And Then There Were Two

It's early Friday afternoon, and I want to catch up on the week before Shabbat begins. We have been very busy saying goodbye to people, packing up our stuff, shipping a few more boxes to Cambridge (and eating way too much!). I've also taken a bunch of pictures that I will share in a different post (hopefully) later on.
Wednesday morning I had appointments for both a manicure and "tisporet" (haircut) on the Emek. I figured that even if I have gained 5 pounds in Israel and my eyes are a bit swollen from crying, at least my hair and nails look great! Late Wednesday morning, Pentheus and I walked to the CK's class for his "misibat l'hitraot" (goodbye party, although I think I just made the phrase up in Hebrew). We brought a cake for the party, and arrived in time to hear all of the kids saying things in Hebrew to the CK, e.g., "Hope you have fun at school." "I will miss you." and "Good luck in the United States." It was actually very, very sweet. Meital (the CK's teacher) asked the CK to choose a song for the whole class to sing, and he chose "Eretz, Eretz, Eretz" (literally, "Land, Land, Land" but really meaning, Israel.) Here's the video of them singing, if you are interested:

The CK made a card for Meital, and she cried when she read it. The CK did the entire card, including the Hebrew writing, by himself. The only help we provided was to show him the Hebrew-English translation for "I will miss you." which the CK wrote on the inside of the card. (The CK did it in light colored pencils, so you can't really see it in a picture.) We gave Meital a gift certificate for a "massageh" (wanna take a guess what that means in English?) at a spa nearby, and she was pretty excited. "B'emet" (Truthfully), we are so glad that the CK switched to Meital's class. When the CK said his final goodbyes at the end of school today, it was sad but it really was okay. I kept thinking about how before you can return to something, you have to leave it first.

Wednesday afternoon, the CK and I went to "Jimmy's" a textbook and office supplies store and makolet (yeah, I know, it's a very weird combination). We bought the next 3 books in the series that Meital is currently using to teach Hebrew to CK's class. We also bought some "toffee toot" (strawberry taffy) because how can we be in a makolet without buying candy!? We hope to use the books to continue Hebrew lessons for him when we return to Cambridge. After Jimmy's, we took the #14 bus to Kanyon Malcha (Malka Mall). The CK bought a book to read on the plane ride home and we wandered around a bit. Pentheus and the WK met us at the Food Court for dinner (I think we all had meat of some sort!) and we had a nice time together. Note: that's 2 nights that the 4 of us had dinner together at a restaurant without too much complaining and whining!

Yesterday was extremely busy but a good day for us. I walked the CK to school and then headed off to Cafe Duvshaneet to say goodbye to the owner. The WK wasn't with us because he had gone to school very early for soccer practice. (I don't know if I ever updated the blog about the WK and the Szold School soccer team. We found out that the soccer games don't actually begin until April, but the WK still insisted on going to practice every single week, even though it meant waking up extra early.) Before I made it to Cafe Duvshaneet, however, Pentheus called me on the cell phone to tell me that we had been invited to join friends of his for coffee at a cafe on the Emek.

I rushed home and took a shower, and Pentheus and I headed off to the Emek. We spent a couple of hours with Yehuda (Pentheus's friend whose son's wedding we attended a few weeks ago and who had pneumonia and canceled plans earlier in the week) and his wife, Milli, and it was truly lovely to be with them.

We had such a good time. Milli's English isn't great, so we mostly spoke in Hebrew. Pentheus's Hebrew is much better than he makes it out to be - he had no problem communicating with them. They kept apologizing for not seeing us earlier and more often in our trip, but when we kept saying we were leaving "at the end of the year", they thought we meant the end of the Jewish year, i.e., in August or September before Rosh Hashana, and not the end of the year in December 2012. I haven't met such wonderful people in a long time. Actually, I have felt that way about all of Pentheus's friends in Israel, from the group of former work colleagues with whom we spent the day in Zichron Ya'akov in mid August to the Sela Family, and from the Elazar Family in Alon HaGalil (remember the milking cow experience?) to Yehuda and Milli. (Okay, I just took a break to wipe away some tears.)

From there, I took a cab to a small diner/restaurant near Kanyon Hadar (Hadar Mall) to meet Jessie for lunch. Those of you who are on Facebook may have seen my post earlier this week about how I was excited that my Hebrew was good enough to understand an entire TV episode of "Penguins of Madagascar" in Hebrew. While that is true, I regret to inform you that my Hebrew was also good enough to understand what the cab driver on the way to meet Jessie was saying to me. He asked, "yaish l'ba'alech coach b'mita? cama misparim atem ohseem seks b'laila?" which translates to "Does your husband have strength in bed? How many times a night do you do it?" Uch! I told him it was "lo eenyan shelcha, v'ani rotza letzet mehamonit." (none of your business, I want to get out of your cab.) Seriously, gross, but I guess it's now part of my Israeli experience! Despite the events in the cab, Jessie and I had a great time at lunch. We both ordered "marak adasheem" (lentil soup) and just sat and talked. I know I have written this at least 5 times before, but I will miss her. Yay for Skype!!

After lunch, I picked up the cake for the WK's "misibat l'hitraot" this morning at school. From the bakery, I headed back to the Emek to meet a friend of mine from Boston who is in Israel for a couple of weeks for the Bat-Mitzvah of her nieces'. I stayed for about 45 minutes, but it was nice to be included and to chat with her a bit. It was also a good to be reminded of how much I enjoy spending time with her, so that we'll be sure to see each other more in Boston! My friend commented that my blog posts lately contain a lot of references to meals and restaurants. She's right, but we've been trying to "eat down" the food in the dira, and also visit the places where we love to eat.

I rushed home so that I could make it to the CK's performance with his guitar teacher. The CK has been taking lessons from Orr for the past 10+ weeks, and he has loved it. The CK is looking forward to continuing his lessons when we return to Cambridge. In the performance, the CK played "The Sweater Song" by Weezer while Orr (plus Pentheus and I) sang the words. Then, the CK played a song that Orr had written especially for him! Orr provided the lyrics and the vocals for the song.

The CK and Orr have had a great relationship; they are crazy about each other. After the 2nd lesson, Orr told me that he thought it was "destined" for them to meet each other. The CK's favorite place in Israel is the Hula Valley (http://www.goisrael.com/Tourism_Eng/Tourist%20Information/Discover%20Israel/Geographic%20Regions/Pages/The%20Hula%20Valley.aspx  ), and it turns out Orr grew up on a moshav 15 km from there and his mother worked at the Hula Valley Nature Center for 15 years. When he has time away from his music, Orr is a regular volunteer at the Jerusalem Bird Observatory (JBO). As a going away gift, Orr made special arrangements for the CK to visit the Observatory and participate in some of the important work they do.

After the musical performance, the CK and I went to Cafe Duvshaneet for the last time. The CK had "shoko cham" (hot chocolate), some ruggelach, and an apple, while I had my last natool and picked a bit at the CK's ruggelach. The CK drew pictures while I read more of Rabbi Pear's book. When the time came for us to leave, I wished the owner of Cafe Duvshaneet, Nuriel, a "l'hitraot" and the CK took a picture.

I have liked having a "cafe of my own" in Jerusalem; I might just have to look for a place that's "mine" in Cambridge. While the CK was taking the picture, a woman in the cafe asked her friend (in Hebrew) why we were having our picture taken, Nuriel told her that I had been in his cafe almost every week for 5 months, and that I was an honorary employee. (Guess having the t-shirt makes it official.)

Last night, all 4 of us went to the "kikar" (square) a few blocks away. The boys and Pentheus had haircuts first, and then for dinner (I know, more about food and meals), the CK had a slice of pizza and the rest of us had turkey shawarma (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawarma) from our favorite shawarma place. Another meal together and another picture:

After dinner we went to the nuts/seeds/candy place that we all like. Pentheus bought a soy sauce rice/Asian nut mixture (kind of like an Asian form of Chex Party Mix) that he likes. As a family, we bought our final (well, actually, I guess we could potentially buy some more tomorrow night after Shabbat ends) batch of gummy candies and we added in some funky marshmallow products to mix it up a little. I swear I took a picture because I remember arranging the ginormous marshmallow strawberries, but I can't seem to find it.

Last night, after the boys went to sleep, Pentheus and I called it a night a short while later. The CK and I woke up before 5:30 this morning (that's in the a.m., folks!) to meet Orr at the JBO. (http://www.jbo.org.il/English/jbo_about_us.htm)  It was very, very cool to be there. We pretty much had a private tour of the place, including following the workers as they "collected" the birds so that they could be tagged, weighed, examined, and then re-released. One of the birds we saw has only been seen 4 times in Israel before! The CK was able to hold the birds and release them back into the wild. The JBO was purposely planned to be near the Knesset (Israeli Parliament), and the area is gorgeous.

Alas, I didn't have time to finish. Will check in tomorrow night. Shabbat shalom everyone!