Yes, No, Yes

Yes the riots in Beit Shemesh are reasonably near us- in that "other" ramah.

No we are not in any sort of danger at all.

Yes we are affected in small ways like being unwilling to go to the post office and more importantly Channah can not go to camp as she would need to drive through the rock throwing jackasses to get there.

Random Messages

1) Good luck tomorrow Deb.

2) Mazel Tov Karen and Morrie! Wishing you long happy and healthy lives together and thanks for giving us a great excuse to start searching for a good travel agent (yes we know it might be a ways off but it never hurts to start looking! Let us know when you have a date so we can be really organized!)

3) Tzeitzchem leShalom and Bruchin Habaim to the newist family members on the aliya bandwagon! To the Gasners- coming to the end of our first year, I can tell you it is a huge and very worthwhile challaenge and we are thrilled to have you joining us on this side of the ocean. MAy the rest of our family be so smart!

4) To all the new readers we have picked up i nthe last few weeks- Hi!

Sickos

We are all sick. Coughing, sneezing, fever of 39*C (roughly 102*F for all you non-metric people), achey, cranky, miserable sick. Channah stayed home from camp yesterday and might today (and I guess swimming lessons but we will see how she is doing when she wakes up). Even Jason is taking a sick day (unheard of for him! When you have a job that pays you play on facebook and twitter, who needs sick days?). I am behind on my work. We are moving in 2 weeks and I have not started packing. This is not good.

Swimming Swimming

We started giving Channah swimming lessons this summer. Got her a gorgeous new bathing suit (thanks Deb) that was big enough to fit 4 of her into so we are using this hand-me -down one for now with it just so happens she LOVES so we are good in any case.

She is taking lessons in a backyard pool about a 15 minute walk away and I am really thrilled with the class and the teacher. 6 girls, roughly the same age, the teacher, and an assistant.

Anyhow, so we decided to take her swimming on Friday sio she could practice. There is a pool about a 15-20 minute drive from here. It is mixed swimming, but I wore a t shirt and a skirt made of swimsuit material. It actually worked out really well.

They had a full sized pool and and a little kiddie pool that we let her go into once she finished "practicing" with Jason and I. All in all it was a great day- except for the fact Jason got a nasty sunburn (which is funny as he was the only one of us wearing any sunscreen).

Since I can't post a pic in the Aunty Deborah Bathing suit, I will post one in the aunty Deborah terry dress that makes awesome throw on top of a bathing suit for the bus ride home after swimming lessons or ice cream after a family day at the pool dress.

Bet Shemesh's Newest Gemach

Gemachim are great because they allow people to share stuff they don't necessarily have a current use for. It also gives people an opportunity to stretch their finances by not needing to buy every single thing they need. This can be especially helpful for controlling the costs of weddings, bar mitzvahs and baby stuff related costs. It is the true meaning of Jews looking out for one another put into action.

The local phone directory "Shemeshphone" has more than 100 categories listed under Gemachim. The listings themselves take up 14 pages. Items covered include basics; clothing, food, loans, cell phones, chairs, baby stuff, chick peas, laundry detergent etc... They also include things that are a little more unusual; snake catching, roof rack, lost objects, emergency auto repair, table cloths, wigs, vacum cleaners, clocks, ladders, DVD players etc.... My favourite is still the השבת אבידה - ילדים Lost Children Gemach. We have 5 of them for all of Bet Shemesh.

I always thought the list was very thorough and complete. Then I saw this sign in our building.

Yes, the sign is for an ice cream gemach. Not only do I live in a city where ice cream is considered an essential service but it is being run out of the building we are moving to next month. I love this country!!!

Absorbing Israeli Culture

It has been approximately been a year since we finalized the decision to move to Israel. It is amazing how much Israeli culture we have absorbed in the last almost 11 months.

I noticed today that I have a tendency to put the noun before the adjective when writing sentences in English.

I was looking at some flyers for summer camps. One advertised that it was run by 13 year olds. Starting age for running a camp is usually 11. What caught me off gaurd was they each had 4 (yes four) years of experience.

As we have a spare guest room we had guests staying with us for a really fancy Auf Ruf one building down the hill. We were told they were a family of 4 until they showed up with 3 kids. Turned out she was within a week of her due date. When they did not return by 11:30pm we concluded they were not coming back. Then I went outside and heard that they were singing Shiur HaMalot. 20 minutes later I went outside and heard them finishing the end of benching. They returned 12:15 am.

I still have moments where I can't believe I actually live here and how much I love it.

Today I am an adult.

We just bought a washing machine. A new one. A front loader.

I am ridiculously super excited.

It is also the first time ever we did not just buy the absolute cheapest bare minimum we could get away with and actually got a decent machine that we wanted (within reason obviously). I feel like I am growing up too fast...

In other news, for sale. One washinng machine. contemporaries with my mom.