The Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, begins this Sunday night. (On the Hebrew calendar, "days" start at sundown.) It's amazing to me how often I hear and see reminders of Rosh Hashana in Jerusalem. It's everywhere - clerks at the grocery store wish me "L'shana tova" (Happy new year) as I sign the credit card receipt; there are huge signs, announcing Rosh Hashana sales, on the sides of city buses; and everything in school is geared toward the celebration. The anticipation is almost palpable. I remarked to Pentheus that I now know what it feels like to be Christian in December! It's very strange to be Jewish and to be in the majority. I certainly didn't have that in Kentucky or Cambridge.
It's quite hot in Jerusalem. It's been in the mid-to-upper 80's and humid for the past few days. Still, it's definitely more comfortable than the upper 90's of the last few weeks. (It's supposed to climb up to 97 again this weekend.) I realized this morning that except for some drizzle once, there hasn't been any rain in Jerusalem since we arrived almost 5 weeks ago. At night, I can definitely tell it's cooler - I love nights in Jerusalem. It's great to walk in the evening, and we keep the windows open while we sleep.
As an aside, I can't for the life of me figure out why most Israelis don't have screens in the windows. Of all the homes and dirot we've been in so far, only the Canadian couple who made aliyah (Pentheus's friends on Makor Chaim Street) has had window screens. The mosquitoes are terrible, especially when it is super hot. I think I could make a fortune opening up a window screen store here.
(Speaking of windows, I still have not heard back from the window store that was supposed to send someone to install the replacement window locks so that we can close the windows when it gets cold. I went to the store early last week, and the woman promised she would be in touch with me. I called today but had to leave a voicemail message. Argh - it shouldn't be this hard!)
Parents' Night was good. While I didn't come close to understanding everything, I was pretty excited by how much Hebrew I did understand. (And, believe me, these people were talking fast!) The evening started with Cheli (the principal) talking to parents of the upper grades (4th-6th). Cheli spoke about how the beginning of the year was hectic with renovations to the school, the addition of the kindergarten building, and, of course, the visit by the Prime Minister, Education Minister and the Mayor of Jerusalem. It was evident that all of the "tseveht" (staff) had worked many hours to prepare for the start of the year. Cheli then moved on to goals for the year. Most were similar to goals of all schools, but Cheli noted that they are looking to build a greater sense of community in Katamon. The community would include all of the public elementary schools (the religious and secular) as well as the high schools, plus other aspects of the community like elder housing facilities and businesses.
I then moved on to the WK's classroom where his teacher (Yael) met with other parents in the class. Again, much of what Yael said was what we would hear in Cambridge - no cellphones in class (over half of the kids in his 5th grade have cellphones), no birthday party conversations in class unless all students are invited, emphasis on both education and values, etc. I had to laugh when Yael talked about classes on Friday. She practically begged the parents to send the kids to school on Fridays. I guess because the school day is shorter (8:05-11:45) and because there is school on Sunday, that there is a tendency to pull kids out on Fridays to start the weekend.
At one point, Yael opened up the floor to questions and comments from the parents. A bunch of parents complained that the kids had too much homework. They requested that Yael coordinate with the other teachers (Math, Science, Arabic, etc.), so that the kids didn't have to bring home everything every night. Because the WK isn't really doing homework (or using textbooks) in some of the classes, we haven't hat that issue. However, I have seen the other kids in his class hauling unbelievably heavy backpacks.
One parent said that her son had told her there was a "dohveir ahngleet" (English-speaker) in the class, and could Yael please comment on that. When Yael looked at me, I spoke up and said that I was the mother of the English speaker. I told them we were here until the end of December, and that I had heard that their kids had been very friendly and helpful to the CK. A mother said she had heard nice things about the WK, and I appreciated knowing that.
Then there was a whole conversation about the English teacher. (Note: this was about the general English teacher who teaches all of the kids English as part of the school curriculum. Judith, the English teacher of whom I have written is separate. Judith was hired by a separate group of parents to work with only the highest level of student and the English speakers. We pay a separate fee for Judith.) At any rate, the parents were complaining that the general English teacher couldn't manage the classroom, wasn't good with the students and had left crying a couple of times. Other parents said they thought the issue was with the problematic kids in the class and that it wasn't really her fault. I don't know which the case is, but at that point, our neighbor (the one who is the head of the English program with Judith) asked me whether she could volunteer my assistance in English studies. I, of course, agreed to do so, and I think the plan will be that I will do some one-on--one or small group English studies with the kids. We'll see what happens.
After the meeting with Yael was done, I went to the other building to meet with the CK's teacher, Meital, and the other parents in his class. (Yes, it was a looooong evening - 6:45 until after 10 pm.) Meital told the parents that despite the pleading by the 1st graders, there would be no homework assigned for the kids. I remember when the CK used to beg for homework, especially when the WK had some to do, so I thought that was pretty funny. Meital also pleaded with the parents not to let the kids bring cellphones to school - for 1st graders! (That explains why the CK has been asking for one, too. That also explains why my answer has continued to be "no"!)
Every Friday, there is chocolate cake in Meital's class, and the families take turns signing up to bring the cake. It was very funny because Meital kept emphasizing that it can only be plain chocolate cake - not marble, not with whipped cream, not with any sprinkles, etc. Meital said she can't go through the craziness of each kid complaining that he got more or she had extra frosting or whatever. I was surprised; I would have thought Israelis would live by the, ""You get what you get and you don't get upset" Rule!
Meital also went through the list of school supplies that her 1st graders need. Meital is very specific in terms of colors of notebooks. For Math, he needs a red and a "plain" notebook with grid lines. For the other subjects, the CK needs blue, white, yellow and green notebooks. Needless to say, I need to make yet another trip to the store to buy some items because neither of the 2 different packages of 5 notebooks that we have now includes all 4 of those colors. After the boys have all the things they need for school,, I will still have 7-10 notebooks (sea green, purple, orange and red) if anyone is interested!
Today went okay for the CK. For the first day since he's started school, there were absolutely no tears or complaints. He did request a couple of extra hugs, but went into his classroom fairly confidently. When I picked them up today, the CK told me he had a good day. While I am obviously happy to hear that, I know that today was a short day and that the CK was with Judith the English teacher for almost 3 hours. I mentioned to the CK this evening that we thought he would be going to Hadaas's class for Math (i.e., with the other 2nd graders), the CK screamed that we couldn't make him go back there. I wonder if the CK is embarrassed to see his 2nd grade classmates again, especially after he cried every day he was there. Regardless, we have to find a way to get him to go to school every day and, ideally, learn what he can learn. I hope tomorrow goes okay. This is hard and wearing on all of us.
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