The Emek

It's been a few days since I've updated this blog. I don't want to get too far behind or else it will be hard for me to catch up. On Friday morning, the whole family went to Emek Refaim ("the Emek" as many call it) Street to do some errands, shopping and eating.

Our main task on Friday was to get cell phones to use in Israel. Unfortunately, we did not succeed. We bought a new phone in the States and were going to buy a SIM card. It turns out not to be so easy in that we need to have an Israeli bank account/credit card in order to buy a non-contract phone, but we can't open a bank account or get a card unless we are in Israel for at least a year. Others offer us pre-paid plans that come with a phone (not a cheap phone, I might add), but they are very expensive. We don't need "unlimited" calls and data within Israel. We might end up buying pre-paid minutes on a "dumb phone" and using data on the computers (iPad, Netbook and MacBook Air) and with the WiFi at the dira. That's a big bummer for me - you have no idea how much I could benefit from GPS on a phone...

We ate lunch at 2 different restaurants on the Emek because heaven forbid we find one place where both boys will eat! At Pizza Italia we had our first experience in which someone has not been nice as we try to navigate in Hebrew. I spoke to the man behind the counter and ordered plain spaghetti with red sauce and shredded cheese on the side for the CK. After I paid, a different person was preparing the order. I saw her saute garlic in a pan and knew that if she put the spaghetti in there, too, that the CK wouldn't like it. I said very politely in Hebrew that I wanted to check there wouldn't be garlic in the spaghetti because my son had wanted it plain. (By the way, "shoom" is garlic in Hebrew.) She answered in Hebrew, "Does it look like there is spaghetti in the pan? I don't see any spaghetti, do you?" Not a big deal, but I was a bit surprised. Maybe she would have been nicer had I spoken only in English?

We had decided as a family not to go to synagogue Friday night. We had purchased two kinds of prepared chicken, rice and roasted cauliflower on Thursday night, and heated them up to have for dinner on Friday. Shabbat meals typically include challah (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challah), so I asked the man at the prepared food place who made the best challah in Jerusalem. His reply? "Eeshti" ("my wife"). Unfortunately, his wife didn't have any extra challot so we bought 2 loaves at Tomer Bakery. The challah was only ok - if anyone has suggestions for challah places in Jerusalem (preferably within walking distance!) please let us know.

Shabbat morning we went to a Reform synagogue called M'vakshei Derech ("Seekers of the Way") about 12 minutes from the dira. The average congregant age must have been at least 72 - and that was only because there were a few 60+ year olds in the group to keep the number in the low 70's. The congregants were very nice, kind of like grandparents. We were told that it had been founded as a Reconstructionist shul (http://judaism.about.com/od/reconstructionistjudaism/Reconstructionist_Judaism.htm) but later affiliated with the Reform movement. The service, including the Torah portion, was entirely in Hebrew in a very thin book with very small typed words. Our family was asked to participate in the service by taking out and putting away the Torah. The boys didn't love the synagogue primarily because there were no other children (actually there was a teenager and a two-week old, but no one with whom the boys could play), and secondarily because there were only pretzels and small pieces of chocolate cake available at the end of the service. I may have it backwards as to the primary and secondary reasons... At Shir Hadash on the previous Shabbat, there had been lots of kids, plus cake, cookies, grape juice and popsicles after the service.

M'vakshei Derech kind of reminded me of my family's Havurah congregation in Kentucky. The service was lay-led (i.e., there was no rabbi) and participatory. One of the Torah scrolls had a beautiful needlepoint cover on it that reminded me of the gorgeous needlepoint cover my Mom and other members of the Havurah had made several years ago. It was nice to think of Mom, though I am sure her yartzheit (anniversary of her death) next month will be difficult for me.

Pentheus took the boys to a nearby park Shabbat afternoon while I read my book (The Dovekeepers, by Alice Hoffman). There were about 20 other kids at the park but they wouldn't let the WK or CK play soccer or frisbee with them, even when Pentheus taught the boys how to ask politely in Hebrew. The other kids kept saying that the WK and CK could join in a few minutes, but didn't choose them when dividing into teams. (I know, brings back bad middle school flashbacks for all of us.) The WK and CK ended up playing by themselves and having a good time anyway. We talked to them about how sometimes it's hard to make new friends and that perhaps once their Hebrew is better, they could join in more easily. We also assured them that they will meet other kids at school.

This morning, the family went to the Szold School to get signed up, meet the teachers and receive book lists. The faculty seems very nice, as were some of the kids we met via our neighbor who told us about the school. Szold includes the elementary grades (1st-6th), with the younger grades in a second building behind the other. The teachers were great, and it was clear they were trying to make the boys feel more at ease. We all agreed that it didn't make sense to buy the books on the book list, especially because the boys can read very little Hebrew. The WK's 5th grade teacher (Yael) and I are going to work together on some sort of curriculum for the WK. Yael doesn't want the WK to sit in class and daydream, but she also recognizes that he will need to do something. The CK's teacher (Hadas) felt the same way. The teachers were happy to have the boys in their classes, as it will be a challenge for them as well. School starts on 8/27, so we will see soon enough how it goes.

As an addition to my previous post about the boys' "book learning" goals, I wanted to add that we are in touch with the WK and CK's teachers in Cambridge. Pentheus and I will have the boys' actual Math and Science curricula and probably other subjects as well, so that the boys can do "homework" here such that they don't fall too far behind and can catch up when we return to Cambridge at the end of the December.   

Our neighbor had promised us that she would introduce the WK to a couple of boys who will be in his 5th grade class. Today we met Uri, a very nice boy who lives 2 doors down from the Szold School. We had a playdate at Uri's house, where Uri, the WK and the CK played "Monopol Eem Bank Electroni" (yes, Monopoly with an electronic bank) for over an hour. Then the boys fashioned a table tennis game, using the kitchen table and frisbees as paddles. The score ("nikudot") was kept in Hebrew - WK and CK know their numbers, that's for sure.

We do feel like we are settling in a bit more. I think we all want some structure to our days. Although it's been neat to be in Jerusalem, this doesn't feel like vacation so much. We're waiting for a routine to set it, but know that even after school starts next Monday, it will take a while. We have planned some fun things to do this week, like go to the outdoor market Machaneh Yehudah, see a movie outside in a nearby park, and visit with some of Pentheus's friends in Zichron Ya'akov, near Caesaria, about 2 hours from Jerusalem.

(By the way, Uri's Mom told us that the "petting zoo" I mentioned in my last post is part of the therapy used at another school that deals specifically with children with special needs.)