Lots of legs

Q. What do you call a black centipede type thing almost a foot long with about 300 legs?
A. An African Giant Black Millipede Rivka and Shira were sitting in the living room tonight while I was in my office when they called me to join them. Rivka had spotted this long millipede in the corner of the living room. I had to get it out of the house. I got two plastic bags and used one to try to push it into the other. It curled up in a ball and pooped all over the floor (apparently it wasn't really poop but it was just secreting a defensive liquid from its exoskeleton). I got it into the bag and brought it outside to the dumpster. I didn't realize this at the time but they are the "perfect pet arthropod". Too bad our lease says no pets allowed.

The Shuk in Ramle

First of all I need to clarify that the shuk was in Ramle NOT Ramallah. It's a city pretty close to Modiin with a mix of Jews and Arabs. I went with my neighbor Esti and I drove. When we reached our destination we started looking for parking but it was jammed packed. It was bumper to bumper in the parking lots. There was one car in front of me and I noticed some people coming to their car. The car in front of me was still scanning around for a spot but was passed this spot. She decided though that she had the right to this parking spot and not me. BUT I wouldn't let her have it. She was motioning me to back up so she could get it and I just refused. She even sent her passenger out to stand by the spot. Then it came time for the person in the spot to drive her car out. Well there was nowhere for her to go. The lady in front of me refused to move forward and I had a car behind me so I couldn't really go anywhere. Everyone started yelling at each other, it was really quite humorous. Finally after much maneuvering, the lady in front moved forward, I moved over to the side and the lady got out of her spot. I decided that it wasn't worth the fight anymore so I just backed up out of the parking lot and parked illegally. After all, I have Cypress license plates and don't get ticketed or towed.

(The Shuk was not too impressive but I managed to get some shekel items for the kids. )

Little League in Modiin

Life is becoming more routine so I haven't had much to post about lately. Also, my computer is broken so I've been using Shira's so she hasn't had much time to blog. She's off to the shuk in Ramle and all the kids are at school/gan so I have some quiet time to myself. There are a few more general things that I've wanted to put in here so here is one of them ...

I'm a coach in Little League this year and it's been pretty good so far. The good thing about Little League here compared to Baltimore is that it lasts for 9 months or so instead of 3. The bad thing is that it's only once a week and not 3. It's also very different in that we practice for the first half of the year and then play games the second half. So far we've only had practices every Friday and then we have a month vacation and then we start the real season. Zvi is on a "team" with about 35 8-10 year olds. We have six coaches and we've been doing various drills with them for 90 minutes every Friday. The kids seem to enjoy it and they're actually improving also. We will break the kids into three teams for the real season but for now we've been practicing with everyone together. It won't be easy to break the kids into teams because it's hard to tell without games who are the best players but we'll have some idea. Then during the season we play games against Gezer, Beit Shemesh, Chashmonaim and maybe another city or two.

We have an exhibition game next Friday in what is called the Chanuka Tournament. It's actually just two games against other teams and for that we'll probably be only one or two teams representing Modiin since many kids won't play. It will be fun to play our first game. The teams won't be the final teams for the regular season and won't "count." You can look forward to a post by Zvi or me about how the games go.

Also, this week they started eight weeks of bonus practices with two special coaches, including a Modiin Miracle player/coach, (I'm off the hook for these) on Tuesday afternoons. The practices start at 2:30 and Zvi only finishes school at 3:15 but we told Zvi that we can pick him up early from school and bring him to baseball every Tuesday as long as it lasts if he's good. He went yesterday and had a good time.

Meeting with the school psychologist

Today we met with the school psychologist for Leora's gan to see how she is progressing. Basically, she is not progressing but rather regressing. This past week was absolutely impossible. Leora started some new tricks. She now climbs fences, jumps out windows, pinches and punches. Yay, we are really proud of her new talents. But seriously, the situation is out of control.

The conclusion that we have come to is that we need to find Leora a gan that is a better fit to her needs. She is acting out because of anxieties and fears and it is only escalating. We are not going to tell her anything (so if you're reading this and you see Leora, please keep it quiet) but she will most likely be switching ganim after Chanuka break. Hopefully a new start with teachers that speak English is the answer. Wish us luck!

Thanksgiving weekend

I was off from work on Thursday thanks to the American holiday so we decided that we should do something with the kids. We planned on picking them up early and going to Zichron Yaakov to do something with some of my sister's (Ethel) family and some of Shira's brother's (Danny) family. Wednesday night we heard that Rabbi Raphael Marcus was niftar and they were bringing the body to Eretz Yisrael. He had been the rabbi of Shira's shul since she was little (Shira's brother blogged about his first memory of him) and his oldest son was my chavrusa in YU and I had gotten to know him after I got engaged. We both wanted to go to the funeral which was at 1 PM in Yerushalayim on Thursday so my father watched Yeshaya in Yerushalayim while we went to the funeral.

We got home just before the bigger kids came home from school so we waited for them and then went to pick up Leora from gan. By the time we got to Ethel's house in Zichron it was about 5:30 and there wasn't much time to do anything. Some of them went out to get the pizza and a movie (Shrek 3) and to pick up Danny's daughter Ayala while the rest of us just hung out at the house. The kids all watched the movie while the adults chatted.
Ethel's oldest two sons have been off from school for about six weeks because of the teacher's strike here. It's a little ridiculous but that's life. The 12 year old, Eylon, was sufficiently bored that he was interested in coming with us for Shabbos even though there really wasn't anyone his age and Maya had been planning on coming the entire time. We didn't have room for both of them so the two of them and Rivka took the train back to Modiin on Friday.

We hung out at Ethel's house on Friday morning and then drove back to empty the bag from that trip and repack for Shabbos. We picked up the kids from the train and drove to Yerushalayim for Shabbos. We were having another mini-reunion at the Inbal hotel. My sister Amy and my cousins Marlene Brody and Stuart Katz were there with their families. We had a nice time with my grandmother and ate plenty of food. Four of us went to the kotel this morning for Shacharis and Shira went to the kotel for mincha with a bunch of the girls. Too bad that neither of us went with Stuart on Friday night because Jerry Seinfeld was there.

My Favorite Quotes

I was at the gym today trying to make the time go by faster by thinking about what to blog about next. I got to thinking about the funny things the kids have said to me recently and thought, VOILA, perfect blog material. So here goes.

Rivka "Mommy are you on a diet?" "Why do you ask Rivka?" "Because you are in the worst mood."

Zvi "You're not supposed to have that candy" "Why not Zvi?" "Because you're on a diet"

(Okay, so maybe I'm a little obsessed with diet and exercise but it's not really making a difference in how my clothes are fitting).

Leora "I'm so thirsty. I want some water. Why can't I have water? Do you want me to die????"

Yeshaya (to me as I'm driving) "Mommy be careful" (said to me twice in one trip)

My all time favorite Yeshaya to David "Abba, I love Mommy" Yeshaya to me five minutes later "Mommy I hate you".

Rivka and Zvi update

In Baltimore, we always got glowing reports from the teachers about Rivka and Zvi. They're both so smart and wonderful kids at school and the kids all like them, etc. This year, we weren't sure exactly what to expect when we went to meet the teachers for parent-teacher conferences. Were they behaving well in class even though they don't understand? Were they doing well in school? Did other kids like them? We thought that they were both doing really well in all those things but we weren't 100% positive.

Last week, we went to meet Zvi's teacher. First of all, we are really impressed with her. She has called us numerous times to tell us about things or to ask us questions and seems to really care about him. She told us that he's really smart and especially good at math. We knew that but it's good to see that he's able to show it here even though he doesn't know the language. He's progressing really nicely and he got 111 on his chumash test. He's also made friends in class and even talks a bit to the Israeli kids. The teacher talks Hebrew to him almost all the time and he understands most of what she says. She is really impressed with him and we are so proud of him.

Tonight we met Rivka's teacher. She loves Rivka. She told us that she's such
a good girl and that everyone in the class really likes her. She is doing really well in class and she couldn't believe how well she did on her chumash test (100% on a test on the entire Parshat Naso). She could tell that she wasn't just spitting back the information but she really understood it and is really smart. She's also doing very well in math and is understanding more and more of what everyone says. She has lots of friends and socializes a lot with the Israeli girls. Two girls from her class live right near us but they only speak Hebrew. That doesn't stop Rivka from getting together with them often. We're so proud of her.

So far, we're very happy with the school and we really like the teachers. The two of them have adjusted so well in the time they've been in school. I can't believe it's been less than three months. They're amazing!

Tests

I have already taken 12 tests this year and I have 2 more coming up. One in Navi and one in Torah. I also have a book report that I have to give in on Thursday. But the good thing is that today we have a play so the teacher pushed of the Torah test until Thursday. Also this test isn't as hard because we're allowed to use our notes.

Does it only happen in Israel???

I have been wanting to blog about these observations that I've made for quite some time but never really had the time to sit down and do it. Not that I really have the time now being that's it's 6:21 pm and I have to bathe the kids and get them to bed.

The other day David and I were comparing our observations of how the city of Modiin is simply wasting their money. There is a light by the intersection near our house. Every morning and evening during rush hour there is a man that sits out there switching the light from red to green. For a country that has the latest and greatest shabbat clocks, could they not figure out how to time the traffic lights? Another example of the waste of money is the new park near our house. The park is completely finished and all the kids from the neighborhood have been anxiously awaiting for the tarps around the equipment to come down. I guess people got inpatient and started removing the tarps and enjoyed themselves at the park. Every shabbos the same thing happens. The tarps come down, the kids play and the next day the workers go and put the tarps up again. The only stopping the official opening of the park is a signature. Pretty pathetic.

I went grocery shopping the other day with Chanina Rosenbaum and we could only laugh at our experience. I got into line, unloaded my shopping cart only to find that my cashier decided to take a break. When she returned five minutes later she had to have a conversation with someone before starting to check me out. Whatever happened to multitasking? With our shopping carts loaded (bagged and loaded by yours truly) we headed to the car. Imagine trying to push a three wheeled shopping cart that loves to veer to the left - that was me. Brand new shopping carts made to veer to the left????

BUT what we also see is a community that is ever so friendly and warm. The sense of unity and caring is unbelievable. To be a part of this is so rewarding for us on many levels. We (I hope I can speak for the family) are so fortunate to be able to have this wonderful experience here in Israel.

Trying something new with Leora

Leora's ganenet, Chani, has been meeting regularly with the psychologist from the city and with the head of gans or something like that to try to figure out how best to deal with Leora. They really haven't given her any great ideas. My impression is that she's pushing to try to get them to put someone extra in the class for some time each day to work with Leora. Last night the psychologist called to tell us about their latest and greatest idea. Leora always eats very well in gan so they felt that if I brought Leora (Chani had previously told us that it's better when I bring her because she screams a lot louder and longer when Shira leaves than when I do) with food it might help. Maybe if I left her with Chani while she was eating they'd develop some kind of relationship.

There are really two problems at the gan. One is the separation; Leora has a very hard time parting from us and she screams every day when we leave. I usually walk her to the gate and she stands there screaming as I pull away. Recently, she went in a couple times on her own after about 5 minutes. The other problem is that she doesn't pay any attention to the teachers. When anyone talks Hebrew to her she completely tunes them out and now even when Chani tries to talk to her in broken English she doesn't listen. So the idea was that this food trick might help with both.

So I went with Leora around 8:35 to gan. It officially starts at 8 but we usually go at that time because it's too hard for the guard to keep her locked in when too many parents are coming and going. We brought "Shabbos cereal" and milk for Leora to eat and Chani went into a back room with us. There are 35 kids in the gan and the teacher and her assistant. So for a half hour it was 34 kids just with the assistant. Leora refused to eat or to even look at Chani for the first 15 minutes. Chani drew a picture of her bowl with cereal and Leora wouldn't look at it. First I tried not saying anything but Leora kept clinging to me so finally I told her to count how many of each color were in the picture and she counted together with Chani. Then they made a crown together but Leora continued to glance back at me to make sure that I wasn't going anywhere. I kept inching away from her and she seemed OK with that. Finally at 9:05 Chani had to go out to the classroom. Leora realized that meant that I was going to leave so she started running out the door. I pulled her back in and tried to talk her into staying in gan but she refused. So she went outside with me screaming just like she'd done on every other day. I asked Chani if she wanted to try the same thing tomorrow. She said that she was off until Friday and we'll see what happens next. I don't think this was any great success but we have a meeting on Sunday with the psychologist and we'll see what she says.

Shabbos in Nof Ayalon

We went away for Shabbos for the first time in more than three months and we are planning on going away two of the next three Shabboses also. Both of my sisters have invited us a few times for Shabbos and this was the first time that it actually worked out so we went to Nof Ayalon to the Fredj's. There are some great things about going away like the fact that no preparation and cleanup is really needed. The downside is that you're not at home. It's nice to be at home in your own beds. The accommodations were good though and we all had a good time until ...

Shabbos afternoon when the men were at mincha, Amy and her daughters took my kids to the park. Her kids love taking care of Yeshaya and he warmed to them and let them hold him and play with him. That was a nice little break. Anyway, Leora started running or something (the entire Shabbos, she found it quite amusing that she was able to walk, run or even sit in the middle of the street) and she tripped and got a big bump and cut her head on the street. It was a very small cut but it was pretty deep and Amy and Shira agreed that it was best to take her to Terem again. So immediately when Shabbos was over Shira dropped the rest of us at home and she went to Terem. They were lucky that there wasn't a long wait (Shira said that when she left the line was considerably longer) and they were in and out in about an hour. Leora got a butterfly stitch.

On the way home, Shira picked up my mother because we had plans to go out to play Panoply at a shul event. We got the kids to sleep and went to the shul. Our RSVP had gotten lost in the email so we were put at the table of "extras" but luckily that included the ADDeRabbi. His trivia knowledge hepled us finish in second place out of 11. The other two couples at our table were also very nice and did well too and we all had a good time.

A little shpatzir

Today, we decided to give Rivka the day off to go shopping with Shira and Yeshaya. The four of us went to the Sussman bris in Chashmonaim with my father and then they dropped me off at my grandmother's house while they went to Yerushalayim. She goes to a group in Bet Shemesh every day besides Wednesday so I usually try to spend some time with her on Wednesday mornings. Shira has assured me that it's only a twenty minute walk if you take the shortcuts so I figured I could easily walk home. I did not realize how many stairs it was. Here is a map of the various routes
The green dot at the bottom is our house and the red line at the top is my grandmother's apartment building. The pink line is that fastest way to go in a car because it's mostly mountains so you have to go around in circles. When you walk though you can cut out a lot of it by taking stairs. The red line is the way that I walked today. You can see at the top the red line going down cuts out a lot but that was 246 steps (give or take a couple). Then near the bottom I went on another 76 steps. All the steps were going up so that was quite a hike. It took me almost exactly 20 minutes so Shira was right but it was not an easy walk. The brown line that goes all the way around is the route that Shira walks every Friday so she can get exercise. Her gym membership is only good Sunday-Thursday so for exercise on Friday she walks. Sometimes Yeshaya and I join her for the walk and when we do we can't take the stairs so we follow the brown line around to get there and then the pink line home. That takes about an hour but it's a tough walk because it's really hilly. When she's on her own though she takes the stairs back. She still goes that crazy route to get there because apparently 320 steps up isn't enough exercise. That's more than enough exercise for me ... for a week!

Yeshaya's Going To Gan

Before we moved to Israel we really debated on the schools and programs where we would send our kids. The hardest decision was places for Rivka and Zvi. Thank Gd I feel that we made the right choice for them. The school really seems to be meeting their needs. We have parent teacher conferences tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes. It was funny, I was speaking to a neighbor that sends her child to the same school. She mentioned that had she been living in NY she would never have sent her daughter to this school. It seems too Bais Yaakovy to her. I responded to her and said that our kids were going to schools in Baltimore even more right wing than this school. I guess it's all about where you're living.

Yeshaya was signed up for a part time playgroup before we left, but when we got here it fell through. I happened to become quite friendly with the person who was going to run it but failed to convince her to start it up. Initially David and I were happy that Yeshaya would be home with us. He's only two and we were looking forward to spending time alone with him. That didn't last too long. He just is so bored not having other kids around. We (mostly David) read him books all day long because we don't have many toys. Then when the kids come home and it's homework time he becomes a little troublemaker. We decided that he needs some sort of program. So after a few weeks worth of phone calls, emails etc. I have successfully found him the perfect gan. I'm really excited for him to start on Thursday. Of course when I tell him that he's going to gan he says "NO". I hope we don't have a repeat of Leora.

For Leora's kindergarten (Gan Chova) we got the one we requested. We wanted a religious school with long hours. At times I regret that we didn't check out other gannim but I'm not sure that her adjustment would have been any easier at another place. She is definitely improving daily but I think that she'll probably continue with the screaming and crying until the end of the year. It's just her way of showing us that she loves us :-)

This time I really was sick

Sunday night I wasn't feeling well when we were at my Saba and Savta's house. Then when we came home I threw up the hot dogs that I had eaten and I felt really sick. When I woke up I still felt sick and my parents said that I didn't have to go to school. I stayed home all day but I basically just stayed in bed most of the time. I played on the computer a little and went for a short walk and played with my football a little bit. I took medicine a few times and after I'd take it I felt better for a while but then I felt sick again. I woke up in the middle of the night last night and still wasn't feeling well and in the morning I felt a little better but still not perfect so my parents said I could stay home again. Today, I feel much better than I did yesterday but I'm still glad I could stay home. We went to get haircuts and then to visit my Savta a little more.

It's raining it's pouring

When I went to pick up Leora from gan today it was just starting to drizzle. In the US when it rains everyone hates it and complains all the time so I turned to Leora's friend, the security guard, and said, "aww it looks like rain." He responded that it was wonderful that it was going to rain. I said that it was great for the farmers and for us eventually when we get the produce but not great for him who has to open and shut the gate for everyone in the rain. He said, "No, the rain is amazing for everyone." It's just such a different attitude here. It rained pretty hard for about an hour in the evening. We had a drop of rain on Friday night and a little bit before Sukkot but this was our first real rainfall.

Tonight we had our second bi-weekly dinner at my parents' house with the Fredj's (my sister from Nof Ayalon). We're also planning on going to them for Shabbos. We haven't written anything about this past Shabbos so a quick recap here ... We had two girls stay with us for Shabbos from "Anywhere in Israel" - a nice program which hooks up kids here for the year with places for Shabbos. Last week the Kletzels had two girls for lunch when we were there and we liked the idea so we signed up and got our own guests. For dinner we had the Baks and the Wines (minus Debbie and the baby who are in the States). The kids all had a great time together. Thanks to the girls sleeping over we had babysitters and Shira was able to come with me to both shalom zachars that we had for Sussman and Peimer. Then for lunch we ate at the ADDeRabbi and his rebetzin's house. Rivka tried Bnei Akiva in the afternoon but found it boring and walked home in the middle. She's just not into these Shabbos afternoon groups since she quit Bnos in Baltimore also.

[this post was actually made by David ... sorry]

Leora's birthday party at Gan

Before I get into the details about the birthday party I'd like to describe how gan has been going for Leora so far this year. Shira has described it partially in the past but I'll try to give a little more detail here. Leora is in gan chova which is for kids who turned 5 by Rosh Hashana so she's one of the younger kids in the gan. Officially the day is until 1:20 but you have the option to pay and have the kids stay as late as 4:30 at tzaharon. Everyone in Leora's gan stays for tzaharon. There is one ganenet (teacher) and one assistant for 35 kids.

Leora went to gan on the first day and basically didn't know a word of Hebrew. At least half her class though speaks English so it shouldn't be a huge problem. Neither of her teachers know any English though. So Leora was a little freaked out. For a while she pretty much screamed any time someone would talk Hebrew to her. She's gotten better with that and now just tunes people out but doesn't run away screaming. After a couple weeks, we/the ganenet decided that we should stay with her for an hour so she could stay calm. It never really worked because it just delayed the screaming (we've since cut it down to only stay for 15 minutes). When we leave, she screams and runs out after us. There is a security guard outside the gan (there are a couple other gans inside there also) who stands by the gate. The door is open in the morning and afternoon when the parents are bringing their kids but the rest of the time the gate is locked and the security guard has to open it for anyone who wants to come or go. Each day, Leora runs out after us and we lock her behind the gate like she's in jail. She screams and cries for 15-60 minutes until she calms down. The teachers claim that once she calms down she's good and has lots of fun in school. So I'm still hoping that one day we'll take her and she won't run out after us screaming. It's going to happen one of these days.

They do three birthday parties in gan at a time and only do them on Fridays. The parents bring aruchat eser and cake and the teachers have an entire schedule of games and songs that lasts for over an hour. So the party was scheduled for 9:30. I brought Leora to gan at 8 and hoped that she'd let me leave right away but she still screamed and ran out to the gate when I left. I picked up my parents so Yeshaya, Shira, my parents and I showed up at Leora's gan at 9:30 for the big party. She was sharing the spotlight with two boys.

It was a very nice party and we got to see firsthand how Leora interacts with some of the kids. I'll include below a video of the hokey pokey in Hebrew and some other assorted pictures. It was a lot of fun but of course Leora screamed when it was time for us to leave.

Filling up the house again

Zvi's friend Noach's parents went away for a couple of days so Noach is staying with us for two nights. Then yesterday, Shira decided to call her brother Eli for the first time in a little while. He had been learning at Ohr Somayach for the last few months but decided that it was time to leave. Someone else was moving into his apartment this week so he had to get his stuff out and he's not yet sure where his next stop will be. So we invited him to stay with us until he figures out where he wants to go from here. Yeshaya, Shira and I went in to Yerushalayim this morning to help him empty his apartment. We stopped at the kotel for a few minutes and then went to his place. He had a lot of stuff but didn't have any furniture to move so we were able to fit it all in the van (we had removed the seats before we left). Hopefully he'll find a new place that works well for him soon - for his sake (we love having him).

Accents

SaraK linked to an accent quiz which I recommend. My results were:

Neutral You're not Northern, Southern, or Western, you're just plain -American-. Your national identity is more important than your local identity, because you don't really have a local identity. You might be from the region in that map, which is defined by this kind of accent, but you could easily not be. Or maybe you just moved around a lot growing up.

Click Here to Take This Quiz

This pretty much nails it since I was born in Monsey but moved to Dayton, Ohio when I was a few months old so I learned to talk there and I lived there until I was 9. Since then I've lived in Bridgeport, CT., Monsey, Manhattan, Toronto, St. Louis, Baltimore and now Israel. I had Shira try it since she lived in Toronto from the time she was born until she was almost 24. She answered differently than me on a few of the questions but she got the same results. Maybe it only works for Americans.

Language Differences

I'm writing this story on behalf of Rivka who is too tired to type. Today in school there were two Enlish speaking girls that were talking in the middle of class. The teacher tried to get them to be quiet by saying "sheket". After a few minutes when they still had not stopped talking the teacher, who doesn't know English well, walked over to them and said "shut up now". All the English speaking girls looked at each other, wondering if they heard right and then started laughing their heads off. The teacher realized that she must have said something incorrectly and asked how to say sheket in English.

We really enjoyed that story.

Another nice Shabbos

I know it's getting kind of stale with us saying almost every single Shabbos about how nice it was. Sorry. It's just that Shabbos here has always been nice and relaxing. This week, we had the Sussmans on Friday night and in shul JJ introduced me to a couple who made aliya to Modiin just ten days ago. They don't know anyone here so they were planning on eating alone. I invited them for dinner figuring Shira wouldn't mind (she didn't) and they accepted. It's the first time I ever met a couple that both had the same first name - Elie and Eli. It can get a little confusing.

Rivka went to Chashmonaim for Shabbos to a friend's house. This girl's family also came for the year but they sound like they're more sure that they're going to make aliya. Speaking of which, we are no closer to a decision than we were last time I posted about it.

For lunch, we went to the Kletzel's house. We had a really nice time and learned a lot about health and how important it is to cleanse our bodies out from all the bad stuff that we eat. They are both vegans but they do serve chicken on Shabbos for their guests and kids. I've never seen so many fruits and vegetables in a house before. Wherever you turn there are more fruit for the kids to nosh. They were a little horrified to learn that I eat chips all day and that Shira's main staple is Honey Bunches of Oats.

Second encounter with the cops

I forgot to blog about the second time that the cops pulled me over. On the way home from Ganei Yehoshua the kids were a little wild in the car and I saw two cops getting into their car as we were approaching. I warned the kids to calm down or the cops would pull us over and that always scares them so they quickly relaxed and sat up straight. It didn't help because a minute later the sirens went on and I slowed down until they told me on the loudspeaker to go to the side of the road.

I knew that I had done nothing illegal and that it was only because of my license plate. By this time I'm already a pro at dealing with this since I was just pulled over last month. They came out and started asking me lots of questions and asked for my license and registration. This time I figured I could talk in Hebrew since unlike last time I hadn't done anything illegal. They were nice but genuinely confused by the strange plates and the fact that I had an American driver's license. They then made a bunch of phone calls and after about 15 minutes came back to the car and said "Sa" - Go. No explanation, no apology for pulling me over for no reason. I guess I shouldn't really expect it. They were just doing their job but I just wish that I had something to tell these guys so I wouldn't have to wait 15 minutes every time they get curious about the plates.

Living without a TV

When David and I met we were both in agreement that we did not want a TV in our house. There was so much garbage on the tube and we didn't think it was an environment we would want to raise children in. Then after a year and a half when we move to St. Louis, I said to David "you moved me away from my family and friends, you are not moving me away from my TV too". So along with our other boxes we took a tv from my parents. It was so nice in the mornings to let the kids watch Barney and other cartoons while I got to rest. Also, since it was CST we were able to watch Seinfeld reruns and be asleep by 11 pm.
However after three and a half years it was time to move again. We moved to Baltimore and were now closer to friends and family. The tv got banished to the shed. Of course my mom would complain bitterly every time she would visit that there was nothing to do and she needed a tv. Finally after several visits we took the tv out of the shed for her. We plugged it in, heard a loud pop, and there went the tv. At least we tried.
When I had Leora, David bought we a treadmill as a present (I picked it out). I needed something to do while I was exercising. I had a little black and white tv that I inherited from my in-laws and that did the job. Next thing you know, the tv was coming back upstairs into my bedroom and David and I would gather around the little screen to catch glimpses of Law and Order. I was in heaven though. We then started collecting more black and white little tv's as gifts from IBM. I was able to have one by my bed, one by David's and one downstairs.
One day Avi informed us he was moving apartments and he had an extra COLORED tv. I jumped at the opportunity saying it would be perfect for my mom who complained that the little black and white tv was useless for her because of the "vakatka" reception. We inherited the tv and it took a proud place in our new guest room in the basement. The kids only used it for one hour a week to watch cartoons on Sunday morning. At this point in our lives though, I didn't get to rest, because I was constantly needed to break up the fights.
More recently, once Avi and Tikki were married, they again had an extra tv. This one with a built in VCR. David wasn't into taking it, but of course I jumped at the chance. This tv that we inherited got the proud place in our bedroom. All this time we never had cable tv. One day though shortly before me moved to Israel we got a call from Comcast informing us that we were getting free cable all along because the cable to our house for the internet was missing a filter. Oh well. I was happy that I got all of my shows without needing cable.
Now to Israel. We do not have a tv. In fact in Israel you pay a tax if you have a tv, above any service fee. So I'm kind of in withdrawal. I've tried to find shows on the internet and sometimes I'm more successful than others. For example, yesterday I watched two back to back episodes of Criminal Minds not having to worry about buffering but when I tried it again later, the show would stop every few seconds to buffer. It was very annoying. So I guess I will have to resign myself to life without TV, but at least I have Facebook :)

SSDD

Same Stuff Different Day. Some people I know substitute the second "S" with a different word but being that people from various backrounds read this blog, we'll keep it nice and kosher.

Not much really to report here from Israel. The kids are continuing to improve their hebrew skills daily. Leora is still having trouble in Gan but every day there are little improvements. I think that she's just so used to yelling and screaming, she's kind of stuck in the routine.

All this kids have been having various playdates over the last few days. It has been nice for us to see them branching out socially.

The weather is slowly starting to get cooler. We are still wearing summer clothes, but at night you could wear a light jacket or sweater.

I guess you know that there isn't much to report when I've included a weather update. So that's all for now ...

Not getting yelled at

I have this irrational fear of people screaming at me. I'm not sure why but I just hate it when people yell at me. The problem is that in Israel the combination of the way people talk and the fact that it's a somewhat foreign language makes it sound like many people are yelling at me. I don't do very well with that. I'm happy to report that Shira and I went to change the arnona (property tax) and water to our names and we made it through the entire process without even the feeling that anyone was yelling at us. We didn't exactly accomplish what we needed to but at least nobody yelled at me.

Apparently I've passed this trait on to at least one of my children as well. Yesterday Zvi's class was going on a tiyul to go horseback riding. He should be thrilled, right? No class all day, no homework, just lots of fun. He insisted that he didn't want to go to school. He said that the whole point of school is to learn and they weren't learning anything so he should be able to stay home if he chose to do so. He claimed that this proved that the only reason we force him to go to school is because we want him out of the house so we could have fun. After much discussion we found out that one of the main reasons he didn't want to go was because he was afraid someone would tell him instructions of how to sit on the horse or whatever and he wouldn't understand and then they'd start yelling at him. He finally agreed to go when we gave him a cellphone so he could call us if there were any problems but he still didn't go horseback riding. He just watched as the rest of his class had fun.

Saturday night with family

On Friday, my mother invited Zvi to come spend Shabbos with her but he thought he'd be too bored spending Shabbos alone with his grandmother and great-grandmother so he declined the invitation. Leora overheard though and wanted to go instead so she went and had a great time. It also made our Shabbos a little easier and much quieter. We had a very nice lunch at the Kaye's house and then had to rush home to set up the house for a shiur by Rav Meir Goldwicht for women that we hosted.

After Shabbos we all went to pick up Leora from my mother's house. Rivka, my 17 year old niece from Nof Ayalon, was also there for Shabbos so we offered to take her home. My sister Amy commented how crazy it is how little we see each other considering we live less than 10 minutes away. We hung out at her house for a half or so and had a good time and we promised that we'd try to be sure to see each other more frequently. We had to hurry home though because Shira's brother Danny had called that they wanted to come visit us on their way back from a bar mitzva in Jerusalem. So we got pizza and they came over for about an hour. It also happens to be Danny's birthday so Happy Birthday Danny! One of the reasons that we thought it would be great to spend the year in Israel was because of all our family that lives here but too often we're all too busy to actually spend time with them so it was nice to pack so much into one night.

Ganei Yehoshua

Today we surprised the kids and took them to Ganei Yehoshua in Yarkon Park. So after I had gone to shul, Shira had exercised and we had packed lunches and everything we were ready to go.
We didn't tell them where we were going and they were very curious. The only problem was that we had never been there and we didn't know exactly how to get there. My sister, Shayna lent us her GPS for the year so we just put in Ganei Yehoshua and we were on our way. It said we were there but we didn't see a park or anything so we asked some locals who told us that there was an entrance just up the street. We were a little nervous as it didn't look like an entrance to a big park and it didn't say Ganei Yehoshua or anything but we decided to park and start walking. We followed a long path
and there was a nice little playground there
The kids still didn't know where we were going and they were getting more curious wondering what we were going to do. Finally we got to the main part of the park and saw that there was boating and bike rentals. It was about 10:30 already and the kids were getting hungry (they're used to aruchat eser) so we decided to eat our lunches and just play on the playground since we couldn't rent the bikes until noon. The playground in the park was huge and we all enjoyed climbing.
At noon we went to get our bikes but it was still closed so we decided to get the boat first. We got a motor boat and Rivka, Zvi and Leora took turns driving.
When we were done we went back to the bikes and it was finally open. We got a big bike for all of us
Then we played more on the swings until it was time to leave. Everyone actually got along all day
We went out for dinner in Modiin before coming back home. All in all, it was a lot of fun!

Are We Cool Or What

The following is an email we sent to the kids and their responses. (Leora does not yet know how to access her email.) P.S. Notice the time the kids responded - and that's after being up for an hour already!

Shira Greenstone	Wed, Oct 24, 2007 at 8:43 PM
To: Rivka Greenstone , Zvi Greenstone , Leora Greenstone
Surprise!!! Guess what! Today you will NOT be going to school. Instead we will be going on a surprise family trip. This is going to be so much fun, so no complaining. Mommy and Abba love you guys so much. We know that it has not been easy for you, but we are so proud with all of you. You just make us so happy. We feel so lucky to be your parents. We love you, Mommy and Abba

---

Zvi Greenstone	Thu, Oct 25, 2007 at 6:40 AM
To: Shira Greenstone
Well I love you too! [Quoted text hidden]

---

Rivka Greenstone	Thu, Oct 25, 2007 at 6:49 AM
To: Shira Greenstone
Thank you so much I love you both

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.

A Shabbos with Savta

This past Shabbos I slept at Savta's house. When I got there we went to warm up the food at Bubbie's and we did not go back to Savtas until after dinner. In the morning we woke up at six and went outside and had a yummy breakfast on the porch and played all the games she has which is a lot. After we came back inside we went to read in bed. Then we got dressed and davened and went to Bubbie's again for Lunch. After lunch we came back to Savta's and rested and played some more games while eating popcorn. At about 5 we went to the park and saw Bubbie there. I played on the swings and Savta and Bubbie talked. We came home when Shabbos was over made havdala and Mommy picked me up. What a fun Shabbos!

Dogs

There are tons of dogs in Modiin. In Baltimore, we have this huge rottweiler that lives next door to us. We also live across the street from an empty field where a lot of people go to walk their dogs. So we see plenty of dogs but that really didn't prepare me for the number of dogs that I see here. Maybe it's just that so many religious people have dogs that makes me notice it more. I'm not sure why but Jews and dogs just never went together in my mind. When I was growing up I don't remember anybody owning dogs but that's probably my selective memory. The ADDeRabbi, a resident of Modiin, linked to a post on the Seforim blog about the Jewish attitude towards pets.

Last week, I printed out some Dora coloring pages for Leora and one of the pages said to draw things that she sees on her way to school. On the way to school (on the rare occasion that we walk) we pass through this empty lot that is filled with dog poop and we need to really watch where we're going to avoid it. That's the thing that impresses her about the walk to school so she drew dog poop as one of the things she passes. She's also terrified of dogs which doesn't work so well here because we often end up at people's houses who own dogs. They always just lock them up and hopefully our hosts, who supposedly own a big dog, this Shabbos lunch will do the same.

One cool thing that I saw at one of the parks here is a big plastic bag dispenser with plastic bags that say kaki saki (loosely translated to pooper scooper) on them. If only all dog owners actually picked up after their pets. My friend, Aryeh Bak once told me that he never shakes dog owners' hands because either they're the type of people who don't clean up after their dogs so he doesn't want to associate with them or they pick up their dogs' poop and he certainly wouldn't want to shake their hands.

My sweet angel

I realize that I have been neglecting to write about Rivka specifically. The reason for this is that she is doing so wonderfully well here. Although it is hard for her with the language barrier, she tries her best and is still able to keep up with all of her school work. She has done so well on all of her tests. The best thing about Rivka is that she is really easy going. She has made so many friends already, English and Hebrew speakers. Whenever I pick her up from school she is always surrounded by tons of friends.
Rivka is such a great girl. She impresses people wherever she goes with her kindness and generosity. She is truly special girl inside and out.

Leora's 5th Birthday

Today was a much better day than anticipated. Leora woke up and was actually excited that it was her birthday. She still complained that she didn't want to go to gan but she went along without too much trouble. She brought her doll "Jenny" with her and it gave her a little more confidence. I took my usual seat in the corner and Leora slowly started interacting with some children. I made sure to let everyone know it was her birthday. When it came time to leave, she of course was upset and I had to leave her screaming, locked behind the gate. She and the shomer, Roman, are good buddies. He has a limited English vocabulary but tries his best. This afternoon we met with the school psychologist again and she just reinforced what we already knew. She was very nice and it was good to see that there were other people watching out for Leora.

After the meeting David dropped me off at his grandmother who had an appointment with a home health OT. She was very impressive and we were on the same page with various issues. David then picked Leora up from Gan, waited for the other kids, did some homework and returned to his parent's apartment. There we had a nice birthday dinner with pizza from Big Apple Pizza, donuts and ice cream. Leora also got three presents. One from Bubbie, one from Savta (and Saba) and one from Marilyn (Savta's friend). She was very happy.
Also today, Zvi and Yeshaya got new shoes. We took Yeshaya earlier in the day. He seems to suffer from the same Hebrewitis that Leora has. As soon as the woman started speaking hebrew, he just flipped out. We managed to get the shoes on him and hopefully they fit him well. They happen to be really nice shoes, and we paid much less than we would have in the US. Zvi got a new pair of runners/sneakers/running shoes/tennis shoes/naalay sport. He is happy with them.

Not much else to report except that I got a haircut from a lady who didn't really understand what it meant to cut my hair but still have it long enough that it fits in a pony tail. Oh well, not much I can do about it now.

Let's hope the rest of the week is just as good as today!

The Calm Before the Storm

It has been a few days since I last blogged because quite honestly things have just been too stressful. Leora is having a very difficult time adjusting to school and hebrew in general. We have tried everything, including spending quite a bit of time with her at gan. The teacher has even called in the school psychologist to give us some words of wisdom. Basically, she was no help and just suggested that we continue coming and spending at least an hour with Leora every day. It is just pushing off the screaming tantrum that is guaranteed to happen. Leora is just so overwhelmed and frightened by all the hebrew around her. She loves to talk and share stories and just finds it impossible because of the language barrier. She is having a difficult time socially, perhaps because she has scared the kids with her temper tantrums. It's a good thing she is not too aware of the other kids not embracing her, but it breaks my heart to see my fun, lovable, energetic girl having such a hard time. David and I keep debating back and forth if maybe we need to switch her gan where the teacher knows a little more english and where she can have a fresh start with the kids. Tomorrow is her birthday, so hopefully the day will be good.
Rivka and Zvi are thank G-d doing so much better. We still get the complaints, but they are much less intense. I am so happy that they now come home with stories about friends they've made and instances where they've used their hebrew. Their teachers call or write notes about their progress and they report such nice things about them. They started private Ulpan lessons this past week and seem to enjoy that. (I'm even learning some new words "aleh" - leaf).
We had a very nice shabbos and maybe that's why I was able to sit down and blog. My friend Adina came for shabbos. She is great with the kids and keeps them entertained with card games. We ate dinner at home and went to friends for lunch. We had a really nice time and got to meet another family who had a son Zvi's age. They really hit it off. Rivka went to David's mom's for shabbos and had an incredible time. She loved the one-on-one attention from Savta and was so happy that she went.
I just got back from a run and the house is so calm and quiet. Everyone is asleep, maybe even David. I don't even want to start thinking about what tomorrow morning will be like, the start of a new school week.

Schoolbooks

In Israel, the kids have to choose all their books to bring to school each day because they don't leave anything at school. In Baltimore, Rivka had a desk plus two big lockers and only brought home books and notebooks that she needed for homework (at least in theory). Here, they can't leave any books in school so each day they shlep everything home and in the morning we spend 5-10 minutes looking at their schedules and emptying the books they don't need that day and adding the books they will need. We're getting better at it but it still takes time. It wouldn't be so bad if it was just the textbooks but we also have to go through their notebooks and folders. It's not the worst thing in the world but it is a pain in the neck (literally for the kids who have to shlep all the stuff to school). I had been under the impression that this was only for their school since they're not in a real building but apparently this is common in Israel. So each morning we go to the desk where they store all their stuff and they give me the old books and I take out the new. Rivka then organizes the books in order of her classes so she's completely ready for each class and doesn't waste any time. Zvi takes all the books and stuffs them in his schoolbag so that he can finish as quickly as possible to go ride his bike or something else fun until it's time to go to school. So his teacher just called us to complain that his schoolbag is a mess and he can never find the books he needs so we need to encourage him to keep it neat. One more thing to worry about in the mornings.

Queueing Theory

When I was in YU, one of my math professors convinced a few of us to take a new course he was offering the next semester called queueing theory. We had a lot of fun in that class but I really didn't learn that much. One thing that I discovered though is that queueing is one of the only words in the English language that has five consecutive vowels. The Blogger spellcheck though isn't smart enough to realize that and thinks that it's spelled with only four vowels. I'll stick with my spelling. I think that what I should have learned was how to calculate the average waiting times in various scenarios. That might have helped me today when I went to the bank with my mother

Shira and I have avoided opening a bank account figuring it was more trouble than it was worth. All of our income is in dollars and we can just use our American credit card and easily change dollars to shekel when needed. A couple times we needed checks and my parents graciously wrote them for us. The only problem was for recurring payments. Some places insist on setting it up on credit cards and the recurring payments don't work on non-Israeli credit cards. We put one or two things on my grandmother's credit card but my mother really wanted us to switch it to our account. She also figured that if I had my own account then we could write checks and use the credit card for other purposes also. It is more convenient at gas stations because we're limited to 200 shekel (about half a tank) on a non-Israeli credit card at all gas stations. I have no idea why they all have that limit but they do.

So my mother kindly offered to grant me a power of attorney on an existing account that she had. We got to the bank and took ticket number 165 for the personal bankers (as opposed to the regular tellers) and they were up to 157. Here's where some knowledge of queueing theory might have helped. My mother knows that some people take over an hour and there were only three bankers so she figured she had some time. She went out to buy Yeshaya a treat and then one minute later it was 159 and then it was our time. I guess people took numbers and left or took multiple numbers and threw the extras out when they couldn't sell them. Either way, it was our turn while my mother was out so I let someone go ahead and called her. She came back and it was our turn a couple minutes later.

We told the lady what we wanted to do and (as can be expected), she said we couldn't do it since I wasn't Israeli. My mother told her that someone told her it could be done and the lady checked and it could be done. So my mother and I gave sample signatures and everything and then the lady went to order the credit card and checks. Whoops! It's the wrong type of account. She had to start the whole process over to open a new account for us. My mother had to sign her name about thirty times to get the account opened but after a total of about 90 minutes we were done. The two people who had come in after me were at the other two desks and other people had been waiting for a really long time. Now I just have to go back in "about a week" to pick up the credit card and checks. They won't mail them to us so I have to take a number next week again. I need to try and figure out the best time of day to go so that I will have a short wait.

Honey Bunches of Oats Heaven

For all of you who know me well, you will know that I am quite obsessed with the cereal Honey Bunches of Oats. In all the cities we've lived in, I can tell you the cheapest place to buy a box. I always say, had I bought stocks when I first discovered this heavenly cereal, I would be a millionaire. I have helped Post so much, they have no idea. I have even attracted many Honey Bunches of Oats followers.

Well today I was debating about where to go grocery shopping. The nice supermarket Mega, that is closeby and has many American products. Or Rami Levi which is a further drive and not as nice but considerably cheaper. I asked my neighbor for her opinion and she said that she wouldn't attempt Rami Levi with a 2 year old. Decision made, I was headed to Mega. You cannot imagine my delight when I saw, read and understood the sign that Honey Bunches of Oats was buy 2 get one free. I filled up my shopping cart. Instead of paying 22 NIS per box, I got three for 44 NIS ($11). When I got to the checkout the cashier was trying to tell me that I couldn't buy so many (12) but I calmly explained that there was no sign indicating otherwise. And guess who was right, the customer (not a common occurrence in Israeli supermarkets).

I couldn't wait to get home to tell David so I called him from the cell. For all of you in Israel who have never tasted this delicious cereal (I only like the orange box) I dare you to taste it. You won't be disappointed. You are also welcome to come over to taste a bowl at our house ... but only one bowl per person.

No breaks today

Thank God we had a nice restful Shabbos because today is anything but relaxing. Leora absolutely hates/is terrified of gan in the morning. Neither teacher knows English and Leora is completely intimidated and cries and screams the entire time. She agreed to go in the afternoon without complaining since one of the teachers speaks to her English. We'll see what happens with that but the "afternoon" only starts at 1:20 so she and Yeshaya are home until then. Rivka and Zvi sit in school all day not understanding what's going on so I agreed to pick them up around 1:30 to try and make the day a little shorter and more bearable. With that deal they agreed to go to school. Shira went to Yad Sarah in Yerushalayim with my mother to offer her OT expertise so my mother could get some things for my grandmother's apartment. She was going to take Yeshaya but he fell asleep on the ride to the bus and I figured it was easier to have him sleeping at home then for her to take him on the bus so she went by herself. She won't be gone long anyway. Leora's been very good this morning and I suspect the big kids will be good in the afternoon so I can get some work done.

UPDATE at 7PM: It turns out that the teacher who speaks English at Leora's gan no longer works there. So I brought Leora and there were only Hebrew speaking teachers. Leora was not too pleased and was crying and refusing to stay. One of the teachers offered to hold her while I ran out and I left. I think she was pretty good after that. That caused me to come a little later than expected to pick up the other kids from their school. They were still happy to see me and came with me in a good mood. We went straight to my parents since Shira's bus was going to come a half later or so. We did their homework there and they were good. Then we hung out there and at my grandmother's before it was time to get Leora. Everyone had a great time riding bikes outside with friends until it was time for dinner, showers and bed. Now we're trying to convince Leora to go tomorrow morning and the others to stay in school all day. We'll see how it goes.

We're slowly learning Hebrew

Today Leora was in the bath and I asked her "aifo h'einayim shelach?" and she knew that and many other body parts. She also comes home with phrases and words. She's really picking it up. Shira and I try to throw a little Hebrew into our conversations with Yeshaya and it's always funny when he repeats the words. Zvi and Rivka are definitely learning lots of new Hebrew. The only problem is that it's not fast enough for them. They want to go to school and understand everything their teachers and friends say and they're not quite there yet. We've been talking to people and we're trying to arrange tutors for them and soon their Hebrew will be better than ours.

I was just on a conference call in my office and I could hear bits of a conversations Shira was having on the phone. She was on for a half hour talking only in Hebrew to Zvi's teacher. I was very impressed. I think that even my Hebrew is improving a little. I was afraid that I wouldn't have the opportunity to talk Hebrew while I was here since all my friends are American and most of the time I'm working. I was wrong though because there have been plenty of opportunities to speak Hebrew and I've learned quite a bit of new words and phrases. Yesterday someone told me that I don't even sound American when I speak Hebrew ... I sound British?!?

Combined Blogging

Hi all. This is Shira and Zvi blogging together. This morning we surprised Rivka and Zvi with a half day off of school. I told them that they had to pretend that they were going so that Leora would not find out. So they got dressed in their school uniforms (T-shirts with school logo) and packed up their backpacks. I went to the gym for a quick workout and returned on time for a quick shower before we were off. We dropped Leora off at Gan. It wasn't such a great morning for her but I left her there screaming after 10 minutes. I called later and she had calmed down and was in a good mood. Zvi and Rivka were so lucky because they got to accompany David, Yeshaya and me to Ramle to renew our Visas. Although we had been to this office, we got lost nonetheless. After what was supposed to take 20 minutes but took us 45 we arrived in Ramle. We got our number and discovered that they were up to 24 while we had 41. Each person takes at least 15 minutes. After waiting a while I convinced David to go back home with the kids and I would take a bus home. I was done by 11:45 and caught the 12 pm bus back to Modiin. The visa process was uneventful although this visit would not have been necessary if we were dealing with rational people. I presented the same letter that we had last time. Although it was not sufficient last time, the same lady now said it was perfect - go figure.

Nothing Like a Hot Shower After a Long Day

I just came out of nice hot shower and now I feel that I can blog about a day in the life of the Greenstones. What a day!!! Our early morning started off with Yeshaya (who now sleeps in a bed) climbing into bed with us. He was just too adorable and we were just too exhausted to return him to his own bed. He even brought along his blanket and two pacifiers. We had a pretty restless rest of the night as Yeshaya thought he was king of the bed.

When morning actually arrived and David was home from shul, things seemed to have been headed in the right direction. The usual kvetching from the kids, no more than typical.

David had set up a meeting with the principal for Rivka and Zvi so he drove them to school instead of the bus. I had the duty of taking Leora to Gan. I am happy to say that she did not cry today BUT I had to stay with her for over an hour promising her the world. She was in a great mood when we picked her up and even had a play date with her friend Michal.

Back to David: David met with Rav Ravitz and discussed our options for Rivka and Zvi. He assured us that they would be getting more support from the school. From talking to friends we found out that there was a four day/week ulpan being offered for new olim. We felt that that was the answer for our kids and they were very excited about it too. Well too bad on us!!! They do not qualify. You may think that perhaps being that we are tourist and not olim would be the reason. Nope, they do not qualify because they are not in one of the schools that are affiliated with the Ulpan. We even offered to pay. Personally I don't think the fight is over, but it seems that David may have given up (he is also the one who spoke to the person so maybe that's why).

When Rivka and Zvi heard the news that they could not go to Ulpan they went bazurk. They were so looking forward to learning hebrew in a comfortable environment. Basically our whole evening until they fell asleep was listening to them alternated between screaming and crying. For those of you who have been to our house, you know how the acoustics here just help the sound along.

As I reread this post I realize that I have not even touched on how difficult a day we had but take it from me, it was. But as I said in the title, there is nothing like a hot shower after a long day.

A day out with savta and some cousins

One day over chol hamoed I went with Savta, Aviva and Dina to Ganei Yehoshua. We took a train from Modiin to Tel Aviv. When we got there we walked like 5 minutes to get to Ganei Yehoshua. In Ganei Yehoshua we rented a boat for a hour and on the boat we said Tehillim, sang some songs, ate and we each got to peddle a little bit. After we returned the boat we played on some of the climbing things. We took another train to a mall and in the mall we looked for clothes for Aviva and Dina and then got popsicles. When we were done we took a train back to Modiin. When we got to Modiin Amy picked us up and we ordered some food but they do not deliver to where she lives so we all came to my house to pick it up. After the food came they invited me to sleepover there so I did. When I got there we ate and then watched a movie but we had to go to sleep very early because we were waking up at three thirty in the morning to go to the kotel. When we woke up we went to pick up Savta from her house and we went to the kotel. You can't believe how many people were there at three thirty in the morning; we could not even find a seat.When we left the kotel we went to a bakery to get cakes and to a different store to get popcorn. Then we drove Savta home and Abba, Zvi, Leora and Yeshaya picked me up from there but we did not have breakfast yet so everybody got something at the bakery. It was a lot of fun but I was exhausted from getting up so early.

Still getting into the swing of things

The kids are really having a hard time adjusting to school. Rivka and Zvi have been pretty good (it's all relative) in the mornings going. We told them that if they're good then we will take them each out for one afternoon a week. School is just really frustrating for them because they sit there all day without understanding a word that is going on in class. They're bored and then they come home and they have to do homework which really means learning everything that they missed in school. It's just really hard. Tomorrow morning I'm going to drive them to school and meet with the principal to see if we can help improve the situation so they're not so miserable.

Leora has been impossible going to gan. Yesterday Shira took her to gan and it took her 45 minutes and she left her screaming at the gate. Today, Leora grabbed onto my legs and wouldn't let me leave. She screamed and screamed until finally I got her to stay (not my best moment in parenting). She continues to insist that she's not going to gan and I don't expect tomorrow to be any easier than today. The good news for me is that Shira is taking her tomorrow since I'll be with the big kids at school.

Big House

Our house is so big and calm or at least it feels that way. Since yom tov ended the guests have slowly been filtering out. Shira and Yeshaya just left to take Avi and family to the airport so now I'm all alone in this huge house. The trick from that famous story to load up the house and then when all the animals leave the house will feel so big really works. Having the kids around all day is fun, chagim are great and having family is pretty good but it sure is nice to be back to the regular schedule. The laundry is getting done, the house is getting clean and Shira and I even went on a long (speed)walk together with Yeshaya this morning. Aaaah... the daily routine. I missed it.

The Reisers and Feintuchs

This will be a quick post since it is erev shabbos and there is still so much to do. Today we had some visitors at our home in Modiin. Akiva, Sarit and family (Feintuch) came from Lod to visit and see my mom before she returns to Canada. They spent two years in Toronto so their kids know English. We look forward to spending more time with them over the year, since they live so closeby.

Rena (Silver) and Yonasan Reiser shlepped in from J"M for a visit too. We enjoyed a bagel brunch with them catching up. We hope to have many more get togethers with them.

This shabbos we have a full house again.

• Our Family - 6
• Danny's family -4
• Avi's family - 3
• My Mom -1
• Eli -1
• Eli's friend, Ari Balofsky -1
• Nechama Abramoff.

We are looking forward to everyone and hope we all get along. Have a great shabbos.

Our greatest fear

This post by "Jameel" on the Muqata is really scary. I often read his blog and have exchanged emails with him so I feel like I know him even though I don't know his real name. Thank God everyone in his family is fine but I just can't imagine going through that experience. We have not been to Chevron, Kiryat Arba, Gush, Kever Rachel etc. on any of our trips to Israel because Shira has always been too scared. I really hope that we will have the opportunity to go to Maarat Hamachpela at some point during the year and hopefully this story won't scare her too much.

Ein Gedi and Yam Hamelech

Yesterday we woke up at the crack of dawn for our tiyul to Ein Gedi. The adventurous people included our family, Avi's family and my mom. We all got geared up in our hiking clothes including crocks and hats/bandanas. We left the house by 7:40 am and reached our destination about 1.5 hours later. The drive takes you through some lovely areas including right by Yericho. For some reason though, I was not scared at all this time. In the past I made David drive the roundabout route through Be'er Sheva (takes about 3 hours). The drive is pretty direct, with few turns. When we arrived at Ein Gedi the parking lot was pretty empty and we had our choice of parking spots. We smeared ourselves with suntan lotion and headed for Nachal Arugot. The kids did exceptionally well, but most impressive was my mom. Not a kvetch out of her ... she was a really trooper. We made several stops in the different waterfall areas. At one stop I was taking our camera out of the backpack and it slipped out of the camera case into the water. I fished it out really quickly but it is still not working. I hope that once it dries out completely we'll be able to use it again. This is the reason though that I am not posting any pictures right now.
After our hike we had a picnic lunch and the men were able to eat in the sukkah on the premises. Avi then bought ice cream/popsicles for all the kids.

We then drove over to the beach to check out Yam Hamelech. I must mention that while hiking in Ein Gedi everyone was paired up with a partner. My partner was Leora. Every time we came to a water source Leora would ask me "is this Yam Hamelech?" (of course today she couldn't remember what it was called so she kept asking me "what was the river called?" and Zvi would correct her and tell her it was a sea). Anyway, back on track, the kids were really looking forward to their visit to Yam Hamelech. Rivka ventured in for five seconds and came screaming out that her badly scratched legs were killing. She was quite upset but felt better when she washed off. Leora and my mom got their feet wet and Zvi and Tikki managed to get more of their body wet. In total, we spent about 5 minutes in the water. It was really hot there too.

We came home, showered and ordered food in. It was a great day.

Basket Weaving 101

Sunday we spent the morning with Danny and family at Neot Kedumim. We went there about six years ago with my sisters and parents and Shira and I both remembered it being pretty boring. We decided to go anyway since they have special sukka exhibits during Sukkos and it's so close and easy. It was pretty nice with games to play and lots of learning activities. It got really hot though as it got close to noon and my kids decided that they'd had enough when we got to a basket weaving station. The night before when we were planning I had insisted that we leave early to beat the crowds. I was mocked but the place was packed by the time we left and it was really hot.

We went straight to my parents house for the annual Andelman Israel Sukka Party. Most of my first cousins who live in Israel were there and it was nice to see everyone. It was my parents second straight day hosting a sukka party. On Saturday night I was at their sukka for the first (annual?) Dayton sukka party. There were 35 people there who had at one time lived in Dayton (or were married to someone who had lived there). Most of the people were a little older than me and I didn't know a lot of them since I moved out when I was 9 but it was still nice.

Then we came home and Shira was off with the three bigger kids to go to Beit Shemesh for a festival. I don't really know anything about what happened there so we'll just have to hope that one of them decide to blog about it.

Good thing we bought lots of beds

We had a packed house for the first part of yom tov:

• Our family (6)
• Shira's oldest brother, Danny and his family (4)
• Shira's brother right under her, Avi and his family (3)
• Shira's youngest brother, Eli
• Shira's mother
• Shira's first cousin, Malki

A total of 16 people. We had just enough mattresses and plenty of room for everyone. We had even more space since three of us slept in the sukka. Eating was another story. We had two options of where to put the sukka. One was extremely easy since three walls were already up as part of the house and my brother-in-law, Erick from Nof Ayalon had lent us the base that fit perfectly in that space. The problem was that the area was pretty small, 2 meters by 3 meters (about 6x9 feet). The other space was much bigger but would have been more money and more effort. We chose the easier option. Somehow for the meal at night we managed to squish everyone into the sukka and during the day some of the women ate inside.

It was only two meals and then Friday everyone did their own thing. We went to Yerushalayim to go the kotel and made it out just before the police closed many of the roads for Rav Shapira's funeral. We also stopped by to see Malka and David who were visiting in Yerushalayim for yom tov. We missed their wedding so Shira was very excited to see them as a married couple. It was a very short day though as we had to come home and get ready for Shabbos. Friday night was the same crowd, besides Eli but Shabbos lunch was quiet since Danny and Avi both ate at friends' houses with their families.

One day or two?

I hope that all our friends in Baltimore are sitting down as they read this post (OK, so maybe it won't really shock you and I can't imagine that you read blogs standing anyway but whatever). When we came to Israel we weren't sure if we'd keep one day or two days of yom tov. We decided that we'd wait until we came to Israel to speak to a Rav about what to do. A few weeks before yom tov Shira started getting nervous about all the company we were expecting and how much food she'd need. She had to know as soon as possible how many days we were keeping. I decided to ask Rav Dovid Lau, (Rav Yisrael Meir's son) for his psak. He's the chief rabbi in Modiin, has an excellent reputation, I've heard him speak a couple times (including at Shomrei in Baltimore) and my father has developed a bit of a relationship with him. So I called and scheduled an appointment. I figured I'd ask him some other questions also while I was there.

I met with him and he asked me about our intentions. I told him that as of right now we really don't know if we're going to stay here. We still own our house in Baltimore and we're only renting here but if everything goes well then there's a chance we'll stay. He asked a few more questions about our situation and gave us the psak that for Sukkos we only had to keep one day. If we decide before Pesach that we're going back in the summer then we should keep two days but for now we can keep one. We will know one way or the other by Pesach. We've started floating the idea of staying to the kids and we've gotten a bit of a mixed reaction. I'm hoping that they'll be adjusted in school by Chanuka and then they'll want to stay. I'd really like to make a final decision by February.

We'll keep everyone posted on this blog. Speaking of which, sorry about the lack of posts lately. I hope there will be at least three new posts up before the end of the day.