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.’
And there you have it, the reason I am a real Israeli.
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?
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?
I am so extremely proud of this child!
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!
We don’t own a car. Which is not such a bad thing with the rather excellent public transport in Israel.
Unfortunately, I get rather motion sick when I am a passenger.
When I started working (5 months ago!) I mentioned on Twitter that I suffer from motion sickness and asked if anyone had tips to minimise it.
Don’t travel on an empty stomach, look at the horizon and tilt your head back were some of the suggestions I received. I put them all to use and added a few of my own and 5 months down the line I’m happy to inform you that I very, very rarely get motion sick on the bus anymore. In fact I can now read on my iPad without wanting to throw myself under the wheels!
Here are a few of the tips and tricks I use.
Once you have mastered these few tips you can now start to acclimate yourself to actually doing something other than just sitting.
I started by downloading a really brainless, non thinking game on my phone. Something like one of the gem swap games, Candy Crush or Frozen Free Fall work well. Its something you don’t really need to think about while you play. My bus ride is about 25/30 minutes and the 5 lives you get in these games is just enough to last the trip.
In the beginning, more often than not, I couldn’t last the whole trip playing, but as time went on I was able to keep going. I also started checking Facebook and Twitter if I finished my game lives too soon. Again, when I first started reading my time lines I would get a bit ill but the more I read the easier it became.
The last week or so I’ve been able to read my book on the iPad without getting sick at all.
I’m not sure if this would translate to travelling in a car, but for the hour or so I spend on a bus every day, being able to read my book is awesome!
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!
We had such a good weekend.
Friday morning was pretty much the norm, except Aaron stayed home with us while Faith went to school. Aaron helped with the cleaning, by picking up toys and bits and bobs around the house and then sweeping all the rooms. He then helped me pack away all the clean dishes and cutlery while I cleaned the kitchen. I then made THE most divine brownies to take to my brother for dessert.
We fetched Faith from school at midday and had lunch before heading to the train station to catch a ride to Tel Aviv. The kids were super excited to see we had a double decker train and chose to sit on the upper level. Arriving in Tel Aviv, Faith and I caught a bus to my brothers place where we helped make dinner and played with my nephew, Paul and Aaron spent the afternoon at the port and on the beach. A friend from work who lives in the same building as my brother came for dinner and much laughter and fun was had.
We had no plans set for Saturday but a family that has kids in both Aaron and Faith’s classes sent us a message asking if we would like to join them at the big Anava Park. They very kindly came to fetch us in their car so we didn’t have to walk. Israel is very strict about how many people can be in the car and everyone HAS to be wearing a seat belt, so Gil fetched us and dropped us at the park and then went back to fetch his family.
We had a picnic breakfast and went for a hike/walk and then took the kids to the jungle gym/ play area and we flew a kite and had more food and fed the ducks and the fish in the lake and had ice creams before coming home 5 hours later. It was an unexpected day that turned out so well.
After we came home we lazed around, I had a nap, Aaron played on his computer, Faith put her feet up and Paul edited all the photos he took over the weekend.
Today we are all back to school and work. I’m already looking forward to next weekend.
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?
Israel is a desert, summer is hot. Usually the heat gradually builds up so that by August you may be sweltering but you are used to it.
Not so the last few days. We jumped from mid 20’s to 41°C!!! In one day! The last two days have been in the low 40’s and today it is 30°C at midday.
This is outside though. If you are in my office it is sitting at a chilly 23°C. I am freezing. My toes are turning blue. We try keep the air-con on 25°C but ‘somehow’ it keeps dropping to 23°C.
I get that it is Hot (with a capital H) outside but that doesn’t mean it has to be arctic inside.
I share an office with 3 men and one woman. The air-con unit we have is also shared between 3 other offices next to ours, the one has a single woman occupant, the other other has 5 women and 2 men and the last office is a spare office. We are pretty much split evenly between those that love the cold and those of us that would rather keep our extremities from being frozen off.
Do you share an office? Do you fight over the temperature? What is the etiquette when using a communal air-con?
Somebody help me please, I cant feel my fingers!
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.
