Top tens . . ish

We have solidly started out second week of school. There have been some definite ups and downs for everyone. 

Here are some highlights:

1. Barak (my nephew) has come back for Shannah Bet at Shaalavim - yay!  We saw him last night; yeshiva is eleven minutes from our house. 

2. Revital and Nili have started to try out some of their Hebrew sentences at home. Specifically, Nili has discovered לא רוצה (I don't want!), in which she does a masterful job of rolling the "r" sound. #sabra

3. I can now drive to Lehava's school and back without using Waze or google maps. 

4. I have discovered that preparing sources before learning them b'chavruta does wonders for my ability to join in. 

5. Lehava has made her schedule for the year (you get to choose which classes you go to at the Democratic School). They include, to the best of my memory: Parliament, science, drama, music, digital art, art, Kabbalat Shabbat. Fun for her!!!! She absolutely loves school. Go figure. 

6. I have joined a gym! With an outdoor pool! And an indoor pool!! 

7. Lehava hung out for 4 hours at the house of a friend . . . who only speaks Hebrew. So curious what they did . . . I think Minecraft was a big part of it. At least it's educational . . . http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/17/magazine/the-minecraft-generation.html?_r=0

8. When I dropped Revital off this morning, none of her Anglo friends were there yet. But I helped her join a group of Israelis playing with some bizarre phosphorescent goop in which you strategically plop disembodied toy eyeballs that I promised I would purchase for her, too. 

9. Noa texted me from her Lashon (Hebrew language class) about how cool the grammar she was learning (ok, maybe "cool" wasn't the word she used) and was super excited to show it to me the minute she walked into the door cuz she knows that *I* know how COOL grammar is!!! 

10. Robin Kravetz, who is helping the kids learn all sorts of important things about Israel, is one of the best humans ever. Lehava is almost ready to take the bus herself. 

11. I can sit in shul and point out to Noa friends that I have known for half my life and I still sort of identify by which summer I worked with them in HASC/which room they lived in in Brookdale Hall of Stern/which friend they dated. That includes 3 parents in Nili's gan!! I have all 4 of my college roommates living in this country!

12. The kids get chocolate spread sandwiches for Aruchat Eser (full 10 AM meal - to which you MUST bring a sandwich. And no chips. City rules. Legit) every day. 

Some challenges:

1. The kids eat chocolate spread sandwiches for aruchat Eser every day. 

2. Even the knowledge that a chocolate spread sandwich awaits you doesn't make school dropoff for Gan or 3rd grade easy for a kid who doesn't understand what is going on all the time. 

3. Nili can use לא רוצה to great effect. 

4. I could use an Aramaic ulpan. Although the crazy helpful women in my program are a close second. 

5. Constantly checking Schoology (Shalhevet's "facebook") can engender severe FOMO in teenagers. 

6. The waiting list for a membership to the outdoor pool that the kids could use is . . . one year .

7. Lachmaniyot burn very easily in toasters. And they go from pale to burnt in nanoseconds. I know have to stand like a hawk, finger at the ready, while toasting. . . the chocolate spread sandwich bread. In halakhic terms, there can be hesech hadaat. In Ari terms, DON'T DO ANYTHING ELSE!

8. Rush hour traffic starts at . . . 3:30 PM. But when I get home, at least I have this view.

9. The list of supplies and books that you get at the beginning of the school year bears a passing resemblance  to what you need.  I am preparing for my 8th trip to Tzomet Sefarim, the book store. 

10. Even though I can understand most conversational Hebrew very well, the WIFI router manual has me flummoxed. (But Bezek has 24 hour support!)

So, some updates since last week.

We had a quiet Shabbat, since Revital was sick. She actually stayed home from school on Sunday Shabbat afternoon, there was a big Segal siblings get together at formerly Teaneck Segal's house, with all of the Modi'in siblings getting together. It was motivation for me to actually cook something for the first time. I made a couple of salads, requiring an insane trip to the supermarket on Friday morning. Apparently, I chose the biggest zoo of a store. It took me an hour and a half. But it had the benefit of allowing me to meet a former colleague there (Dina Rabhan), which was fun.

I went out to the mall 20 minutes after Shabbat to look for a book for Revi (since she was super neevous about not having all of her stuff). This is the line behind me after about 10 minutes.

 I stayed pretty close to home on Sunday, since rev was home sick. 

Yesterday was my first day of school. He was my first day of school picture.

 I really love the program. The first day was really hard, both because my skills are a little rusty and because everybody else is already into the program for a year and is exactly what's expected of them. But just like my kids, I have a lot to adjust to. I hope I can model resiliency in plowing through it. I also plan on using a chunk of time today to review and prayer for tomorrow so that I can Jump Right In. Although I also plan on enjoying this unexpected gift of a few hours to myself. I think I'm going to get together with Shulamis (roommate before Ari). And also work on reviewing my material. I also think I'm going to do something that I am fundamentally against, which is bringing Rev her pencil case that she forgot at home, just because I know that she has enough anxiety as it is. 

Also yesterday, Lehava learned how to ride the bus. Robin, an old friend and gifted teacher, is going to be working with her in the afternoon and showed her how to use the bus. She is a godsend and really gets Hava. She will also be taking charge of the others and working with them after school. She is fostering a therapy dog (beginning of  its training -she is only 5 months old), which is super cool. The other kids are also starting their after-school activities this week. So far, we have gymnastics, ceramic, running, Dance, science and social studies enrichment that are going to be tried out. (The last one taught by ANOTHER old friend and roommate, Pesha).

Signing off now so I can get some work done.

Inaugural Post!

So, this is the inaugural post of this blog. I know it's a total cliche, and it is actually not intended for public discourse - I just want to communicate to whoever OPTS IN to see what my family is up to.

So . . . today we discovered what the first day of school looks like in Israel. First of all, there is no welcoming committee telling you where your classroom is. And the classrooms kinda change from year to year, so you wander around for a while. But there ARE bands (4 piece in one school, and a bongo circle in another!) welcoming the students. Makes for a very festive first day.

In other excitement, I got to attend a former student's son's brit milah this morning, and met a woman who used to be the Bat Sherut at Shalhevet. Very fun when worlds collide. I love how well-attended the brit was, because "I had a brit milah this morning" is a very accepted excuse for coming late til school.

More later - off to go to the bank before it closes for midday siesta.  Enjoy the first day of school pics and a few others from our week here so far. Notice many are water based - Teddy Park (amazing water jets shooting in crazy pattern), beach (Palmachim) and, of course, sponga. My kids have done more chores in a week than they probably have in the past year!

Nili couldn't be happier to be in "Gan SHALHEVET!!"

Departure!

Traditional first day Israeli photo op