School Meeting – AKA “we really don’t know any hebrew” We had a school meeting two nights ago for the girls junior high school. All the parents (we think it was just for the seventh grade, which is the youngest grade at this middle school, so all the parents and students are technically new to…
Read moreLast week before school starts
Last week before school starts School starts next week, on Sunday September 1st. We’ve had a bunch of meetings with the kids schools: to meet the counsellors, the ulpan directors, and the new immigrant coordinators. Each of the kids has personal meetings this week with their individual class teachers as well. We’ve tried our…
Read moreRandomly cool things here
Randomly cool things here I took the car in for routine maintenance last week and was waiting in the lounge availing myself of a free cup of espresso from the machine (yes, they even have that in Israeli car dealers 😀) when I noticed that not only do they have free coffee, but they also…
Read moreVisit to Hevron and the “Cave of the Patriarchs”
Visit to Hevron and the “Cave of the Patriarchs” Last Wednesday we did a tour of Hevron. The tour left from Jerusalem at the David Citadel hotel, so we left early from Ra’anana, drove to Jerusalem, parked at Mamilla Mall, and walked to the the hotel to catch the bus. We were supposed to be…
Read moreTouring and A Friend’s Bar Mitzvah in Jerusalem
Touring and A Friend’s Bar Mitzvah in Jerusalem Last week we did some touring. On Wednesday we went rafting on the Jordan River up in Kfar Blum. It was nice and cool and the kids had a blast. We ate dinner at a very good Indian restaurant in Kiryat Shmona on the way home. the…
Read moreReceiving a package
Receiving a package Last Monday on the way home from running errands we tried to stop at the post office. We had received in the mail a few days prior a notice from the post office that we didn’t really understand but was addressed to Lauren Brodsky, and since we knew that my parents had…
Read moreUlpan and Work
Ulpan and Work Last week we met with the misrad haklita again to get more details on a medical salary subsidy for my observation period, (Histaklut). First of all, it turns out that yes, such a thing does in fact exist. (The cardiology department chair asked me about it when I met with him a…
Read moreVisit to the Tekhelet Factory
Visit to the Tekhelet Factory Last friday we visited the Tekhelet Factory. Its located in Kfar Adumim, a bit past Maale Adumim in the west bank/shomeron, just East of Jerusalem. It’s a small company which has resurrected the lost art of dying the tzitzit (the fringes on the corners of one’s prayer shawl) blue. Most…
Read moreView from our apartment
View from our apartment Our apartment is on the 10th floor of a 14 story building. From the balcony you can see the rest of Ra’anana followed by Herzliya to one side and Kfar Saba to the other side. When the air is clear, between the high rises you can see the Mediterranean Sea. And…
Read moreUlpan
Ulpan Val found a company called Ulpan La’Inyan, which offers private lessons. The formal adult ulpan for Val and I doesn’t start until Sept 1. There is a summer session but its already halfway over. And there isn’t one specifically for the kids since they get it during school which also starts Sept 1. So…
Read morewater park on the Kinneret and haircuts
water park on the Kinneret and haircuts The first two and a half weeks we basically had been ignoring the kids while we ran around trying to get ourselves established. So now we are trying to make an effort to do some fun things with the kids, and to do some of the “touristy” things…
Read moreFirst trip to Jerusalem.
First trip to Jerusalem. Israeli expat friends of ours from Phoenix are visiting Israel now for a few weeks, which has been really nice because they’ve been able to help us with some of the tasks we’ve needed to accomplish. And the kids have had some friends to play with as well, since they haven’t…
Read moreWe have Israeli driver’s licenses!
We have Israeli driver’s licenses! The Israeli government made it easier last year to convert your US drivers license into an Israeli one. Basically, they changed it so that if you’ve had a US license uninterrupted for the past five years then you don’t need to repeat any driver’s tests or medical/eye exams. But since…
Read moreWe bought a car!
We bought a car! And if you’ll forgive my snobby Ameri-centric world outlook, yes, its a weird small euro-israeli car. Our first idea before we left the US was to bring our honda odyssey minivan with us. But after doing some research we decided that it would be easier and either cheaper or similar in…
Read morenext few days…
next few days… We spent the first friday night, they day after our arrival, just with our family in the apartment. We had a nice friday night dinner, and went to bed early and woke up early the next day. I went to shul myself because everyone else was too tired to get up that…
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