In another hour, we will know how it went! We woke them up early and they were in pretty good moods. Today they had to wear the white shirt with the school decal and long pants. We're not exactly sure why the long pants, but it's probably so that they kids look better for the media pics.
Pentheus gave the boys some cereal for breakfast while I made their "snack" for today. On a typical school day, they have two breaks for food. The first break is at 10 am and the kids eat "aroochaht eser" (literally, 10:00 meal) and then they have "aroochaht tzoharayeem" (lunch) around 12:00 (I think). When we asked other parents and kids which types of food to send, everyone said sandwiches, pita bread, fruit and maybe a yogurt. Last week we tried to buy lunchboxes for the boys, but it seems school kids (at least the ones in Jerusalem) don't use lunch boxes. We specifically asked at stores, and they just don't have them. No one seems to use "kahrchoneem" (ice-packs) either.
At any rate, we took a few pictures before we left the house today. We told the boys that we were very proud of them for doing this and that we know it won't be easy. At that point, the CK demanded (I am using his words) a "family hug" and the WK said he was proud of Pentheus and me for taking our family to Israel for 5 months. It was a sweet moment. I will attach a few pics later.
As we walked the boys to school, there were many other families out and about. We really could feel the excitement and anticipation as all of the families walked their kids to school, too. The Szold School is about a half block away from one of the high schools, and the high school had a band playing, balloons decorating the entrance, and the high school kids were singing a traditional Israeli song "Haveinu Shalom Alaichem" (literally, May Our Coming Be in Peace - guess it flows better in Hebrew).
As we had been told, there was a lot of security near the Szold School. There were many police officers, as well as Army personnel. The school had set up two entrances for today (with all the others locked), one for those who would actually be close to Netanyahu and another for the others. We were definitely in the line for the "others." Although it was clear that the security personnel looked each of us up and down as we walked through the door, I was very surprised that we did not need to go through security and/or x-ray machines.
The WK wanted to walk into his class by himself, so Pentheus and I took the CK to the library. First and second grade classrooms are in a different building, but today the youngest grades met in the library for security reasons. We didn't see the CK's teacher or anyone we knew, so we helped the CK find a desk and he sat down in the chair. His backpack was slung over the back of the chair and he just sat there facing forward. The CK asked for a hug from me and Pentheus kissed his head, and we left. After we checked to make sure the WK had made it to his room, we tip-toed past the library again to see how the CK was doing. He was still just sitting there in the chair, facing forward. It was a bit sad, I have to admit.
When we went to check on the WK, he was doing ok. His teacher, Yael, told us she had "assigned" another 5th grade boy, Zohar*, to pair with the WK to show him the ropes. Yael also indicated that we should bring a Tanach (the Hebrew Bible) in English for the WK to use, a Math book (which hopefully we can get from his teacher in Cambridge) and some English books for him to read during the day. He did not want us to make a fuss or even to talk to him, so we waved goodbye and left.
I will be leaving the dira in about 10 minutes to pick the boys up. Hope they had a good day.
*not his real name
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