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.

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