The end-of-ulpan tests were today. Although I have not attended any formal ulpan classes, I have been registered for the ulpan, so I sat the exam. I like taking tests. "Here!" they say. "Have a clearly-defined, time-bound task. Succeed!" So I follow the clear instructions in the clearly defined time set aside for the task, and I feel pretty derned successful. Though I did have a funny moment when I realized I haven't done arithmetic with negative numbers in a loooong time. (One of the reading comprehension questions required solving 586 BCE + 70 years = ???)
I also stuck to my 30 minutes of Facebook rule, which I continue to like, and also makes me feel successful. (Unlike job-searching. Job-searching is Da Pits. It does Not make me Feel Successful.)
After daycare, BSM and I went into Beit Shean. Ostensibly, we went to get meat for Shabbos (and dinner for tonight, as long as we were there: kibbutz dinner on Thursdays is invariably mashed potatoes), but my main goal was to keep BSM out of the apartment until bedtime. It's just easier for everyone that way. If he's home I never quite manage to keep him quiet and out of Husbinator's way, so I'm stressed, BSM is constantly interrupted and yanked around, and Husbinator is less productive. Long walks in this heat are possible, but not something I'm willing to do every day. And now that we have a car... (a car!) Ah. So we went for a long food shop in Beit Shean and accomplished our mission.
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Day 168 (less facebook)
I haven't really said much (anything?) about the war in Israel. The kibbutz is at the very far range of the Gazan rockets, and presumably too close to Jordan for any attempted strikes. The only experiential evidence I have that we're at war is that the empty apartments in our building, which are used for Shabbat guests, are now hosting war refugees. "Families from the South," everyone says, not wanting to make people feel worse, but seriously. War refugees. We seem to have new neighbors every week: our first neighbors went to stay with their family in Teveryah, our second neighbors were forced to move on (it seems that this is a short-term hospitality program the kibbutz is running: I don't know where that family ended up, though I did what I could in the way of networking), and now we're on family number three.
It's amazing how little I see the adults that have been living in that apartment. Or the other four guest apartments in our building. I see their kids running in and out... I can hear the adults when they yell at the kids... But in total, I've seen the 3 mothers maybe... 4 times? (I don't count the fathers because I'm not sure that the first family's father came up North with them, and from chatting with my current 6-year-old neighbor, I gather that her father works long hours. Maybe he works in the South and comes up to visit a few times a week? It's possible. Or maybe he's just working weird hours on the kibbutz. Six-year-olds are not the clearest sources of information.) But yeah, I see these women just often enough to learn their names and wish them well. And occasionally figure out the logistics of sharing a laundry-drying rack. And then there's a new family.
In other war news, I made a very strict rule for myself today: I can only be on Facebook for a maximum of 30 minutes. There's just so much propaganda and misinformation and passionate, useless ranting. So rather than telling myself all day to, "Get off Facebook now. Now! Okay...really this time: just skimming the headlines is upsetting you and serving no useful purpose," I set the 30 minute rule when I woke up. I succeeded, too: my stopwatch is showing 26 minutes and change. For the whole day.
Of course, I watched a loooot of television, but one thing at a time, eh?
It's amazing how little I see the adults that have been living in that apartment. Or the other four guest apartments in our building. I see their kids running in and out... I can hear the adults when they yell at the kids... But in total, I've seen the 3 mothers maybe... 4 times? (I don't count the fathers because I'm not sure that the first family's father came up North with them, and from chatting with my current 6-year-old neighbor, I gather that her father works long hours. Maybe he works in the South and comes up to visit a few times a week? It's possible. Or maybe he's just working weird hours on the kibbutz. Six-year-olds are not the clearest sources of information.) But yeah, I see these women just often enough to learn their names and wish them well. And occasionally figure out the logistics of sharing a laundry-drying rack. And then there's a new family.
In other war news, I made a very strict rule for myself today: I can only be on Facebook for a maximum of 30 minutes. There's just so much propaganda and misinformation and passionate, useless ranting. So rather than telling myself all day to, "Get off Facebook now. Now! Okay...really this time: just skimming the headlines is upsetting you and serving no useful purpose," I set the 30 minute rule when I woke up. I succeeded, too: my stopwatch is showing 26 minutes and change. For the whole day.
Of course, I watched a loooot of television, but one thing at a time, eh?
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Day 167 (pictures and potatoes)
Er, so what did I accomplish today? Well, I uploaded a bunch of pictures... I also shared and printed some of them... I made yesterday's blah boiled potatoes into a pretty yummy potato kugel! I am pretty proud of that, actually. I didn't use a recipe; I just mushed together boiled potatoes, a bunch of eggs, a little flour, most of an onion, some garlic powder, two individual margarine packets, and some pepper (the potatoes were pretty well salted already), and popped it in the oven. Ta-dum!
Monday, July 28, 2014
Day 166 (caught up!)
Hey, look at this! I'm blogging about today... today! I know I gave up on that, but it's kinda nice.
We checked out of the hotel after a nice breakfast and drove 1-2 minutes to the tomb of Rebbe Meir Ba'al HaNes. (Among other distinctions, Rebbe Meir is the source of so much Mishnaic material that the redactors of the Mishna don't bother quoting him by name much of the time, instead giving the rule, "סתם משנה רבי מאיר" ["the source of an uncited Mishna is Rebbe Meir"].) It seemed rude to be literally next door and not stop by, so we did, and we had a good daven/tzedakah-giving fest.
After that, we decided to go straight home. Instead of doing that, we accidentally wandered off of route 90S (still have no clue how we managed that: we've never lost it before). Eventually, we realized that those long stretches of fence really weren't familiar even a little bit, so we turned on Waze. (Waze is a GPS program for a smartphone. Like so many cool bits of technology, it started out as an Israeli company and was acquired by a large American company for a large American price-tag. This, by the way, is the Israeli dream.) While following Waze's directions to continue climbing into the Golan Heights (because it wanted us to make a series of legal turns many kilometers up the road with the same ultimate result as if we had made an illegal U-turn at the bottom of the beautiful mountains, we later learned), the air conditioner started blowing warm air.
Husbinator remembered the mechanic's advice to not let the engine temperature rise more than halfway up the gauge, and pulled over. I remembered my parents' black station wagon that could only drive for about 2 1/2 hours at a time before needing a rest, and suggested we pop the hood (carefully!) and go for a walk on the convenient dirt path across the street. After some discussion about whether a gap in barbed-wire fences indicated a lack of landmines or just a lack of barbed-wire fencing, I managed to decipher the paint on the stone in front of the path. As expected, it did warn us that the area was mined (the landmine signs were how we determined we were lost, in the first place: the Golan Heights are full of landmines and not on the way from Teveryah to Beit Shean), and to therefore not cross the fences. Yay, the dirt path was mine-free! Since we were holding the baby, we couldn't go on too long of a hike (climbing inclines that are greater than 30° with a baby in arms is yuck-o), but we saw a very pretty view and a reasonably interesting sign.
Here's my painfully literal translation. (Because I don't feel like expending the effort on a pretty translation. Translation is much harder than understanding.)
DANGER LANDMINES
BEHOLD YOU ARE FOUND IN THE MIDST
OF THE AREA OF OLD SYRIA
DO NOT GO DOWN FROM THE FENCES
-IDF
In my mind, some group of guys in the IDF got sick of hanging "DANGER! Landmines" signs, so painted this one to tell posterity, "It's not our fault, guys! Why the heck would we mine our own country? Syria did it, and cleaning up other people's messes... You know how hard that is. Go yell at them, OK?"
Anyway, our main focus was letting the car cool down. Between having no cell reception and it being too early to call America, anyway, I couldn't ask Abba how long it takes a car engine to cool enough to check the radiator. He knows. From his vast experience with that Chevrolet, I know he knows. But we did not know, so we gave the car a solid 45 minutes and a lot of hand-waving to make sure. Then we topped off the radiator and kept driving. Eventually, we learned of Waze's vile, law-abiding ways, and made our stinky U-turn. In retaliation, Husbinator coasted down the Heights in neutral. Ha! We just would have had to ride the brakes the whole way down, anyway, and the last thing we needed was to run out of gas, right? I thought it was brilliant. And funny. Much like a kibbutz owning a gas station. What a good idea! And how funny!
We checked out of the hotel after a nice breakfast and drove 1-2 minutes to the tomb of Rebbe Meir Ba'al HaNes. (Among other distinctions, Rebbe Meir is the source of so much Mishnaic material that the redactors of the Mishna don't bother quoting him by name much of the time, instead giving the rule, "סתם משנה רבי מאיר" ["the source of an uncited Mishna is Rebbe Meir"].) It seemed rude to be literally next door and not stop by, so we did, and we had a good daven/tzedakah-giving fest.
After that, we decided to go straight home. Instead of doing that, we accidentally wandered off of route 90S (still have no clue how we managed that: we've never lost it before). Eventually, we realized that those long stretches of fence really weren't familiar even a little bit, so we turned on Waze. (Waze is a GPS program for a smartphone. Like so many cool bits of technology, it started out as an Israeli company and was acquired by a large American company for a large American price-tag. This, by the way, is the Israeli dream.) While following Waze's directions to continue climbing into the Golan Heights (because it wanted us to make a series of legal turns many kilometers up the road with the same ultimate result as if we had made an illegal U-turn at the bottom of the beautiful mountains, we later learned), the air conditioner started blowing warm air.
Husbinator remembered the mechanic's advice to not let the engine temperature rise more than halfway up the gauge, and pulled over. I remembered my parents' black station wagon that could only drive for about 2 1/2 hours at a time before needing a rest, and suggested we pop the hood (carefully!) and go for a walk on the convenient dirt path across the street. After some discussion about whether a gap in barbed-wire fences indicated a lack of landmines or just a lack of barbed-wire fencing, I managed to decipher the paint on the stone in front of the path. As expected, it did warn us that the area was mined (the landmine signs were how we determined we were lost, in the first place: the Golan Heights are full of landmines and not on the way from Teveryah to Beit Shean), and to therefore not cross the fences. Yay, the dirt path was mine-free! Since we were holding the baby, we couldn't go on too long of a hike (climbing inclines that are greater than 30° with a baby in arms is yuck-o), but we saw a very pretty view and a reasonably interesting sign.
DANGER LANDMINES
BEHOLD YOU ARE FOUND IN THE MIDST
OF THE AREA OF OLD SYRIA
DO NOT GO DOWN FROM THE FENCES
-IDF
In my mind, some group of guys in the IDF got sick of hanging "DANGER! Landmines" signs, so painted this one to tell posterity, "It's not our fault, guys! Why the heck would we mine our own country? Syria did it, and cleaning up other people's messes... You know how hard that is. Go yell at them, OK?"
Anyway, our main focus was letting the car cool down. Between having no cell reception and it being too early to call America, anyway, I couldn't ask Abba how long it takes a car engine to cool enough to check the radiator. He knows. From his vast experience with that Chevrolet, I know he knows. But we did not know, so we gave the car a solid 45 minutes and a lot of hand-waving to make sure. Then we topped off the radiator and kept driving. Eventually, we learned of Waze's vile, law-abiding ways, and made our stinky U-turn. In retaliation, Husbinator coasted down the Heights in neutral. Ha! We just would have had to ride the brakes the whole way down, anyway, and the last thing we needed was to run out of gas, right? I thought it was brilliant. And funny. Much like a kibbutz owning a gas station. What a good idea! And how funny!
Day 165 (more friends)
We went to Teveryah! What happened was this: on our way to our friends' house two Shabbatot ago, we drove past the Kinneret. It was gorgeous. (We also drove through the Galil, which was also gorgeous, but rather further away.) We hadn't realized just how close we were to such a pretty vacation destination. And we have a car now. (Have I mentioned that? It's life-changing. In a good way.) So Husbinator called the two families we were friends with in America who now live in Northern Israel and arranged to all meet up for a day of Beach and Barbecue. (Though he would never call it that, since we planned to grill, not barbecue. Goodness.) He also found a hotel so we could make a real mini-vacation out of this. He did this all in about two days. Tops. He is very cool that way.
Anyway, so on Sunday we went to Teveryah and played on the beach with our friends. Good times were had by all.
When our friends left in mid-afternoon to go back home, we checked into our hotel and took turns going to the "mineral springs" just down the road, since admission was free with our hotel stay. Teveryah, by the by, is known for its natural hot springs, which, like all natural hot springs, are touted for their healing properties and general "how awesome is that" effect. The mineral springs we visited were, in fact, swimming pools. Husbinator went first, while I rested in the hotel room with a playful baby. He came back and said it was sooooo relaxing, I absolutely had to go. (I had been ambivalent: I'd played in a beautiful lake for hours, and I was tired. Why go to a hot swimming pool?)
So I went. Cutely, the attendant at the door told me it was mixed swimming before I went in. Fair warning! It's sweet when people (a) care about possible sensitivities AND (b) know what those sensitivities are. Right, so mixed swimming doesn't bother me; I just keep my clothes on. So in I went. The pool was nice; as Husbinator had gushed, the water was indeed incredibly dense, making floating no work at all. After a few minutes in the indoor mineral pool, I popped into the adjacent outdoor (hot) mineral pool. Still just a swimming pool into which someone dumped a bunch of salts. And a hot outdoor pool on a summer day is initially pretty not fun. But Husbinator said it was aaaaaaawwwweeeesome, so I gave it a shot. Soon enough, I began to enjoy the sensation of a hot, floaty bath with cool summer breezes. When my heart rate got too fast for my comfort, I popped back to the indoor pool for a bit longer. Then I got out. And that's when the utter relaxation hit. I don't know what they put in that pool, but something, something is absolutely glorious. Doesn't hit till you get out (I went back in and out later, with similar results), but then, whoa. Just draped myself in a deck chair and whoooooa.
Also on Husbinator's insistence, I tried both the wet and dry saunas. Neither were as terrible as I thought they'd be, but that's about all I can say for 'em. It was still more "ugh" than "cleansing. But those pools! Ah.
Anyway, so on Sunday we went to Teveryah and played on the beach with our friends. Good times were had by all.
When our friends left in mid-afternoon to go back home, we checked into our hotel and took turns going to the "mineral springs" just down the road, since admission was free with our hotel stay. Teveryah, by the by, is known for its natural hot springs, which, like all natural hot springs, are touted for their healing properties and general "how awesome is that" effect. The mineral springs we visited were, in fact, swimming pools. Husbinator went first, while I rested in the hotel room with a playful baby. He came back and said it was sooooo relaxing, I absolutely had to go. (I had been ambivalent: I'd played in a beautiful lake for hours, and I was tired. Why go to a hot swimming pool?)
So I went. Cutely, the attendant at the door told me it was mixed swimming before I went in. Fair warning! It's sweet when people (a) care about possible sensitivities AND (b) know what those sensitivities are. Right, so mixed swimming doesn't bother me; I just keep my clothes on. So in I went. The pool was nice; as Husbinator had gushed, the water was indeed incredibly dense, making floating no work at all. After a few minutes in the indoor mineral pool, I popped into the adjacent outdoor (hot) mineral pool. Still just a swimming pool into which someone dumped a bunch of salts. And a hot outdoor pool on a summer day is initially pretty not fun. But Husbinator said it was aaaaaaawwwweeeesome, so I gave it a shot. Soon enough, I began to enjoy the sensation of a hot, floaty bath with cool summer breezes. When my heart rate got too fast for my comfort, I popped back to the indoor pool for a bit longer. Then I got out. And that's when the utter relaxation hit. I don't know what they put in that pool, but something, something is absolutely glorious. Doesn't hit till you get out (I went back in and out later, with similar results), but then, whoa. Just draped myself in a deck chair and whoooooa.
Also on Husbinator's insistence, I tried both the wet and dry saunas. Neither were as terrible as I thought they'd be, but that's about all I can say for 'em. It was still more "ugh" than "cleansing. But those pools! Ah.
Day 164 (Shabbat)
I like spending Shabbat with Lizzy and Ari. And their kids. That being said, there's not much else to say: I took a really long walk with BSM in the afternoon, and found the top of the mountain I used to walk to when I visited Lizzy and Ari in seminary. Even with my little to no sense of direction, it's hard for me to be too impressed at finding the top of the mountain after all this time. It is, after all, the only top of the mountain for quite some distance (until the next mountain, in fact), and finding it requires only the bare minimum of logic (the top of the mountain is up), rather than any magical "sense of direction" thingy.
It was a nice walk, and I took BSM out of his stroller when we got to the little park at the top of the mountain, and we sat in the shade drinking water and eating pretzels for a while. This is only noteworthy because when I sat down, I scooched back and leaned against the wall. I must have put on my "blissful" face when I did this (sitting in the shade with feet up and back down after a long walk is, after all, pretty blissful), because BSM immediately scooched himself over to the wall and put his back against it, too. It's a pretty good feeling, having someone who thinks I am the bees' knees and know it all. Enjoy it while I can, eh?
Watching (and listening to!) the Lizzy and Ari clan play Settlers of Catan was pretty amusing (and convinced me to consider playing the game at some point), but the funniest thing happened after we pulled out to go back home. Lizzy ran after us to say that her 7-year-old (8-year-old?), who really enjoyed playing with BSM all Shabbat (and BSM enjoyed playing with him, too, which is just as impressive), had just started singing, "I'm the youngest again! I'm the youngest again!" Hee hee.
It was a nice walk, and I took BSM out of his stroller when we got to the little park at the top of the mountain, and we sat in the shade drinking water and eating pretzels for a while. This is only noteworthy because when I sat down, I scooched back and leaned against the wall. I must have put on my "blissful" face when I did this (sitting in the shade with feet up and back down after a long walk is, after all, pretty blissful), because BSM immediately scooched himself over to the wall and put his back against it, too. It's a pretty good feeling, having someone who thinks I am the bees' knees and know it all. Enjoy it while I can, eh?
Watching (and listening to!) the Lizzy and Ari clan play Settlers of Catan was pretty amusing (and convinced me to consider playing the game at some point), but the funniest thing happened after we pulled out to go back home. Lizzy ran after us to say that her 7-year-old (8-year-old?), who really enjoyed playing with BSM all Shabbat (and BSM enjoyed playing with him, too, which is just as impressive), had just started singing, "I'm the youngest again! I'm the youngest again!" Hee hee.
Saturday, July 26, 2014
Day 163 (Old Friends)
We confirmed this morning (that's Friday morning; sorry for date confusion) that we are indeed going to Aunt Lizzy and Ari's for Shabbat. Funnily enough, I ended up hopping up there in the afternoon for a quick visit, too. My friend from down the block when I was growing up was visiting Aunt Lizzy & co. Since I haven't seen Said Friend for about 8 years, I decided to drive (drive!!!) over before she had to leave. So I did, and we visited for about an hour, and it was glorious.
When we got back (I brought BSM with me), BSM clearly wanted something on the counter. I offered him his cup of Cheerios (bye the bye, that cup is not nearly as spillproof as it would have me believe), but BSM wanted Something Else. Turns out that Something Else was the slice of pizza someone had brought over while I was out. So I gave it to him, and he ate the entire slice.
In other BSM news, he took 2-3 steps ALL BY HIMSELF on Friday night. Good boy. I don't think he realized how cool that is, but I do :)
When we got back (I brought BSM with me), BSM clearly wanted something on the counter. I offered him his cup of Cheerios (bye the bye, that cup is not nearly as spillproof as it would have me believe), but BSM wanted Something Else. Turns out that Something Else was the slice of pizza someone had brought over while I was out. So I gave it to him, and he ate the entire slice.
In other BSM news, he took 2-3 steps ALL BY HIMSELF on Friday night. Good boy. I don't think he realized how cool that is, but I do :)
Friday, July 25, 2014
Day 162 (moving picks up momentum)
Next big step taken: Husbinator and I researched internet providers for our new home, and I made that call in Hebrew. The woman I spoke with, like so many salespeople, spoke really quickly, though she would remember to slow down for a sentence or two when I reminded her that she was going too fast. In America, everything would have been done on one phone call, with long periods of, "Just hang on while the system refreshes," or, "Do you mind if I put you on hold while I check with my supervisor?" In this case, the woman hung up and called me back each time there was something that took longer than 30 seconds. Neither better nor worse, just different. I was slightly surprised when she said, "באי מאמי" ["Bye, sweetheart"] at the end of the first call, though it represented the tone of our conversation well.
In between the various internet phone calls, we drove over to the spice factory on kibbutz and picked up some packing boxes. Most of our stuff will fit in our suitcases, but our suitcases will last longer if we don't keep filling them with heavy, pointed, and/or messy objects. Also, now our apartment smells like dried herbs. Mmmmmm...
In between the various internet phone calls, we drove over to the spice factory on kibbutz and picked up some packing boxes. Most of our stuff will fit in our suitcases, but our suitcases will last longer if we don't keep filling them with heavy, pointed, and/or messy objects. Also, now our apartment smells like dried herbs. Mmmmmm...
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Day 161 (the birthday treatise)
As you may recall, BSM already had a birthday this year. And I still remain firm in my stance that 1-year-olds do not know about birthdays, and moreover, even if they did know about birthdays, their ultimate celebration would be sticking to their routine. Which is pretty much how we celebrated BSM's secular birthday. But I kind of regretted not having a cake for him. Even if he is kind of a baby.
A few days after his secular birthday, the Israeli postal service delivered a very sweet birthday card from Abba's sister (pseudonym needed). One of the lines in the card was, "...first little wish/first little cake for you to squish..." And then I was even more bummed that I skipped the cake. "Well," I thought, "I still maintain that cake for a 1-year-old is both unnecessary and unhealthy. But there is still his Hebrew birthday..."
And so I ruminated for about three weeks, and when his Hebrew birthday rolled around, we did indeed give BSM a chunk of cake with whipped cream on it. I even made a "1" with sprinkles, so you know it's a real birthday cake. No candle, though. That's getting dangerous. And Ema says the rebbetzin said something about it not being a very Jewish thing to do. And it's dangerous. We did sing "יום הולדת שמח" though. (I started singing "Happy Birthday," but Husbinator pointed out that this was his Hebrew birthday, so we switched languages accordingly. Stuck to the American tune, though, because this ceremony was for us, after all.)
Like a good little boy, BSM had a great time finger-painting with and eating the whipped cream. He did eventually realize there was cake under the whipped cream, but he had no interest in eating that. He just mushed around the whipped cream happily for about five minutes and then said, "All done," and that was that.
I feel much better, now :-)
A few days after his secular birthday, the Israeli postal service delivered a very sweet birthday card from Abba's sister (pseudonym needed). One of the lines in the card was, "...first little wish/first little cake for you to squish..." And then I was even more bummed that I skipped the cake. "Well," I thought, "I still maintain that cake for a 1-year-old is both unnecessary and unhealthy. But there is still his Hebrew birthday..."
And so I ruminated for about three weeks, and when his Hebrew birthday rolled around, we did indeed give BSM a chunk of cake with whipped cream on it. I even made a "1" with sprinkles, so you know it's a real birthday cake. No candle, though. That's getting dangerous. And Ema says the rebbetzin said something about it not being a very Jewish thing to do. And it's dangerous. We did sing "יום הולדת שמח" though. (I started singing "Happy Birthday," but Husbinator pointed out that this was his Hebrew birthday, so we switched languages accordingly. Stuck to the American tune, though, because this ceremony was for us, after all.)
Like a good little boy, BSM had a great time finger-painting with and eating the whipped cream. He did eventually realize there was cake under the whipped cream, but he had no interest in eating that. He just mushed around the whipped cream happily for about five minutes and then said, "All done," and that was that.
I feel much better, now :-)
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Day 160 (less baby, but just as cute)
BSM went to daycare today: hooray! I celebrated with a combination of dish-washing, book-reading, inbox-cleaning, and facebook-posting. Also a smidgen of job-hunting.
After I nursed BSM this afternoon, and BSM cried when I tried to leave (as he lately always does in the afternoon, and never does in the morning), Daphna suggested it might be time for me to stop nursing him before his afternoon nap. I whole-heartedly agree, and am glad not to break up my day, and am very sad that my baby continues to grow up, thank G-d. A real mish-mosh of emotion, you might say.
As I did yesterday, I tried (and failed) to spend some of BSM's birthday money on exciting toys. The stuff is all really irritating, really poorly made, really dangerous, or really beyond his age-range. I found one--ONE--toy that was almost okay, but it was ridiculously expensive for what it was. I settled for a 20ILS mylar helium balloon, and it's a darned good thing BSM likes it so much, because I just converted that to USD. I know that 10 ILS is roughly 3 USD. Makes for quick and easy conversions. But lately I've been forgetting to switch from ILS to USD, and 20 ILS sounds like a much better deal that 6 whole US buckeroos. Seriously? I paid SIX DOLLARS for a balloon? Other than health care and tuition, everything really is much more expensive here. I will spare you the details, but Israeli stores really do seem to think that 20-30 ILS is an insane clearance price. But yeah, BSM really, really does love the balloon, and it is his Hebrew birthday tonight/tomorrow, so it's all good.
After I nursed BSM this afternoon, and BSM cried when I tried to leave (as he lately always does in the afternoon, and never does in the morning), Daphna suggested it might be time for me to stop nursing him before his afternoon nap. I whole-heartedly agree, and am glad not to break up my day, and am very sad that my baby continues to grow up, thank G-d. A real mish-mosh of emotion, you might say.
As I did yesterday, I tried (and failed) to spend some of BSM's birthday money on exciting toys. The stuff is all really irritating, really poorly made, really dangerous, or really beyond his age-range. I found one--ONE--toy that was almost okay, but it was ridiculously expensive for what it was. I settled for a 20ILS mylar helium balloon, and it's a darned good thing BSM likes it so much, because I just converted that to USD. I know that 10 ILS is roughly 3 USD. Makes for quick and easy conversions. But lately I've been forgetting to switch from ILS to USD, and 20 ILS sounds like a much better deal that 6 whole US buckeroos. Seriously? I paid SIX DOLLARS for a balloon? Other than health care and tuition, everything really is much more expensive here. I will spare you the details, but Israeli stores really do seem to think that 20-30 ILS is an insane clearance price. But yeah, BSM really, really does love the balloon, and it is his Hebrew birthday tonight/tomorrow, so it's all good.
Monday, July 21, 2014
Day 159 (another baby day)
Since BSM's eye infection hadn't cleared up as of this morning, I swung by the clinic before daycare. Surprise! I was not told to keep putting "mother's milk" in his eyes. Instead, I was told to keep him home from daycare and go to the eye doctor in Beit Shean. I am so, so glad we have a car. No figuring out to how arrange a ride with a car seat in both directions. No lugging a car seat around the doctor's office with me. No worrying I'll be stranded with a baby. Just pop him in his carseat which is in our car and hop over to Beit Shean. After the appointment, drive back. Simple. Ah, having a car again!
Meanwhile, El Babo was a Cheerful, Independent Babo. He played nicely and cutely and only whined and got clingy when it was nap-time. A real pleasure, in other words.
And when we got to the clinic in Beit Shean! The nurse on the kibbutz warned me that we couldn't really make an appointment for today, so she wrote a detailed referral that she said would have to be vetted by another nurse at the Beit Shean clinic, but eventually BSM should be able to be seen by an eye doctor today. Bearing that warning in mind, I decided to play a slightly different tack when we got to the Beit Shean clinic. Rather than walking up to the receptionist and confidently telling her what I wanted, I decided to play the confused, slightly concerned immigrant.
So I turned my American accent up a notch and diffidently told the receptionist that I live on kibbutz? And the nurse there said I had to bring the baby? To? Um? At which point I paused, and the receptionist looked at the baby and said, "To the eye doctor! Do you have his insurance card?" I nodded gratefully and dug out his card, and she printed out a slip with our number in line. Done! Since she was the one telling me what to do, after all, there really was no need to jump through any hoops. So I thanked her and popped upstairs, and as I reached the end of the hall, I heard my number being called! I'm still slightly shocked by how fast that was.
Since it was so fast, after I picked up the eye drops (and cream [ugh], and wipes), I took BSM shpatzeering around the little shopping area across from the clinic. Because it is still ingrained in me that once I finally get to Beit Shean, I should make the most of it. Even though that's no longer true. Because we have a car!!!!
Meanwhile, El Babo was a Cheerful, Independent Babo. He played nicely and cutely and only whined and got clingy when it was nap-time. A real pleasure, in other words.
And when we got to the clinic in Beit Shean! The nurse on the kibbutz warned me that we couldn't really make an appointment for today, so she wrote a detailed referral that she said would have to be vetted by another nurse at the Beit Shean clinic, but eventually BSM should be able to be seen by an eye doctor today. Bearing that warning in mind, I decided to play a slightly different tack when we got to the Beit Shean clinic. Rather than walking up to the receptionist and confidently telling her what I wanted, I decided to play the confused, slightly concerned immigrant.
So I turned my American accent up a notch and diffidently told the receptionist that I live on kibbutz? And the nurse there said I had to bring the baby? To? Um? At which point I paused, and the receptionist looked at the baby and said, "To the eye doctor! Do you have his insurance card?" I nodded gratefully and dug out his card, and she printed out a slip with our number in line. Done! Since she was the one telling me what to do, after all, there really was no need to jump through any hoops. So I thanked her and popped upstairs, and as I reached the end of the hall, I heard my number being called! I'm still slightly shocked by how fast that was.
Since it was so fast, after I picked up the eye drops (and cream [ugh], and wipes), I took BSM shpatzeering around the little shopping area across from the clinic. Because it is still ingrained in me that once I finally get to Beit Shean, I should make the most of it. Even though that's no longer true. Because we have a car!!!!
Sunday, July 20, 2014
Day 158 (pink eye and packing)
BSM got sent home from daycare today not because he has pink eye, but because he was crying about it. I took him to the clinic and was in no way surprised when the nurse told me to put breast-milk in his eye. Already on it. Frankly, his eye was already getting better. Unfortunately, Baby was still super, super clingy. Poor kiddo. We did manage to start packing, though! Most of a suitcase and a box, but it feels good to have made a start.
Day 157 (of friends and mountains)
We went to our friends' house for Shabbos. They made aliyah about 6 months before we did, and they live among the mountains in northern Israel. (Hence the title of today's post.) It was so, so good to relax and talk and laugh and see the beautiful mountains. So good.
Cousin left for Europe Saturday night. It was good seeing her, and we decided next time we'll both be more settled and less tired :)
Cousin left for Europe Saturday night. It was good seeing her, and we decided next time we'll both be more settled and less tired :)
Friday, July 18, 2014
Day 156 (Cousin, More Thereof)
Cousin and I hung out today. It was pretty great. Not much exciting, though Husbinator did make some delicious Phad Thai... Erm... I feel like more than that happened... We're visiting friends from the US for Shabbos. I'm looking forward :)
Day 155 (Cousin!)
When was this? Yesterday? I'm all fershmiggledabobbled.
Cousin showed up! It was great! Still is, actually. I'm getting confused... Updates may have to become less frequent...
But yeah. Husbinator and I went to Afula and bought a bunch of stuff at the kibbutz-dwellers-sale, had someone else pick up El Babo, because we were literally five minutes late (siiiiiigh, I'm still bummed about that), Baby and I drove (drove! in our car!) to Beit Shean to get Cousin, and then we kind of just hung out. It was nice. Still is. Actually.
Cousin showed up! It was great! Still is, actually. I'm getting confused... Updates may have to become less frequent...
But yeah. Husbinator and I went to Afula and bought a bunch of stuff at the kibbutz-dwellers-sale, had someone else pick up El Babo, because we were literally five minutes late (siiiiiigh, I'm still bummed about that), Baby and I drove (drove! in our car!) to Beit Shean to get Cousin, and then we kind of just hung out. It was nice. Still is. Actually.
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Day 154 (Decision)
For years now, Sister has been mentioning that I'd make a really good pre-school teacher. (Thanks! :D) Every time I substitute at BSM's daycare, one of the ladies there says the same thing: I'm so happy working with the kids! Recently, Rut (the woman whose house we stayed at when we went to visit the community we're moving to) made the same comment. I know I love working with babies/toddlers, and, not to brag, I know I'm pretty darn good at it. But today, I came to a Decision: given the option, I absolutely don't want to babysit/work at a daycare/preschool. Those darned kids will keep leaving at the end of the year. Or be wrenched away by heartless parents who suddenly decide the kid should go with the rest of the family when they move. So sad.
(Can you tell a bunch of the ladies told me how much they're going to miss BSM? And I know how much he likes it here... Ah!)
In less depressing--but more foolish--news, I gave BSM not only a spoon, but a bowl of gvina levana at dinner tonight. Gvina Levana, if you wish to know, is an Israeli cheese roughly the consistency of sour cream. It started innocently enough, with me feeding him gvina levana with a spoon. Then BSM wanted the spoon, which was fine. Then BSM wanted to dip the spoon in the bowl of gvina levana, which was slightly more dangerous, but I figured it was good for his development. You see the slippery slope? Can you begin to understand how when he reached for the bowl of gvina levana, I just gave it to him? I hope so, because less than a minute after I took that irrevocable step, I could no longer figure out why it seemed okay at the time. Let's just say that BSM enjoyed himself spoon over fist; he, I, and the surrounding area got to know his gvina levana quite well; after dinner, BSM got an impromptu sink-bath in lieu of hand-washing; and I'm sure he'll smell like spoiled milk tomorrow.
(Can you tell a bunch of the ladies told me how much they're going to miss BSM? And I know how much he likes it here... Ah!)
In less depressing--but more foolish--news, I gave BSM not only a spoon, but a bowl of gvina levana at dinner tonight. Gvina Levana, if you wish to know, is an Israeli cheese roughly the consistency of sour cream. It started innocently enough, with me feeding him gvina levana with a spoon. Then BSM wanted the spoon, which was fine. Then BSM wanted to dip the spoon in the bowl of gvina levana, which was slightly more dangerous, but I figured it was good for his development. You see the slippery slope? Can you begin to understand how when he reached for the bowl of gvina levana, I just gave it to him? I hope so, because less than a minute after I took that irrevocable step, I could no longer figure out why it seemed okay at the time. Let's just say that BSM enjoyed himself spoon over fist; he, I, and the surrounding area got to know his gvina levana quite well; after dinner, BSM got an impromptu sink-bath in lieu of hand-washing; and I'm sure he'll smell like spoiled milk tomorrow.
Day 153 (...and we're back!)
First full day back on the kibbutz, and it was a pretty busy one. BSM happily went back to daycare, we returned the rental car (so much easier with not having to hitchhike back!), we took our oral exams for ulpan (having been told about those yesterday), unpacked, etc etc.
Monday, July 14, 2014
Day 152 (what a day!)
Husbinator called the mechanic this morning, who told him the car might not be ready until tomorrow, but he should call back at noon and they'd discuss. As this was Not Cool, and since it's really hard to hear the mechanic over the phone, we decided to just drive to his shop and explain in person why we REALLY need the car today, and barring that, what our (somewhat annoying) options were. We show up and the guy tells us the car is getting its yearly test done as we speak: it'll be ready in an hour tops. And so it was. Huh.
So Husbinator drove our car back, and I drove the rental car back (sans GPS!), and All Was Well. OK, for the sake of honesty, I didn't drive back without any digital help: Waze used the cellular network to give me my approximate location, and gave me directions like that. So I couldn't depend on it for turn-by-turn directions, but it did plot my course for me. For the record, I made a turn it missed even though I couldn't see the name of the street: the highway sign said Malcha was leftward, and I vaguely remembered that I should be able to pick up Begin North from Malcha Mall, so leftward I went! As I turned left, I saw that indeed, the street sign matched where Waze wanted me to make a left, too. Ha!
I broke up the two-hour drive shortly after learning why Ema/Abba have a habit of reaching to the back seat to hold their kids' hands during car-trips: this is most likely due to the fact that when you're driving alone with a crying baby, about the only thing you can do is reach back and play with their foot. This actually did soothe BSM to a certain extent, but not completely. So without much regret, I stopped at the rest-stop between Beit Shean and Jerusalem that I've been wanting to stop at since we saw it. Due to various sleeping passengers (thank G-d!) we only stopped there once--for 10 minutes--the one time we traveled to Yerushalayim by bus. We haven't been missing much, though there is a second-hand store (the only one I've seen since we moved here) that's open from 9-1. Next time, eh?
I also bought little pretzels from the grocery store at the rest stop and put them into one of those spill-proof snack cups that we bought while we were in Yerushalayim. BSM had enjoyed Nosie-Boy's so much, I figured we could splurge a few dollars and get him one of his own. I wasn't sure that it was completely necessary, but it was something of an impulse purchase. I will say that I think it will be very, very useful on future car trips. Or maybe immediately, but filled with (smaller) Cheerios instead of pretzels. Right now, he only succeeds in getting a pretzel about every third time, frustrating him mightily the other two times.
When I finally got back, I saw that the trisim (best translation I have is "blinds", but these things are a cultural phenomenon, I tell you) opposite our front door had collapsed. Well, we'll let someone know, but what do I care? We have a ticket out of here, and I feel great. I spoke with our future landlords again today, and as soon as he explains the chart on page 6 to me, we'll sign the contract and scan it over to them. (Husbinator's cousin-in-law says it's a perfectly standard rental agreement, with no evil clauses.)
It will be sad to pull BSM from the daycare here, though. It's such a great place, and he really loves his friends: he saw two of them at dinner tonight and was just so excited. One of the mothers invited us to sit with her, too: now that we're on the verge of leaving, it looks like we're about to start settling in. Whatever, I'm still pretty thrilled.
So Husbinator drove our car back, and I drove the rental car back (sans GPS!), and All Was Well. OK, for the sake of honesty, I didn't drive back without any digital help: Waze used the cellular network to give me my approximate location, and gave me directions like that. So I couldn't depend on it for turn-by-turn directions, but it did plot my course for me. For the record, I made a turn it missed even though I couldn't see the name of the street: the highway sign said Malcha was leftward, and I vaguely remembered that I should be able to pick up Begin North from Malcha Mall, so leftward I went! As I turned left, I saw that indeed, the street sign matched where Waze wanted me to make a left, too. Ha!
I broke up the two-hour drive shortly after learning why Ema/Abba have a habit of reaching to the back seat to hold their kids' hands during car-trips: this is most likely due to the fact that when you're driving alone with a crying baby, about the only thing you can do is reach back and play with their foot. This actually did soothe BSM to a certain extent, but not completely. So without much regret, I stopped at the rest-stop between Beit Shean and Jerusalem that I've been wanting to stop at since we saw it. Due to various sleeping passengers (thank G-d!) we only stopped there once--for 10 minutes--the one time we traveled to Yerushalayim by bus. We haven't been missing much, though there is a second-hand store (the only one I've seen since we moved here) that's open from 9-1. Next time, eh?
I also bought little pretzels from the grocery store at the rest stop and put them into one of those spill-proof snack cups that we bought while we were in Yerushalayim. BSM had enjoyed Nosie-Boy's so much, I figured we could splurge a few dollars and get him one of his own. I wasn't sure that it was completely necessary, but it was something of an impulse purchase. I will say that I think it will be very, very useful on future car trips. Or maybe immediately, but filled with (smaller) Cheerios instead of pretzels. Right now, he only succeeds in getting a pretzel about every third time, frustrating him mightily the other two times.
When I finally got back, I saw that the trisim (best translation I have is "blinds", but these things are a cultural phenomenon, I tell you) opposite our front door had collapsed. Well, we'll let someone know, but what do I care? We have a ticket out of here, and I feel great. I spoke with our future landlords again today, and as soon as he explains the chart on page 6 to me, we'll sign the contract and scan it over to them. (Husbinator's cousin-in-law says it's a perfectly standard rental agreement, with no evil clauses.)
It will be sad to pull BSM from the daycare here, though. It's such a great place, and he really loves his friends: he saw two of them at dinner tonight and was just so excited. One of the mothers invited us to sit with her, too: now that we're on the verge of leaving, it looks like we're about to start settling in. Whatever, I'm still pretty thrilled.
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Day 151 (a night out)
We spent the day with our formerly-US now-Beit Shemesh friends. Did some catching up, Husbinator took care of getting insurance for the car, yadda yadda. Good times.
In the evening, we went out with Ema2 to Atza, which is a trendy sushi/Asian place. We had a really good time, even BSM.
Day 150 (Shabbos)
We spent Shabbos in Towna (name changed to protect privacy). This allowed us to (a) double-check that we still like the place and, primarily, (b) meet with our future landlords on Saturday night. The husband got called up to the reserves, so he's only around on Shabbat until future notice. Understandably, they would both like to meet us before signing anything. Also, he's the half who generally handles this sort of thing, so it's kind of useful to have him around.
So we met both of our future landlords on Saturday night! It's a shame they're moving: it seems like we'd be friends. On the flip side, it's nice to be renting from people we actually like. We didn't end up signing a contract since (a) they printed out the wrong sort of rental agreement and (b) we want to show the rental agreement to someone with more experience than we have before signing, anyway. We did write our names and ID numbers on a piece of paper that says we will rent from them, and they will rent to us, and they own the house, and we will not be allowed to live there forever and ever if we only pay them once (still not sure about that last clause: it's clearly saying that there is some weird legal category that this house does not fall into, but that is one heck of a weird legal category).
From there, we headed to some US-friends who now live in Beit Shemesh. Good to see them :-)
So we met both of our future landlords on Saturday night! It's a shame they're moving: it seems like we'd be friends. On the flip side, it's nice to be renting from people we actually like. We didn't end up signing a contract since (a) they printed out the wrong sort of rental agreement and (b) we want to show the rental agreement to someone with more experience than we have before signing, anyway. We did write our names and ID numbers on a piece of paper that says we will rent from them, and they will rent to us, and they own the house, and we will not be allowed to live there forever and ever if we only pay them once (still not sure about that last clause: it's clearly saying that there is some weird legal category that this house does not fall into, but that is one heck of a weird legal category).
From there, we headed to some US-friends who now live in Beit Shemesh. Good to see them :-)
Friday, July 11, 2014
Day 149 (car!)
The big news of the day is that we now own a car! It's at the mechanic, waiting to be prepped for and taken through its yearly "test," and it should be ready for us on Monday. Woo-hoo! A huge thank-you to Husbinator's cousin (who's moving to Canada for two years) for giving us their old clunker :-)
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Day 147 (roommate!)
I played with BSM in the morning, then headed over to Malcha Mall to meet my roommate from college, who's in Yerushalayim for a conference. We had lunch, and I really enjoyed seeing her. As long as I was at the mall, Husbinator got me to buy sunglasses: a useful thing to own as a driver in any country, and doubly so in this one. Thanks, Husbinator!
The real excitement of the mall, though, (after Roommate, of course) was what in Hebrew is called a .פעולטון I think it's a gymboree in English, but I'm really not sure. Basically, there's an area of the floor covered in mats and surrounded by blocks of the same material. In this "ring" are a bunch of padded stuff to roll around and climb on and crawl through. BSM had a blast, especially with the padded slide whose steps he could climb and whose ramp he could climb down, and with a cylinder over which he rolled time and time again, smashing into the floor mats and laughing each time.
I also learned that the oddly named "Operation Protective Edge" which Israel is carrying out right now is actually a terrible translation of "מבצע צוק איתן": "Operation Mighty Cliff" is how most English speakers would have translated that one...
The real excitement of the mall, though, (after Roommate, of course) was what in Hebrew is called a .פעולטון I think it's a gymboree in English, but I'm really not sure. Basically, there's an area of the floor covered in mats and surrounded by blocks of the same material. In this "ring" are a bunch of padded stuff to roll around and climb on and crawl through. BSM had a blast, especially with the padded slide whose steps he could climb and whose ramp he could climb down, and with a cylinder over which he rolled time and time again, smashing into the floor mats and laughing each time.
I also learned that the oddly named "Operation Protective Edge" which Israel is carrying out right now is actually a terrible translation of "מבצע צוק איתן": "Operation Mighty Cliff" is how most English speakers would have translated that one...
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Day 146 (playing with BSM)
That really was most of today: I woke up with BSM around 8, then played with him until his nap around 10:30. While I was unavoidably delayed and he was alone in the living room, BSM demonstrated his mastery of the telephone: he not only managed to reach up and remove the portable phone from its cradle, he managed to make a phone call, as well. He talked very nicely to the sleepy person on the other end of the line, at least until I rushed out, apologized, and hung up.
After BSM's nap (and the Longest Lunch Ever--that's what happens when he refused to eat nicely the day before), Sam, I, Ema2, and BSM went out to look at appliances. We don't have dimensions yet, but we figured it would be helpful to get a jump on things by figuring out other specifications that we'd like. In that, we succeeded. We decided not to get a fridge with a built-in water dispenser, and if they aren't too much more expensive, I'd very, very much like a unit that has the freezer as a drawer on the bottom.
The other truly exciting discovery while appliance shopping was that BSM has finally (finally!) seen enough of Ema2 that he will play with her. Yay!
After BSM's nap (and the Longest Lunch Ever--that's what happens when he refused to eat nicely the day before), Sam, I, Ema2, and BSM went out to look at appliances. We don't have dimensions yet, but we figured it would be helpful to get a jump on things by figuring out other specifications that we'd like. In that, we succeeded. We decided not to get a fridge with a built-in water dispenser, and if they aren't too much more expensive, I'd very, very much like a unit that has the freezer as a drawer on the bottom.
The other truly exciting discovery while appliance shopping was that BSM has finally (finally!) seen enough of Ema2 that he will play with her. Yay!
Monday, July 7, 2014
Day 145 (The Great Apartment Hunt)
Actually, it was very straightforward. As you clever readers surely remember from yesterday, we managed to narrow "all of the dwellings" down to seven, which, helpfully enough, is a good deal less than 80 bajillion and still larger than two. So this morning, I bravely called all seven people and told them we'd be in the neighborhood between 11 and 3, could we possibly stop by? Shockingly, all six people who picked up said sure. Two hours advance warning? Not a problem. (I got through to the 7th soon after we Set Out on our hunt; that apartment had already been rented.)
So we drove over and looked at the places, and quickly ruled out two for being too far, and we had a clear favorite and second of the other four. Perfect!
Looking at the apartments/duplexes took much less time than we thought, so we spent some time at the local supermarket to see what it was like, and to grab lunch at the attached pizza place. While shopping, the Husbinator was Shanghaied to daven mincha at the in-store shul. That was pretty cute. Also pretty cute was our post-pizza discovery, when we bought an "ice-vanilla" (essentially a milkshake/slushy), that BSM is quite adept at drinking from straws. I don't think he's done it before today, but he only had about two seconds of confusion before he was drinking like a pro. (What can I say? He wants to eat everything we eat...)
So yes, it was a very exciting day, all in all. We called the owner of our favorite apartment and told her we're interested; we'll meet with both her and her husband on Thursday and move forward from there. So we start appliance-scouting tomorrow. Whoo!
So we drove over and looked at the places, and quickly ruled out two for being too far, and we had a clear favorite and second of the other four. Perfect!
Looking at the apartments/duplexes took much less time than we thought, so we spent some time at the local supermarket to see what it was like, and to grab lunch at the attached pizza place. While shopping, the Husbinator was Shanghaied to daven mincha at the in-store shul. That was pretty cute. Also pretty cute was our post-pizza discovery, when we bought an "ice-vanilla" (essentially a milkshake/slushy), that BSM is quite adept at drinking from straws. I don't think he's done it before today, but he only had about two seconds of confusion before he was drinking like a pro. (What can I say? He wants to eat everything we eat...)
So yes, it was a very exciting day, all in all. We called the owner of our favorite apartment and told her we're interested; we'll meet with both her and her husband on Thursday and move forward from there. So we start appliance-scouting tomorrow. Whoo!
Sunday, July 6, 2014
Day 144 (data entry)
We went up to Yerushalayim today. Left later than I would have liked, but thus is life. Biggest excitement of my day was going through apartment listings effectively. We knew which five streets we'd be interested in living on, and we know we wanted to rent. Still, there were an overwhelming number of listings on the site we were looking at. Tonight, by using a few simple criteria, we narrowed it down to seven houses/apartments. This is manageable. Unfortunately, we finished around 9:30, which is really too late to be calling strangers, but this gives us a very nice footing to start from. We can look at 7 places in 2-3 days. This is entirely doable!
Day 143 (Shabbat)
John and Shoshi came to the kibbutz for Shabbos, and we had a joint birthday hang-out for our boys, who were born 3 days apart.
Friday, July 4, 2014
Day 142 (Erev Shabbos again)
Today, I resolve to be reasonably focused. I vastly prefer being able to play with BSM before Shabbat instead of leaving him on the floor screaming while I frantically try to finish everything I didn't do earlier.
In that spirit, I will not give full details, but BSM got a shot and literally did not cry at all. Phew!
PS I did end up staying reasonably focused. Yay!
In that spirit, I will not give full details, but BSM got a shot and literally did not cry at all. Phew!
PS I did end up staying reasonably focused. Yay!
Day 141 (birthday!)
Well, don't I feel silly. Remember how I went to wipe the counter last night? Well, I decided to go all-out. Wash all of the dishes. Wipe the whole counter really well. You know, as if I actually wanted the counter to be clean when I was done. Sweep the floor. Again, really well, as if I wanted it to not have any crumbs left when I was done. This morning, there were... no ants in my kitchen. For the record, I still think caulking should work as a strategy, but clearly excessive cleaning is the more successful tactic. What I call excessive cleaning, that is, and what Ema considers the bare minimum before going to sleep. Well, don't I feel silly.
This morning, I alternately decorated BSM's cake and handed him slices of plum. Happy birthday, no-longer-tiniest of Baby Spidermen! Luckily, last week I bought maroon disposable plates, so the cake looked bea-u-ti-ful with the slices of plum covering the top, and all matchy-matchy with the plate it was on. And when I went to nurse BSM in the afternoon, one of the ladies asked for the recipe! (She first ascertained that it doesn't require any patchkeying, like whipping egg whites. Woman after my own heart.) Needless to say, I was quite flattered. And it only took me about 45 minutes to translate the darn thing. How do you say "grease and flour a pan"? Dictionaries couldn't help me with that one, so I went hunting and skimmed a bunch of Hebrew recipes to lift the necessary phrases. I am proud enough of my work to attach it below. The only thing I really couldn't figure out was how to translate, "add flour and milk alternately," so I settled for explaining to pour in a little flour, then a little milk, then mix, and repeat until it's all used up. Clunky, but pretty clear.
At breakfast this morning, the head of the ulpan asked if I wanted to meet with a social worker. Okay, why not? So I spoke with her for 15 minutes of my 30 minute slot, and she's a nice lady, but there wasn't really a reason to go. Am I happy with where we are now? No. Do we have a reasonably immediate plan to make things better? Yes. Does that plan keep us on track for a successful aliyah? Yes. Well, awesome! You're doing great, best of luck to you, nice meeting you, bye.
While job-searching today, I ran across "Siemens' Guide to Various Cultures". Click on the link. Click on some of the countries. I don't think they mean to be funny, but each page has a "Things worth Knowing" section, which is essentially a caricature of that country's culture. In Austria, "classical music, opera, Austrian art, culture, and winter sports" are acceptable topics for small talk. In Ukraine," as in all Central and Eastern European countries, it is appreciated when foreigners have command of at least the most rudimentary words in the native tongue." In Israel, "dress conservatively for business meetings, but expect them to be held in an informal manner." In Bulgaria, nodding the head vertically means no, and shaking the head horizontally means yes. In Moldova, don't shake hands across a doorstep, and always compliment the wine. Oh, I feel so cosmopolitan now!
Title of the post aside, we didn't really do much to celebrate BSM's birthday. I mean, he's 1. He doesn't really get stuff like "birthdays" and "parties". So I took him swimming in the pishy pool in the afternoon with his new inner tube, and we gave him a big bouncy ball that's about half his size, and he had a pretty time. I wish we could have done more, but I don't know what else we could have done that he'd have enjoyed.
***
This morning, I alternately decorated BSM's cake and handed him slices of plum. Happy birthday, no-longer-tiniest of Baby Spidermen! Luckily, last week I bought maroon disposable plates, so the cake looked bea-u-ti-ful with the slices of plum covering the top, and all matchy-matchy with the plate it was on. And when I went to nurse BSM in the afternoon, one of the ladies asked for the recipe! (She first ascertained that it doesn't require any patchkeying, like whipping egg whites. Woman after my own heart.) Needless to say, I was quite flattered. And it only took me about 45 minutes to translate the darn thing. How do you say "grease and flour a pan"? Dictionaries couldn't help me with that one, so I went hunting and skimmed a bunch of Hebrew recipes to lift the necessary phrases. I am proud enough of my work to attach it below. The only thing I really couldn't figure out was how to translate, "add flour and milk alternately," so I settled for explaining to pour in a little flour, then a little milk, then mix, and repeat until it's all used up. Clunky, but pretty clear.
At breakfast this morning, the head of the ulpan asked if I wanted to meet with a social worker. Okay, why not? So I spoke with her for 15 minutes of my 30 minute slot, and she's a nice lady, but there wasn't really a reason to go. Am I happy with where we are now? No. Do we have a reasonably immediate plan to make things better? Yes. Does that plan keep us on track for a successful aliyah? Yes. Well, awesome! You're doing great, best of luck to you, nice meeting you, bye.
While job-searching today, I ran across "Siemens' Guide to Various Cultures". Click on the link. Click on some of the countries. I don't think they mean to be funny, but each page has a "Things worth Knowing" section, which is essentially a caricature of that country's culture. In Austria, "classical music, opera, Austrian art, culture, and winter sports" are acceptable topics for small talk. In Ukraine," as in all Central and Eastern European countries, it is appreciated when foreigners have command of at least the most rudimentary words in the native tongue." In Israel, "dress conservatively for business meetings, but expect them to be held in an informal manner." In Bulgaria, nodding the head vertically means no, and shaking the head horizontally means yes. In Moldova, don't shake hands across a doorstep, and always compliment the wine. Oh, I feel so cosmopolitan now!
Title of the post aside, we didn't really do much to celebrate BSM's birthday. I mean, he's 1. He doesn't really get stuff like "birthdays" and "parties". So I took him swimming in the pishy pool in the afternoon with his new inner tube, and we gave him a big bouncy ball that's about half his size, and he had a pretty time. I wish we could have done more, but I don't know what else we could have done that he'd have enjoyed.
***
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Day 140 (hindsight)
As Abba could have told the rest of my readers, caulk doesn't seem to
stymie ants as much as I think it should. It should! I really, really
think it should! Unfortunately, the ants don't seem to think so. So... I
killed a bunch of ants this morning, and caulked some more, because I have to do something.
I also baked a birthday cake, for that is the custom: on the 6-month and 12-month anniversary of one's child's birth, one bakes a birthday cake for the daycare workers. This makes me happy, because I'm generally looking for an excuse to bake. I chose white cake (recipe from a friend of mine in Atlanta who makes beautiful, delicious, moist cakes) decorated with whipped cream and plums, if you were curious. Though the decorating itself will happen tomorrow morning.
When BSM began his "Bye" mantra this afternoon, I decided that rather than sitting on the floor outside the apartment and watching him play with clothespins, this would be an opportune time to visit the laundry. This way I'd get something useful done, and BSM would get to be outside. Perfect! When we got there, one of his friends from daycare was crawling around while his father sorted laundry, so I took BSM out of his stroller to play with his friend. Oh, the fun they had! Crawling around, chasing each other, laughing... We had a great Outing. You know it was really great, because BSM was about 50% gray when it was over. Also because he was laughing the whole time.
Off to wipe down the counter before bed: Down with Ants! Down with Ants! Down with Ants!
I also baked a birthday cake, for that is the custom: on the 6-month and 12-month anniversary of one's child's birth, one bakes a birthday cake for the daycare workers. This makes me happy, because I'm generally looking for an excuse to bake. I chose white cake (recipe from a friend of mine in Atlanta who makes beautiful, delicious, moist cakes) decorated with whipped cream and plums, if you were curious. Though the decorating itself will happen tomorrow morning.
When BSM began his "Bye" mantra this afternoon, I decided that rather than sitting on the floor outside the apartment and watching him play with clothespins, this would be an opportune time to visit the laundry. This way I'd get something useful done, and BSM would get to be outside. Perfect! When we got there, one of his friends from daycare was crawling around while his father sorted laundry, so I took BSM out of his stroller to play with his friend. Oh, the fun they had! Crawling around, chasing each other, laughing... We had a great Outing. You know it was really great, because BSM was about 50% gray when it was over. Also because he was laughing the whole time.
Off to wipe down the counter before bed: Down with Ants! Down with Ants! Down with Ants!
Day 139 (before hindsight)
When I dropped off BSM at daycare, the physical therapist was there for her semi-annual visit! I missed the announcement, but luckily my schedule is flexible, so I hung out for 20 minutes or so and we squeezed BSM into the roster. The physical therapist was, of course, quite impressed by BSM's prowess. She ascertained that he sits by himself, pulls himself to stand, lets go for a second before sitting, crawls (she says it's fine that one leg is often off to the side), says a few words, holds a phone to his ear, mushes his brush on his head, and drinks from a cup.
My other big excitement of the day was striking what I thought was a mighty blow against the DREADED ANTS: I caulked up all edges of our kitchen counter, and the kitchen floor edge under the counter. "Haha, ants!" I proclaimed. "That should stymie your evil plans for a few days!"
**To Be Continued...**
My other big excitement of the day was striking what I thought was a mighty blow against the DREADED ANTS: I caulked up all edges of our kitchen counter, and the kitchen floor edge under the counter. "Haha, ants!" I proclaimed. "That should stymie your evil plans for a few days!"
**To Be Continued...**
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