Taking care of things

When I last saw the CK this morning at school, he had just stopped crying. Pentheus and I had walked both boys to school today, and while I was working with the WK's teacher on his health form (nothing bad, more on that below), Pentheus brought the CK to his class. About 20 minutes later, when I stopped by to see the CK's teacher, she told me that the CK had started crying a few minutes earlier and wouldn't tell her why. I asked the CK to come out in the hallway with me. I sat in a chair, the CK crawled into my lap, and he gave me a big hug. I tried to figure out what was wrong - I asked if he were angry at someone, and I asked if some of his mosquito bites were bothering him. I said I knew all of this (being in Israel, starting school, etc.) was really hard. Then the CK then told me the reason he was sad was because I hadn't said goodbye to him this morning. While I am sure he was upset about a combination of everything, including the lack of goodbye from me, felt terrible and apologized. That being said, in a weird way, I think it's kind of good that the CK was upset and crying; it's healthy to get all that emotion out.

Yesterday, the WK brought home a form from school and told us we needed to fill it out. Pentheus and I spent a lot of time figuring out what (we thought) the form said. It's hard to explain, but written Hebrew and spoken Hebrew are not exactly the same. Although the alphabet, words and letters are the same, spoken Hebrew is less formal, more conversational, and written Hebrew uses more formal words "meelot gevohah'ot" (literally, higher words), and complicated (at least for us) grammatical constructions.

At any rate, although Pentheus and I were fairly sure what the form was asking, we decided to work with someone at the school before we signed the form. I sat with the WK's teacher for about 15 minutes. The form asked typical questions (e.g., are there any limitations on physical activity, any regular medications, etc.). It also informed us that there were mandatory vaccinations ("cheesoneem") given to all kids in certain grades. Although there are none given in 5th grade (where the WK is), there are some vaccinations given in 2nd grade (where the CK is). The reason I even stopped by the CK's classroom was to make sure that she understood that we did not want the CK to receive any vaccinations, as he's already current with what he received in the States. I'm very glad I went to tell the CK's teacher, especially because I didn't know the CK was unhappy.

Speaking of learning Hebrew, I am attending an "Ulpahn" (Hebrew class) starting next week. The class is Monday and Wednesday mornings, 9-11 am, at the "mahtnahs" (community center) in Baaka, a neighborhood next to Katamon. I did a dry run of the walk to the mahtnahs, and it's about 15+ minutes from the dira. (I also inquired about the availability of kids' books in the English library there, and it looks like I have a library to which to take the boys!) My understanding about the Ulpan is that the focus will be on conversational Hebrew, but we'll need to see who the other people in the class are and at what level their Hebrew is. The class is 120 shekels (around $30) a month, so it's certainly not going to break the bank. Hebrew classes are typically subsidized by the government in order to encourage people to learn Hebrew. I had thought I wanted to take a class that met for more hours in the week, but now I think I am glad about this one. I will have some "formal" learning 4 hours a week, and will still be able to be with the kids in the afternoons and hopefully volunteer for a few hours every week as well.

The last few days have been filled with a lot of errands and taking care of things. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, I walked to Talpiyot (between 20-35 minutes, depending on where) each day and then took a cab back to the dira with my purchases. I bought some new pans for the kitchen, a blow dryer, groceries, and additional school supplies, plus I looked for shoes for Pentheus and slippers for the boys. I also spent an inordinate amount of time at 5-6 different hardware/window/ specialty/industrial shops and stores looking for a metal piece for a window latch to replace one of ours that broke. I bought and returned one potential replacement option that Pentheus and I were sure wouldn't work, and then bought another option yesterday. The various trips to stores involved a lot of walking in very hot temperatures and conversations with people in the store were in Hebrew (and suffice it to say that I don't know the name of any of the window latch parts in English, never mind Hebrew), so it was frustrating that we're still without a working latch. Tomorrow afternoon, the guy from the window shop is coming to the house to install (we hope) one that will work.

After the conversation with our neighbor and talking with Pentheus, I talked to the WK's teacher yesterday about having Rafael be his "buddy" at school and she thought it was a good idea. Rafael was over for a playdate yesterday afternoon, and he's a very sweet kid. Actually, almost all of the kids from the school have been nice kids, and I see them talking to the WK and CK when we drop them off in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon. Many of the kids have come up to me to tell me in English (halting as it is) that they are glad the boys are in their classes. When I went to the park yesterday with the boys and Rafael, there were at least half a dozen other boys at the park, too. They all hung out - some playing soccer, others chatting on the basketball court, etc. It seemed and felt a bit "normal," like something that could happen in Cambridge.

Except that there was a difference. When I took the boys to the park and saw all the other boys there, too, I looked around and realized that I was the only parent in sight! The other kids had come to the park after school to play with their friends. Some of them were walking home to dinner and others(including Rafael) were taking city buses home without any supervision. I figured that I didn't need to be there, so I left. I told the boys to be home by 6:15 and they were with no problems. And, today, much to the WK's great joy, we let him walk to and stay at the park for a couple hours alone. Here's to increased independence.