What's Obvious to Israelis...

My insurance recently emailed me my quarterly statement. They helpfully provided both a link (which worked) and an attachment (which was password-protected). I emailed them back asking what the password was. I mean, who sends someone a password-protected document without even a hint of what the password is? (I tried both my username and password for the insurance's website, but neither one worked on the attachment.)

My insurance company emailed me back promptly, suggesting that I call customer service with any questions. Look, buddy, I care, but I don't care that much. The link works, your attachment is stupid, I'm not wasting any more time on this.

When I laughingly told this story to my 9th-grade-neighbor (who started computer classes in school this year, and now knows how to click on stuff), she asked if I had tried my Teudat Zehut number (analogous to an American SSID). Well... Um... No, actually.

So I tried to open the attachment again when I got back to a computer. Yup. She was right.

Tree Roots

We're spending the weekend with Aunty Em and clan on a kibbutz-resort near the Dead Sea. As we were walking to our rooms, BSM had a great time pointing out tiny potholes and putting the dead leaves where they belong. Then he saw... something on the ground. Something that he doesn't remember ever seeing before and probably shouldn't be there.
"Tree roots," I told him, and pointed out the tree's trunk, branches, and leaves, all  with which he is eminently familiar. But this is the first time he's seen roots in two years: none of the many trees near us are old enough to have roots protruding from the ground.

Follow-Up

When I posted about Prune Yogurt a few weeks ago, Aunt Chef asked if I tasted it. Frankly, until she suggested it, that thought had not even crossed my unadventurous little mind. Today, they had Prune Yogurt again, and I took the plunge:

I won't pretend that I wasn't nervous, because oh boy, I was. But I tasted it, and it's fine. Boring, actually. I mean, it's good, but nothing exciting: imagine vanilla yogurt (but with only a hint of vanilla, nothing strong) with some slightly sweet squishy bits mixed in. That's Prune Yogurt. 

For the record, the third ingredient is "שזיף שחור מבושל (10%)1" which is either cooked black plums or cooked black prunes. They feel like plump raisins, so I'm voting prune. Either way, it's a good, boring yogurt with an excitingly frightening label.

My House

Rabbi Barzilai gives a weekly class on raising children at the Kornbluth's every week. This week, they were out of town, so the class was at my house. Other than the material in the class (pertinent as always), I learned that I feel much more comfortable with the members of my community than I did when we first moved in.

I remember the first time we had Israelis over for Shabbat lunch (after our lift came), and how stressed I was about cleaning the house and serving the right food, blah blah blah. Now I can host a bunch of people for a class with tea and cake, and it just means cleaning up for Shabbos a little early. Moste Excellente.

Pre-School!

I registered BSM for pre-school this morning: Hurrah!

The pre-school we chose is a Charedi [Ultra-Orthodox] school on the Yishuv and offers afternoon care. The kids there seem confident, happy, and independent, and they generally have 8-10 kids in the three-year-old class. From the few minutes that I visited on Friday morning, the teacher and assistant seem nice, but once I saw the kids, I knew it was fine.

The big difference between standard and Charedi preschools is when kids learn to read: standard track has them learning their letters in kindergarten and reading in first grade, the Charedi track (for boys, I didn't ask about girls) teaches letters in 4-year-old nursery and reading in kindergarten.

I verified that the 4- and 5-year-olds still spend much more time playing than sitting at desks, so I don't really care when BSM learns to read. Since we'll probably send him to a Charedi first grade, however, BSM should probably learn to read on the Charedi schedule. Hence, a Charedi 4-year-old nursery, and since we don't want the kid to switch schools more than necessary, a Charedi 3-year-old nursery, as well.

Sound like I'm trying to justify what's going on, here? I guess I am: I know I'm Orthodox, but I'm not sure that I'm Ultra-Orthodox, and sending BSM to an all-boys 3-year-old nursery seems a bit extreme to me. But sensible, and not a big deal. Right?