Sold on Henrietta Szold Elementary School

Yesterday, the boys and I walked to the school (Henrietta Szold Elementary) to see if we could meet with the principal. The walk was about 9 minutes with the entrance around the corner up a big hill. When we entered the school, there were a bunch of volunteers painting murals with flowers, butterflies and ladybugs on the wall near the playground, and I figured that was a good sign. (There was also some sort of petting zoo with goats and ducks across the street. I don't know the scoop on that yet.)

After finding the principal's office, she said to me (in Hebrew), "Are you my 1:30?" When I explained that I was the person from the email that my neighbor had sent to her, the principal invited us in. We spoke with her and the head English teacher for about 20 minutes, and I was pleased with what they had to say. While there aren't many (to be honest, I don't know yet if there are any) American families in the school, there is support for the English speakers, and there is even a small English book library. While the boys speak very little Hebrew and read and write even less, we're not super concerned about the boys' "book learning" in Israel. We have a few goals for the boys in school: 1) to have a good experience, 2) to learn Hebrew, and 3) to be engaged and interested in learning when we return to the States. It's our hope that this school can help us with those.

As an aside, it turns out that Benyamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, will be at the boys' school on the first day! I guess it's some sort of kick-off of the new Israeli school year. (Hmm, maybe that explains the butterfly and ladybug mural being painted.) Our neighbor was complaining about there being extra security and talking about not sending her daughter to school the first day because they are not big Netanyahu fans anyway, but we'll walk the boys to school and see if we can't hang out to watch the pomp and circumstance.

I went to the Misrad Chinuch this morning and switched the boys' school registration. The clerk who helped me on Tuesday assisted me again today and did in fact say "I told you so" in Hebrew when I asked her to make the change. She didn't say it in a mean way; rather, she honestly likes the Szold school and thought it would easier for the boys to go there. I think Israelis have fewer inhibitions and just say it like it is. I told her she had been right and thanked her for the push.

While I waited in line at Misrad Chinuch, Sammy the tutor took the boys to the Old City to see HaKotel (the Western Wall), the only remaining part of the two Jewish temples destroyed 2000+ years ago. (The first temple was destroyed in 586 B.C.E. and the second temple was destroyed in 70 C.E. For more, here's the Wikipedia link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Wall.)  After the school switch was completed, I met them there. There was a Bar-Mitzvah celebration occurring with people singing and dancing the Bar-Mitzvah boy from the Zion Gate into the heart of the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. It's hard to describe the feeling every single time I walk down that ramp in the Jewish Quarter and see the Western Wall. There's a rush of emotions when I realize each time the physical and spiritual magnitude of the Wall, the history and politics behind it (and still ahead of it).

Sammy is an official tour guide for the Western Wall Heritage Foundation (http://english.thekotel.org/) and gave us a quick tour of the tunnels underneath the Western Wall. I had never seen them and it was fascinating to see the underground part of the Western Wall, the cisterns where water was collected, and the paths that had been traveled for thousands of years. One day next month, we'll arrange with Sammy for a complete tour of the tunnels, so that Pentheus can join us as well.

Last night we walked down to Emek Refaim (or "the Emek" as many know it), a main street in a neighborhood near our dira. The boys bought chocolate eclairs and mousse at a patisserie, and I purchased my first "Natool" (decaf coffee) since we arrived. We are all very pleased with our selections!

Friday night starts another Shabbat here. We'll likely go to synagogue tomorrow night and Saturday morning, as we continue to investigate the many shuls (Yiddish for synagogue) in the area. We'll have family dinner tomorrow night and Saturday lunch, unless we manage to invite ourselves, I mean, get invited to someone's home.

We've been in Israel now for just more than a week. We've accomplished a lot in terms of things we need do in the house, register for school (twice!), get insurance, etc. There's still plenty more to do. The Israeli version of the expression "one day at a time" is "le'at, le'at" (literally, "slowly, slowly")  While we certainly feel more settled than we did last Shabbat, I hope to continue to make progress every day. Le'at, le'at.