Walking on Wednesday

Pentheus was up until after 2:30 am with his Fantasy Football draft. He was wicked tired this morning, but, unfortunately, he couldn't sleep late because I needed his help to get the CK to go to school. The CK complained about not wanting to go, but Pentheus was able to prod him to get dressed, eat breakfast and brush his teeth. Pentheus, the CK, and I walked to school together; the WK had left us at the front door of the dira and gone by himself. As we got closer to the school, I could feel the CK's hand gripping mine more tightly. When I walked into his classroom, a little girl said to me that she spoke English and would try to help the CK. It was very sweet, but the CK wasn't interested in her help. When the bell rang, the kids in the class quieted down and started reading at their desks. The CK was crying hard. I gave him a final hug and kiss and left the building. About 5 minutes later, Pentheus met me outside and said that Cheli, the principal, was with the CK. As we left the school, we saw Cheli on her way back to the office and thanked her for the help.

Pentheus and I were unhappy as we walked back to the dira. Most of the day, I had that last image of his crying face in my mind. While we expected that it would be difficult for the boys, I hope we did the right thing when we switched them from the school that we knew had more English-speaking kids. The Szold School has been great about providing support to the boys and us, but we wish the CK were having an easier time of it.

After doing some cleaning in the dira, I decided to venture out in search of the boys' textbooks. Pentheus had already been to 3-4 stores with no luck. We had been told by Cheli and others to try "Jimmy's" bookstore in a neighborhood about 25-30 minute walk from the dira. Rather than take a bus, I was determined to walk in order to get some exercise and to give me something to do today. In addition, I wanted to challenge myself to find the bookstore, as I hadn't been in that neighborhood before. When I got to Jimmy's, there were lots of other people, all waiting for assistance with school books. I waited in line and got 3 out of the 4 books that Cheli had put on the list she gave me. In Israel, the students have to buy their own textbooks (as opposed to having the school provide them), but the ones I bought weren't expensive - $15/each for paperback workbooks. I bought Math books for both boys, and a Hebrew instruction book for the CK.

I needed to find one more book (Arabic) for the WK. (Yeah, I know, because it's not hard enough to learn Hebrew, the WK might as well be learning Arabic, too. Actually, maybe it's a good thing - Arabic starts in 5th grade, so the WK is technically at the same level as the other kids in the class, although, as the WK pointed out, the Arabic is taught in Hebrew...) Because I was already in my sneakers, I walked to the Jerusalem Mall, another 25+ minutes walk. There is a ton of construction going on in that area of the city, and part of the walk was on the exit lane of the highway. After asking one of the workers, I found a foot path that brought me to the mall. The Jerusalem Mall is huge, but, luckily, the bookstore was one of the first stores in the mall entrance I used. Again, there were many people in line for books, and when it was my turn, the clerk said she hoped the Arabic instruction book was in one of the many, many unopened boxes around. She suggested I come back in an hour to check. I bought the Int'l Herald Tribune in English, went to the Food Court, ordered an awesome hamburger from Burgers Bar, and ate lunch while I read the paper. When I returned to the bookstore, the Arabic book had been in one of the boxes and I bought it for the WK.

To save time, I took a cab home from the Jerusalem Mall, so that Pentheus could do some more work after he picked up the kids from school. (Although we are OK with them coming home by themselves, the CK had made us promise that one of us would be at school at the end of the day.) My cab driver couldn't believe I had walked from the dira. I arrived home just before the boys did, as they had stopped for an "arteek" for the WK and candy for the CK.

It's still unclear how the day went for the CK because he wouldn't tell us, despite our asking and trying to get him to talk about it. The CK showed us some pictures he had drawn at school and seemed a bit excited about getting his school books. Here's hoping tomorrow is easier.

The WK had homework for the first time - he had to read a chapter in an English book and write as summary about it. Although it didn't take him long to complete the assignment, I think the CK was glad he had homework. He has been kind of bored during the day at school, and I know he has been looking forward to getting his textbooks.

We told the WK he couldn't go to the park before homework was done, just as we would have done in Cambridge. So when he finished, the WK and the CK went to Moshava Park. After realizing the boys had been at the park for over 2 1/2 hours, Pentheus and I learned an important lesson: when allowing boys to go to the park alone, be sure to give them a time to be back! Shortly before 7, I went to the park to get the boys to come home to dinner. We had pasta, gnocchi, and green beans for dinner. Then the boys had showers - I don't even want to tell you what they looked/smelled like after that much time at the park when it's 90+ degrees. The boys were in bed shortly before 9. Pentheus fell asleep around 9:30, and I've been semi-watching re-runs of "Cougar Town," "Two Broke Girls," and "Everybody Loves Raymond" while I type this post.

By the way, at the bookstore, there were an unbelievable number of copies of this book. I'll leave it up to you to figure out the title.

Update on all three boys in my life

Today went ok for the CK! Both Pentheus and I walked him to school (and let the WK run ahead to school without us - he was very happy to leave us behind), and I went with the CK to his classroom. We saw Hadaas (his teacher) sitting outside on a bench with a couple of other teachers and the principal, so we walked over to say good morning. I talked to Hadaas in English so that the CK would understand what we were saying. I told Hadaas that Judith had called to say that she would be working with Jeremy for three hours on Tuesdays and that although we hadn't found the book that Judith requested, that we had brought a different basic Hebrew workbook that I had bought a couple of weeks ago to use with the CK.

Another of the teachers then remarked in Hebrew that the CK had been great helping out the English-speaking boy in first grade, and that maybe the CK and that boy could spend some time together. When I translated for the CK, he tried to hide a grin from me and acted all shy. Then we started talking about how much the CK loves dogs. One of the teachers pulled out her phone to show the CK a picture of her dog. The CK got very excited and ran to his classroom to show the teachers one of his "Puppy Place" books from the States. When the bell rang and the CK was going back to his classroom, I high-fived the CK and told him I thought he could do it (i.e., stay at school and have a good day). The CK high-fived me back and said, "I KNOW I can."

The boys walked home from school by themselves because I was home with the ohzer (the house cleaner, who showed up right on time and did a fairly good job). The CK showed me the pages that he and Judith had done in the Hebrew workbook and the 2 Jack and Annie books that he brought home from school. When I spoke to Judith later this afternoon, she asked how the CK had said the day went. Judith was very pleased when I told her how much better it had been. I had thought Judith was going to be meeting with the CK each day, but I must have misunderstood. Once official English classes start (next week, I think), Judith will meet with the CK an additional twice a week. (English classes don't officially begin until 4th grade, but Judith works with all of the native English speakers, regardless of grade.)

A quick story about the CK and learning Hebrew. A couple of weeks ago, when the CK and I were on the Emek, the CK was thirsty, so we went into a "mahkohlet" (convenience store) to get some water. The CK kept asking me to buy juice instead of water, and I said no. I told the CK that the first time he could ask me politely in Hebrew for some juice, I would gladly buy it for him. Yesterday, when we walked by that same mahkohlet, the CK had a huge smile on his face when he said, "Ahnee rohtzeh meetz mango, b'vakasha." (I want mango juice, please.) And so he got it.

The WK seems to be doing very well so far. When we ask him about school, he says it's okay but that he really wants some textbooks even if they are in Hebrew so that he can participate a bit and at least try to learn something. (Cheli, the principal, gave me a list of 4-5 books to buy tomorrow.) The CK says he's made a few friends, and I saw the CK and Rafael sitting in the library together. He's made some strides in learning Hebrew, and is excited about it.

The WK constantly requests permission to go to the Moshava Park by himself, and he has mentioned playing with an American-Canadian-Australian-Israeli boy a few times. When the WK first saw him, the boy was wearing a Yankees hat - not sure why the WK bothered to approach him after that! :-) At any rate, this evening before dinner, the WK went to the Moshava Park. When the CK came home, he brought his new friend home, too. Gideon is in 7th grade, preparing for his Bar-Mitzvah, and aside from the NY Yankees thing, seems like a very nice kid. We're hoping to meet the rest of his family, too, as it turns out they live a couple of blocks from here.

As a follow up from the WK's comment about our staying in Israel, here's an interesting story. While Gideon was here, he asked whether we were sure we were going back to Cambridge in December, and I answered that we were. Gideon said, "What? Don't you like it here in Israel?" We indicated that we were enjoying our experience in Israel, but that we had return tickets and we would be using them. The WK's next statement was, "Well, that doesn't mean we can't buy another one-way ticket to Israel." We'll continue to talk with the WK about the fact that we are going back to Cambridge. (As an amusing aside, Gideon said that he doesn't love living in Israel because "Israelis aren't very nice. Americans are much nicer.")

Some of you have asked about the third boy in my life, Pentheus, and how he is doing. Pentheus is doing okay. He's working out of one of the bedrooms in the dira and has the Israeli version of his cube on 495 set up here. He's finally been able to start settling into a routine now that the boys are in school, and, hopefully, soon, I will have some set daily plans and not be in the house as much.

Pentheus is still participating in two Fantasy Football leagues this year. He completed one of the drafts last week, and Pentheus is content with his team, considering he had the last pick. His other league's draft begins tonight at 1:15 am (Israel time), and Pentheus is bummed because he has the last pick again. (Both of his draft positions were chosen at random.) A friend of Pentheus's is in town from the States for business this week. Pentheus went out to lunch with him, and I think Pentheus was happy to do something social and without the boys and me.

Off to watch the West Wing series finale, on Israeli TV. I loved that show.

It's about time.

Apparently, this computer is using PDT (10 hours earlier than Jerusalem) as its default time. I have reset my location to Jerusalem, but I can't seem to reset the time. I even had Pentheus try. Oh well, no need to sweat the little stuff.

Easier for the CK?

(Note: this was written on Monday but posted on Tuesday.) Happy Labor Day to those of you in the States. Hope you are enjoying good weather, a barbecue or two, and the last days of Summer. Alas, today was not so idyllic for us in Jerusalem. Thank G-d, everyone is OK, but it was tough day nonetheless. I'm sure (well, pretty sure) everything will turn out alright; it's just a matter of taking the days one at a time - le'at, le'at.

The day started with my taking the boys to school. The WK was totally okay and asked if he could run ahead to school without me. I had wanted to talk to the WK's teacher about getting some books for him, so that he can participate in class, but said he could go ahead. I walked the CK to his class. Although he wasn't particularly upset as we entered the class, I know he was nervous about my leaving. After a last hug, I left him in his room so that I could find the WK's teacher in the other building.

When I returned to the building where the CK's classroom is, I literally ran into the CK as he was leaving class to get some tissues and calm down. (It had been my goal not to see him, as I think it can make it harder when parents stay around. Oh well.) The CK was crying and looked pretty miserable. I hugged him for a moment and tried to comfort him. I told him that I knew this was hard, that he would make it through, and that he just needed to give it some time. (Somehow, it's always easier to offer that advice, than to take it...) Hadaas then came out into the hallway. Hadaas told me she had suggested to the CK that he take a moment and that she had also told the CK she knew he could "l'heetgahber" (to overcome). Hadaas told me all of this in Hebrew, but it's still unclear to me whether she spoke to the CK in English or not. At first, I was startled by what Hadaas said - I thought that "l'heetgaber" could also technically mean "to be a man" and I felt badly for the poor CK. I figured though that Hadaas wouldn't say that to the CK, and am glad I gave her the benefit of the doubt. I checked my Hebrew-English app a few minutes ago and sure enough it means "to overcome."

BTW, I never ended up finding the WK's teacher but I did talk with the school principal. She sent me to the school secretary (named Bracha) who was going to have someone else (named Yaffa) call me to discuss books. Seems a bit more complicated than it needs to be, but if I don't hear from Yaffa, I will follow up. I also spoke to the principal about my volunteering in the school. I am definitely more than ready to begin doing something!

So, after I gently pushed the CK back into his class, I took the long way to the "matnas" (community center) for my "ulpan" (Hebrew class), in an effort to feel better about the CK before class began. I arrived just at 9 and saw the woman who had told me about the class - sitting on a bench outside the matnas. The class had been canceled. Apparently, the teacher for the class had called last night to say that she had accepted a better job and couldn't teach our ulpan. The matnas is hoping to find a new teacher to start a class after Rosh Hashanah or maybe after the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which is a couple of weeks later. Of course, because the matnas didn't accept pre-registration for the ulpan, if they find a teacher, they won't be able to contact potential students anyway. Argh! The woman who had told me about the ulpan said she would keep me informed if another is scheduled.

I left the matnas and walked to the window/door store in the industrial section in Talpiyot (where I had bought the potential window latch replacement option from the woman whose father was supposed to come to the dira to install the latch but didn't show). The woman apologized repeatedly in Hebrew and told me that her father had lost my number and address. I told her that I had called several times and couldn't get through to anyone. She took down my info and promised me she would talk to her father and call me to reschedule. I'm still optimistic that the window will be able to close and lock before the cooler weather arrives.

From there I went to the "Mega" grocery store at the Canyon Chadar (Chadar Mall). I had a fairly short list of groceries that I needed. As I wandered around Mega, I realized that I didn't really "need" anything on the list. I just wanted to feel like I was doing something. As I continued to put foods the boys liked into the cart, I also realized that I was hoping that if I bought something they really liked to eat, that it would make things a bit easier for them, especially for the CK. I guess it's kind of the shopping equivalent of comfort food.

While in the aisle looking for "nee'ar ahloominum" (literally, "aluminum paper" also known as tin foil), I overheard a woman speaking in English into her cell phone. All I heard was "And, the classes are small?" and somehow I knew she was talking about an ulpan class. When she hung up, I apologized for eavesdropping and asked her if she were talking about a Hebrew class, and she was. She asked whether I had been at the matnas earlier today, as she thought she recognized me. At any rate, she (Jennifer, from Tea Neck, NJ who comes to Israel every 6 years with her family for her husband's sabbatical) had done some research into a different ulpan being held at the AACI (Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel) building. Jennifer  gave me the website for the ulpan, and we exchanged contact information. I'll look at the website tomorrow. I very much want to find a Hebrew class to take.

Shortly thereafter, when I was in the frozen food aisle, my cell phone rang - Judith, the English teacher at the boys' school was calling. I was sure she was going to tell me to come pick up the CK early. Instead, Judith had just been with the CK, and he was doing fairly well. Judith had worked with him for a while on a book in English, and the CK was enjoying it. The plan for now is that Judith will work with the CK a little bit each morning (kind of like a homeroom teacher), and then for 3 hours a day a couple times a week. In addition to teaching English, Judith will also spend time helping the CK to learn Hebrew. She was calling to request that we buy a "learning Hebrew" book to use in their lessons. I am hopeful things will get easier for the CK.

Shortly after I hung up with Judith, Pentheus called me. The "ohzer" (house cleaner) who came a couple of weeks ago and is supposed to come every other week, had not shown up yet, and was 40 minutes late. Pentheus called the ohzer, who said he couldn't come. It was unclear (the ohzer is from Sri Lanka and speaks no Hebrew and very little English) to Pentheus whether he couldn't come today or ever again. The ohzer said he would call back later and didn't.

As you may remember, several weeks ago, we attended M'vahkshei Derech (one of the Reform congregations in the area), and met a few people there, including a woman with whom we spent a while talking. We had only been in Israel a week and a half at that point, and were talking about how difficult it was to acclimate. We had told her we were looking for a house cleaner. I guess we made an impression on her because we received the following email from her:

"I hope things are getting better every day. As I said to you on Saturday, in shul, I do have an excellent cleaning man and as my contribution to your brave and wise attempt to live in the Jewish Land, I am happy to share him with you. Please call me to get further practical details."

Tonight I called her to "get further practical details" and her ohzer is coming to clean our house tomorrow morning. I hope he shows up. Her email totally cracks me up - her "contribution to our brave and wise attempt to live in the Jewish Land..." as if she wouldn't give us the name of her ohzer otherwise? I've written in this blog several times before about how much Israelis want us to stay in Israel! We still hear comments and pleas every day. Seriously - the cab driver on the way back from Mega kept saying in Hebrew, "Yohtair tov b'aretz, nachon?" (It's better to be in Israel, right?).

One interesting side story from today: When I picked up the boys from school, the CK was in a pretty good mood. He was very excited to tell me what happened. Apparently yesterday, when the CK wouldn't stay at school, there had been a fire drill that he missed. Today, however, there was a "terrorist drill" - the CK showed me "where the iron walled door" is and how they are supposed to sit. He said he knew it was only a drill because there weren't any helicopters in the sky or police cars. I know it's a part of daily life for Israeli, but, boy, was it weird to hear the boys talk so animatedly about it.

I hope Tuesday goes smoothly.

I can put pictures on Divrei Wek!

When our friends' two daughters stayed with us last week, as a "thank you" they gave us a gift card for Aroma, our favorite coffee shop around here. While I am fairly sure the gift card was intended for both Pentheus and me, I put it in my wallet and have been using it regularly for a "natool eem chalav dahl" (decaf with low fat milk). Pentheus won't have a chance to use it! Anyway, the reason I am writing all of this is that if I have downloaded Picasa correctly and understand how it works, here's a picture of the mugs from Aroma! I tried to buy the coffee mug but, unfortunately, it is not for sale.

Uh-oh?

The CK refused to go to school today. Or, rather, the CK refused to stay at school today. I was planning to walk the boys to school, but because I had a bad headache, Pentheus was going to walk them without me. Before Pentheus and the boys left the house, I heard the CK crying and screaming that he wasn't going to go to school if Pentheus walked him because he was going to miss me too much. Pentheus did a great job of calming the CK down and they left. Twenty minutes later, I heard Pentheus's key in the door and then heard the CK come in with him. Pentheus came back to the bedroom immediately to tell me what happened. Apparently, although the CK went to his classroom, he wouldn't go in. Pentheus tried to persuade him to enter the class, and although CK teared up, he wasn't super upset. So, Pentheus walked back to the dira with the CK, but also with the understanding that the CK would go to school tomorrow, no matter what. I talked to the CK as well, and he promised he would go to school tomorrow, and understands that there is no TV or screen time while he is home today. The CK is now prone on the couch reading "The Boy Who Spoke Dog", a book about a boy named Jack who washes up on a mysterious island after a big storm in San Francisco. I hope tomorrow goes smoothly.

We had a nice Shabbat. Friday night we went to services at Shir Chadash, and enjoyed them. There were a lot of people, on both the men and women's side, including a bunch of post-high school American young women who had just finished a year-long study program in Jerusalem. While we don't know for sure that Shir Chadash will be our synagogue of choice while we are in Israel, we do know that we liked it enough to reserve seats/tickets for the Jewish high holidays (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur) which are coming up in about 3 weeks.

After services, we had a late dinner at around 8:15 pm. The beef dish I had bought at the prepared food store was interesting but good, I think. I had bought it thinking it was pepper steak or something similar. It ended up being some sort of sweet and spicy brisket with vegetables. It was too spicy for the boys, who ate the roasted chicken and terriaki chicken that I had purchased as well. Once the outside temperature cools down a bit later this month, we will begin cooking more for ourselves. The kids are aching for Pentheus's panko chicken! I had bought a chocolate babka from the supermarket in Talpiyot on Thursday, and we opened that for dessert for the boys. Although they said it was very good, the kids thought it was "too gooey" (i.e., there was too much chocolate) for them. I agree it looked pretty gooey - I literally could spoon out the chocolate from the cake part, but I was surprised that the boys would ever say that!

Yesterday morning we went to a "Shivyohnee" (egalitarian) service hat meets at the community center in Baaka. There was a "mecheetzah" (separator) between men and women, but it seemed more symbolic to me, as it was a semi-sheer white curtain, and men and women could "see" each other through the mecheetzah. A woman led the introductory prayers and other women participated in the Torah service (both being called up before the Torah was read and reading from the Torah itself). Men led the formal morning service and service after the Torah service concluded. There were a lot of people there, including lots of pre-teen girls. Turns out that it was one of the girls' Bat-Mitzvah, and the pre-teens were her friends coming to celebrate with her. The Bat-Mitzvah girl did a good job, and there was a lot of excitement. After the service, in honor of the Bat-Mitzvah, there was a tent outside with a lot of good food, including ice-cream and candy, which made the boys very happy.

The people at Shivyohnee seemed very nice but weren't super welcoming, in terms of coming up to us and introducing themselves, as many have done at other congregations. I think it's because a lot of the people there were guests for the Bat-Mitzvah, and not actually members of the congregation. Many of the conversations during the kiddush lunch were in English, and there are clearly many former Americans in attendance. Before we left the lunch, the CK was reading one of "The Puppy Place" books about a family who fosters dogs, and a woman came over to talk to us. She and her family are from Ann Arbor (Go Blue!), and they have just come to Israel 10 days ago for her sabbatical year. Her children are 8 1/2 and 6 and started school last Monday as well. We talked with them for a while and made plans to contact each other. I do hope we end up seeing them, if only to switch English books with their kids, but hopefully to establish a friendship with another family. We'll see.

We then walked about 10-12 minutes to Pentheus's friends dira in Mekoor Chaim (Source of Life), another neighborhood in the area. (Interestingly, Mekoor Chaim is the only street in the neighborhood, but it is a fairly long street.) They are a very interesting couple. They moved to Israel from Canada 30+ years ago. The wife is an engineer who worked with Pentheus in 1990, and her husband is semi-retired book binder and a Jew-by-choice, who had grown up Catholic. The husband is fluent in Esperanto and an active member of the Freemasons in Israel. They have two children and a few grandchildren. The boys were excited because they had some English children's books and many toys and games. We played "Hamesachehk Chaim" (The Game of Life) for a while. We liked lunch: a corn and onion "pahshteedah" (kind of a quiche), tofu and mushrooms (pick-out-able mushrooms!) with soy sauce, challah, cut up fruit, a green salad, and a vegan chocolate cake for dessert. We had a lovely time.

(As I wrote the last paragraph, the CK volunteered to fold laundry to take a break from reading. Hmm, I could come up with a lot of things for the CK to do...)

The boys went to the park in the afternoon while Pentheus and I napped. (We could really get used to this "walking themselves places" thing!) We played Uno and Bananagrams when the boys returned and had a light supper around 8:10-ish after Shabbat had ended. It was very hard to get the boys to settle down to go to sleep last night; we're definitely not used to having school on Sunday! I was very tired and had the beginnings of my headache, so I went to sleep just after 10:30. Pentheus stayed up for a while to begin filling out the many Cambridge Public School forms that are required each year. We want to fill them out and send them back now so that we will be in the School Directory and receive all of the necessary info for when we return.

During dinner Friday night, apropos of nothing, the WK said, "You know, now that we are in Israel, there's really no reason to go back to Cambridge." After Pentheus and I exchanged quizzical looks with raised eyebrows, I asked the WK what he meant. The WK said something about how if he is learning Hebrew here, he might as well stay in Israel so that he could use his Hebrew, rather than likely forgetting it when we go back to the States. Will have to follow up on that a bit more.

Friday, pre-Shabbat

The window guy didn't show up today. He was supposed to be here at 12, and no-one answered the work or cell phone when I tried at 12:30, 1:00 and 2:00. Israel (especially, Jerusalem) shuts down early on Friday in anticipation of Shabbat, and if no-one answered at 2, there's no reason to try again until Sunday. I'm a bit bummed because I wanted to get that taken care of. I'll follow up on Sunday morning.

When I dropped the boys off at school today, they both seemed to be doing well. The CK wasn't unhappy at all, and even requested that I let them walk home alone without us (to which I agreed). He was angry at me before we left the house because he didn't have a Biology book that he thought he needed, and, actually, the WK was angry, too, because he wants to have all of his school books. As you may recall, when Pentheus and I spoke with the teachers before school started, everyone agreed that it would be a waste of money for us to buy the boys' school books when they can't understand them now and because we're leaving at the end of December. I spoke to the teachers again this morning, and we decided to get a few of the books for each boy. Maybe the kids will be able to follow some of the texts, and at least they will feel like they are participating to a greater extent in class. While I am sure the boys are picking up more Hebrew than they (or we) realize, I am looking forward to the time when they can speak Hebrew and feel comfortable with it. We're very much hoping that will happen before we leave.

After the boys were at school, I took the "agahlah" (the backpack on wheels) to a nearby shopping area. Before I did any shopping, I ordered a cup of "natool" with warm milk at Cafe Doovshahnit (Little Honeycake Cafe), a well-known cafe. I sat at one of the outdoor tables and while I sipped my decaf, I listened the conversations at the tables around me. Most of the conversations were in Hebrew although there were a few in English, too. There was a table of 6 men, all wearing biking clothes, and I guess they met there after their ride. It was interesting how easily they spoke to each other, while switching from English to Hebrew almost mid-sentence.

I then went to the prepared food place to get our Shabbat meal. Whereas we only had chicken as the main dish the first 3 Shabbatot (plural of Shabbat), I ventured out and also bought some beef with carrots and onions, plus some "chareef" (spicy) carrot salad, rice pilaf-stuffed red peppers, and some other foods. My next stop was Angel Bakery, which has the very best challah in Jerusalem, according to some. I got a plain challah loaf for the boys and a whole wheat sesame challah for Pentheus and me. While I was bringing them to the register so that I could pay, I took a small piece of cinnamon ruggelach (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ruggelach) to eat as well. The woman at the register asked what I was buying, and I told her the two challot and the piece of ruggelach. She said, "l'breeyoot" (to your health) about the ruggelach (i.e., she didn't charge me), and she said it was 5.80 shekel for the challot. I thought I misunderstood her because 5.80 shekels is only about $1.45, so I asked again how much the challot were. Again, I heard 5.80. Not wanting to embarrass myself by not giving her enough money, I gave her a 50 shekel bill and was planning on counting the change carefully, so that I could figure out how much the two challot actually cost. The woman gave me 44.20 shekels in change. Still not sure how they could be that inexpensive, but we'll see how they taste at dinner! By the way, the cinnamon ruggelach was amazing, probably the best piece I have ever had, and it was all I could do not to go buy more.

Then I went to the Coop Shop grocery store and bought a few things we needed. I've taken to buying an English newspaper each Friday with the plan of reading it over Shabbat. I have been buying a different one each week to see which we enjoy the most. I bought the International Herald Tribute (the international version of the NYT) which also has an English version of Ha'aretz, an Israeli newspaper. The newspaper was 17 shekels ($4+ dollars), which makes it even harder to believe the two challot were only 5.80 shekels.

We don't have big plans for this Shabbat. Tonight we are going to Friday night services at Shir Chadash, the synagogue the boys liked very much the first Saturday morning we were here. (It's the place that had the great food after services.) Tomorrow morning we are going to what we think is an egalitarian service (i.e., both men and women participate, although there is a mecheetzah) held at the community center in Baaka (where my Hebrew class meets). Then we're going to friends of Pentheus's for Shabbat lunch at noon. We had lunch with them when we were in Israel on vacation 2 years ago, and it will be lovely to see them again.

Shabbat shalom.