The accident

Margalit's turn to write....

During the first few weeks in Israel we went to a museum with Alon and Iris, Mama's and Abba's friends. One of the things that was there, was an accident ride showing you to always wear a seatbelt. Although it was a little scary it was fun. Here is what happens. First 2 people sit down in the car and put on their seat belts. Then the car slowly moves backward to the top of the hill. Then the car drives down the hill at 5 mph and crashes into something and nothing happens to you because you have a seat belt on but if you didn't something bad would happen. When I went on it a doll sat beside me without a seat belt. When the accident happened the doll went flying and died. It just goes to show always wear a seat belt.

-Margalit

Spare me the commute

Did I tell you that I got tired of commuting to Tel Aviv, and so now I work from home? I'd love to say that it was the recent headline (To Conserve Gas, President Calls for Less Driving) in the NY Times that convinced me -- but alas, it was the Tel Aviv traffic.

Last week a friend at work showed me how to run VmWare ESX server and make my Dell computer act like both Linux workstation and an EMC Celerra. So now I can develop HighRoad from my third floor apartment in Ra'anana.

The first day I dropped the Dell 1850 into the office next to my iMac and corporate issue laptop. Wow it is noisy. Actually noisy is an understatement. Deafening might begin to describe it. The next day I put the computer in the Boidem (attic like area). I had to drill a hole in the cinder block to get the network cables to the computer, and that turned out to be fairly easy since Mark Leiter had left me David Dolev's drill. I worked like that for a few days, but the noisy was still a problem, and the heat meant that I had to leave the Boidem door opening, allowing the heat and noise to spill into Ronit and Miriam's room.

So today, I figured out the ultimate solution.....at least until the winter rains start.


Yes, my Dell 1850 is chilling on the מרפסת (porch) with the laundry hanging in the background :-)

What's better?

Dena overheard Ronit and Miriam having a discussion about school yesterday. Ronit was sure that Israeli Gan is better than Temple Emanuel. Since I bike with Ronit to school and drop her off everyday, I can attest to her prefernce for Gan Lotus (kindergarten). This summer it used to take Ronit 10-60 minutes to get settled at Camp Polliwog, and before that she was starting be less than enthusiastic about going to Temple Emanuel. At Gan Lotus -- we lock our bikes outside. I take Ronit inside and help hangup here helmet and backpack, and then I find her something to do. The first few days, I needed to find one of her english speaking friends Jenny, and ask Jenny to hold Ronit's hand. Now though, Ronit picks out where she wants to go, and that's it. Abracadabra -- I'm invisible. Maybe I help her find a blue magic marker or something else, but as often as not, she starts playing and does even know that I exist. Yesterday, Ariel came over to play. Today when we got to gan, Maya right away said hello to Ronit, and then joined Ronit at the drawing table. I said hello and introduced myself to Maya to which she responded, "I can speak english too like Ariel. Ariel had a playdate with Ronit." So it appears that Ronit has another admirer. I promised Maya we would set up a playdate for her and Ronit too.

Back to the question, what's better? Miriam was pretty sure that JCDS was better than Yavneh (her school here). Margalit and Dani were not around, but you can be pretty sure how they would vote.

On the topic of hebrew langauge acquisition.... Ronit loves mazes, and for the past few weeks instead of reading a story before bed, she wants me to draw here a maze. Somedays I've made a maze in the shape of a house, or a pencil or the ocean -- whatever Ronit requests. Yesterday she asked for שמים (Shamiyim) meaning sky. I asked her if she knew how to say it in English. Sheepishly she said, "I forget". Not for too long. Within about a minute she remembered.

Dani the crossing guard

This week Dani has crossing guard duty for school. There's good and bad in that. On the good side, as I'm sure Dani would love to explain, you miss a lot of class. Each week 8 kids from the 6th grade are on crossing guard duty and they spread out to 3 or four big intersections near the school. Dani got one of the intersections that is not so close to school -- that's a good thing if you want to miss class.

Dani has to get to school at 7:25 instead of 8:00. There he grabs a stop sign on a stick and walks with 3 buddies to the corner of Hefetz Hayim and Hahayil. At about 8:05 after the first bell has rung, its time to head to school. Then in the afternoon, since school lets out at different times, he has crossing duty from 12:40 until 1:05, and also from 1:25 until 1:45 -- and his school day doesn't end until 2:15, so you can imagine there is not too much learning happening after 12:40.

Today Dena and Miriam went to check up on Dani. He was doing a great job!

Ronit's Drawings

While Dani, Margalit and Miriam get a continual diet of Torah Judiasm, and I suspect a little bit of right wing politics, Ronit seems to be getting a pluralistic message at her school. Last week Dani, Margalit and Miriam collected Tzedakah for kids who were displaced from Gaza, and they've all written letters to the kids too. On the surface it all seems fine, I just wonder what else is happening that I may not hear about.

I can only surmise that the politics at Ronit's Gan are a little different. Today she came back with several pictures that she drew there (see above and below). A picture speaks a thousand words. I asked her if everybody drew flags, or if the teachers told her how to draw the flags, and she said, "no." One can only guess where it came from. Maybe she's been reading the newspaper or watching the news while I wasn't paying attention.

Miriams Birthday

Catching up a little late on Sunday's big event -- Miriam's Birthday party. Miriam could not have been happier. On Saturday night Dena and decorated her chair so that it was ready for her at breakfast. In the morning she opened presents from Grandma, Aunt Sarah and Uncle Jeff, and Savta.

While Miriam was at school -- for those previous 4.5 hours, Dena and I ran downtown to get her presents, party favors, and art projects for the party.

In the afternoon she had a party with the triplets from her class, Adi, Maya, and Noa, and Bayle. Each girl got to paint a box, and they all made such pretty designs. It was a pretty quiet bunch of kids. Dena reports that the triplets have a reputation of not speaking to adults, and they did not disappoint. Somehow as soon as all the grown-ups left the room though, magically the party got louder. Miriam was in her glory.

In the evening, we had a little family part with too, so that Dani and Margalit would not miss out on the celebration.

Up to Jerusalem

After being in Israel for 7 weeks we finally made it to Jerusalem to visit the Lehmanns. For Margalit and Dani it was a great opportunity to get together with Shira and Eli -- and for the grown ups, it was a fun to get together with the adults see Jerusalem again.

I haven't been in about 12 years, and the place has really changed. The first shock was trying to navigate to the old city. After more or less accidentally driving right through Mea Shearim (Dena dove beneath the seat to find a modest shirt to throw over her sleaveless top), all of a sudden I was driving through a tunnel beneath Jerusalem, and the next thing I know we were right outside the Jaffa gate. Wow! After much confusion, I dropped off Dena and the girls at Mt. Zion and they walked in to the Kotel. Dani and I parked the car and entered through Jaffa gate. I tried to take a short cut to the Jewish Quarter, but I made one wrong turn. So we turned around and took the long way. We arrived just in time to meet Dena and the girls for a tour of the tunnel excavations along the Western Wall. For ages (since Dena and I were last here together), I've been hearing about the excavations and about how Aunt Roz had been a big contributor. We finally got to see the tunnels. Wow! It was facinating to walk along the entire length of the Western wall many feet beneath the Shuk, through old cisterns and aquaducts. The tour is very well done, with really cool models showing the topography and structures from the second temple period. Dani was fascinated and cannot wait until we return to see the model of the second temple at the Holy Land Hotel. We've promised him a visit next month when Savta visits.

After the tunnel tour, we grabbed falafel and shwarma in the Jewish Quarter and waited to meet the Lehmanns. Together we walked the ramparts from Jaffa gate back to the Kotel. The kids loved running along the wall. The views are great. One can't miss the huge dumping ground in the Armenian quarter and not wonder why it hasn't been developed. And then its hard to miss the graffiti saying "Death to A----" on the park bench. Yuck!

We stayed at a great hotel in the Baka section of Jerusalem just two blocks from the Lehmans. It is an old house converted into a hotel , 20 foot ceilings and all. Our suite had two bedrooms and a total of 6 beds, so it could have easily fit us all even if Dani and Margalit hadn't had a sleep over. Shabbas evening we went to Shir Hadash, an egalitarian Minyan with a Michitzah. It was packed with english speakers even though the announcements were made in Hebrew. On Saturday morning we went to Mayanot -- a much smaller egalitarian minyan were everybody sits together. Mark Ivker and old friend recognized Dena pretty much immediately. It was great to see him again -- 12 years and 3 kids later.

We spent the late afternoon in the Talpiot park overlooking the old city. A great view and a truly mixed part -- Jews and Arabs enjoying the view together. We had a tough game of ultimate frisbee --Lehmans umpteen, Glasgows 1.

Welcome to Israel

So we landed in Israel on August 1st, 2005. Exactly 14 years after Dena and I landed here for our first extended stay together in the holy land. This time we came with a least 3 times as much luggage and 4 kids.
I'm now thinking about documenting the trip via a blog -- not that the whole world really cares about the glasgow trip to Israel, but it might be a convenient place to post photos to share with others.