We are positively glowing! (or is that just sweat?)

We are slowly settling into life here, and it's a really, really good feeling. Kids are getting more and more settled by the day, as am I. BAW is like a fish in water here, so he almost doesn't count when we talk about acclimation and all that jazz. He has been the one dealing with all the government offices and things and most of that is almost finished, so he's feeling settled too. 


It was 106 degrees this shabbos. I kid you not. And we walked uphill to BAW's parents, a 20-25 min. walk that somehow stretches into 35 min. in the heat. We were just about the only idiots people out, and it then dawned on us that we should probably check the forecast before we decide to hike across the neighborhood in weather that causes the Israeli army to shut down training. Not our brightest move since we got here.


 Our perspective did change on the way there when we passed by a chassid in a very large FUR streimel, of course with kapata and talis, on the way home from shul. BAW pointed out (to those of us complaining the most:) that it really is mind over matter. 


But I do have to put in just how proud of the kids I am. While their parents were uncomfortable and cranky (and kvetching!) most of the way there and back, the kids (even R and S!) walked a mile in these desert like conditions without a single complaint! Kids, sometimes, are awesome.


Went to a great class today given by rotating Rabbis/teachers every shabbos morning for women. It was SO GOOD! Interesting, interactive, stimulating! Also great was to meet more women from around the neighborhood. What's great about this new neighborhood we moved into is that everyone is new, or has been through Aliyah recently. One woman was so sympathetic when I said my lift came last week, I thought she was gonna hug me! "Oh!! I'm so sorry!! I see these ZIM trucks pulling up and I get an awful feeling in my stomach!!" She made aliyah last summer. See, it's not just me, and I am not crazy!


The R connection is fabulous here! Whenever I say "R" apprehensively, (c'mon, admit it, you know exactly what I am talking about! Will I have to launch into geographic location? "No, it's upstate, right near Niagra Falls!") I have been greeted with lots of enthusiastic, "OH!! R!!! My very good friend so and so is from R!!!" It's amazing how far and wide we R's have reached :)


I am still smiling from the shiur today, feeling that Hashem sent it right to me, although anything in this week's parsha could've been aimed my way! The Rav spoke all about coming from the midbar to E"Y and how the time in the desert was a time of many tests, trials and tribulations. Upon coming to E"Y, certain things were much easier. The lesson is not to forget the time in the desert where things were so clearly from Hashem. Just because things may seem so easy once you get to the Land, remember, it's not you! It's all Him!


Hoping to keep that lesson close at heart.

Da-Na-Na-Na-Na-Na Bat Cave!

Wow. It's been a really long time. But no apologies; life first, blogging second.


The past week and a half was a busy blur. Even one of the kids said to me today, "It can't be Thursday! We just had Shabbos!" With the arrival of the lift came lots (and oh boy do I mean LOTS!) of organizing and reshuffling the crew. New bedrooms were designated, lots unpacked, and smiles returning. B said to me last night, "Imma! Our house is live-able!" Good, B, cuz I wasn't going to put you out in the barn.


Another fond (at first, and then increasingly annoying) part of setting up a new house is the building of new IKEA furniture. There are two IKEAs very close by (eat your heart out R-people!) but we haven't gotten there yet. We DID however, find a bunch of brand new stuff in our old garage that we never got around to building and stuck on the lift. No, not because we were organized and well thought out; we had no idea what the boxes were. Simply because it required less schlepping to have the movers stick the boxes on the truck that for us to haul them to the curb! Lo and behold they were excellent saves! One really great dresser, and another unit like I had in my old playroom: now we have 2 ;) 


So after those were built and hauled where they need to be (I swear IKEA furniture gains 50 lbs once it leaves the box) LOTS of unpacking took place this week. We did stuff a bunch of stuff into Saba's machsan, and will stuff a bunch more, but hey, as B says, we are finally "live-able"!


Few trips we did this week: took whoever could fit into Saba's car to the zoo in Yerushalayim, which was a big hit. It's amazing how different the animals are here. Kids had a great time, but were HOT and cranky on the way home. Stopped at the mall for KFC for dinner, and tortured them by keeping it in the car until we got home (NO EATING IN THE CAR!). I had a terrible migraine and lost the rest of my day. We drank and drank and drank, but sometimes the heat just gets the better of me :(


Today I took everyone to one of our favorite family trips: The Bat Cave! No, not where Bruce Wayne hides out, but in Hebrew "Ma'arat Ha'Teumim" Cave of the Twins...inside there is a stalagmite that resembles a pregnant woman and it's a segulah that any woman who drinks from the spring at the bottom of the cave will become so fertile that she'll give birth to twins. No, this is not why we went.


There was also a treasure found in the depths of the cave from the time of the Bar Kochva rebellion, as it was used as a hiding spot for Bar Kochva's warriors during the rebellion.


It's a great rocky, 30 min hike that suits just about any age group. It does get hard with a large baby on your back, so this time BAW who had work to do, stayed with said large sleeping baby. We had an awesome time, even though the sun was strong!  I didn't bring enough water, so me and Uncle S were quite thirsty by the time we got back into the car. But all in all, lots of fun was had trying to get a rise out of the literally thousands of shrieking bats hanging on the ceiling of the cave above us. 


Can't believe it's Shabbos again! Have a good one! Enjoy your August!!

It's here! :) :(

Ok, so there have literally been wrestling matches to get the the computer lately, although I am proud to say I have been too busy to be involved :) I did decide to jump on while BAW took the kids for haircuts and to get B's glasses fixed. 


The Friday lift arrival totally threw me for a loop. I guess maybe because I had no idea it would actually arrive this early (YAY! Shout out to best lift company: Aliyah Lift Shipping!) and because we didn't clear Meches and all of that until about 8pm the night before. So, we frantically started throwing all of our belongings into suitcases to clear as much space as we could before it got here, took apart all the g'mach beds, tables, chairs, etc., and sent the kids to wait outside. After all, a 40 foot container chugging up the block is quite a sight to behold.


Some BEFORE pics:

PLAYROOM/A&B's room/Storage room Yes, it's only about 10 feet wide, and 15 feet long. It was previously a parking space, and you have to walk down two steps to get into the room. Before the lift came  it was the "soccer room". Then, all hell broke loose:

There is now literally room to sleep for 2 kids and NOTHING else. Thank G-d they are kids, and for them, for some odd reason this is actually "fun". "It's our cave!!" Yay. I cried. They partied.


J and Little Red's room:

And after: 

 The truth is that I worked many hours on this room today and it is DONE!! I can't believe it!  I wish I could sneak in and take a pic for you, but you know what they say: Let small sleeping monsters lie. Or something like that anyway...


You get the point. They movers were here for a total of one and a half hours. It was sheer madness. They were pretty good, getting most of the boxes in the right spot, and so far only a few plates/platters were broken, and that was my fault, as towards the beginning I really wasn't packing well enough. 


The hardest was to have them drop and run, and then we had to go into shabbos and just look at all of it, and not lift a finger to unpack any of it. THAT was challenging. CW will be happy to know that there are several boxes that I have packed right back up and are in a pile for a g'mach. There is no reason that we need all this stuff! Some of it I would never have known was missing!


But, it also must be said that it is a tremendous comfort to have all of our things with us again. It's a funny feeling being so far away from everything that we know, and then suddenly all of our stuff arrives! (Don't worry, still tossing lots of it... ;)


There is a silver lining in this, and I hope that my SIL and her parents aren't reading this :), but BH that this is not happening the same week that school starts!! This has been the real first upheaval that I have seen affect the kids; their things are here, but I am not unpacking fast enough because there are not enough storage spots, so they have to look at it but not unpack yet. For the most part though, they really have been good sports. I unpacked 15 boxes of kids books today, so that REALLY made everyone happy! :)


So, that's what I've been up to, and since I started, TPH has returned and is already hovering. C'mon! What's more important, work or play blogging? 


Don't worry, I have plenty to do, I'll just tackle another box.

Living with Less

With the news that our lift just docked at the port yesterday comes a flurry of running (again!)  to Ramla to get a document stating we have actually made aliyah, followed by a trip to Ashdod to sign it out. BAW just called me after 2 hours of these "sidurim" as he calls them, telling me that he NOW has to go to Yerushalayim because the people in Meches (Port Tax) at the port aren't sure as to our status. Didn't we just spend all day there Sunday clarifying our status?!

The arrival of the lift, if not to our house yet, makes me think a lot about living with less. When packing the lift it was all about "what will we need there? what don't they have there? what can we get cheaper here? what will we never be able to get in Israel again?" We ran around like lunatics trying to buy out whole stores like BJ's, Target and Walmart, with endless cries of, "what if they don't have this there?!"

Three weeks later and I don't know how many time zones different, all that has changed. It's amazing (truly amazing) to see how little we can live with; how much we can do without. I am now actually dreading the arrival of our things. I don't need/want 3/4 of that junk stuff. The only thing that we really have been feeling the lack of are seforim and english books, MY BED! and some personal items like photographs, toys, etc. 

I now imagine our bright airy apartment being filled tomorrow or the next day with ominous dark boxes in every corner, filled with things that we would never miss but once we open the boxes will feel we can't do without. 

I was telling a friend that I am trying to get up the guts to put some of those boxes in the trash without even opening them first. Not being weighed down by all of that is surprisingly liberating. I feel thousands of pounds, ok, kilos, lighter. Happier. 

There's gotta be a tremendous lesson here and it's interesting that it becomes much clearer here in Eretz Yisrael where focusing on things that are most important is so much easier. I guess the real idea is to think about what we really need and what it is that we can most take with us wherever we are going, where there are no suitcases, no boxes, no stuff to weigh us down. Those things that can and do come with us are those that matter most.

Happy Packing :)

Bo-Ring!

I know I've been kind of quiet over here on Nekuda Tova lately, but it's all coming back to me now that it takes time (LOTS OF TIME) just to get by over here. The trips to the grocery store take longer, setting ourselves up with the government takes days, weeks, maybe even months. 


Not sure why each office here is somewhere different, and once we get there we have to wait while they input all of our information all over again. One word for you, folks: NETWORK.


Misrad Ha'Pnim (Minstry of Interior) is where we go to get kids new ID numbers. Misrad Ha'Klita (Ministry of Absorption) is where we go to offically file that we have arrived and get our "status". Some of us are new immigrants, some of us are returning citizens, and some of us are immigrated citizens. Sounds confusing, I am not even getting into half of it. Bituach Le'umi is to set up health insurance and monthly benefits (yes, you get stipends for kids!).


BH Saba lent us his car this morning for a "quick" visit to Misrad Ha'Klita in Ramlah.  3 hours later we had nothing, and were told that we have to go back to them later in the week to receive our actual paperwork stating that we have arrived, and then we get all kinds of benefits: $$ for arriving, health care, etc. 


After the mind-numbing three hours, we get back in the car, and TPH mutters "2 down 5 to go".
Me, "HUH?"
TPH, "2 offices down, only 5 to go." Ugh.


So, we've been busy with mundane, boring aspects of settling in Israel, with details that would make you cry. I thought I'd spare you. 


We're going into Tisha B'av, and with much excitement we straightened and cleaned, getting ready for Moshiach in case he decides to stop by this year.

Hey, you never know!

Family Trip to the Shuk

Yes! The bank strike is over and we are rolling in dough! Well, maybe with the amount that we have, sticking a few on our foreheads and arms would be more accurate....


We are adjusting to this very different lifestyle! For example, we figured out that to do anything outside, we really have to wait until at least 4pm if we don't want sweaty, kvetchy kids. I always wondered why all the Israeli kids are out well after dark, sometimes until 11pm or 12am, and I've figured it out: the outside play day really only starts in late afternoon! So, we all piled onto a bus to Jerusalem at 4pm. In true W style until about 4:02 the conversation went something like this: 


Small people: "We're so bored!"
Big People: "We'll do something soon. BAW is still working."
Small people: "We're hungry. No, STARVING!!"
Big People: "You just ate. You aren't starving or even hungry."
Small People: "We're bored!"
Small People: "And hungry."
Small People: "AND STARVING!"
Big People (at 4:02pm): "OK quick! Everybody grab your stuff, next bus to Yerushalyaim is in 8 minutes!"


And thus ensues the mad dash to make the bus while not forgetting any small children stuff for a trip to "The Big City". The bus ride takes about 50 min. and a good 25 of that is through RBS Alef, RBS Bet and Beit Shemesh proper. It's really not a bad ride, not even with squealing small redheads or the constant refrain of "Imma! I'm so hungry! I'm so thirsty!" For those of you who are starting to think that I starve my children just ask any mother on summer vacation right now. They don't stop eating. Ever.


So, we got to J-lem in one piece and had a beautiful walk between Geula and the shuk. Took about 10 to 15 minutes, but the weather there is so nice that we enjoyed the walk. I loved walking behind the boys and seeing their new defined calf muscles from all the walking. For TPH and I, walking a good 2 to 3 miles a day has been invigorating and awesome, but imagine little R who is only 4, and S who is 5, doing the same walking with us day after day. 


To get the full effect of our shuk trip you have to also see our pics on FaceBook. BAW is still reluctant to let me post pics on my blog as it is such a public forum. It's just an amazing experience. Vendors of every shape, size and religious background selling their wares and prices that can't be beat anywhere. Whole booths dedicated to just chummus. Or another one for chalva. The kids got a kick out of the yalmuka stalls and have been trying out lots of shapes and sizes of yammies.  The candy shop was the highlight and we let them go a little hog wild. I just want this Aliyah to be the sweetest of the sweet! :)


For dinner we went to a falafel shop and then started back where we got some not to be beat Yerushalmi Kugel and (don't ask me why, my kids are weird) black olives. Even Uncle S was impressed with all the sights to be seen there. We started back to the bus stop with a beautiful wind blowing and the sun starting to set. It's not uncommon that anywhere we are walking someone will jump out at us and grab BAW for a minyan and we get to wait and check out all the people and scenery around us.


Bus ride home was uneventful except that once we got off (the very last stop :( ) we realized that we had left our food and yalmukas on the bus!! :( Funny because even though we were really looking forward to that kugel, candy and new yammies, no one was too disappointed, cuz the main fun was the trip itself. 


Exhausted happy kiddies fell into bed. And I'll bet they weren't even hungry.

One Strike and I'm Out

Today I am frustrated. Don't worry, I still have my shiny, happy Aliyah glasses on, but VERY frustrated today.


Strikes in Israel are common. Teacher strikes often get the kids an unexpected few days of school off. Government office strikes can stop all business in those areas for days. The big one that's affecting us now is a bank strike. I guess it's one of the downsides of a socialized government. I really don't know. And I really, really don't care. 


What I do care about is how it is affecting us. Before we moved we transfered most of our remaining cash into our account here at Bank Pagi in the Ramat Beit Shemesh branch. The plan was to get here, show our faces, get our bankcards and checkbooks reissued, and start buying necessities like washer/dryer, oven, etc. 


The first day we got here, TPH walked up to the Merkaz and came back with bad news; the bank workers were on strike, the bank is closed. Now if you have an ATM card or checkbook, you are ok. Unless of course you have to make a deposit. I was talking to someone who has a paycheck in hand, but can't deposit it, so their balance goes farther and farther into "minus" as they call it here. It's ridiculous.


For us it means a total and complete standstill. We have pretty much taken out everything that we can from our US account, and everything else remains locked until someone gives on one side or the other. In the meantime, we haven't been able to rent a car, go on trips or do anything more significant than go to the grocery store and Kotel. 


To do a load of laundry (don't worry, kids' only during the 9 days!) I have to walk 20 min. uphill to my in-laws in 95 degrees lugging a bag of dirty laundry. Oh, and the European machines take half the amount of what we are used to and each load takes 1 1/2 hours to WASH only. It is not pretty. 


I once took a taxi there because I could not do the walk once more in the heat and you know what the driver told me? "You should be walking there! Too close to take a taxi." Trust me, you don't want to mess with a grumpy, hot, American mother in this situation. The only response I could muster was, "Ok, let's go to your house! Thanks for offering!" He grumbled something or other, but then took me to my in-laws without any more free advice. 


Hey, at least it was free, cuz' I definitely couldn't have paid for it.