it's true." OMG, it was like seeing the future. I can totally see my kid working in a funky store like this just for fun, as a side job from whatever scientist he becomes.

Friday we finally get to see my sister and her kids. All of the girls had our nails done and then Starbucks! That's a good start to any day. Than mall trip success to find shoes! We finished Friday off with a great shabbat dinner with everyone!

Shabbat day was relaxing since we were alone, but then the kids were bored. Luckily my sister and her kids stopped over for lunch and cousin shenanigans. Fast forward to after shabbat, we had a mad rush to get ready and arrive at the wedding. We made it! I've learned over the years how to get a biggish family ready in a very short period of time.

The wedding itself was beautiful. My baby brother is married. Eek!!! I'll have pictures once they get them from the photographer. I didn't even bring my phone to the wedding to take pictures. I needed my hands free to drink margaritas. Priorities!!! The big wedding party finale was awesome. We all lined up to form a path outside and we had these enormous sparklers that were lit, that the bride and groom walked through. Super cool ending!

Okay, another fast forward. Great Sunday brunch, more hanging out, shopping,  hair cuts, cousin and family time, more eating, first time for root beer floats, bat bridge, etc.... Loads of fun for all!

The rest of the family left on Monday and we came home on Tuesday (well, we didn't arrive home until Wednesday).  That's right. Home. Because that's what Israel is. As fun as it was to see everyone and to celebrate as a family, Israel is our home now.

Some pictures from a mini reunion at JFK Airport with one side of the family. Good thing we had a long layover. They brought us delicious pizza and treats and it was loads of fun seeing everyone.

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!!!

Moving on... And end of ulpan...

Welcome back.  It's been a little while.  I've been super busy but apparently doing nothing.

Politics : even though I hate politics

Life in Israel continues along.  Seemingly much better than whatever chaos seems to be going in in America.  Okay  so our prime minister is being investigated for a few things and the health minister seems to be taking kickbacks for something else.  But Israel is also planning to take in 100 orphaned Syrian refugee children.  As opposed to the USA that is now blocking entry to more  and more people.

School :

Well,  ulpan for the little guy is coming to an end.  They have been working on a special performance,  which was yesterday.  They did a dance with the flags (called daglanut)  and in my non biased opinion,  they did a great job.

Someone said something to me this summer and it really has been resonating with me.  She said that in Israel,  moments that make you feel connected to the land and to the Jewish people will just happen.  His school ceremony certainly fit the bill.  No one had to build a fake kotel and take my kids picture in front of it,  or orchestrate an elaborate Israel day.  Here they just call that a day! I'm not saying that the Israel days they used to have in their schools weren't good.  They were and at the time we would get all excited over it.  But now we have jumped up to really just being a part of what is happening here even if we lose some stuff in the translation.  (but we get the gist,  usually.  I hope) This is where I remind you that Israel is open to you.  It's never too late to move here.  And a friendly reminder to have a valid passport.  Always.

 We will be sad to see his ulpan end,  but I think he is ready for a regular classroom.  He has been bored in ulpan for a while,  so we shall see if he is ready for the challenge of a full time Hebrew classroom.  I know that he is happy not to have to ride the bus anymore.  He complains everyday that it smells like bleach.  Ummm,  it could smell a lot worse kid!

After his ceremony,  the adult ulpan crew headed back to our ulpan.  But we decided that since we would arrive during break time,  we should stop for some coffee first.  I'm sorry to report that I didn't get a picture,  since you know I'm obsessed with latte photos.  We arrived in time for the second half of class.  Phew!

Side nots: youngest child  leaves the oddest things in his pants pockets.  I was doing laundry the other day and his hexaflexagon escaped.  He apparently is making them for all of his friends at school.

What is a Hexaflexagon?


The girls went away for a shabbaton with the middle school grades in their high school (if that makes sense).  It seems like they had a great time, although one did comment that,  omg,  they had to listen to so much Hebrew.  Ummm,  yeah kids.  Because we live in Israel.  Duh.  (and I say that duh with love girls).   I definitely felt very outnumbered by boys this shabbat. At least we had a lot of company over (15 including us). And most importantly for the girls,   their grade made sweatshirts so they have some official,  "I live in Israel" gear.

One thing I really love about the schools here  (aside from the education) is that when they charge you for school (yes,  we do pay for school here,  it is just pennies compared to Jewish schools in America) is that all of the trips they take the kids on are included in the school fees.  They don't ask us to first pay tens of thousands of dollars and then tack on a shabbaton or an overnight to Masada or an apple picking trip.   All part of the fees.  Go Israel!!!

Cholim Chadashim חולים חדשים:

This is a play on words of Olim Chadashim עולים חדשים (New immigrants).  And means new sickness.  Basically because we are not used to the germs and illnesses here we get sick a lot during the first year.  And wouldn't you know it,  my first real illness is right before my big exam.  I can't hear anything,  I can't think and I want to hide in bed.  Will I magically be cured by tomorrow?  Unlikely.  I have at least one sick child as well.  Luckily just colds but annoying anyway.  Now it's a game of  who gets it next and how much tea  can we drink?

Ulpan:

Which bring us to our favorite subject.  Ulpan.  Hebrew studies.  Tomorrow is my big exam.  I would say that I don't care about my grade,  except:

#1  I need to pass the gimmel exam in order to take my nursing exam in English.  Messed up I know,  but whatever.  If I don't pass gimmel then I have the option of taking the nursing exam in Hebrew.  Or I can take it in English and take a separate Hebrew proficiency exam.

#2  oh yeah,  I'm  only in ulpan bet (level 2) but taking the level 3 exam.  No biggie.

#3 it's possible that I'm  slightly competitive.  Don't ask my sister.

Hebrew :

And ulpan brings me to my next discussion about Hebrew.  So here I am,  feeling way more confident about Hebrew than I was a few months ago.  I ask questions if necessary,  but often pray that no one will ask me questions.  So I needed to gas today,  which I hate doing.  It's always crowded and I always choose a bad line.   But the alternative was breaking down on the way to Taekwondo.  So I brave the gas station,  and accidentally pull into the full service lane.  I think to myself,  okay,  this is fine.  Because then I don't have to remember which buttons to push or omg what is my license plate # etc...  Except seriously,  the guy asks me questions that I'm not prepared to answer.  At my confusion,  he switched to English.  Crisis averted and car filled with $100 of gasoline.  Because gas is expensive here. Ugh,  way to knock me down a peg nice gas guy.

In other news.  Some of my children have entered into the sunset photo contest that hubby and I are having.  The following are a few submissions.

Aliyah, Politics and Food...

Welcome back.  Let's see,  what has been happening in the adventure show that is my life? Well,  I promised to discuss food in Israel and I will get to that.

But first,  this.

1999

Now,  as you know  we had planned to make aliyah back in 2002. It took us 14 extra years to actually get here.

So I am not one to say that aliyah is easy.  However,  it is easier than you think.  Yes,  we miss our family and friends in America.  But in this day and age we have Internet,  Skype,  FaceTime,  WhatsApp,  etc....  You can stay in touch fairly easily.

It isn't the same as when I hosted every event at my house and the family all came over.  But you don't feel as out of touch.  It isn't like the days of when I came to Israel for the year and 35 of us shared one pay phone.  And four people had a name similar to mine (yes,  three of them were boys,  but let's not begin the discussion about how I have a boy's name).  I actually enjoyed sharing the one phone.  Our parents had no idea what we were doing.  Really,  we were good mom and dad, don't worry.

Politics :
I am not political.  For real.  I know some people hate when someone says that,  but I just try and stay out of it.  Unless you are my favorite Knesset member,  Sofa Landver.   Or unless you are the mayor of my city, who my friends think I am stalking. But it's just a healthy appreciation for others who are working to make my town a great place.  Okay,  and he is quite charismatic.

So I am watching what is going on in America from afar.  I don't have television and I try and read articles as I can but it isn't the same.  But what I really see are tons of people,  specifically Jews,  because they are the majority of my Facebook friends,  and they are scared of what antisemitism is coming to America.  And what will happen.  This is the time people.  At least consider aliyah.  You have the right to be a citizen here.  Sure it isn't perfect,  but I'm happier than I've ever been.  And things happen here that wouldn't or couldn't happen anywhere else.

Example :

I have semi mastered online grocery shopping here.  Sure, sometimes I order two kilo of peppers because I think it's pounds  and then I eat peppers with every meal for a week.  Or once I was trying to order fish sticks and Google translate told me it was frozen fried Princess fish.  But those blips aside,  it's fabulous.

Anyway,  this past week, we had groceries delivered.  Normally  the delivery guys will being it to my kitchen for me.  But this time the hubby was home and greeted them at the door.  The delivery guy offered to bring it up and hubby said no,  but they asked again.  So he said  no,  don't worry  I have a lot of children,  they can do it.  And I heard the delivery guy say,  oh,  lots of children,  Baruch Hashem (Thank Gd).  Now,  I don't have a lot of kids, but in America it was considered a lot of kids.  Here,  I just have a normal family size.  And everyone seems to love kids.  I wonder if I could have fit on an Israeli sidewalk with my triple wide stroller.  Hmmmm.  Also,  how often does your grocery delivery guy say stuff like that.

Kosher Food l everywhere.  Like literally wherever you go.

And that brings me to food.  Okay,  it's possible that I've become a bit obsessed with taking pictures of my breakfast and of my vegetables.  And I can't quite figure out why.  I think part of it is the novelty of the kosher breakfast,  part of it is that I'm proud when I cook anything on my one burner stove top and part of it is that the food is just freaking good here.

I'm obsessed with breakfast.  And the fact that hubby and I are both free on Fridays.  So we try and go out to breakfast as often as we can,  alone!!!  Except the kids got wind of the fun we were having and they want to come and spend time with us.  Ummmm,  kids,  I'm with you all of the time.  Remember when I homeschooled you for two years and we spent literally every second together.  Or when I couldn't afford daycare for the gang and so I stayed home with you for years.  And then I started teaching preschool and one of you was in my class???  Remember???  We are always together.  But fine.  So far we've taken 3/4 kids by themselves to breakfast with us.  One more to go.  And then, sorry kids, but the adults will be splurging on breakfast alone on Fridays.

Vegetables:
They are bright and they are delicious and they arrive kind-of dirty so they are probably healthier.  Also I can't eat cauliflower anymore here after the incident of the blue caterpillar infestation.  And some vegetables don't exist (where are you parsnips)  or are expensive (broccoli)  so basically we (minus two kids who hate vegetables)  eat loads of tomatoes (except the husband who hates those) ,  cucumbers,  peppers,  onions and zucchini.  Seriously,  I've had more zucchini in the past six months than I've had in the rest of my life.  It's cheap and delicious and dirty.  Mmmmm.

Eggs:
Okay,  I'm just going to go with the assumption that my eggs basically go from hen house to my refrigerator in about fifteen minutes.  Because otherwise,  I wouldn't be able to deal with the fact that my eggs are almost always dirty and often have feathers stuck to them.  So now,  I've become a person that cleans eggs before I use them.  New normal!

Cafe Hafuch,  aka Lattes :
No complaints here.  I drink two every Friday at our breakfasts and make them at my house a few times per week.  If I were employed I might even buy them daily.  But alas,  I'm not employed yet, so I settle for one a week.  Trust me,  they are delicious.  Israelis are very serious about their coffee.  My favorite part is when they make designs in the foam.  I take pictures of them weekly if possible.

In conclusion.  I'm not political.  But if I were,  I'd tell you to get your passport,  and be aware of what is going on.  Also,  if you've ever considered aliyah,  keep considering it.  It took us a long time to get here but better late than never.  If you like food or at least staring at food and photographing it, then come and visit.  Or move here.  I'll take you out for a latte.

I'll end this with a photo of what my youngest child was doing last week.  He had a friend over for a few hours and they disappeared for two hours.  They returned home with this creation.   Apparently they used a knot called a keshermot (or something like that) that he learned in Israeli scouts.  Proud!!!

Spying on your kids can pay off

Since my last posting,  nothing too earth shattering has occurred.  So that's the good news.  And in more good news,  I got the chance to go back to Jerusalem again.  A college friend was celebrating her son's bar mitzvah at the Kotel (Western Wall).  And since I live here now,  I decided to try and go.  And here in the land of miracles   it turned out that their son has a good friend who lives here and I was able to hitch a ride both ways.  Miracle,  because I was not too excited to ride the bus and no way am I driving into the old city.  No thank you very much.   The bar mitzvah was lovely and it was great to see an old friend (except neither one of us is old). And look,  I don't want to brag and make you all jealous.  But while at the kotel,  a bird left me some good luck on my jacket and head.  The land of miracles just keeps churning them out!

Since school is a recurring theme here (for everyone but the husband)  lets talk about school.  The little guy has been in an ulpan that our town runs,  for new olim children in elementary school.  So since September he has been in a class with kids of different ages,  all new olim from several different countries.  He has kids from France,  Sweden,  South Africa,  Australia,  America and I think New Zealand.  Well,  that ulpan is about to end.  And we have to choose a new school for him.  I alluded to this in my last blog.

Anyway,  we chose a school and signed him up.  But I don't think I mentioned a key piece of information.  When we took him to visit the school he had exactly one question.  Would you like to guess what it is??  Maybe think back to my old blog posting about back to school night at my kids high schools.  That's right.  He asked about the lockers. Yep, that's the only thing  he was curious about.  He has become Israeli.

But okay,  now I need to share with you the sweetest thing that happened.  Sorry if this embarrasses my kid.  Two nights before he started his new school,  the teacher called us to welcome us and to tell us what he needs to bring to school.  Then the day before he started,  he gets a phone call from a few boys that are in his new class.  They wanted to introduce themselves and meet him.

So,  the boys come over and give my child a little present with the sweetest note.  And they invited him to play soccer.  They all head to a park until dark.  After it gets dark  they all come back to my house and play a board game.  And as I'm  listening (spying)  from afar (the kitchen which was as close as I could get without joining their game)  I discover that none of them are English speakers.  That's right!  Finally finally I got to hear my youngest child speak in Hebrew.  I've been waiting!  PS he can speak Hebrew.  Just waiting for the accent to come in.

Fast forward to the next day.  Hubby walked him to the new school and took him into the classroom. (I might have been sleeping late)  He saw his new friends and apparently seemed happy.  And while that is the best part,  I have to share with you another best part.  His classroom had a sign on the door that they made for him and for the other new oleh starting that day.  They made the welcome sign in Hebrew for everyone,  in English for my child and in French for the new French speaking student.  Thank goodness I wasn't the one taking him to school because I definitely would have cried.  So special that they took the time to do that for the boys.  I'm hoping the new school goes as well for him as I hope it will.

We finished off the weekend with dinner at another neighbor's house (still love my neighborhood), and where we learned that Krembo has its own song,   the restarting of the parliament outside on shabbat and then NJ friends coming over after shabbat for a pizza gathering.  Busy times!

All in all,  a great week.  Oh,  and have I mentioned that the sky is beautiful here basically every single day?  The hubby and I have WhatsApp wars on who sends the best sky photo each day.  Except he has an amazing view from his office  and I'm  basically hanging out of my bedroom window taking pics.  At least we aren't competitive!