Update

So, where are we holding right now...

School has been progressing nicely, to where AY is staying the whole day. He says he doesn't like it, but I think he really does, it's just hard for him with all of the Hebrew, and no English.

Our lift is still being held hostage. It seems that they weren't able to release it on Thursday, Friday, the customs guy wasn't there. Sunday since it's erev yom tov, there is only one customs guy, but even if he does get to look at it, the movers are off. So if he does get to it, then it's supposed to come Tuesday morning, as early as 8.

Which is not so bad, since the kids have to be in school at 8:15.

Oh, and to through things for a big spin, Sarah is in labor!

We figured, at this point we need to get this kid out, so we went for a walk of about 2 1/2 miles. So, we're kinda of hoping for tomorrow erev Shavuos. Hey, isn't that the twins birthday?

Well, perhaps next time I write it will be a bit more coherent, so apologies for the ADDish nature of this post.

Though on second thought, with all that's coming, I highly doubt it :(

New School II

So yesterday was AY's first day. We drop off SL at his class, and he is excited. Has no idea what his Rebbe is saying, but he likes it. I think it's b/c at recess they get to push each other at breakneck speeds on riding toys around the playground (if you want to call it that - hopefully when I get it together I'll show you his school).

So back to AY. For some odd reason as I'm about to take him into his class, his eye started hurting him. So I get slightly concerned, but not putting too much to it, as I figured he might be a bit nervous. However of the two of them, I figured him to have no problems adjusting and SL not wanting to go back. So I take a look, it looks fine, so I ask him when it started hurting him, and he told me from when we were in the car, and I'm thinking, you big faker, but he was really crying. I felt real bad leaving him. However the menahel was with me as I was bringing him in, so I told him his eye hurt, so he said come with me to the office. He said to AY, do you want medicine?
I'm thinking what!?
So he goes to his desk and pulls out a little package of lentils, and gives AY one.
It was nice, it didn't really do the trick, as he was still sad when I left, though I think it did fix his eye problem!
Now to quell your thoughts that this is going to be bad for my children, giving them candy as medicine, they won't know the difference, etc. etc. When we brought AY home and were talking about the day, he said he liked the menahel, so we asked why? He responded by saying in his cute little voice "Because he gave ma candy".

Any way, to cut this short as I'm tired in the end he's still not too crazy about school. Sarah thinks that part of it has to do with the fact that his morah does know English, but won't speak to him in it there, and that just frustrates him.

Anyway, we'll see how the rest of the week progresses.

Ashdod

This morning we decided we'd try to free our belongings from the evil clutches of the shipping company. So I got in my car and drove out to Ashdod. It was a nice and quiet drive. I got to see the beutiful tracts of farm land, some looking very green and pretty, while others were brown and dryed out due to their owners keeping shmittah. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera on me, and we could've shared the moment.
Meeting up with the shipper was an OK experience. I did find out one interesting fact (which is related to my rent as I'll explain later). People in this country seem to base a lot of things on the dollar - even though now it's becoming a bit less due to the steep drop in the dollar. But that isn't my point. Even though the dollar ahs dropped, people still like to link the dollar to some past imaginary rate. My shipper had a "Congestion charge" (which just means that the port workers really want to strike, but legally aren't allowed to, so they just work slow) which they converted to me in shekels at the 4.0 rate - which hasn't been since Dec 17, 2007. So I asked them, can I pay in dollars, I have dollars, why not use them where I can acctually save myself something. But alas, they said
"Haha you silly American, you think you can try to save yourself a mere 70 shekel (which btw is now worth about $21) just because you come here and wave your funny looking green money around here. I laugh at you. Ha!"

Anyway, the rest was unevenful, just going through customs with all of my junk in a 20' crate that as they go through each item, my stomach twitches as I think, how in the world will I find a place for that? Can it fit in the elevater so they don't have to shlep it up the stairs? Will it fit in the stairwell? Can that even fit in the apartment?
Oy vey. Well, there's nothing I can do about it now, but if anyone in RBS A' is looking for some furtniture, they might ant to hang out around my apartment when they deliver the goods, as you might find a good deal on some furniture that just won't make it.

On my way over there I realized I was passing my Kibbutz Yavneh where my Mom's cousin lives. And as it happened I had something to deliver to them, and I even had it with me, so I figure, "Ah, hashgacha protis!". However I was let down as the kibbutzniks tried in vein to find my cousins and I had to left empty handed.

And that was my morning. I even got back before noon!

New School

Since I've started this blog after I've already moved, I'm going to have to go to the not so way back machine to fill in on some of the fun things we've gone through.

So to start with one of the more fun things, is SL's first day in school which was yesterday (Tuesday). It might seem mundane or boring to most people, but I'm sure at least my mom is interested.

Since he knows zero Hebrew, and the school is staff knows pretty much no English (with the exception of one of the gan morahs) we felt like we were sort of throwing him to the sharks. Here, sit in a class room where you will have no idea what they are saying to you, they wouldn't understand you either, oh yeah, and try not to disrupt either. Oh and did I mention that this is my son who takes after me, and can barely sit still in a regular class!

To put it mildly, we were a bit concerned.

However the Mifakayach (which sounds bad, but is kind of like the principal) was very understanding, and suggested he just stay for about 2 hours the first day. We were thinking, that it's not a bad idea, so let's go for it.

Fast forward two hours later...

I pick him up, and he looked fine, he wasn't sent out or anything, so it was already looking good! I spoke to his Rebbe, and he said he was great in the class. It turned out there are about 6 English speaking kids in his class, so I think they helped him out a bit. When we left, and I asked him how it was and if he wanted to go back tomorrow, he said yes! So it's starting to look good!

SL on his first day at school

For tomorrow we'll see how SL did on his extended day (till 12) and AY did on his first day.

New Beginings

Hi Blogosphere, it's Eliezer, are you there?

Just by way of introduction, My name is Eliezer, and I have recently made Aliyah. No I didn't do it alone, I did it with my whole family, the wife, and the three little ones. I don't think I could've done it without them.

In short, I'm glad to be here, to experience living with the keduha of Eretz Yisroel, and the bureaucracy of the State of Israel. Though I have yet to really feel the kedusha, as I've been shlepping around taking care of the mundane tasks of uprooting my whole life and replanting it some 6000 miles away (excuse me, according to google maps, it's acctually a mere 5,696.89, or as I'm going to have to be more familiar with, 9,168.26 km).

As this is just the intorduction, I'll let that sink in, and fill you in on more later on.