Leaving Yordei HaSira 10

It’s mid-Sunday afternoon, in my time zone at least, and I am sitting on our Turkish Air flight from Istanbul to JFK. We woke up before 5:20 am in Jerusalem, and we’re about 1/3^rd of the way back to Cambridge. I had hoped to be able to focus on writing what I am thinking and feeling today, rather than catching up on the last few days in Jerusalem, but we were very busy, in a good way, and I decided to enjoy the moment instead of opening up my Netbook.

I think my last post ended after the CK and my trip to the JBO. We took a cab to a makolet about 3 blocks from the boys’ school so that the CK and I could get something to eat for breakfast. We also stopped by the hardware store to buy packing tape in case Pentheus and I needed it to finish sending our boxes to the States.

The CK and I then walked to the Szold School, and I went through some of the CK’s “schoolwork” to decide what he wanted to bring back to Cambridge. I took most of his textbooks and papers then, although there ended up being another big pile at the end of the day. Pentheus had walked the WK to school and had brought a couple of boxes for us for more shipping. Pentheus had found out that the WK’s “misibat l’hitraot” was at 10:30 am, so we planned to be back at the school with the WK’s cake after our trip to the post office. We walked to the post office and packed up a box to send via “yam” (sea). I waited in line at the post office, while Pentheus quickly hurried home to start another box before leaving for a tour of Katamon that had been arranged by our synagogue.

The post office line wasn’t too bad, and by the time I got back to the dira, Pentheus had finished the other box and was walking out the door. I walked back to the post office (I know, it’s ridiculous how many separate times we shipped stuff) and mailed the final box. The boxes sent by “aveer” (air) have been arriving in the States after 3-4 Israeli business days, and who knows how long the “yam” (by sea) boxes take. We’ve been told everything from “chodshayim” (two months) to three months to “hetzi shana” (half a year, or 6 months). After all the shipping, we were sure that we had eliminated at least one of the suitcases for the trip home, but that didn’t happen… (and that’s the primary reason why I didn’t get this blog post out while we were still in Jerusalem).

Pentheus and I then met back at the school for the WK’s party, but it turned out the party had been at 9:30, so we missed it. We spoke to Yael (the WK’s teacher) while his class was with the Arabic teacher, and she said the party had been great. Yael asked each of the kids in the class to say something to the WK, and whenever the kids spoke in English, the WK would say, “rak b’ivrit” (only in Hebrew). The WK also told the story about how we had decided to come on this adventure and spoke only in Hebrew. The class gave him a little booklet with their good wishes and contact information. When we saw the WK later, he was very glad that we had missed the “misiba” for him. (Apparently, we would have only embarrassed him.) The WK had written a letter in Hebrew to his class, and he read the letter aloud at the end of the day. 

When we gave Yael the gift certificate for the massage, she was incredibly surprised and said, “Atem lo normaleem” (You guys are not normal!).  We really wanted to give the boys’ teachers something special after all they had done for them during the past 4+ months.

Many of the kids in both boys’ classes wanted our email, Facebook, and Skype addresses in order to keep in touch. They kept asking us when we were returning to Israel, and when we did, would the boys please come visit them. The kids were so welcoming and inclusive to the WK and the CK, which I know made something very hard a little bit easier.

Pentheus and I are quite proud of both boys and how they handled their exit from the Szold School. They clearly both learned a lot of Hebrew – and I really hope we can keep some of that up – but they also grew up and matured a lot from the experience in Israeli public schools. It certainly wasn’t easy for much of the time, and despite the difficulties, we believe the boys gained much more than they “lost” by being out of their public school in Cambridge for the past 4 ½ months. I know they are both nervous about “re-entry” on Wednesday, and I am sure there will be bumps along the way. Both the CK and the WK did some of their “Cambridge work” while we were in Israel, and we’ll just have to see how the readjustment period goes.  

At the end of the school day, we gave each boy 6 shekels (about $1.50) to go to the makolet to buy whatever they wanted. The WK bought a lot of candy, including gummy candies, of course, and the CK bought a couple package of Supergoal cards (what else?) plus a few pieces of candy. Pentheus and I really needed to get some stuff done in the dira (like packing!), but, “davka” (no English translation, but kind of means “as luck would have it” or a Murphy’s Law situation), that afternoon the boys did not want to go to the Park Moshava, even though the weather was sunny and in low 60’s. We finally pushed the WK out the door (and I mean that both literally and figuratively) for an hour or so, and the CK stayed in his room and played a bit. Later on, everyone showered and got ready for Shabbat.

When the siren indicating that Shabbat had started sounded, we all gathered together to light Shabbat candles one last time in Jerusalem. After the blessing over the candles, I suggested that the 4 of us also do a “shehechianu” which is a blessing that thanks G-d for sustaining us to reach this occasion. A “shehechianu” is typically recited on the first night of a holiday (like Rosh Hashana, Sukkot, Chanukah, Passover, etc.) and at the “first” time something unique happens.(http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/Shehecheyanu.html) There is no real protocol for when a “shehechianu” can be recited, and I figured we needed to commemorate the occasion of our last Shabbat in Israel.

I think I mentioned that our synagogue, Shir Chadash, had its first ever Shabbaton (community retreat held over the Jewish Sabbath) last weekend. Perfect timing for us – no shopping, no cooking and no clean-up. The boys and Pentheus went to Friday night serves at shul, and then I joined them at Shabbat dinner. We all had a great time. We were sitting near people whom we didn’t know from the Shir Chadash community and were bummed that we hadn’t met them until Friday night. Rabbi Pear asked Pentheus to lead the community in “beerkat hamazon” grace after the meal) following dinner, and thanked us for our contributions to the synagogue. We were very touched.

There were 4 girls, ages 7-10 (Rabbi and Rachel Pear’s 3 daughters and the daughter of another friend) who decided that it was time they got to know the WK and CK and asked me if the boys could play with them.  It was very sweet, even when one of the girls screamed out, “He’s not my boyfriend or anything!” The boys had a fabulous evening and spent most of Saturday with the girls, too. Figures that for the first 19 Shabbatot (plural for Shabbat), the kids don’t even look at each other, and the last one they are inseparable. At Shabbat lunch, they all sat together at “the kids’ table” which meant that Ian (the Rabbi) and Rachel could sit with Pentheus and me. The boys spent all afternoon at the Pears’ house while Pentheus and I continued packing.

I went back to synagogue for “havdalah” (the services marking the end of the Sabbath and the beginning of the new week) and to get the boys. Baruch (our friend who had made aliyah from South Africa who, along with his wife, came to our house to Shabbat lunch a few weeks ago) asked the WK to hold the candle during the service, which was incredibly sweet of him. The CK was bumming that Baruch hadn’t asked him (even though the CK had been playing in the kids’ room anyway), and ended up standing next to the WK during the service.

We went back to the dira to take care of some things, like a little more packing, making arrangements for someone to sell Pentheus’s monitor, etc. until around 8:25. Then the four of us walked to the Emek to have our final meal in Jerusalem.

We decided to go to Roza restaurant – it’s got great steak, and we’ve had a lot of great experiences there.

We thought about going to Burgers Bar but it's always so hectic and loud there, and we wanted something a bit more quiet. At dinner we talked about Israel and what we are going to miss (to be sure, kosher meat restaurants and gummy candy made the list, near the top). We talked a little about what our favorite parts of the last 5 months have been and what we’ve gotten out of the trip. After Roza, we looked for gummy candies to buy but none of the stores in the area had what we wanted. On the walk home, around 10:30 or so, we stopped at Park HaMoshava one last time. We were only there 10 minutes but we were all very glad we did it. We were talking about what a big part that park played in our Israel experience.

Back at the dira, we tried to settle the boys in to bed around 11-ish, knowing that they would be waking up in 6+ hours. Maybe we shouldn’t have pushed them by going out to dinner so late, but we wanted the last night to be special. It was, and I am so glad. Pentheus and I finished packing, cleaned out the fridge, took out the recycling, etc. for a few hours before finally turning out the light sometime after 2 a.m. We had made arrangements for Shmuelik (our favorite cab driver from when my Dad and sister were visiting in October) arrived right on time (actually a bit early) around 6. He took a great picture of the family.

We loaded the bags in Shmuelik’s trunk and the boys got into the taxi.

  Pentheus and I spent a minute or two alone in the apartment after we checked to make sure we had gotten everything. We talked about how happy we were that we had done this, despite the difficulties. We still can’t believe that we actually pulled it off, and how quickly the time went. We’ve talked a lot, especially over the past several weeks, about Israel and our experience here. We know that our family has grown closer from this adventure, and I think we are all changed in many ways, some of which we haven’t even realized yet. As we locked the door to the dira for the last time this morning, and put “our” key in the mailbox for the next tenant, we walked down the stairs and got in the cab.

And Then There Were Two

It's early Friday afternoon, and I want to catch up on the week before Shabbat begins. We have been very busy saying goodbye to people, packing up our stuff, shipping a few more boxes to Cambridge (and eating way too much!). I've also taken a bunch of pictures that I will share in a different post (hopefully) later on.
Wednesday morning I had appointments for both a manicure and "tisporet" (haircut) on the Emek. I figured that even if I have gained 5 pounds in Israel and my eyes are a bit swollen from crying, at least my hair and nails look great! Late Wednesday morning, Pentheus and I walked to the CK's class for his "misibat l'hitraot" (goodbye party, although I think I just made the phrase up in Hebrew). We brought a cake for the party, and arrived in time to hear all of the kids saying things in Hebrew to the CK, e.g., "Hope you have fun at school." "I will miss you." and "Good luck in the United States." It was actually very, very sweet. Meital (the CK's teacher) asked the CK to choose a song for the whole class to sing, and he chose "Eretz, Eretz, Eretz" (literally, "Land, Land, Land" but really meaning, Israel.) Here's the video of them singing, if you are interested:

The CK made a card for Meital, and she cried when she read it. The CK did the entire card, including the Hebrew writing, by himself. The only help we provided was to show him the Hebrew-English translation for "I will miss you." which the CK wrote on the inside of the card. (The CK did it in light colored pencils, so you can't really see it in a picture.) We gave Meital a gift certificate for a "massageh" (wanna take a guess what that means in English?) at a spa nearby, and she was pretty excited. "B'emet" (Truthfully), we are so glad that the CK switched to Meital's class. When the CK said his final goodbyes at the end of school today, it was sad but it really was okay. I kept thinking about how before you can return to something, you have to leave it first.

Wednesday afternoon, the CK and I went to "Jimmy's" a textbook and office supplies store and makolet (yeah, I know, it's a very weird combination). We bought the next 3 books in the series that Meital is currently using to teach Hebrew to CK's class. We also bought some "toffee toot" (strawberry taffy) because how can we be in a makolet without buying candy!? We hope to use the books to continue Hebrew lessons for him when we return to Cambridge. After Jimmy's, we took the #14 bus to Kanyon Malcha (Malka Mall). The CK bought a book to read on the plane ride home and we wandered around a bit. Pentheus and the WK met us at the Food Court for dinner (I think we all had meat of some sort!) and we had a nice time together. Note: that's 2 nights that the 4 of us had dinner together at a restaurant without too much complaining and whining!

Yesterday was extremely busy but a good day for us. I walked the CK to school and then headed off to Cafe Duvshaneet to say goodbye to the owner. The WK wasn't with us because he had gone to school very early for soccer practice. (I don't know if I ever updated the blog about the WK and the Szold School soccer team. We found out that the soccer games don't actually begin until April, but the WK still insisted on going to practice every single week, even though it meant waking up extra early.) Before I made it to Cafe Duvshaneet, however, Pentheus called me on the cell phone to tell me that we had been invited to join friends of his for coffee at a cafe on the Emek.

I rushed home and took a shower, and Pentheus and I headed off to the Emek. We spent a couple of hours with Yehuda (Pentheus's friend whose son's wedding we attended a few weeks ago and who had pneumonia and canceled plans earlier in the week) and his wife, Milli, and it was truly lovely to be with them.

We had such a good time. Milli's English isn't great, so we mostly spoke in Hebrew. Pentheus's Hebrew is much better than he makes it out to be - he had no problem communicating with them. They kept apologizing for not seeing us earlier and more often in our trip, but when we kept saying we were leaving "at the end of the year", they thought we meant the end of the Jewish year, i.e., in August or September before Rosh Hashana, and not the end of the year in December 2012. I haven't met such wonderful people in a long time. Actually, I have felt that way about all of Pentheus's friends in Israel, from the group of former work colleagues with whom we spent the day in Zichron Ya'akov in mid August to the Sela Family, and from the Elazar Family in Alon HaGalil (remember the milking cow experience?) to Yehuda and Milli. (Okay, I just took a break to wipe away some tears.)

From there, I took a cab to a small diner/restaurant near Kanyon Hadar (Hadar Mall) to meet Jessie for lunch. Those of you who are on Facebook may have seen my post earlier this week about how I was excited that my Hebrew was good enough to understand an entire TV episode of "Penguins of Madagascar" in Hebrew. While that is true, I regret to inform you that my Hebrew was also good enough to understand what the cab driver on the way to meet Jessie was saying to me. He asked, "yaish l'ba'alech coach b'mita? cama misparim atem ohseem seks b'laila?" which translates to "Does your husband have strength in bed? How many times a night do you do it?" Uch! I told him it was "lo eenyan shelcha, v'ani rotza letzet mehamonit." (none of your business, I want to get out of your cab.) Seriously, gross, but I guess it's now part of my Israeli experience! Despite the events in the cab, Jessie and I had a great time at lunch. We both ordered "marak adasheem" (lentil soup) and just sat and talked. I know I have written this at least 5 times before, but I will miss her. Yay for Skype!!

After lunch, I picked up the cake for the WK's "misibat l'hitraot" this morning at school. From the bakery, I headed back to the Emek to meet a friend of mine from Boston who is in Israel for a couple of weeks for the Bat-Mitzvah of her nieces'. I stayed for about 45 minutes, but it was nice to be included and to chat with her a bit. It was also a good to be reminded of how much I enjoy spending time with her, so that we'll be sure to see each other more in Boston! My friend commented that my blog posts lately contain a lot of references to meals and restaurants. She's right, but we've been trying to "eat down" the food in the dira, and also visit the places where we love to eat.

I rushed home so that I could make it to the CK's performance with his guitar teacher. The CK has been taking lessons from Orr for the past 10+ weeks, and he has loved it. The CK is looking forward to continuing his lessons when we return to Cambridge. In the performance, the CK played "The Sweater Song" by Weezer while Orr (plus Pentheus and I) sang the words. Then, the CK played a song that Orr had written especially for him! Orr provided the lyrics and the vocals for the song.

The CK and Orr have had a great relationship; they are crazy about each other. After the 2nd lesson, Orr told me that he thought it was "destined" for them to meet each other. The CK's favorite place in Israel is the Hula Valley (http://www.goisrael.com/Tourism_Eng/Tourist%20Information/Discover%20Israel/Geographic%20Regions/Pages/The%20Hula%20Valley.aspx  ), and it turns out Orr grew up on a moshav 15 km from there and his mother worked at the Hula Valley Nature Center for 15 years. When he has time away from his music, Orr is a regular volunteer at the Jerusalem Bird Observatory (JBO). As a going away gift, Orr made special arrangements for the CK to visit the Observatory and participate in some of the important work they do.

After the musical performance, the CK and I went to Cafe Duvshaneet for the last time. The CK had "shoko cham" (hot chocolate), some ruggelach, and an apple, while I had my last natool and picked a bit at the CK's ruggelach. The CK drew pictures while I read more of Rabbi Pear's book. When the time came for us to leave, I wished the owner of Cafe Duvshaneet, Nuriel, a "l'hitraot" and the CK took a picture.

I have liked having a "cafe of my own" in Jerusalem; I might just have to look for a place that's "mine" in Cambridge. While the CK was taking the picture, a woman in the cafe asked her friend (in Hebrew) why we were having our picture taken, Nuriel told her that I had been in his cafe almost every week for 5 months, and that I was an honorary employee. (Guess having the t-shirt makes it official.)

Last night, all 4 of us went to the "kikar" (square) a few blocks away. The boys and Pentheus had haircuts first, and then for dinner (I know, more about food and meals), the CK had a slice of pizza and the rest of us had turkey shawarma (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawarma) from our favorite shawarma place. Another meal together and another picture:

After dinner we went to the nuts/seeds/candy place that we all like. Pentheus bought a soy sauce rice/Asian nut mixture (kind of like an Asian form of Chex Party Mix) that he likes. As a family, we bought our final (well, actually, I guess we could potentially buy some more tomorrow night after Shabbat ends) batch of gummy candies and we added in some funky marshmallow products to mix it up a little. I swear I took a picture because I remember arranging the ginormous marshmallow strawberries, but I can't seem to find it.

Last night, after the boys went to sleep, Pentheus and I called it a night a short while later. The CK and I woke up before 5:30 this morning (that's in the a.m., folks!) to meet Orr at the JBO. (http://www.jbo.org.il/English/jbo_about_us.htm)  It was very, very cool to be there. We pretty much had a private tour of the place, including following the workers as they "collected" the birds so that they could be tagged, weighed, examined, and then re-released. One of the birds we saw has only been seen 4 times in Israel before! The CK was able to hold the birds and release them back into the wild. The JBO was purposely planned to be near the Knesset (Israeli Parliament), and the area is gorgeous.

Alas, I didn't have time to finish. Will check in tomorrow night. Shabbat shalom everyone!

Between Meals at Cafe Katamon Yeshana

This week has been quite busy and quite emotional. On Shabbat, we sponsored the kiddush (light refreshments after Sabbath morning services) at Shir Chadash. We wanted to thank the Shir Chadash congregation for welcoming us in their community and to say "l'hitraot" (see you again). We laughed because Rabbi Pear did a little bit of editorializing in the weekly email that goes out to the congregation. When he wrote that we were sponsoring kiddush, he added the words "for now" following "l'hitraot". Then, when Rabbi Pear announced after services that we were sponsoring kiddush, he invited us to return to Israel "for a short time, for a long visit, for the rest of your lives, whatever." Using the recipe created by the late Rabbi Moshe Holcer z'l (from our synagogue in Cambridge), Pentheus made etrog vodka with leftover etrogim  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etrog), and we served that, along with some scotch, at kiddush. Both the vodka and scotch seemed to go over well. The boys wanted us to serve some of their favorite foods, too, so we also provided gummy worms (I know, you're shocked!), Chupa Chups lollipops, and those fruit nectar juices with the ever-changing price.

We have really have enjoyed being a part of Shir Chadash. I never thought I would feel that way about a congregation with a "mechitza" (separation between men and women), but here I am. I'm sure it's because the mechitza is vertical (as opposed to horizontal) and because women can see the bima. Also, we like the "ruach" (spirit) of the congregation when we "daven" (pray), and we're big fans of Rabbi Pear (and the whole Pear Family). This weekend there is a "shabbaton" (kind of like a retreat over Shabbat) at Shir Chadash. It's great for us because not only do we get to spend our last Shabbat with the congregation, but the shabbaton includes Friday night dinner, Saturday afternoon kiddush/lunch, and Saturday night dinner. No cooking for us! We are planning to go out to eat Saturday night anyway - to be sure, someplace that serves meat.

By the way, I don't think I have yet plugged Rabbi Pear's book, The Accidental Zionist: What a Priest, a Pornographer and a Wrestler named Chainsaw taught Me about Being Jewish, Saving the World, and Why Israel Matters to Both. (Okay, so it's a really long title, but makes you want to read the book, huh?)

Saturday night we had planned for the entire family to go to Cafe Katamon Yeshana, the restaurant/cafe we've been frequenting a lot lately. They've got great soups, and the WK loves their apple-plum jam. Unfortunately, only the CK and I went to dinner, but we had a nice time together. The soup was zucchini with hearts of palm, and I thought it had a funny aftertaste. I ended up getting toast with the apple-plum jam. The CK loves their pasta, which is funny because he gets pasta "blee klum" (without anything), so it's not like it's a specialty of the house.

On Sunday, the boys went back to school, and I had Ulpan in the morning. In Ulpan we learned words related to grocery shopping and saw a news clip about the opening of a new Rami Levy grocery store in Mo'd'in, a city near Jerusalem. We learned words such as "tzarchaneem" (consumers), "milchemet m'chireem" (price wars), "kahmut moogbal" (limited quantities), and "eetee" (slow, as in how quickly the cashiers work). In the afternoon, the WK went to park to play soccer, while the CK and I took the bus to "merkaz ha'ir" (center of town, or downtown) to meet our Cambridge friends' daughter (the one who is here for the USY program). We bought most of the last gifts we needed to get, and had ice-cream before dinner! The WK and Pentheus joined us and we went to Big Apple, a low-scale pizza and pasta restaurant, for dinner. After dinner, we said goodbye to our friend, and it was sad. Although certainly we have all enjoyed spending time with her, I particularly will miss our "girl time" together.

On Monday, while the boys were at school, I packed up another box to send to the States. Pentheus was right when he said we would have a lot of stuff to send back; I have been surprised by how much we have! We also had a problem again with electricity in the dira. When Pentheus tried to do laundry, we lost power. It wouldn't have been a big deal to bring some dirty clothes back to Cambridge, but we had already put liquid detergent on the clothes and we couldn't really put them in a suitcase like that. We brought laundry over to a neighbor's dira and used her washing machine. I called the repair guy whom the electrician from last week had recommended, and he came over to fix the machine. It turned out that there were some wet wires in the washer, and once he dried them, we were good to go. Housecall plus labor totalled 250 shekels (about $70). After school, the boys went to Park Hamoshava while I took a nap because I had a wicked headache.

Early Monday evening, we had the CK's parent-teacher conference at school. Pentheus and I both went, and the CK attended as well. We had a good meeting with Meital, the CK's teacher. The entire conference was in Hebrew, and I'm pretty sure that Pentheus, the CK and I understood what Meital was saying. At one point, Meital kept saying that he was a "yeled maxim" (fantastic boy) and how happy she was to have him in her class.

I hadn't known until Meital told us on Monday, that she was the one who suggested the CK move to her class. Apparently, she had seen the CK crying everyday and wanted to make things better. At one point during the conference, Meital started crying, and, of course, that made me start to cry, too. Pentheus and the CK were comforting both of us.

After the conference with Meital, "sof, sof" (finally), the entire family went out to dinner together! We went to Cafe Katamon Yeshana (wow, we really have gone there a lot lately, huh?) and had a wonderful time. I just knew we could do it! We spent some time talking as a family about our adventure in Israel, what we will miss here and what we are looking forward to in Cambridge. I am so glad we ate together and had such a good time.

Yesterday morning, I had my last Ulpan session. We learned all of the words related to french toast and watched a video of an interview with Chef Haim Cohen (who's apparently a big deal here in Israel). I know words like "mahtkon" (recipe), "proosot" (slices), "k'ahrah" (bowl), and "tahmtzit vanil" (vanilla extract)! I was sad when Ulpan ended, and I am very glad I participated in it. I've thought about continuing to do Ulpan via Skype, but I think it would be too difficult to pay attention at 3 am Boston time. My Ulpan teacher told me that she has never met anyone who worked so hard to learn Hebrew, which was very nice of her to say.

Last night Pentheus and I had another date night - two weeks in a row! We were supposed to have dinner with friends of Pentheus's - the couple whose son got married a few weeks ago, but Pentheus's friend has pneumonia and canceled. Pentheus and I ate dinner at Baba's, a kosher Middle-Eastern meat restaurant. Pentheus had merguez (spice sausages) and I had entrecote skewers. It was okay but not great. We are definitely going to miss having such easy access to kosher meat all of the time!

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate! I wish you and yours a meaningful holiday filled with family and friends. Christmas is a lot different in Israel than it is in the States. My understanding is that Beit Lechem (Bethlehem) is packed on Christmas Eve. It was strange not to see Christmas lights on houses and Christmas trees through windows. We land back in Boston late Sunday night, and I imagine we'll still see some in Cambridge before they are taken down.

Finally, here are a couple of pictures of our favorite gum in Israel. It's watermelon-flavored and shaped, and on the inside, there are small black candy "seeds" that kind of taste like the Runts candy:

It may seem kind of gross, but the gum tastes great!

The Last Week Before the Last Week

As I type this first paragraph, it is Sunday morning, and I am sitting in Café Duvshaneet with my natool and pastry. I am well aware that this time next week, I will be at Ben Gurion Airport in Lod (outside Tel Aviv), waiting to board the plane back to the States, back to reality. I figure that I will have a lot to write in the blog about our leaving, so I had better be current in here with our daily happenings before then.

The past week went okay and was pretty busy. On Monday the boys went back to school and I met Jessie for lunch. We ate at "Makom Shel Itzik" (Itzik's Place) [which is at 33 Beit Lechem, Mike Lasday] and I had awesome “harira” soup – it’s a Moroccan vegetable soup with a kind of sweet and sour flavor. It was fun, as always, to see Jessie, and I have loved seeing her and her family while we have been here. Before I leave, Jessie and I are squeezing in another lunch on Thursday.

Late afternoon, Pentheus and I picked up the boys from Park Hamoshava, and we tried to go out to the mall to get some gifts, do some errands, and eat dinner. We had a hard time getting much accomplished, and it ended up that Pentheus and the CK left, while the WK and I took care of some things. The WK and I ended up going to Aroma to grab dinner. The WK was unhappy because his French Toast wasn’t cooked enough, although I enjoyed my half of a goat cheese, tomato and lettuce sandwich. Israelis seem to want to put pesto on everything, but I ordered mine "blee pesto" (without pesto).

Tuesday morning my Ulpan resumed after the Chanukah break, and I was glad to be back. I had met with the Ulpan teacher twice for private sessions during the break, but I missed being with the rest of the group. I really have learned a lot at the Ulpan, and I have so enjoyed the company and camaraderie of the other women. I know that I would like to continue to learn Hebrew, and hope to take a class or find a tutor when we get back to Cambridge. I haven't yet figured out a way to use my Hebrew when we're in the States, but I am open to suggestions!

On Tuesday evening, Pentheus and I took our neighbor out to dinner in Machaneh Yehuda. Our neighbor has been so wonderful to us while we’ve been here – from school suggestions to making sure we were okay after the tseva adom, from offering rides to birthday parties and inviting us over to meals. We are really so appreciative of everything she and her family have done. We went to Topolino, a kosher Italian restaurant with about 10 tables. The food was delicious and we had a great time. We chose Topolino because although it is totally kosher in terms of food, ingredients and being closed on Shabbat, it does not have “supervision” by a rabbi from the Ultra-Orthodox government rabbinate authority to make sure that everything is done according to the laws of kashrut.  Supervision by a rabbi is required in order to receive a certificate stating that an establishment is kosher (a “t’udaht kashrut”) and such supervision involves a significant cost. There is now a movement in Jerusalem whereby restaurants and cafes are intentionally not seeking certification because they don’t want to pay the fee and because they don't believe the government-run supervision process should be forced upon them. There have been many articles about this issue recently; here are few links - http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/11/30/165125939/some-restaurants-in-israel-declare-a-kosher-rebellion, http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-12-05/national/35625776_1_kosher-certification-restaurant-owners-supervisors-demand, and http://www.haaretz.com/misc/iphone-article/jerusalem-s-kashrut-rebels-unveil-new-ally-an-orthodox-rabbi-1.473870.

Before dinner, Pentheus and I went to a wine and cheese bar “Basher” near Machaneh Yehuda. Pentheus had a funky beer (St. Bernardus Prior 8) and I had Teperberg Reisling, and we both very much enjoyed having a drink before meeting our neighbor at Topolino. Pentheus and I really haven’t had many “date nights” in Israel, and it was great to sit there and talk knowing the boys were at home being taken care of by someone else:

On Wednesday, I went out to lunch with a good friend of a good friend of mine from Cambridge. We ate lunch at Caffit, a chain restaurant here in Israel. Caffit is right next to Jerusalem Botanical Gardens, less than 2 km from our dira. (Who knew?) We sat outside for the view, and both ordered hot soup because it was cool and breezy.  Caffit always has a security guard at its door, and charged us 4 shekels as a “security fee.” There were tons of birds around – quite bold I must add – and when either of us got up to use the restroom, there were almost a dozen birds immediately trying to feast on the basket of bread! We also saw the Gazelle Park where, on many days but unfortunately not on that day, one can see numerous gazelles wandering around. Kind of amazing to have a botanical garden and gazelles so close to the busy city.

Late Wednesday afternoon, the CK had a birthday party for a friend at the community center in Ba’aka, a neighborhood about 20 minutes from us. The CK had a good time at the party and enjoyed the cake, candy and goodie bag. Pentheus went with the CK, and afterwards they looked at the mall nearby for a “siddur” (prayer book) for the CK. The CK wants a siddur with English and Hebrew but couldn’t find one at any of the stores in the mall. Later this afternoon, I think we are going to look downtown for one. While Pentheus and the CK were together, the WK and I went to dinner at Café Katamon Hayeshana  (the Old Katamon Café). We both really loved our meals – we started with focaccia, then I had lentil soup, and the WK had toast with yummy homemade jam.  Café Katamon Hayeshana has become one of our favorite places to eat. (Note: I still love Café Duvshaneet but it doesn’t have meals, just pastries and snacks.)

Late Thursday afternoon, the CK and I went to the post office to mail a box to the States. I was very pleasantly surprised that there was almost no line! We’ve sent 4-5 boxes back so far – they are mostly filled with presents for others and things we’ve bought for our family. We don’t want to schlep heavy suitcases nor do we want to pay the airlines for extra bags, so shipping seems to be the best option. In case you are wondering, a 6+ kilo box (about 13 ½ pounds) costs 289 shekels (about $75) to ship and it takes 3-4 business days. That is cheaper and much easier than paying $100 an extra bag and having to drag it with us. It’s much cheaper to ship via “yam” (ship) – 89 shekels (about $23) but it takes up to 3 months. We did ship one via “yam”, but it contained summer clothes, no gifts, and things we won’t shouldn’t need until Spring.

I should also mention here that while we were at the post office, the CK said something to me about how the world was going to end on Friday. One of the postal clerks heard what the CK said and was totally freaked out. The CK had said it in English, but apparently the clerk understood enough of what the CK said to ask me about it. She asked me in Hebrew what time on Friday would it happen and was there anything she could do about it. She kept saying “ani mefachedet” (I am afraid) while the other postal clerk muttered “shtuyot” (nonsense, literally, but more commonly, bullshit). I was actually kind of proud of myself that I could explain to her in Hebrew how the Mayans though the world would end, etc, although I didn’t know how to say “Indians”. (I just checked and it’s “Indianim” according to my Hebrew-English translator. That doesn’t seem right to me. India – the country – is “Hodu” in Hebrew but I know it’s not the same.)

The CK and I went out to dinner after the post office and had a nice time. We played “Sentence Hangman” where one has to guess letters for an entire sentence instead of just a word or phrase. Surprisingly, it’s much easier to play that way, or maybe it was just that the CK didn’t choose a hard sentence. (He used “I hope the hamburger is good.”) I posted the picture of the CK with his kids’ hamburger and bowl of fries on Facebook. It was a lot of food for a 7-year old. The CK didn’t finish the burger because he was full (but somehow managed to eat the pareve vanilla ice-cream that came as his dessert), so we brought it back for Pentheus to have for lunch on Friday.

Thursday night and Friday, it poured here, although I don’t think I can come up with a synonym to convey just how hard it was raining. I have never seen or heard anything like that. Supposedly it was the heaviest rain Jerusalem has experienced in years. It really was a downpour. Of course, the first thing the CK said to me on Friday morning was, “Hey, Ima, maybe you shouldn’t have shipped your boots back yesterday via yam.” Yeah, thanks, CK for pointing that out!

I walked the boys to school and then did typical Friday morning errands and got some groceries needed for Shabbat dinner. Pentheus went to Machaneh Yehudah (before 7 am!) with our neighbor and did a lot of the shopping as well, including buying fresh salmon and chicken. (Pentheus joked about the chicken being so fresh that he saw the butcher cut off the head of the chicken he bought!) Friday night we had the Lasday family, old friends from Young Judaea, to Shabbat dinner. One of the Lasday kids is on a Young Judaea year-long program in Israel, and the rest of the family came to visit her over winter break. We had a great time with them – lots of laughing and telling stories. My boys were engaged in conversation and everyone got along very well, despite the fact that the Lasday kids are ages 18 and 15. (I think a lot of Young Judaea friends are like that – you can pick up right where you left off even after not seeing them for 20+ years.) The Lasdays are also our heroes because a.) they brought the boys Calvin and Hobbes and Foxtrot comics collections to read on the plane and b.) they are bringing over 8 1/2 pounds of gummy candy back to the States for us, so we don’t have to pack or ship them! (We’re hoping that at least 8 pounds of the candy actually makes it to Cambridge, - we’re worried a bit about the “Lasday tariff” that could involve the consumption of many grams of gummy eggs, watermelon, worms, and bananas.)

I feel like I need to say something about how the boys have been acting. Their behavior has really been terrible at times, at least when they are with Pentheus and me. They have been super back-talky (okay, so I made up that word), quick to yell at us and each other, and generally uncooperative. I don’t know whether it’s because they, too, are aware that we’re leaving soon and this is their extra “acting out” but regardless of the cause, it is driving Pentheus and me nuts. For example, we can’t seem to get it together to go out to dinner as a family – one or both boys typically throws a fit about where we’re going, who’s going, and when we’re going. Pentheus and I know that this whole thing is hard and emotional (and I feel like we are being extra patient and understanding), but I wish they could get it together. I know that sounds terrible, but it’s how I am feeling. These last couple of weeks could have been much more fun for all of us if we could have pulled it together.

As I look back over the past 4 ½ months, I know the boys haven’t had such terrific behavior. When we first arrived and before school started, they were bored and trying to get used to being here.  Then they started school, and that was understandably difficult for them. Remember the “reset” that didn’t really happen? Then after my Dad and sister left, and after our tiyulim, we did settle in and, for a while, we had a pretty good routine going. Then things started to go south again. To be sure, we have had lots of good times and we’re still so glad we came on this adventure, but I think it would have been better. I know that “it is what it is” and again, we wouldn’t give back the overall experience if we had the chance, but the behavior has affected us in terms of what we’ve done here and, more importantly, how we’ve felt. I guess I didn’t think about that when I set my expectations for the trip. They have only acted that way around us mainly, so it makes sense to me that it has something to do with feeling insecure and unsettled in Israel. People tell me that we should feel comforted by the fact that “after keeping it together during the day at school and around others, the boys feel safe enough to lose it with us.” Yeah, that was only comforting for a short while…

I don’t really want to end on such a negative note, so I’ll add a few random stories. Remember how I have written several times in the blog (and even in this blog post) about Aroma, a coffee place and eatery – kind of like Au Bon Pain? Well, I stop at Aroma for natool before every Ulpan session. I’ve always walked in to Aroma and gone to the counter to order. You have to order either “l’shevet” (to sit) or “l’kachat” (take away), which makes sense. Well, today, I stopped here at the take-out window to order my coffee:

When I finished my order, the server asked “l’shevet?” which made me laugh. Seriously, asking someone who stands outside to order from the take-out window if the coffee is for “l’shevet”!?!

Time for our regular edition of "Explain the Israeli bumper sticker" - here's this week's sticker:

The sticker reads in Hebrew "Yehuda v'shomron: hasipur shel kol yehudi" (Judea and Samaria: the story of every Jew). Judea and Samaria are the Occupied Territories in the West Bank, and the sticker expresses the opinion that the Territories are Jewish (and not Palestinian) land and should be annexed as part of Israel. Certainly, the people who organized our tour of Beit Lechem and Hebron during the boys' Chanukah break believe this as well. I see this bumper sticker in and around our neighborhood in Jerusalem every once in a while, but it doesn't seem that prevalent to me.

And, finally, here's a picture of the menu - complete with prices in Israeli currency - that the boys presented to Pentheus and me when we wanted breakfast the other day:

Yes, you read that correctly. The boys were charging Pentheus and me to eat the food in our dira.  You know, the food that Pentheus and I bought and paid for. The boys' plan was to sell us breakfast and use the money to buy more Supergoal cards. (Well, actually, it was the WK's plan for us to pay him for the food, but then the CK convinced the WK that we should also give the CK a percentage of the bill.) Pentheus and I ordered breakfast, and I paid the boys 4 1/2 shekels for our meals. I figure they deserved something if only for their initiative - and I was going to have the two cups of natool anyway.

Chanukah Vacation - Part 2

Last Tuesday night, Pentheus and I attended the wedding of the son of a close friend of Pentheus's. The friends live in Efrat, an established Israeli settlement in the West Bank (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efrat), and the wedding was held at Binyanei Ha'uma, the Jerusalem International Convention Center in the center of Jerusalem. According to Yehudah (Pentheus's friend), the wedding was relatively small - only for 400 of their closest friends! There were 46 tables at the sit-down dinner, and the room was beautiful. The wedding seemed huge to us, and then the caterer made a comment about how there are usually 800+ people for weddings at this site.

Yehudah and his family are "dati" (religious) Jews, what we would call "orthodox" in the States. Accordingly, there was no "mixed" dancing (i.e., men and women danced separately). Despite that, there was a ton of dancing! Yehudah's son and his friends studied at a Hesder yeshiva (a formal religious institution that combines study and Israeli army service). You can see in the pics below how much fun the groom and his friends were having! Interestingly, note the pistol tucked into the pants of one of the wedding guests and the rifle slung across the back of another celebrant, one of the groom's friends on active (army) duty who came anyhow. And, yes, the typical wedding attire for male guests is a white shirt, no tie, and dark pants.

The wedding ceremony occurred under the "chuppah" (wedding canopy). There were only 30 or so seats for the ceremony, and those were used by the grandparents of the bride and groom and other older relatives. Everyone else stood at the back of the room and listened to the ceremony. Pentheus and I were in the very back so we didn't see much, but Pentheus held up the camera and took a few pictures. For some reason, it cracked me up that the backdrop behind the chuppah is a photograph of Jerusalem.

Yehudah's son and his fiancee had not registered anywhere for gifts, but I am not sure if registering is something that Israelis typically do. We had decided to give the bride and groom money but didn't know how much until we were told about a great website called "camah cesef?" ("how much?). You enter in the event and how you are related to the person who will be receiving the gift - so in our case it was a "wedding" and we were "friends of the parents", and the website calculates the appropriate dollar amount to give. In case you are curious, "camah cesef" indicated that we should give between 500 to 600 shekels (about $125-$150). I did a quick google check, but didn't see anything quite like "camah cesef" in the United States.

On Wednesday, the boys and I took a planned tour of Beit Lechem (Bethlehem) and Hebron, to see "Kevar Rachel" (Rachel's Tomb) and "Ma'arat Hamachpela" (the Tomb of the Patriarchs). Beit Lechem and Hebron are in the West Bank, and we could only enter the Jewish areas, including the Israeli settlements, in the towns. The tour was through a group that is much more to the right (on the political spectrum) than we are, and I must admit I didn't agree with a lot of what they were saying. That being sad, I was very glad we went to the areas, and that the boys and I could see the sites. I don't think I had been there before, even when I was in Israel 25+ years ago, many years before the "separation fence" was built. I think it's also good that the boys (and I) hear different viewpoints on the issues.

I've tried to write about the West Bank and some of the political issues, but I keep writing and then deleting. Everything is so complicated, with disputes over to whom the land belongs, what the land means to different religions, how and if the land should be divided, who should control the area, and lots of other things. I am going to include some pictures of what we saw and a couple of links to some simple sources.

Here are some pictures from Rachel's Tomb (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel's_Tomb   and http://www.keverrachel.com/content.asp?lang=en&pageid=2) and Beit Lechem (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethlehem):

(This picture was taken on the women's side of the Tomb, as men and women pray separately here.)

(Coffee urn across the road from army patrol spot. It once took 30 bullets intended for the soldier on duty.)

(Picture of the Palestinian area in Beit Lechem; the barbed wire separates the Palestinian and Jewish areas.) 

(View of the stone barrier separating Tomb of Rachel from other areas in Beit Lechem.)

Here are some pictures from Hebron and the Tomb of the Patriarchs:

(The WK praying at the Tomb of the Patriarchs)

(Sign noting burial place of Abraham)

 (Prayer noting burial places for Isaac and Rachel.)

(The area is also sacred to Muslims, so you can see the verses from the Koran all over the walls.)

The area around the Tomb of the Patriarchs is really beautiful, and the views of Hebron are gorgeous, too:

(Look how tall the walls are!)

(Note the Chanuka menorah in the public square)

(This picture of the water towers with the Israeli flags is cool, and I love the corner shot of the playground.)

(Note the Palestinian flag waving at the top of the building)

Wednesday night, the entire family went to Yan, a sushi and Japanese restaurant near the Jerusalem Theater. Pentheus and the boys had been there before and loved it, but I hadn't gone. We had a great time, and the food was very good. It was very funny because in the middle of dinner, the owner of the restaurant announced that he was going to light Chanukah candles. Everyone in the restaurant stopped eating, and we all lit the menorah together - we sang the blessings and a few Chanukah songs, too. Similar things happened all throughout Chanukah, and even happened again that same night as Pentheus and WK walked home and were roped into another candle-lighting at the makolet two doors down from Duvshaneet. Celebrating Jewish holidays in Israel is totally different than what I've experienced in the States!

On Thursday, the boys spent most of the morning at the park, and in the afternoon, the CK and I went to the Bible Lands Museum with my friend Jessie, her twin boys and one of their friends. The Museum is very interesting and explores the people, places, etc. that are described in the Bible. They had kids' programs available, and the boys worked with clay. Here's what the CK made at the museum:

(a pair of candlesticks, three bowls and a hot dog in a bun)

That night we had been invited to Danielle and Dror's place for Chanukah candlelighting and snacks. It's Dror's family tradition to make sufganiot (the fried donuts that are typically eaten on Chanukah), and they were really good! We had brought store-bought sufganiot in a bunch of different flavors - coffee, strawberry jam, dulce de leche, chocolate cream and caramel. We had a very nice evening, and we will miss the Heller family when we return to the States. Danielle thinks she has a conference in Boston next year, so hopefully we will see her then!

(It's unbelievable how many different kinds of sufganiot there are here!)

Friday morning, we had brunch with the Sela family (the family we met for dinner in Neve Tzedek earlier that week) at Luciana's, an Italian restaurant on the Emek. At the dinner in Neve Tzedek, we only saw the parents (Tami and Yaron) and their 3-year old daughter, but at Luciana's the whole Sela family, including the three older sons, came. We had a fabulous time with lots of laughing, and our kids got along great! The CK and the WK were psyched to play Supergoal (remember, that stupid card game that I hate?!) with Tami and Yaron's younger son - they actually got on the floor of the restaurant to play. To start the game, the kids do an Israeli version of "Rock, Paper, Scissors."

I loved hanging with the 3-year old girl and being silly with her. Tami and Yaron are trying to convince us to come back to Israel in June for their son's Bar-Mitzvah. We'd love to do so, but I don't know that it will work out for us. Both families are very sad that we couldn't get together earlier in our adventure, but timing and location never seemed to work out. Tami keeps threatening to see us one more time before we leave - hope she makes good on the threat!

We had a nice Shabbat, very quiet. Friday night we had dinner just the 4 of us, which was good; it had been a while since that had happened. When the boys were getting ready for bed, however, we lost all power in the dira. Pentheus and I tried a bunch of things, like flicking the switches in the fuse box, but we couldn't get the power to go on. It was pretty cool outside (in the mid-40's), so Pentheus and I each took a boy and snuggled under a bunch of blankets that night. It was cold but we did okay. We were supposed to have our Cambridge friends' daughter (the one who is here for a year on a USY program) and her friend over to Shabbat lunch, but I walked over to the synagogue where she and her friend were praying to tell them that we wouldn't be able to have them over. We had bought and made lots of food for lunch, but we couldn't heat anything. (And, because the boys kept opening and closing the refrigerator, the food inside didn't stay cold. We ended up throwing away 500-600 shekels worth of food.) We told the boys to pig out as much as possible at the kiddush after services, and then we ate cold snacks in the afternoon. The CK and I took a nap that afternoon while the WK went to Park Hamoshava. 

As soon as Shabbat ended, an electrician whom we met through synagogue came over to see what the scoop was with the power. We were able to isolate what we think the problem was - probably moisture in the "sheka" (outlet) for the washer, and the power came back on. To be honest, we lost power a couple more times that night but we were able to get it back ourselves. Saturday night (the last night of Chanukah), we had been invited to dinner and candlelighting at our neighbors' dira, so we went over there. Our neighbor had made homemade mac-n-cheese that was delicious! The CK must have had a growth spurt while we were sitting at our neighbors' table because he had 2 helpings of mac-n-cheese, corn on the cob, a lot of cut-up peppers and cucumbers, a banana, two big clementines, plus 2 pieces of chocolate ruggelach for dessert! Lighting candles was really nice:

Sunday was the last day before school began again (yay!). In the morning, the boys and I went bowling at Lev Talpiyot Mall.; the CK and the WK each won a game, which was good for their spirits. After that, we made what might have been our last trip to Rami Levi, the big supermarket. I know I am obssessive about this, but for about the 14th time since we came to Israel, the price of the fruit nectar juices changed! At least this time the price is cheaper than before:

In the afternoon, after lunch, the boys and I went to Gan Hapa'amon (Liberty Bell Park), located kind of between the Emek and downtown. Gan Hapa'amon is a huge park with lots of different sections for lots of different sports, including basketball, soccer, and ping pong, plus a big playground, empty field and an exercise station. We had planned to meet another family there, but one of the daughters was sick, so it ended up being just the boys and I. They had a great time running around and playing all sorts of things, but I was a bit cold because it was windy. When we visited Israel on family vacation in 2010, we went to Gan Hapa'amon a lot because it was only a 5-10 minute walk from our hotel, but that was in May when it was much warmer!

In almost every blog post, I have written something about our going to the "makolet" (grocery/convenience stores). You can find one on almost every couple of street corners. We primarily go to what we call "Felix's" makolet, located about 2 1/2 blocks from us. Even though it's a convenience store and most people drop by to pick up a few things (as opposed to doing a huge grocery shopping), many people have an ongoing tab at their neighborhood makolet. The running tab system is decidedly low-tech - Felix keeps a plastic box with ruled index cards, and every family in the neighborhood has its own card on which the account is kept. It's actually rather sweet; everyone trusts one another.

Finally, the other day I saw this sticker on the glass pane door at the local dry-cleaners where we take our stuff to get cleaned:

The sign reads essentially, "Lashon Hara, Not Spoken Around Me." Lashon hara ((literally, "evil tongue") is the Hebrew term for speaking derogatorily against someone else, and the Torah and Jewish law have fairly strict definition for it. Lashon hara (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lashon_hara) is considered a serious sin under Jewish tradition. I think the sticker is kind of neat and wish I could find one for our house.