Aizeh Kef Haya Lanu! (What Fun We Had!)

We had a lot of fun tonight! We went to a neighborhood community center in Gonenim (about 15 minute walk from the dira), where they had games for kids, music, and then showed a movie. To be honest, we hadn't realized what the event was when we saw it online; we were pretty sure there would be a movie but pretty unsure of anything else. We saw the event online, packed some sandwiches, snacks and water from the dira, and headed over to the park/community center. The event was handled by the Israeli Tsofim (kind of like the Boy and Girl Scouts in the States), about 15-20 high-school age kids. When the CK needed help walking in a circle on a rope with other kids holding the rope 18 inches above the ground, an 11th grade Tsofa (Girl Scout) helped him while speaking to him in English. When I commented to her in Hebrew that her English was very good, she responded in English, "My Mom would be happy to hear that."

After the WK and CK moved to the "ropes course" where they had to climb through a net of ropes without using their hands, one of the Tsofim asked if the boys would be going to school in Israel. When we said they were going to the Szold School, it turned out that there were about 10-15 Israeli kids at the event who were also going to Szold! We said that the WK was entering 5th grade, and one of the Tsofim said that the younger sister of another Tsofa there was also entering 5th grade. Turns out that the Tsofa who had helped the CK with the rope walk is the oldest daughter of our neighbor who had recommended the Szold School in the first place! No wonder her English is so good - her Mom runs the English program at the school. :-)Small world. Not only was she lovely and kind, but she's interested in babysitting. (For those of you who are wondering, apparently the going rate for babysitters in Jerusalem is 30 shekalim/hour, approximately $7.50.) Even though we didn't meet anyone who would be in the CK's class, I think he still felt a bit better when he knew there were other kids who would be at school with him. I was also happy to see other Szold parents because we needed to know where to buy the school "uniforms" for the boys. The uniform is simply shirts with the name of the school ironed on in the upper left corner, but we had no idea where to get them. Apparently, all of the Szold kids have to wear white shirts with the school name on the first day for Prime Minister Netanyahu's visit and then light blue shirts with the school name the rest of the time.

The movie shown was "Flushed Away" dubbed in Hebrew, with no English subtitles. Both the WK and CK have seen the movie a couple of times (and it's quite possible we have the English DVD in the dira now), so it wasn't too difficult for them to follow, even if they didn't "understand" it. The WK kept whispering the good lines in English before they were said in Hebrew. Maybe this counts as a Hebrew lesson? At one point, the CK leaned over and said, "Ahnee rotzeh mayeem" ("I want water"). Kind of cool that he said it in Hebrew.

Earlier today, the boys and I took the #13 bus downtown and then walked to Machaneh Yehudah, a big outdoor market. I was pleased that I knew which bus to take (although to be fair, Pentheus told me which bus to take, but I didn't need any help figuring out where the correct bus station was - small victories) and that we walked to the market. Someone had told us about Mousseline store, which supposedly has some of the best ice-cream in Jerusalem. Mousseline had been marked on a Macheneh Yehudah map I had, but the store had moved from that location. I was determined to find Mousseline, and after conferring with 5 or 6 different shop keepers, the boys and I enjoyed delicious ice-cream! It's been so long since I have had regular ice-cream, as opposed to the tangy frozen yogurt places in Cambridge, but Mousseline's was great. The Macheneh Yehudah map also has the supposedly best challah place in Jerusalem marked, but we'll have to test that out another day.

Pentheus and I opened a bottle of wine after the boys went to sleep tonight, and we've been checking email on the computers and talking about some of the tasks we need to do. I'm about to pay a bunch of bills online, which is amazing if you think about it. Here I am, sitting in Jerusalem, paying bills on my Netbook, and I just called my sister, using our Cambridge home phone number. Technology indeed.