aliyah – Page 4 – A Bit of This A Bit of That

August 6, 2015

10 more sleeps

Until my mommy is here in Israel!

Im too excited. I cannot wait. Her plane comes in early so I am going to catch a train to the airport to fetch her and then go with her to my brothers place where she will be staying for the first week. She will come and stay at our place in the 2nd week.

The first week we are all on leave so thats the week we will do the tourist thing. Jerusalem, the Kotel, Tel Aviv, the beach, water park, museums, markets, fruit picking. So much stuff to do.

Its also my birthday and my moms birthday while she is here, so lots of celebrating.

The excitement is real!!

July 27, 2015

Half way there…

So the kids have been on holiday for a month (or close to it) and we are surviving.

They have each been at separate day camps and have been having a blast. Each camp was held in their schools so it was a familiar environment and the other kids were all friends of theirs.

That is until the middle of last week when Aaron’s camp was condensed into a camp located at another school down the road. Suddenly it was a new environment and none of his friends were going to that camp. And we landed up with a small anxiety issue.

I had forgotten how bad Aaron’s anxiety had been when we first arrived and he started school. He was overwhelmed by all the new sights and sounds and the new people. For a good few weeks he complained about having a headache or a tummy ache or both. With a lot of patience from us and his teachers he overcame the anxiety and made new friends and settled in.

Last week he suddenly had a headache and tummy ache again. But we talked to him and discussed it and allowed him to phone us at work for a chat when it got too much. Today he went off to camp without a backwards look, he hasn’t called once and seems to have settled in nicely.

I keep saying it, but I really am so very very proud of this child. All the things he has overcome this year are enough to put an adult in a spin and yet he is a champ, he keeps on keeping on.

Next week the kids will be at home with me and the following week we found a private camp that will take both of them for the week and then Nana (my mom) comes for a two week visit. We are all so excited to see her. The kids cant stop talking about her visit. I’m doing a happy jig as I type!

I cant believe we are half way through the summer holidays and that there is only one month left to go.

July 8, 2015

Why does Aaron think I’m a real Israeli?

Aaron is in the bath, I’m about to wash his hair.

Aaron: ‘I need to get the face cloth because-‘

Me: ‘Yes Aaron, get the face cloth.’

Aaron: ‘-I need to put it over my face-‘

Me: ‘Yes Aaron, just get the cloth.’

Aaron: ‘Moooooommmmmm, you are a real Israeli!’

Me: ‘Why do you say that?’

Aaron: ‘Because you are so impatient!’

Aaron: ‘Why do they even have a word for patience in Hebrew? Israelis are never patient.’

19503353135_68d8317fcf_k — Photo by Paul

And there you have it, the reason I am a real Israeli.

July 6, 2015

Two months of hell, I mean, holidays…

It seems to be a northern hemisphere thing. Two months off school during the summer. Two months off school. Two months!

Luckily the aftercare facility we utilize for the kids during the school week will be running a ‘camp’ throughout the whole of July. 07:30 – 16:00. The aftercare/camp is run from the kids schools and a lot of the kids that attend aftercare will also be at the ‘camp’ so the kids will have the friends that they know with them. It will cost us about double what we usually pay for aftercare for the month but considering it will be double the time it all works out.

That being said, what happens in August? Most if not all of the camps only run for July. There are a few options during August but they are all private and expensive. They also do not cater for my kids ages. They are either for 5 and under or 6 and over so Aaron and Faith could not attend together (hopefully we would be able to convince them to let Faith go with Aaron if this was an option we chose).

A lot of people tend to go away in August so demand for camps is obviously lower than in July but come on, what about those of us who cant go away for whatever reason?

Now, my mom is coming for a visit (does happy dance and sings!) in the last two weeks of August and has graciously said she will help me with the kids on the days that I have to work. In fact she basically told me not to take any leave, I must work and she will spend time with the kids, which is great, except I want to take leave so I can spend time with her! I am, in fact, taking the 1st 5 days she is here as leave so we can spend all that week together.

I digress…

This leaves me with the first two weeks of August.

Our regular babysitter is away for those two weeks and both Paul and I have to work. Some of the families that we are friends with suggested we each take a day of the week and look after each others kids but it looks like that wont happen because there are not enough of us.

So, we may have to take the kids to work with us or work from home. Both options are not ideal.

Gah!!!!

So, my northern hemisphere friends… what do you do over the summer vacation?

July 1, 2015

Grade 2 here we come!

Today marks the first day of the summer vacation in Israel. The school year is over and the grade 1 Whatsapp group has changed the group name to grade 2.

Aaron has officially graduated grade 1.

Wait what?

So many mixed emotions.

I feel excited and proud and a little bit cheated. But mostly proud of my boy.

Why do I feel cheated?

Well, Aaron finished grade R/ grade 0/ חובה (Chova) in November 2014. We arrived in Israel in December 2014 and the kids started attending school in January 2015. But… The school year in Israel runs from 1st September to 30 June. We also decided that Aaron was old enough to be in grade 1 and not repeat grade R. This meant he started grade 1 half way through the school year. So, yeah, I feel a little cheated that we only got half a year of my ~~baby~~ big boy in grade 1.

That being said, Aaron arrived, not only in a new school but in a new country, and had to make new friends and catch up the school work and learn a new language. And he passed and has been promoted to grade 2! And he has a whole bunch of friends. AND he speaks Hebrew!

How many adults do you know who could achieve this much and without complaining and moaning (too much) about it?

How cool!? All the kids got a A3 size caricature as a year end gift 🙂

I am so extremely proud of this child!

June 25, 2015

בית חם or Hot House

The other day Aaron hosted a בית חם ‘buy-it ham’ (the ‘h’ is a rough sound not a soft sound) or roughly translated, a hot house.

Basically, throughout the school year, each child gets a turn to host 4 or 5 other kids in the class at their home. Its usually children that don’t really play together during school and its a way to encourage new friendships and getting to know each other.

They usually happen 4 times a year and the teacher allocates who goes where. She asked me a few months ago if we would host one and I asked if we could do a later one as I had no furniture and was pretty much terrified of having a bunch of Hebrew speaking kids to look after.

So this week was the last lot of hot houses for the school year and Aaron was asked to host. I think she took it easy on me and only allocated 3 children to come over, two girls and a boy. I also asked our babysitter to come over for the two hours so she could help me with speaking to the kids. Thank carp for the babysitter, she was amazing!

Hosting a hot house is a big deal, the kids love them and really look forward to them. Usually a craft or two is done and sometimes the kids make something to send to the soldiers or to a charity.

We made flower mirrors with glue and paint and glitter stickers and googly eyes. We also did an experiment and made a volcano erupt. Since it started at 5pm and the kids were being fetched at 7pm, I made them dinner. I took a page out of Pintrest and the kids made spaghetti and sausage monsters. So. Much. Fun!

All in all the kids had fun. Aaron had a blast. There were no tears, theirs or mine. Success!

June 15, 2015

2nd play date – Success

You may recall the somewhat awkward and heartbreaking 1st play date we had a week or so ago.

Well, Faith had another friend over today and it went so much better. I think I was more relaxed since I knew what to expect. Aaron also took on the roll of ~~bossy mcboss~~ mentor and got the girls playing with a ball and also teaching them some karate moves.

I even read them a story! In Hebrew!

We have just bought a set of bookshelves from friends who are relocating to the States and I could finally unpack the last of our boxes. All the books! So while the kids were playing I was unpacking and I came across Not A Box by Antoinette Portis. Its a very simple story about using your imagination, and as I found out, quite easy to translate into Hebrew as I went. The kids loved it.

After the book, the kids took all the empty boxes and created a carnival game, Aaron wrote ‘points’ on each box and they placed them at different heights and then took turns throwing the ball into them to get the most points. Definitely not just a box.

I fed them supper before Faiths friend had to go home and both girls didn’t want the play date to end. I consider that a great success!

June 1, 2015

Our front door

Our front door looks like wood but is actually heavy duty metal.

I figured this out the first time I came home to find a business card magnet stuck to it.

That’s right, business card magnets. It seems to be a thing in Israel (not sure if this is a thing anywhere else, certainly not SA), to have your business card as a magnet. Then people go around during the day and stick magnets on your front door. Even the children s entertainer at the party we went to last week handed out magnet cards at the end.

Personally I think it is genius, magnets are sturdier than cardboard and they actually serve a purpose (other than as a business card). It also means I know where the cards are at any given time, either on my door or my fridge/freezer.

Since that first time I have collected almost two dozen such magnets. Some are inside on the fridge but most of them I have left on my front door. In fact my aim is to cover my door in magnets.

Because why not?

May 28, 2015

Our First* Play Date

*First play date at our house. The kids have been to many play dates at their friends but we didn’t have any furniture or any of their toys so we put off play dates at us until now.

So the day before yesterday each of the kids invited a friend over.

Neither of the friends speak English. And I barely speak Hebrew. But that’s OK. My kids speak both English and Hebrew. Yes, you read that correctly. My kids are bilingual! I have never been more proud of them. They were thrown in the deep end and they have swum!

Back to the play date. Aaron and his friend were fine. They played games, played hide and seek, ran around, ate ice lollies and generally looked after themselves. Faiths friend was also OK, they painted pictures and coloured in a Frozen colouring book and then they had a disagreement about playing something.Her friend started to cry and I could not console her. I just didn’t have the words in Hebrew and what words I did have went straight out my head. We landed up calling her mom to come fetch her and while we were waiting she cried herself to sleep on the couch.

My heart was breaking. I felt so helpless. Poor child was so upset and I could not comfort her.

This was a motivation for me to keep learning more Hebrew. Especially when it comes to kids. In fact I am more intimidated by the kids than the adults. At least with adults they understand that my Hebrew is minimal and they either speak English to me or help with the Hebrew I don’t know. Kids on the other hand cannot fathom that I don’t speak Hebrew and that I cannot understand them. They think its hysterical when I look at them blankly. My kids roll their eyes and translate for me. I am definitely learning on the fly with these kids.

Bottom line is that I need to learn more Hebrew and we will keep having play dates because that’s an awesome way for me to learn 🙂

May 17, 2015May 17, 2015

Cough cough splutter

So I have pretty much been sick since last Saturday. I’ve had ~~Man Flu~~ a cold that knocked me on my arse. I was off work Sunday, back Monday, left work at 1pm on Tuesday and only came back to work today. On top of that Faith has been sick too although she was well enough to go to school this last week and then Aaron and Paul got sick at the end of the week too.

Apparently its quite common for new immigrants to be sick with lots of bugs and little things over the first year or so in a new country. It makes sense right, new strains of all the old favourites. So far I think we have gotten off lightly, nothing more than a few colds and sore throats.

I hate being sick, I hate having to stay in bed. I feel useless. I feel like I should be doing something even though I know if I went to work or did heavy housework I would just land up feeling really disgusting and not be able to even get out of bed. I know I need to rest but come onnnnnnnn… boring!

I also miss having my doggies to cuddle. #StuartDog always knew when I was sick and would come cuddle in my arms, sticking his wet little nose in my neck and snuffling me. It always made me feel better.

At least I’m feeling better and am back at work today.