Day 77 (epiphanies)

Let's see, let's see... Today I learned that I want to be a Process Engineer. That's the job I mentioned yesterday, and eventually the penny dropped: it occurred to me today that maybe I should do a job search for other positions with the same title. Great news! Other companies also have roles called "Process Engineer" that sound very similar. OK, in the name of full disclosure, I found one other company with one role, but still, a nice break.

I was going to get more done today, but BSM has decided that he no longer wishes to sleep at daycare. It is too much fun to waste time sleeping, thank you. As has been going on for over a week now, he refused to nap at all in the morning, and for the second time, he fell asleep when I nursed him in the afternoon but woke up before making it to his crib. He was too excited waving at his teachers to keep his eyes closed. Cute little troublemaker, that kid.

Since this is two days running, and he slept from 4:30 pm-6:40 am yesterday (with a mother-imposed awake time from 5:30-6:00, which turned out to be entirely unnecessary), I opted to take him home immediately after nursing and let him cry himself to sleep. I folded after half an hour and laid down next to him in my bed and nursed him to sleep. Naturally, I fell asleep, too, and we woke up two hours later. BSM went to sleep at 8 pm tonight. Silly Bebby. I think tomorrow I'll bring him home in the morning for a nap and see what happens.

Thank G-d, his daycare providers are endlessly patient and tell me he's a wonderful child. I assume they mean that sincerely, because BSM sincerely loves them, and fooling babies is not an easy thing to do. Also, how can you not love a kid who likes you better than he likes sleeping (and doesn't get whiny for you just because he hasn't slept)?

Today's other epiphany involves a "pasta scoop" as Bed Bath and Beyond names the slotted serving piece with poky things coming up from its edge. The Husbinator has been saying that he wants one for dairy, and since we don't have one in our lift, I wasn't entirely opposed to the notion. Thus, when I went to Beit Shean a few days ago and saw one for 10NIS, I got it for him.

(For the record, that was a store full of Cool Stuff that I Don't Need at a Great Price. I am proud to say that I left that store with nothing but the pasta scoop; the mantra, "If you buy it, then you'll have it" is shockingly effective. Of course I'll own it if I buy it! That's how buying stuff works! Yet somehow, thinking that over and over gave me a new and wonderful perspective: yes, that thing is cheap, but I wouldn't want it in my house even if you paid me to take it home. I would rather have the space than the object, even if you throw in a couple bucks to sweeten the deal.)

ANYWAY, as I was saying in the non-parenthetical paragraph, I bought a pasta scoop thingy for Husbinator and used it for the first time tonight. It makes serving spaghetti. So. Much. Easier. Heck, it makes serving spaghetti plain old easy! I am slightly surprised, but it's hard to be all that shocked that a popular item actually fills the function it claims to fill. Still, it counts as an epiphany!

Day 76 (assorted)

Gernarlly, I meet with Keturah once a week for my Hebrew lesson, but since we met so early this week, we'll meet again on Thursday. Thus, I have actually been reasonably diligent about reading the next article in my workbook. This is a good thing.

An even better thing, though, is sponja. As faithful readers of this blog will no doubt recall, I just adore the sponja method of cleaning floors. (Faithful people who have actually met me are deeply confused by any cleaning tendencies I may happen to exhibit, let alone enthusiasm for cleaning, but what is life without some mystery, eh?) It's been way too long since I cleaned my floors in any meaningful way, and they are pale and clean once more. Ahhhhhhh.

In more cool employment news, I got a call from the company that I impulse-applied to. Someone from HR called and pitched me on a job very similar to the one I actually applied for. (I saw both postings and figured I may as well apply to the more senior position, even though the more junior position sounded a hair more interesting.) I told her I was very interested, and she invited me to come in a few weeks for what sounds like a job fair ("יום גיוס" is what she called it, but I don't think "draft day" is a thing outside of major league sports), and I told her I'd love to come.

This is all very exciting, and now I have two weeks to angst over being gone for more than a full day (the thingy is 8:30-5:00, and it looks like it takes a little over an hour and a half to get there by public transit) and taking a 3-hour exam in I-don't-know what etc., etc., etc. But it sure beats the heck out of being told that morning to figure out how to get there that afternoon!

The Napless Wonder astounded and amazed his daycare providers by refusing to nap At All. He was pleasant and engaged and played beautifully, but he simply refused to sleep. End of story. Ha! He may be stubborn enough to win versus his teachers, but I am his match (to which those faithful people from 3 paragraphs ago can heartily attest). No, BSM honey, this is not a challenge. Just a heads-up.

Since he didn't nap at daycare, he fell asleep for an hour when I nursed him at 4:30. He was clearly still tired when he woke up, but come on. Going to bed for the night at 4:30? That's nuts! So I kept him up until Husbinator plead Babo's case at 6pm and I caved. I may be a match for El Babo, but when Husbinator gets all sad, I cave. Oy, that kid better not wake up for the day before 6am. He just better not.

In one more note, I mentioned to Ema2 yesterday that the kibbutz planted a grove of ficus trees in the days before air conditioning, because it gets so terribly, terribly hot and ficus trees are so amazingly shady. I had never heard of these trees before I got here, and they are pretty crazy: they have roots that grow out of their branches. Seriously. See the photos below.

Day 75 (sharing is caring)

I went to ulpan this morning, which was nice. Not as fun as usual, because the fluid in my ear seems to be taking up more than its fair share of Hebrew Space, but any language lesson is a Good Thing. (And for the record, I went to the doctor today: as suspected, I have a viral infection, and I should come back if it gets worse.)

When I fed BSM dinner tonight (yay actually being able to feed him at home with minimal wrestling!), he fed me, too. Seriously. After he finished an entire peach (sans skin), I ripped up a challah roll for him. He put a few pieces in his mouth, then picked up another piece and tried to put it in my mouth. Now that was a good reason to wash and make motzi! We had a delightful session of feeding each other bread, and hopefully BSM learned that while it's nice to share the same roll, it is less than nice to share the same piece of bread. I get enough drool without that, kid. But how can I not love the sharing?!

Day 74 (Beit Shean and other coolness)

My day started later than usual, with BSM waking up at a relaxed 8:15 am. Which, oddly enough, was less than cool, because I really wanted to get him to daycare a bit earlier today, since they told me he'd be eating with the big kids, and I know they finish eating by 9. Sure enough, the daycare center called me at 8:30 to ask where BSM was, because it was breakfast time. I got him there before 8:45, and he played his part beautifully, reaching for his cucumber as I slid him into his seat at the table, proving he really is ready for this (even if I might not be)! Well, now I know we have a schedule we need to stick to :)

Immediately afterwards, I went into Beit Shean with Husbinator's brother, who was catching a bus North to visit one of his cousins. While there I picked up some stuff that the kibbutz store either doesn't carry or is out of.

I also finished a lecture by Noam Chomsky and started one by Alex Fileppenko (about dark matter and the expansion of the universe). Thanks, GoogleTalks!

Tonight's big excitement, though, was a phone call from someone at a company that Uncle Red sent my info over to. The person who called me is an Israeli working in their US office, and he double-checked with me where I was, what I was up to, and my level of Hebrew, and he said he'll follow up with the Israeli office for me. How cool is that?

Day 73 (Shabbos)

Not much to tell: we ate both meals at home, due to BSM's sleep schedule. Husbinator also gave me a 3-hour nap this afternoon, which was suitably glorious!

Day 72 (watch out)

The big news of the day is that BSM can now go from laying down to sitting up. So far, he has demonstrated this ability on his changing table and in his crib. Things will never be the same again.

Day 71 (relief)

As the day went on, I've been feeling considerably better and better. Not out of the woods yet, but by the evening, I neither wanted to crawl back into bed nor was I coughing non-stop.

I also finally rescheduled my doctor appointment in Beit Shean. It turns out that as I join the Israeli medical system, not everything can be done on kibbutz. I also have to visit an actual insurance-run clinic at least once. So I made an appointment two days ago for that afternoon, dragged out to Beit Shean even though I was siiiiiick and in no mood for either spontaneity or walking around in the sun, hiked over to the doctor's office from where my ride dropped me off, waited for an hour and half, and had the doctor tell me to go home, because the electricity was flickering on and off, so his computer was dead, so he could not see any patients. Bye-bye!

Can you tell I was the teensiest bit irritated? Just a tad? Anyway, the nurses at the kibbutz clinic said it was a valid excuse why I still hadn't seen a doctor by the next day, but I still have to take care of this. Growl, grumble, grumble. Still, I called back today and am now scheduled for the next open appointment: three weeks from now. On the bright side, my insurance's automated-phone-system has an English option. Nothing is harder than listening to lightning-fast switchboard instructions in Hebrew.

I also responded to my cousin, who very graciously is helping me network. (I think her code name will be Ninjah. I hope she likes it. Her husband can be Ninja, and that won't be confusing at all!) Don't get me wrong: I am so, so grateful, and absolutely thrilled that people are helping me find work. This is amazing. It's just that if I don't respond within 24 hours I feel like they're trying to help me, and I'm letting them down. So it's a weight off my shoulders that I'm back to holding up my end of the thingy, that is, after all, my thingy. Make sense?

Baby and I played with the tree again after daycare: it continues to be glorious. Then, when we got home, we used the booster seat again, which also continues to be glorious. Since he was being super-cute, I not only took some pictures (if you email me, I'll share the shutterfly album with you), I also Skyped with Piano-Toes, who graciously admitted that my kid is, indeed, on the cuter side of cute. It was fun to hang out with Piano-Toes again. Haven't done that in a while.

In addition, I also baked challah and banana cake, took out garbage, washed dishes, toted laundry to and fro, got dinner, got food for Shabbos, washed more dishes, and I think that's it for my List of Responsible.

Wait! There's one more thing! When I went to nurse the baby a little after 2pm, I changed his diaper, because I know they change everyone's diaper between 2 and 2:30. Baby fell asleep while I was nursing (he hasn't done that in a while: it's very sweet), and as I was putting him into his crib, one of his care-ers asked worriedly if I'd changed his diaper yet. I answered the affirmative, and she said, "Kol hakavod!" ("Great job!") very enthusiastically. So apparently, changing my kid's diaper can join my list of wonderfully responsible achievements :-D

Day 70 (today)

Today, I spoke with the person in charge of job assignments on the kibbutz. We had a very productive 5-10 minute conversation, and he'll try to find me something either on the kibbutz or in the surrounding area. Advantage of kibbutz is short-term fitting-in, advantage of surrounding area is long-term employment/employment advancement. Ideally, he'll find me something relevant on kibbutz, but I'll take what comes.

Also today, there were peaches at the weekly produce giveaway fest. Yum yum yum. I ate one, and it was crunchier than most apples I've eaten lately. Which is not to say that I didn't enjoy the peach--I did, muchly--I'm just thinking that I should make cobbler next week with juicy peaches instead of this week with hard peaches. So hard to wait!

Additionally, today (are we sensing a theme, yet?) I saw BSM demonstrate another gesture. In addition to waving, clapping, pointing, slapping nearby surfaces, and giving five, he can also put his hands on top of his head. (There's a classic Hebrew song that involves clapping hands and putting them on your head, and one of his teachers has taught him to copy her on this one. Super cute! For the record, the song is as follows:
מחה מחה כפיים/ נוסעים לירושלים/ידיים על הראש/אחת שתיים שלוש
clap, clap your hands/we're going to Jerusalem/hands on your head/one, two, three)

I also used the booster seat we bought in Yerushalyim for the second or third time today. (The theme has been established! All paragraphs must conform!) What a difference! It can actually pleasant to feed solids to this child. With all of the chasing and getting food all over me, I had forgotten that was a possibility.

Day 69 (stuff and nonsense)

This morning, I succeeded in prying actual antibiotics out of the health clinic! I, like a true four-year-old, have a stuffy nose, sore throat, cough, whininess, and a terrible ear infection.

All of this notwithstanding, I went into Beit Shean today, and actually paid attention to time when I did so. It took me 40 minutes there and 40 minutes back. (The ride there involved one car, but was a longer wait for either of the two cars I hopped in for the ride back.)

When I got back, the baby and I played under the tree again, and it remains glorious. BSM finally did what I've been waiting for: he grabbed a branch and watched the leaves move when he shook it. So much cuteness!

Then, tonight, I dabbled in looking for a job.

Bed!

Day 68 (up)

A few weeks ago, a woman on the kibbutz told me about a hill with a great view "near the cemetery." This wasn't nearly enough information for me to find said hill, but enough to interest me: a hill near the flatness of the kibbutz is a treat. Some amount of time after that, John and Shoshi told us that their adopted family took them on a hike "past the palm trees, past the olive trees, past the cemetery, and up a hill." Ah-ha! Still not perfect, but much better.

Today, on a lark, I gave it a shot. Somewhat to my shock, I found it. For the record, better directions would be, "Go out through the gate just past the shul, make a right at the palm trees, walk for a long time, make a left at the olive trees, and go up the hill. Don't push a stroller up the hill: getting it up is hard, and getting it down is worse." Also for the record, this elevated bit of land is not actually a hill: it is the edge of the valley, and it is even more beautiful than promised.

Now that I know how to get there, I want to go back lots and lots of times, and explore. I want to explore the date trees and the olive trees and the path on the edge of the valley, and the path out of the valley that some fellow-walkers told me is more accessible to strollers.

Also exciting tonight, I emailed the person who gives out jobs on the kibbutz, and he got back to me! I'll call him on Wednesday, and hopefully find some relevant part-time work on the kibbutz. Right now, we're not really integrated into the kibbutz at all, and I think that working here will help with that.

Day 67 (Erev Again)

It was a relaxed sort of a day today.  Bought some stuff we didn't get around to buying before Pesach (plastic plates, etc), napped when the baby napped in the afternoon, watched the Husbinator introduce El Babo to his first sock puppet: awwwww. 

I was also treated to a wine-bottle opening that did not feature a corkscrew. And yes, the bottle of wine had a cork. We forgot to take our corkscrew out of our chametz cabinets before Pesach, so Husbinator started trawling through the internet. Some tips (e.g., put bottle in shoe, slam against wall) were reasonably useless. Others (e.g., insert screw into cork, use vise clamp to pull screw--and thus cork--upwards) were shockingly effective.

Husbinator's brother is joining us for the last day/s of Pesach, and I want to re-start my computer to get rid of a mouse-glitch. 

Later, 'gators!

Day 66 (taxidermy)

Well, I may have forgotten to post this last night, but I remembered to count omer! Keep It Counted, Kinderlach.

Over Shabbos, we were all a little sick, which, while less than fun, still beat Baby Spidey being very sick.

We ate Shabbat dinner at home, as planned, and then we ate Shabbat lunch at home, too, since BSM and I napped from 9:45-11:30,  and lunch is from 11-12. Husbinator went to the dining hall and foraged quite successfully.

Shabbos afternoon, I went for a very short walk with El Babo. I'd heard there were stuffed animals on the second floor of the dining hall, so I paid the gallery a visit. There is a gorgeous diorama there. Absolutely gorgeous. Aside from being beautiful, it's very educational. We'd been wondering what the woodpecker-looking thing with striped wings and plume of feathers was callled. Turns out it's a דוכיפת, which, according to the interet is a hoopoe and the national bird of Israel.

Day 65 (barf)

Did I mention that BSM has gotten very clingy lately? Well, last night/this morning, I learned that when he vomits he gets very, very clingy. His arms, legs, and chin holding my neck, waist, and shoulder in a death-grip kind of clingy. The third time he vomited, I gave up and just let him vomit all over me. Yeah, it's gross, but it was happening whether or not I fought it, and I was too tired for a losing fight.

Thank G-d, we made it back to the kibbutz without much incident; BSM alternately cried and slept. Singing helps soothe him, and no song works as well as "Torah, Torah." I'm happy to teach him that Moshe taught us the Torah, and it's the heritage of the Jewish people, but I'd also be happy to have a little more variety in a two-hour song-fest. 

Whiny enough yet? Hopefully, we'll all get lots of sleep over Shabbos, and I'll be more positive after that happens. Yay, potential sleep!

Day 64 (gallivanting)

Today started with a bris. Family friends from my childhood, let's call them the Zoltans, now live near Jerusalem. Their daughter had a boy a week ago, and we went to the bris. I'm very glad I came: I got all sorts of warm fuzzies when I saw each of the three Zoltans, and I teared up when I saw Mrs. Zoltan holding one of her granddaughters. There was just something so fundamentally right about it.

On a different note, we took what is called "the tunnel road" to get from Jerusalem to the bris. It's an interesting road, and Husbinator started wondering if the tunnels were for security, or for ease (what with the hills and all). Then we saw a wall on the side of the road, and we had the same question: sound barrier or security device? Then I saw the extension on the top of the wall that leaned over the road, and I realized we were driving on a fortified highway.

This makes me angry. A fortified road in one of the fantasy books that I read is cool, and a good idea. A fortified road in my home is not okay. This is our home: we shouldn't need to fortify our own highways on our own land. We should take security for granted, travelling from room to room with confidence. I was additionally angered when I passed a sign on one of the tunnel road exits that said that this area is under control of the Palestinian Authority, and Israeli Citizens may not enter: those who do so put their lives at risk and are in defiance of the law. Are you kidding me? Yeah, I know that there are countries in the Middle East that Jews may not travel to, but IN MY OWN LAND? Why is this a one-way street? Make a barrier, maybe. Make it annoying for me to go, but to forbid it entirely? Is that how it goes in the other direction?

Afterwards we went to Talpiyot to look for a booster seat. We feel that it will make feeding BSM much easier if we don't have to chase him all over the floor when he gets bored after a few spoonfuls. (Our high chair is in storage in the USA. We'll bring it over with the rest of our stuff when we have a larger, more permanent place to live.) Naturally, we bought a bunch of other stuff, all of it very useful. Sippy cups! Meat baby spoons! A crib bumper so he stops slamming his head into the bars of his crib! Etc!

While we were gallivanting through one of the malls (yes, one of the malls), we passed a rav-kav station. As you may remember from yesterday's post, public transit becomes much more affordable if you have a refillable card ("rav-kav") rather than paying the driver with cash each time you get on the bus. The problem has been our complete lack of mobility/being far away from anything larger than Bet Shean has made it kind of hard to get a rav-kav. Last time we were in Yerushalayim, I saw a rav-kav room in the central bus station, but the wait looked worse than the wait at the bank. If I'm only in Yerushalayim for a few days, I don't really have half a day to spend getting a bus ticket... Well, the table at the mall took less than 10 minutes, and we now have our rav-kavs. So excited!!!

I celebrated afterwards by buying a Hebrew copy of The Name of the Wind. I was actually trying to buy a Hebrew copy of To Kill a Mockingbird, but they were out. So sad. When I asked the clerk about Mockingbird, and it was a perfectly normal social transaction: do you have it, yes let me show you, hm, I'll check another shelf, okay, I'll check the computer, whoops, we're out, can I order it for you, no thanks, I live far away. 

I then asked if they had Rothfuss' book. The clerk checked the computer, said yes, then bit her lip and looked concerned. Clearly not wanting to disappoint me twice, she hesitantly asked if by any chance the book I wanted happened to be fantasy? "Why yes, in fact it is!" I told her, quite pleased that we were on track to get me a book I love. The clerk did a pretty good job of hiding her double-take, but now I'm wondering. In the last few years, speculative fiction has become very mainstream in America. Is fantasy considered a throwaway genre in Israel, or does it just have a very stereotypical fan-base which I don't match? I'm not willing to wade into Hebrew internet forums to find out, though. I'm curious, but I'm not that curious.

In other news, my sefiras ha-omer email alert that I set up last night worked like a charm. Happy third day of the omer, group!

Day 63 (speaking of which...)

OK, now that I've counted the omer, here goes.

We went to the zoo today, and it was really nice. The Jerusalem Zoo (aka the Biblical Zoo, I believe) is absolutely gorgeous. Even if there weren't any animals, it would be a very nice place though which to promenade. This is a good thing because (a) it is nice to walk in pretty places and (b) the zoo is tricky to navigate. Cutely, the zoo's conservation-education center is called "Noah's Ark" and is, indeed, in the shape of a boat. See the amusing sign at the end of this post for the rules. A good time was had by all! Even by BSM, who alternately napped and watched the millions of people who crowded the zoo on the first day of Chol HaMoed Pesach. Yes, we gave him plenty of water to drink, and yes, he was willing to eat lots and lots of potatoes (and drink more water) instead of nursing. AND a nice Israeli lady gave me a plastic spoon when she heard me telling Husbinator's friend's wife that I totally forgot a spoon, and was therefore feeding El Babo by hand.

After the zoo, we visited said friend of the Husbinator and his wife (and their two kids). It was a relaxed evening following an enjoyable day. Friend's 5 (?) year-old son was absolutely awed to be in the same room as an actual Baby Spiderman. Oh, yeah. We call him Baby Spiderman in real life, too. Since we call him BSM, we tend to buy Spiderman paraphernalia when it goes on clearance, and today BSM was wearing a Spiderman onesie and Spiderman socks. So yeah, 5-year-old was wide-eyed. Eventually he asked, "Is he really baby spiderman?" Of course, I broke the spell and explained that technically, he's not a superhero; we just call him Baby Spiderman. "Why?" "Well, doesn't he look like baby Spiderman?" The 5-year-old had to agree that he did, and the point was made, though the awe was gone. Too bad!

 Since we haven't gotten our "rav kav's" yet (like MetroCards for the Israeli bus system), we can't transfer between buses. Well, we can, but we have to pay full-fare for both legs, so it's hardly a Transfer. That being so, it would have cost 28 NIS for us to get back to Aunty Em's, so I said, "It will be cheaper to take a cab!" and so we did. Fact: 10 years ago, before 9pm, it would have been cheaper to take a cab. In 2014, after 9pm, it is not cheaper to take a cab. It was faster, though, and poor BSM wasn't sleeping soundly, so I don't resent the 46 NIS as much as I'm just surprised by it.

Day 62 (aka Day 1)

Day 1 of the omer, that is.

Having only one seder isn't nearly as weird as I thought it would be. I feel a little off-balance, but I'm not feeling any huge gaping hole, so that's good. Though to be fair, BSM was nuts today, so I can't really feel a whole lot other than tired, but that's another story.

But yes, I enjoyed hanging out with the Aunty Em Clan: lots of cousins and second-cousins to play with. Also, BSM finally got to play with children between the ages of 3-7 years old. He generally loves watching them, but I think this is the first time he's really gotten to play with them. It was fun.

Day 61 (Erev Pesach)

I love how the laws of Pesach account for the last minute. Finish cleaning your house when? About 24 hours before the seder. At that time, also get rid of your chametz. Oh, and 12 hours later, get rid of your chametz again. You know you found more since then. Oy, it's so true. (Not that we found anything major, but there was that one last toothpaste, just a few more Tums, etc etc.)

While the Husbinator went to Beit Shean to get our rental car (I'm still pleasantly shocked that they had a car for us to rent), I got Babo ready for his day, ate breakfast, threw in the last load of laundry, and... got my teudat zehut (ID) back!!! It turns out that someone found it on the ground yesterday afternoon and gave it to the ulpan dorm mother. Not having my phone number, she found me today, and oh, I am just so happy. I was not looking forward to going through a roadblock with my US passport and immigration papers, explaining that I, alone among religious Jews, failed to find stuff when I cleaned my house for Passover. Phewsh!

Also this morning, I saw my cover letter that Uncle Red tweaked for me. One day I, too, shall have the skill of being smoothly professional without sounding cheesy. One day. Also, (B2 are you listening?) Uncle Red told me not to believe everything you see on the internet: using a drill to peel apples might not actually simplify your life. So sad.

We made it to Yerushalayim without incident, and we'll be having the seder with Auntie Em and the clan.

Happy Pesach to all and to all a happy Pesach!

Day 60 (Erev Erev Pesach)

Because Erev Pesach is so busy that it deserves its own "Erev." That's why today's post is titled "Erev Erev Pesach."

Today, not shockingly, was a busy day. Aside from last-minute laundry and last-minute shopping (twice for me, once for Husbinator), I paid rent (officially due on the 10th, as it turns out, but they're pretty chilled as long as the money shows up), did all sorts of Pesach cleaning, confirmed that we have a car that we can rent, and lost my teudat zehut (official Israeli ID). I know, I know: the rest of the world finds things when they clean for Pesach. What can I say? I am unique. I had it this morning...and yes, we literally searched the entire apartment since I lost my ID, but it is still lost. Sigh.

I also strung a whole slew of buzzwords together, creating a cover letter that sounded exactly like a string of buzzwords. The RecruiterNator (alias mild-mannered Husbinator) did something awesome, changing a few words here and a few words there, making it sound like an actual letter, even though it's still full of buzzwords.

In BabyNews, I showed Baby Spidey the Maccabeats Pesach video, because he often likes some music when he's feeling whiny. At the end of the video (spoiler alert!) the audience of one bursts into wild applause. Baby Spidey, being the clever social creature that he is, applauded as well. Awwwwww!

Day 59 (Shabbos)

Shabbos was nice, except for the part where Baby Spiderman kept faking us out, pretending he was about to go to sleep. Haha! He wasn't! Sneaky nap-eating child.

Tonight, we kashered the kitchen and covered counters.

That is what is up!

Day 58 (Erev Shabbos)

Hrm... Today... Hmmm...

Not much, really. I need to get out of the "sitting on the couch" phase I seem to have lounged into over these past few days. (Not, G-d forbid, that I'm trying to tease you Pesach-cleaners.)

Well, Sam cleaned the oven last night, and I burnt it out this morning. Does that count?

Babe-O took a startling two-hour nap, and I continued to sort out our Heartbleed ramifications. The Husbinator, bless him, found an article (http://mashable.com/2014/04/09/heartbleed-bug-websites-affected/) that lists major sites, if they were affected, and most importantly if they've been patched yet. (Until a site has been patched, changing your password doesn't actually protect your account. Thank you) Change your Google, Yahoo, and Facebook passwords, if you haven't done so since the patch. I also had to change Dropbox and TurboTax. There are, of course, lots more sites not listed on the chart. I found a nice tool through the Wall Street Journal (https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest) that checks sites individually. If it says the site isn't vulnerable to Heartbleed, then I know it's time to change my password. Random interesting factoid I learned from the patch list: JDate and Christian Mingle are owned and operated by the same people.

I haven't been following the news all that closely lately, but I was surprised I didn't hear more about Heartbleed. The only time I saw Heartbleed mentioned when I wasn't actively looking for information on it was when I checked Wednesday's XKCD comic (in fact, that's how I found out about it, in the first place). Did any of my more connected people hear about Heartbleed from more traditional sources?

Oh! The other thing that happened today was that the rental car people called to let me know that they now have a car available for us, if we're still interested. Yes. Yes, we are. We didn't tell them this, but we'll call them back on Sunday to make sure this mythical car still exists. We do not want a surprise-no-transportation moment on Erev Pesach, thank you very much.

OK, off to clear my counter and set up crock-pots for Shabbos. But first, I hear El-Babo beginning to wake up from his two hour marathon nap. Later, gators!

Day 57 (more reading)

Mainly read Republic of Thieves some more. Mild housework, lots of running around back and forth to the dining hall: boiling more dishes, grabbing dinner, grabbing Friday night dinner...

Also emptied out half of the fridge tonight, doing the last load of dairy dishes before Pesach. We'll eat Friday night dinner at home, so I'll finish that up after Shabbos.

BSM is doing well, but super-super clingy. Amazingly clingy. The Human Cling clingy. Either he's entering a "phase" or he's getting another tooth.

And that's what's up!

Day 56 (reading)

I believed I mentioned a while back that I was listening to The Lies of Locke Lamora. Well, I finished it, and its little sequel, too, and I just borrowed a copy of The Republic of Thieves, the third in the series. I must say, it's kind of nice to while away an entire day curled up, reading. I haven't done that in far too long.

Of course, I still got some business done: we finally submitted the forms to (a) enroll BSM in daycare and (b) get the special immigrant-price-refund-thingy on his tuition. I also called the rental car company to reserve a car so we can travel in ease with lots of stuff to Yerushalayim for Pesach. I had a perfectly coherent Hebrew conversation, with minimal repeating: they don't have any cars available for that time, but oh dear she's with two customers right now, can she call me back? She didn't. I'll call back tomorrow and... what? Ask if she has any competitors she can get us in touch with? If not, we'll take the bus again, but we were hoping for a car this trip.

I also took some kitchen-wares to the kitchen (funnily enough) to be kashered for Pesach. Fastest kashering I have ever seen. I brought the pots in a (mesh) laundry bag, figuring it was a good way to carry them. The rabbi took the bag from me, looked at the pots inside, and popped the whole bag into a huge vat at a rolling boil. He poked it down, popped it into a vat of cold water, and handed it back to me. BAM! Doneskies.

In baby news, Baby Spidey continues to be fascinated by the tree in front of our building. He loves being held beneath it, so he is surrounded by leaves to swat at and branches to pull. Even as I forbid him to eat the leaves, he remains a picture of Delight.

Seems a shame to spoil that image by mentioning that he had a total meltdown in the bathtub tonight, poor tired baby. It ended with me holding him (twice!) before having a chance to towel him off. He was asleep less than 10 minutes after (most) of the soap was rinsed off of him.

Back to heartwarming news, PianoToes is the best! PianoToes, of course, being my middlest younger brother, who emailed me today to say that he read my blog, and--brace yourself for a truly rave review--he would read it even if I weren't his sister. Warmed the cockles of my heart, I tell you. I love you, PianoToes!

Day 55 (and the other)

Today I researched still more companies. Have I mentioned yet that I'm glad I'm starting early? They're not kidding when they say that looking for a job is a full-time job. And I'm just dabbling until after Pesach.

Also today, I became free from Angry Birds. Specifically, I finished one story-line (three sets of 21 levels), and now I don't have to play anymore. I will not start a new story-line. I will remain free from this popular, oh-so-addicting game.

In other good news, we celebrated 24 hours fever-free today! Baruch Hashem, and mazal tov to Baby Spiderman and family.

As you may recall, I made a tomato dip for Shabbos. It was very easy, and even more delicious, so I made it again tonight, and we ate it with both noodles and toast.

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"Resek" (variation)

Use an immersion blender to squish equal number of tomatoes and garlic cloves. (OK, that's a lie: use more garlic cloves than number of tomatoes. More garlic is always yummier.) Add salt and pepper to taste. Discover that while I still like the food-processed version better, this way is still quite good, and get to eat the dip with cheese. (My food processor is meat.)

Day 54 (that and this)

We return to our heros on Day 54 to find that Babe-O's illness continues. Malka, being a responsible little mother (mainly because she picked a ridiculously responsible Husbinator), took said Babe-O back to the health clinic, where the nurse told her to cut the line to see the doctor. Which she did, even though Babe-O decided that this would be the hour in which he had no fever. Oh, Babe-O. You goose. Shockingly, after a thorough exam, the doctor told Malka that Babe-O had an unspecified virus. Probably. It should go away in a day or so: viruses rarely hang on past 5 days. Joy. The good news is that Babe-O continues to be in good spirits (though poor appetite) and is in no way dehydrated. Poor poor Babe-O, though.

My impulsive-action of the day was applying for a job. I was going through my list of semiconductor companies oh-so-diligently, and I found one that sounded really interesting, so I played around on their website a little bit. Eventually, I ended up on their "careers" page, and found a job-listing which sounded really, really interesting. In the spirit of "why not?" I tweaked my resume, wrote a quick cover-letter (with Husbinator's help, of course), and fired it off. Now that my no-return impulse-purchase is complete, I'm left asking myself why I didn't run this by Uncle Red, or perhaps have Keturah look over my cover letter, first. Both of those would have been good ideas. Whoops! Oh, well. That's what happens when one acts on impulse.

I'll end with two cute "overheards":

The first was from Husbinator, as he got on the floor with Baby Spiderman and asked, "OK, you wanna play a shtickle catch?" (Shtickle is Yeshivish for little. Incidentally, BSM was up for a shtickle catch. He was also up for holding a plastic orange in one hand, a plastic strawberry in another, and a green playpen ball between his feet.)

The second was in the dining hall at dinner, when I heard a man ask his children, "Do you want pasta or rice? Chometz or kitniyos?" One of his kids responded, "Chometz," following up promptly with, "Which one is that?" Smart kid.

Day 53 (this and that)

Well, Baby Spidey's fever is back :-(  It's not as high as it was Friday, thank G-d, and it's now with less vomit, but it still makes me sad. Poor baby. Luckily, it does not seem like Husbinator's tummy-ache turned into BSM's terrible-horrible.

On the reading front, Bag of Bones has joined The End of Eternity in my "return to library without completing" stack. This time it isn't the Hebrew: it's the story. I've heard lots of people say that they like the "delicious" feeling of being scared. I think they're slightly nuts. Or just not scared enough. I do not like the feeling of being scared. I do not enjoy the stomach-clenching need to turn on the light to make sure that scary things aren't happening when the baby cries. I can choose not to read scary books. Ha! (And yes, I know that King is known for horror, but I've ready plenty of his books that are not horror, and I enjoyed them greatly.) Now I'm up to the last Hebrew book we took out of the library: The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Hope it's better than people seem to think the movie was!

In more productive news, I followed one of the many, many links that the NBN employer counselor forwarded to me, and spent a good amount of time looking at companies. I just go through the list, seeing what each company does, where it's located, how big it is, and if I would have any interest in working for them. It's not a Big Bucket O' Fun, but it is actually kind of interesting. A lot of these companies do cool stuff.

Even more productively, I talked to Uncle Red about job-hunting, specifically in the engineering field. It was a very, very useful conversation, and I shall continue to research companies. I'll also start sending emails to my professors asking if they know anyone over here. I might wait until after Pesach for that one, though. The best part about the conversation, though, is that everything feels more organized in my head, now. Yay, having direction and concrete goals! Also yay starting my job search months before I actually need a job.

And last, but certainly not least, I gave myself a long-overdue haircut. I need to wait for my hair to dry to see how it came out, but the "flip my hair over my head and cut a U-shape" has worked just fine in the past (instant angles and layers!), so I'm not too worried.

Day 52 (Shabbat, though now it's after Shabbat. That's implied, right?)

We had a few Ulpan people over for dinner Friday night. One of them was Australian, and he and the American Ulpan kid went "Ozzie, Ozzie, Ozzie: OY OY OY!" a couple of times. Eventually, the French Ulpan guy asked what was up with that, and they told him it was just an Australian thing. Y'know all nationalities have one... so the French guy, very naturally, asked what the French thing is, and the Husbinator responded with the stereotypical "Hongh, hongh, hongh." Like the British with English muffins, it seems that the French cannot identify the stereotypical French cartoon laugh. The French guy wasn't insulted as much as completely befuddled.

Shabbos day we were going to eat in the dining hall, but BSM's nap went overtime, so Husbinator and I ate at home, instead, and lo it was very nice.

We did the whole switiching-off for naps, too, which was, if possible, even nicer.

Oh, and what you all really want to know: BSM only threw up one more time Friday night, and his fever broke in the middle of the night. Thank G-d, he seems to be better now.

Day 51 (Erev Shabbat)

First of all, congratulations to Ema2 and to Aunt L80 for solving yesterday's quiz show! Both clever women used the internet to determine that the grocery store in question was a Shopwell. Thanks!

In less-awesome news, Baby Spiderman has a fever today. He threw up twice this morning, so since seeing the nurse for the second time at 11am, I've been nursing him briefly every hour or so. Poor kid. At least he hasn't vomited since we started with the tiny liquid meals... Though now Husbinator's tummy hurts. Bum bum bum.

We're having a few people over for dinner tonight, and since the Wednesday produce giveaway had melons the size of grapefruits, we will have melon halves with jello centers for dessert. We will also have a tomato dip that I've really missed since being in Israel. I finally looked up the recipe and realized that I can make this with minimal trouble.

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"Resek"

Chop an equal number of yummy tomatoes and garlic cloves in a food processor. Add black pepper, a smidgen of salt, and a tiny bit of fresh cilantro if that's what floats your boat. Mix it up and decide not to add either the lemon juice or olive oil that the recipes call for. Done! Sop up with bread to your little heart's content.

Day 50 (understanding)

I met with Keturah today, and our discussion turned to grammar, as the best discussions are wont to do. In Hebrew, there are seven "constructs": seven ways in which to conjugate verbs. Three of the constructs are active, three are passive, and one is reflexive. I'm reasonably familiar with the active/reflexive constructs, but the passive constructs? I can conjugate verbs in each of the three passive constructs, but I have no idea when to use which one.

Well, maybe I should say I had no idea. Hehehehehe. The evil laughter of one who now has the power of knowledge! Bwahahahahaha! OK, here's the scoop: the seven constructs can be drawn as a menorah (I knew this, too). The really, truly cool part is that the branches are linked! So in a case where you would use construct A in the active voice, you would use construct 3 in the passive voice. (Whoops. I labeled the diagram foolishly. I should have made 1 link to A. Too late now!) Oh, the power that is mine! Bwa. Ha. Haaaaaa.

 Also, I cannot in good conscience let you go without the briefest of explanations about why there are different constructs. On the active side, you have your basic, no-frills pa-al (e.g., I eat food); your slightly stronger pi-el (which can also be used for constant actions: I hug my baby gently, but since I hug him regularly, I use pi-el rather than pa-al to describe my hugging him); and my favorite, the acts-directly-upon-an-external-person/object hif-il (e.g., I feed my baby). Turns out that all three of these well-understood constructs have direct parallels on the passive side. And that's how you pick. I'm still in awe.

(If I were you, I'd be dying of curiosity right now, so I will generously let you know that the reflexive construct is called hit-pa-el and is for verbs that one does to oneself [e.g., to get dressed under one's own power] or that require a partner, but are reflexive [e.g., debating, getting married]. You're welcome for putting you out of your misery!)

The other wonderful thing that Keturah taught me today is that the irritating howling/yipping that I hear every night emanates neither from terrible children nor terrible dogs. It emanates from jackals, which in Hebrew are tanim. I was close when I guessed "coyotes" a few nights ago. Should have stuck with that instead of changing my mind to "little dogs."

Keturah also (can you guess that Keturah wins my Person of the Morning award?) articulated why I so desperately want to improve my Hebrew: I can communicate adequately, but I feel like my hands are tied. Yes! That is it to a T! I responded with the analogy of holding a baby, and having to do everything with one hand, and we shared a laugh.

Speaking of laughter, I gave up on Asimov's End of Eternity today (the percentage of words I knew was just too low) and switched to King's Bag of Bones. On the first page, one of the characters goes to a pharmacy called "עזרה נכונה." I was stumped: Correct Help? Appropriate Assistance? This is clearly supposed to be a real pharmacy chain... Maybe it's specific to Maine? Then it hit me: Rite-Aid!

In that same paragraph, the character visits a "קנו טוב." Buy Well? Shop Good? (Not Shop-Rite, because the translator has already shown he knows that "rite" is נכון, and this is טוב.) It can't be a Best Buy, because she wants to buy fish there, and it is a supermarket. I can't figure this one out. What do you think?

Day 49 (hi there)

It's odd to have homework again. I have lots of incentive to do it, though: I can only text Keturah to ask for another class after I've finished the homework from our last session.

Other than that, it's been a "taking care of business" sort of a day, leavened by a 2-hour playing-with-baby session this afternoon.

Day 48 (whirlwind)

The day started off with Baby Spiderman's first ponytail. Since we won't be cutting his hair until he's 3, and I can no longer ignore the fact that his hair is in his eyes, I finally gave him that little "waterspout" on the crown of his head.

I did my feel-good cleaning/baking business in the morning. After lunch, I girded my loins and decided to pin Paz down for an answer. Either he had already come to a decision, or my body language told him I was done waiting, because he gave me a straightforward answer with almost no pushing at all: no. I'm slightly disappointed, slightly relieved, and mostly not surprised in the least.

The Husbinator and I discussed what to do next, and we concluded that it doesn't make sense for me to look for full-time work on the kibbutz that is unrelated to my field. Some part-time work might lend structure to my day and give me a chance to exercise my Hebrew, but I'll be focusing my energy on a search for a long-term job.

Bearing that in mind, I got in touch with Rachel, an engineer and recent immigrant whose email the Nefesh B'Nefesh employment counselor gave me. She was overflowing with good advice and general insight into the Israeli engineering culture, and I shall transfer the notes I scribbled into my, hm... Well, into something digital, and I'll go from there!

(OK, that doesn't sound like much of a whirlwind, but I left out some mundane emails/taxes/conversations/homework/housework/foodwork/etcwork, on the rationale that I don't need to write a bullet-list of every day. But believe me, the afternoon/evening was a whirlwind of Good Jobs Well Done!)