Every morning I walk 10 minutes to the bus stop. On my walk I come across the same people nearly every day.
The security guard from the local supermarket on his way to work.
The two grumpy old Russian men waiting for their bus at another stop.
The various people from our neighborhood walking their dogs.
The street cleaner sweeping up all the autumn leaves on the sidewalk.
And every morning I say hello. To all of them.
Across the street from my house – Image by Paul
Sometimes its just a smile across the road. Sometimes its a hello and a head nod. Sometimes its a hello and a 2 minute chat. And sometimes its a hello that gets totally ignored.
The security guard asks how I am and always makes a joke, he loves speaking English and gets annoyed when I try speak Hebrew with him.
The grumpy old men never answer, just look at me like I’m crazy. I still greet them every single day. One day I will get a smile or even a hello back.
The dog walkers sometimes stop, say hello and let me get some doggy kisses and cuddles.
The street cleaner, without fail, greets me back and wishes me a good day.
Winter in Israel is rainy. And windy. And wet. And cold. And rainy.
We arrived in Israel in the middle of winter. A few weeks after the kids started school, the babysitter was fetching them and it was a really, really windy, stormy day. So windy that poor little Faith almost got blown away. Since then she has been scared of even the smallest gust of wind.
She is also terrified of storms, especially thunder. So winter is a problem.
We have explained to her that the rain, wind, thunder and lightning are outside and cant come in the house. We have explained that her bedroom is the safest room in the house since it is the shelter.
She still screams like she is being chased by an ax wielding maniac. She stands there, literally paralysed and shaking in fear. She has landed up in our bed a few times.
How do you get a child over this very real fear? Any ideas are welcome.
Along with a few others, I wrote a bit about my experience in cancelling our South African medical aid before we left for Israel. You can read about it over here on the Hippo blog.
A few days ago I realised we had been in Israel for 10 months. Let that sink in a moment. We have been here for almost a year. Its gone by in the blink of an eye. I cant even say that sometimes it felt like its been dragging because it hasn’t. Its been like a runaway train.
When we arrived in Israel, winter was in full swing. Freezing cold, windy, rainy. It was over pretty quickly and in the blink of an eye we were in summer. A particularly hot, dusty summer for Israel.
The last few weeks the seasons have been changing. The days getting shorter, the mornings and evenings a bit cooler. Yesterday I left work at 17:25. I stood at the bus stop and realised, while I wasn’t freezing, I was cold. Cold enough to have goosebumps and to bemoan the fact I didn’t have a jersey or a zip up hoodie to throw on over my sleeveless shirt.
Pretty soon I will have to put away my Havaianas (the national summer footwear of every Israeli) and start wearing my boots. I will have to start carrying my coat and my umbrella with me.
While I am enjoying the cooler weather for now, I really am a summer baby. I much prefer the heat to the cold. So I warn you in advance, I will moan and cry and throw many a winter tantrum in the next few months. But winter in Israel is short lived so I’m grateful for that.
In the mean time I’m getting ready to take out our down duvet and preparing to cuddle away the dark mornings in bed.
We all know that moving countries and living somewhere new is hard. Webjet SA asked me to give some of my thoughts on the tax and financial aspects of living in Israel.
Pop on over to their blog to read all about it here.
They say the grass is greener on the other side. They also say that’s because there is more bullshit. They also say the grass is greener where you water it.
I say there are shades of green.
One of the many* reasons we left South Africa was for a better life for our children. Better, in that they can walk to school and their friends on their own without me having to worry too much. Better in that there is a park on every corner and they have the freedom to play in those parks until the sun goes down and beyond. We don’t have to worry about being broken into and being held at gun point (something I have experienced myself). We can drive with our windows down and our doors unlocked (when we eventually get a car). All in all, on a daily basis our lives are much safer here.
That being said, Israel is subject to bouts of extreme violence and terror. Stabbings, rock throwing, run-over attacks, bus bombs, suicide bombers and the ever present rocket attacks.
The thing is, no where is perfect, no where is 100% safe. Yes, its terrifying, watching the news and seeing innocent civilians being attacked, parents dying and children being left orphaned. Its heartbreaking.
But… Its amazing to see the people of this country pull together. Young students with ‘Am Yisrael Chai’ (Israel Lives) signs dancing and singing at the entrance to my city. Old and young talking to each other and hugging at bus stops. People collecting snack, sweets and food for our soldiers who are stationed away from their families and cant be with them on the weekends.
Basically, shades of green.
Life, no matter where you are, is what you make of it. I choose to be in the moment and to make the best of each moment as they come. I choose to love myself, my family and my country.
*There are many, many reasons we came to Israel, in the context of this post I am choosing to only concentrate on safety.
The last three weeks have been hectic. Its been Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year), Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) and Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles). That’s lots of Jewish Holy Days and lots of food, except Yom Kippur which is a fast day. It also means I have been a bad blogger.
So here are some of the stories I took photos of over the last little while.
My gorgeous family on Rosh Hashanah.
Real South African Peppermint Crisp Pudding that we took with us to Breaking of the Fast. There were a lot of expat South Africans there and they loved it, the dish was empty within seconds!
I was very thrifty and I hand stitched an old bra (the straps were frayed) into a strapless dress (Thank you Yana) so that I had a bit more support. Its a sad day when you realise that even an A cup needs a boost when you get a little older.
Our very first sukkah. I love Sukkot, its my favourite festival. Its fun and happy and a non stop celebration. The kids had a great time too.
We finally, after almost 10 months, put up our apartment number. Now you cant miss us.
I planted bell pepper seeds. I’ve decided that everything that gets planted on our balcony needs to be edible in some way or another. Aaron started us off with (what I think is) a tomato plant that is growing huge and needed to be repotted twice and I decided to do the peppers next. I’ve also decided that everything that gets planted will start as seeds.
After a very long and exceptionally hot summer, autumn is finally around the corner. The days are a little shorter, the air a little cooler, clouds are rolling in with the promise of rain and the leaves have started falling.
I went to meet her at the airport in the morning and we went to my brothers place in Tel Aviv since my mom was staying with them last week, and then Paul and the kids met up with us later.
This last week both Paul and I were off work so we could spend time as a family with my mom.
We went to the beach, the pool, the (kids) science museum, the Kotel (Western Wall), Ben Yehuda Street, Sarona Market. We walked so much Im not sure if my feet will ever recover. On the day we went to Jerusalem we walked almost 12km!
Last night my mom came to us and will stay with us until she goes home. Unfortunately I had to come back to work so she is hanging out with the kids this week.
Here are some pics Paul took over the last week (some on the camera, some on the phone).
My mom with all her grandchildren 🙂
Family selfie in Jerusalem
Aaron took this one 🙂
These two!
Olives at the Sarona Market, Aaron was in heaven!
Family selfie at the science museum
The cutest nephew in the world!!!!
More sibling love!
Refreshing our feet in this awesome mist generating thingy on the streets in Jerusalem
My typical weekday (Sunday – Thursday*)** goes something like this…
05:30 ~ 06:30 – Aaron wakes up.
05:51 – My first alarm goes off.
06:00 – Paul’s alarm goes off (usually he has actually already gotten out of bed).
06:00 ~ 07:25 – Paul gets ready for the day, sorts out the kids with breakfast, kids get dressed and mess around.
This is from the beginning of the year. I cant get over how much they have both grown since then 🙂
06:01 – My snooze alarm goes off.
06:10 – I get out of bed.
06:10 ~ 06:30 – I get dressed, brush teeth, brush hair, wake Faith up (she is totally my child, hates waking up), give copious hugs and kisses to family.
06:30 – Leave the house to walk to the bus stop (about half a km walk).
06:40 ~ 06:50 – Wait for my bus, obsessively check the app to make sure I haven’t missed it.
06:45 ~ 07:15 – Play games on my phone or catch a cat nap on the bus ride to work.
07:15 – Unlock office (I’m usually, but not always, the first one in) and turn on the coffee machine before booting up my computer and settling in.
07:30 ~ 08:00 – Paul drops the kids at their respective schools (both within a 200m walk from home) on his way to the train station. From September this will be a whole lot easier since Faith will be attending the same school as Aaron.
07:30 – 13:00 – Work, drink coffee, work, drink more coffee and occasionally a cup of 5 Roses tea. Sometime before 11:00 I order lunch (we are given a budget for the month and can order from a variety of places that will deliver to us).
13:00 ~ 13:30 – Join the rest of the office in the dining area and enjoy lunch.
Love the concentration tongue!
13:30 ~ 16:10/17:30 – Work and drink more coffee. Depending on the day, I either leave the office at 16:10 to catch a bus back home in order to fetch the kids from after care by 16:45. On the days that our babysitter fetches the kids, I work later to make up some time and usually leave the office at around 17:30 to catch a bus home.
16:10/17:30 ~ 16:30/18:00 – Bus ride home.
16:30/18:00 ~ 19:00/19:30 – Fetch kids/get home, do a load of laundry (not every day), play with kids, wash dishes, read my book, bath kids (Aaron has now discovered showering on his own, when the hell did he grow up?), start supper, set table, hang laundry if applicable, clean floors or vacuum if necessary, make a salad so we get some fresh veggies in our diet.
19:00/19:30 – Paul gets home and we eat supper.
20:00 – Kids brush teeth and get ready for bed, story is read, debate over which parent puts which child to sleep.
20:15 ~ 21:00 – Put kids to sleep. This takes so long because Aaron is a chatterbox and needs to get all the words out before he can sleep. Once a child is asleep, that adult then baths/showers, followed by the other adult when the 2nd child (Aaron) eventually falls asleep. Dishes from dinner are washed in between all of this by whoever is free.
21:00 ~ 22:00 – We usually watch at least one episode of a show we are watching, at the moment we are re-watching Firefly, Netflix is awesome!
22:00 ~ 22:30 – Wash up any leftover dishes from dinner and Paul usually sorts out the kids lunches/snacks for the next day.
22:30 – Get ready for bed.
22:45 – Collapse in a heap, possibly read a chapter or two of a book or play on Twitter/FB.
23:30 – Fall asleep, sometimes earlier, sometimes later but this is the average.
And that’s our normal weekday.
*Fridays are slightly different because neither Paul or I work on a Friday and the kids finish school at 12:30ish. So Paul and I clean the apartment or go do a big grocery shop while the kids are at school and then we fetch them and spend the afternoon playing and getting ready for Shabbat.
**Saturdays are spent at the park or watching movies (again, thanks Netflix), there is no public transport and most if not all stores are closed.
I’ve lamented the fact that these summer holidays are too bloody long. And bloody expensive when it comes to summer camps. The kids went to camp for the first 4 weeks (July) which is standard in Israel. The camps were run at their schools and were coordinated by the local municipality. August is another story. The only camps available are private. Unfortunately we were not really prepared and we could only get the kids into a camp for the second week in August which meant that the kids and I had Mom Camp last week.
Morning Cat – by Paul
It also happened to be the hottest week in Israel, ever! So we pretty much stayed home in the air conditioning for 5 solid days.
The kids played on the computer, watched Netflix, played ‘Zombie Apocalypse’, had a friend over, Aaron was sick, I got sick, we went to Jerusalem with Roro on Tuesday, played with Lego but mostly we imitated sloths.
I think by the time Friday rolled around the kids were a little bored of being cooped up all day. We went to the large grocery store and did our monthly shop and then took the kids to the municipal pool in the afternoon. They love the pool and I have to admit its pretty awesome, spotlessly clean, plenty space, changing rooms, umbrellas, chairs and tables available, a kiosk with drinks and snacks and ice creams. Whats not to like?
Saturday we put the little buggers to work cleaning the apartment, or their rooms at least. And then we slothed some more in the afternoon.
This morning they went to their new camp. They were pretty excited to go since they are together for the week and its also an English speaking camp which they find very exciting. I think they were mostly excited just to leave the apartment!
I adore my kids, I really really do but I really really missed work and was super grateful to come back today.
