"Fun but a little bit scary"

The boys (plus Pentheus and I) made it through the first day of school! Actually, from all accounts. the day went fairly well. The CK said it was "fun but a little bit scary" and the WK said it went "pretty good." (Considering he's in 5th grade in a foreign country, I ignored my inclination to correct him that the day went "pretty well.")

I left the dira around 11:25 am to pick the boys up from school. When I passed the high school (where this morning I had heard the band and the singing), the students were singing "Hatikvah" (The Hope), the Israeli national anthem. I have to admit that the moment made me pause, and I was very moved. My eyes immediately filled with tears as I took it in - here I was in ISRAEL listening to Israeli kids singing Hatikvah while I walked to the school where MY kids were enrolled. I calmed down enough to call Pentheus and clean myself up a bit before I got the boys' school. (I knew the WK would not be happy with me if I were crying when I picked him up, even if they weren't sad tears.)

When I walked down the steps outside the school, where the boys and I had planned to meet, I asked one of the security guards how it had gone today. Her response was "Bseder gamoor. Meah chooz." (Totally fine, 100%.), which I was glad to hear. The WK came out of the building first and the CK followed within a minute or two. Both quickly informed me that they did NOT need to have worn long pants and that they were really hot!

Turns out only the 1st and 6th graders needed to wear long pants because they were the only kids who met with Netanyahu and performed a song for him. None of the kids from the other grades even saw him and wouldn't have known he had been there if it weren't for all of the fuss. Although I must admit I was a bit disappointed that the boys didn't get to see him, it was probably just as well. I've attached below the link to the article about Netanyahu's visit.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4273442,00.html

From what we could glean from the CK, overall, his day was okay, primarily because it involved his getting a lollipop. Although the kids in his class spoke almost no English, somehow the CK and two other boys were able to negotiate a switch in lollipops due to flavor preferences. I am pretty sure the CK ended up with "doovdoovahneem" (cherry) instead of his original "shoko" (chocolate) and that he was pleased about it. The CK said he couldn't remember any of the names of his classmates, but that he had written a book with pictures about his "cheetah" (cheetah!) with colored pencils. The CK asked that we come to his class tomorrow morning to check out the book. We'll also check in with his teacher about what we can do to make it easier, etc.

The WK said the class had done an exercise in which each of them had to complete the Hebrew sentences "B'shahnah haba'ah, ahnee rotzeh _____." (This year, I want to ________.) and "B'shahnah haba'ah, ahnee mekahveh." (This year, I hope to ________.) The Hebrew sentences were written on the board with the blanks following. The WK told us he had completed the sentences in Hebrew with "ledahbear eevreet" (speak Hebrew) and "lesahchek kadoor bahsees" (play baseball). Good for him!

Per the WK, we had put all the wrong school supplies in his backpack and we should have sent a water bottle. Tonight Pentheus and I repacked the WK's backpack and will see if it meets his approval in the morning. I was pleased that he complained about us because that was exactly what he would have done in Cambridge!

The CK was clearly charged up about starting school. He wanted to go buy a Hebrew-English dictionary and then used the Hebrew-English translation app on my phone. The CK would look up a word in English, figure out how to translate into Hebrew, and then meticulously copy the Hebrew word into a journal that he pleaded we buy for him. It was very sweet.

I'm not sure I have mentioned yet, but we have had two lovely house guests, the daughters of friends of ours in Cambridge, for a couple of days. One daughter is in Israel for the next 10 months on a program, and her sister is returning from vacationing in Israel to the States tonight to get ready for her junior year of high school. It's been a lot of fun to spend time with them, and we have all enjoyed it. I'm working on convincing the one who is staying in Israel to come back to Jerusalem before her program starts, so that I can have some girl time. While I love my boys, it's nice to be with girls sometimes, too. I'm hoping there is a trip to the Naot store in my future! (http://www.naot.com/)