Yom Pyjamot & Yom Lots of Pictures

Today is "Yom Pyjamot" (Pajama Day) for Keetah Alef, and you can't believe how "chamoodeem" (cute) these 1st graders are! The announcement home about Yom Pyjamot said that the kids could bring one "booba" or "dohvee" (stuffed animal, although the words literally mean "doll" or "bear") The kids could also bring "chateef echad" (one junk food snack). The CK was excited about today, even if he wouldn't admit it.
 

  

The last pic is of the CK and his teacher, Meital. I smile every time I see it!

School has actually been pretty uneventful this week. After I told the CK on Sunday that we couldn't have special meals or treats every time he hadn't cried about school, the CK seemed to accept it. In fact, there wasn't even any complaining in the morning or whining about not wanting to go to school. That being said, we've asked the boys to try harder to be involved in their classes, and to work on understanding more of what goes on at school. I think the boys, especially the WK, can understand a lot more than they let on, even though I can imagine that being in a Hebrew-speaking environment all day can be overwhelming. Yesterday, before dinner, I pulled 6 books in English from the WK's backpack. The WK said he "needed one book for each class" at school on Thursdays, i.e., the WK had a different book to read each time the class switched subjects. We told the WK that he could bring a couple of books, but that he must pay attention as much as possible at school because he can learn something.

After I pulled the 6 books, I found this in the WK's backpack:

This is part of page 1 of a 3-page Math assignment of the WK's. The WK had completed the first two pages but hadn't started page 3. When I asked the WK if he understood the Hebrew directions on the worksheet, he answered that although he didn't get all of it, that he could figure out what to do by seeing the numbers and knowing a few key words. Apparently, the WK knew that "mehmootzah" is average (as in a numerical average), and by knowing that, he did the first couple of pages. He's clearly learning something.

By the way, the WK still doesn't know if he made the soccer team. There were supposed to be additional try-outs yesterday morning (and the WK got up extra early to be at school by 7:30 am), but the Coach (who is also the Gym teacher for the upper grades) wasn't there. The WK thinks the Coach must have been sick because there was a substitute Gym teacher on Wednesday and Thursday. I don't think Pentheus and I are going to intervene to find out what the scoop is, but I hope the WK asks about it next week. We're only in Jerusalem for 2 more months, and I don't want the WK to miss anything on account of his not knowing.

Remember in my pre-Yom Kippur post, how I ranted and raved about how much Tal Bagels, on the Emek, charged for the cream cheese and tuna fish? Over 40 shekels ($10) for that tiny container? Well, I won't be having that problem again.

Maybe other people boycotted Tal Bagels like I did, but I doubt that's why it closed. I think it's interesting that a bagel place is being replaced by another bagel place.

And, speaking of closing, I bought a shirt at this store just last week, and look at it now.

I hadn't known what the story was until the CK and I just checked the Hebrew-English translator. When I bought the shirt, I knew "mehchirat" (the top word on the right) was Hebrew for "sale" but not that "cheesohl" (the word below) meant "elimination" - I guess I won't be going there again.

Yesterday, I met Jessie for lunch at Sushi Rechavia on the Emek. We had a great time, and it was fun to see her. I have really enjoyed getting together with her while I'm in Israel, and we made plans to have lunch again in a few weeks.At lunch, I was telling her about my first ulpan class and that I had hopes of improving my Hebrew, even if I will only be attending the ulpan for a couple of months. When we had finished eating, our waitress came over and asked, "Ehfshar l'fahnoht?" -- just then I remembered the word I had learned at Tuesday's class: "l'fahnoht" meaning "to evacuate." (I think I even put "l'fahnoht" in my last blog post.) I knew that "ehfshar" meant "is it possible" and "l'fahnoht" was "to evacuate", and realized the waitress was asking if she could clear the dishes. "l'fahnoht" - to evacuate or to clear out; it makes perfect sense! I know I am kind of crazy, but I was very excited about that.

It's Friday, so, of course, I went to Cafe Duvshaneet for my morning natool . When the owner and I were talking (in Hebrew) this morning, I commented that my friends had told me about how Cafe Duvshaneet hadn't hired a security guard for the Cafe when, by law, it was mandatory that the Cafe do so. The owner told me that he really didn't want to get a guard, so he got an "intercom" (yepper, that's "intercom" meaning "intercom") instead. The funny part is that the owner told me that the intercom was used for "yohmayeem, oh oohlai shloshe" (two days, or maybe three) before they stopped using it.

The bikers didn't show up at Cafe Duvshaneet this morning. Pentheus is teasing me that maybe now that we know who they are (or at least, know who one of them is), the bikers wanted to find another place to hang out undetected. Hope that's not the case!

The next Jewish holiday is Chanukah, which is Dec 8-15. Schools are closed for the entire holiday. While Chanukah is a "religious" holiday in that we are commanded to light the candles, read special sections from the Torah, and add extra words to prayers, Chanukah doesn't have the typical "restrictions" (e.g., not engaging in business, no lighting of flames, no writing, etc.) like other Jewish holidays such as Rosh Hashanah, Passover, Shabbat and others do. Even though Chanukah is still a good 5 weeks away, it's clear that Jerusalem is preparing already. Dreidels (http://judaism.about.com/od/holidays/a/dreidel.htm) and chanukiot (http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Jewish_Holidays/Hanukkah/At_Home/chanukiah.shtml) can be bought in all the stores, and every bakery and/or grocery store is already promoting sales on "soofgahniot" (fried donuts) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sufganiyah).

Finally, I voted today!

Please get out there and make your vote count!