Family meeting and a few other things

(For some reason, spacing is weird for this post. My apologies.)

Remember a couple of weeks ago when the CK and I played Mini Extreme Golf? Remember how on a bunch of the holes, the CK requested a "redo" where we didn't count his first 4-5 strokes on that hole? Well, Wednesday night Pentheus and I talked and decided to "re-do" the first part of our adventure in Israel. We called a "family meeting" for Thursday after school to discuss the "redo" with the boys. We wanted to make it clear that we're here until the end of December and that we need to find a way, as a family, to make this work better than it has so far. We can't keep having days like we've had lately (hurt thumbs and hives aside!). We wanted to discuss as a family because we're all in this together. We told the boys first thing Thursday morning that both Pentheus and I would be picking them up from school to go out to lunch for the meeting.

After the announcement about the family meeting, the CK restated his feelings about going to school. Suffice it to say that his feelings haven't changed! He cried and refused to go. He said his bandage looked stupid and that we couldn't make him go to school. It was Thursday, so his teacher wasn't there, and it was a "long" day. Pentheus volunteered to walk the boys by himself in the hopes that the CK wouldn't be so clingy if I weren't around. (Besides, my cold has now turned into a cough, and I only slept a few hours Wednesday night because of it. I was too wiped to walk them.)

So, Pentheus and I picked the boys up from school and we headed to the Emek for lunch at Masaryk, an Italian place we like. (http://www.gojerusalem.com/discover/item_446/Masaryk) After we ordered, Pentheus and I started talking about why we had called this meeting. We pretty much laid it out there. We talked about expectations (what the boys expect from us and what we expect from them), what has worked over the past 6 weeks and what hasn't, etc. We talked about how they need to go to school, to listen to us, to do less complaining and whining, and when we're all in the house together, to let Pentheus get some work done. We also told them that we had canceled all existing punishments - the slate is clean for the "re-do" (a few days early for Yom Kipuur). The boys were psyched about the reprieve! We did what we could to solicit the boys' opinions and they truly contributed to the conversation.

FYI (and I swear I am not making this up) the boys' primary requests/expectations are that 1) we not yell unless it is absolutely necessary; 2) we let them go to the park by themselves, including straight from school; 3) we pull them out of school some days to take family trips around Israel; and 4) that I not sing out loud in public (although it's OK for me to sing out loud inside the dira).

We talked about doing more things in Jerusalem after school during the week. Most likely, it would just be the boys and I doing things (e.g., zoo, museums, historical stuff, etc.), and we'll miss Pentheus a lot, but it will still be great. The more we can get to know the city, the better! We also discussed my calling Sammy (the tutor/tour guide who left for the States for a month shortly after we arrived in Jerusalem) to set up some Hebrew tutoring in a fun way. We really did talk a lot, although I have to admit, at many points, the boys were much more interested in the Sprite with lemon that we had ordered for them...

We took notes on what everyone said and what we, in theory, have agreed to do. Pentheus is going to write up the notes I took at the meeting, and we're all going to sign the paper to make it "official." We're hoping this works, or at least improves things a bit. To be fair, bedtime Thursday night wasn't easy-peasy, so we're not confident how this will go. We'll have to see, but we need to do something.

(While I was typing this part of the post, the phone rang. It was Mr. Romney calling to ask for my vote. The one downside of our Cambridge "home" phone working here is that we still get the political calls from both parties for all candidates. However, we aren't unhappy about missing the election ads! I received my absentee ballot via email today. I will be completing the ballot and making my vote count!)

While on the Emek, the WK and I went to the post office to mail some letters and buy some stamps. In case you are interested, it's 6.30 shekels (just over $1.50) to mail a letter to the States. As one would expect at post offices everywhere, there was a long line, and we had to take numbers. When we arrived, number 31 was being helped, and we were 38. We waited about 20 minutes. When we had done what we needed and left the post office, people had taken numbers past 50.

The WK and I then took the #13 bus to Lev Talpiyot Mall for the WK's turn to play Mini Extreme Golf on the roof top. Aside from a frum (religious) couple who seemed to be on a date, there was no one else on the course. When we were leaving though, a birthday party group came in with lots of kids. We were glad we had finished. We had a great time, and the WK creamed me by about 10 strokes. No holes in one, though, so the CK was thrilled that he was the only one to accomplish that! After golf, the WK and I headed to the stores in the mall to look for some stuff. We found what we wanted, and the dira now has a DVD player and some kitchen supplies. I'm psyched about the DVD player - I think that we'll use it to give the boys down-time and to see some movies. (We brought around 15 DVDs from the States in case we had access to a DVD player.)

Thanks to those who let me know more about Daniel Gordis, the author of the book I am reading. I've been informed that he and his family do live in Jerusalem (or at least they were still living here over the summer), that he has a blog about life in Jerusalem (to which I am going to subscribe) and that he has a new book out about Israel. I have about 100 pages left in the book. I have found myself dog-earring a bunch of pages. Looks like I will be buying a copy to return to the Shir Chadash library!

Some other random things:

When I was on the bus this morning, the driver pulled over at a bus stop where there was a girl, maybe 11 or 12 years old, flagging the bus down. As the girl got on the bus, the driver said to her (in Hebrew, of course), "It's my job to stop at the bus station. You shouldn't be in the street; it's not safe." Not sure why that struck me as funny, but it did.

I took this picture in the Rami Levy grocery store, at the end-cap between the "personal items" and "baby supplies" aisles:

This cracked me up! I've never seen kippot (skullcaps that men typically wear when praying) at a grocery store before. Only in Israel, I guess!

I've already started another blog post with some more thoughts on daily life in Israel, and I hope to post it before Shabbat begins tonight. If not, I will post tomorrow night when Shabbat ends. Actually, please note that tomorrow night is the end of Daylight Savings Time in Israel, so we'll be 6 hours behind the East Coast (until DST ends in the States). Daylight Savings Time has traditionally ended in Israel before Yom Kippur, a day of fasting on which Jews seek atonement for their sins. Although the Yom Kippur fast lasts 25 hours no matter what (from 18 minutes before sunset until 42 minutes after sunset the following day), supposedly, the fast feels easier when it ends earlier in the day. At least that's the rationale. For a couple of years (I think that's how long it's been), there has been a bill in the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) to have DST last until early November, but the bill's progress keeps being stalled. There are some who say that DST shouldn't be decided based on "religious" factors, another example of the "conflict" between the religious and secular in Israel.