Updates

Shira and I just went to the bank to pick up the credit card and checks that I ordered last week. We were out of there with the checks and credit card in about five minutes. My advice to all of you ... if you ever have to go to Bank Leumi in Modiin go at 10:45 on a Wednesday. I'm not guaranteeing anything though because when we left there were three people in line. We just got lucky.

I haven't been having much success with the laundry. Last week, I accidentally washed Zvi's tie dyed t-shirt in a load with some other things that weren't so dark. It ran all over a few things. It mostly got pajamas though so it wasn't as bad as it could've been. Then on Sunday night I noticed that the clothes weren't drying. After trying again, I realized that the dryer wasn't going around and around so even though it was getting hot, it wasn't drying the stuff. JJ and Aliza were kind enough to lend us their old dryer that was in Jerusalem. So Monday we went to Jerusalem to bring it home. That dryer still takes a long time to dry things but it works really well and we're thrilled that we didn't even have to survive one day without a dryer. Thanks!!

Rivka got a note home from her Hebrew language teacher yesterday. She teaches reading comprehension/creative writing to the class - the entire class. I've told Rivka numerous times that she really doesn't have to worry about those classes because there is no way that she could possibly expect to keep up in a class like that filled with Israelis. She insists on trying her hardest though and yesterday the teacher assigned the class to write a story. Rivka wrote a story in Hebrew so she could complete the assignment. It was a great story in excellent Hebrew. The teacher was so impressed with that particular story and with Rivka in general that she sent home a glowing report. Rivka really is a an amazing girl!

Zvi has also had a very good week and is adjusting very well to school. Yesterday he went to Chashmonaim to visit a friend after school. One of us (most of the time Shira) still goes with Leora for one hour at the beginning of gan. She screams when we leave but supposedly calms down and plays pretty nicely after that. Hopefully it's getting better. This week has really been very good so far; we haven't had the storm that Shira expected.