Taking a Bed for a Walk

When Hoodie started climbing out of her crib, we had no choice but to immediately move her into her own bed. The problem was that she shares a room with Shlomo and there was not enough room for two beds in the room. We temporarily set up the trundle from under Shlomo's bed, as her bed until the move.

There have been a number of times where we have been 2nd in line to obtaining a bed frame. We finally managed to find one with our names first on the list. The problem was it had been left outside and we had a very small window to in order to pick up before it was passed on to the next in line. 

We immediately drove the 240m to pick up the bed frame. Once it was in our possession the question became how to get it home. It would not fit in our van. Should we take it apart and risk having problems with the reassembly or should we walk it the 160m home.  What would a typical Israeli do?

There was a guy standing at the corner next to a big truck. So we asked him if there was room in his truck to move the bed. He said that it was full but he needed to call his boss. He wandered off, as we continued to discuss our options.

He came back and said that his boss had given him the approval to carry the bed to our place. He picked up the bed, put it on his back and asked where he was going.  He only accepted help, when he reached our building and some complicated maneuvering was required to get it around the stairwell.

When we suggested paying for his help, he was upset because he didn't want to have the mitzvah taken away from him.  He did accept the small bottle of water that we keep by the door for delivery people who have to schlep stuff up the flight of stairs to our apartment.

We are all grateful for his help, especially Hoodie.

A sort of but not exactly electrifying day...

We were away visiting friends in Modiin elite for shabbat. we had a great time, and by the time we got home and finished winding down last night it was well after midnight. We did not really even start thinking of going to bed until around 2. Now it may not necessarily sound like the worst thing in the world when you live in chutz la'aretz, but clearly you are forgetting that Sunday is a workday here. On top of not falling asleep right away, I was also up around 4 am becuase I was having really wierd dreams. First I dreamed that mom and abba had informed us they were having another baby and it's name was going to be Shiraq with a silent q that is pronounced George, then another one where I was friends with a lion that was stalking me.

Yes I know. I have wierd dreams. Moving on. Suffice it to say that when the alarm clock rand this morning I was seriously not interested in listening to it. Somehow I managed to drag myself out of bed, get dressed and get Channah down to her carpool for camp. I came back upstairs, turned on the fan as today was set to be another scortcher, and colapsed into my bed for what I hoped would be a really long sleep. The plan was to do a bunch of work and packing when I woke up.

About 45 minutes later I woke up broiling. The fans were off. Ok, no problem, I went to check the fuse box. Hmmm, everything was fine there. Yeah, long story short, the chashmal (electric) company had cut our power! Seems they had gotten the Sunday of our move slightly confused and shut it off at 9:30 this morning. Ok, they will turn it back on somewhere between 2 and 6 pm. did I mention there is a service charge for this?

So it was hot. I was exhausted and very, very cranky. None of my power tools will work (you try setting the stone on the *inside* of a ring with no power tools and no air conditioning! I lasted about 15 seconds before giving up). Packing with schvitz running down your back is incredibly unplesant. I shut the tris in our room, soaked my hair, and grabbed a book (our room seems to stay the coolest most of the time).

Channah got home from camp and let me tell you with no fan and no a/c she was no happier than I was. In fact, since she refused to wet her hair she was worse!

So I was trying to figure out what to do with a grouchy, sticky, hot five year old. I decided to let her go to the makolet to get a popsickle. I could not go anywhere as I was waiting for chashmal people to show up. So for the first time I sent her alone. I send her to the makolet just down the block that has no streets to cross. I gave her 20 shekel, told her ot get me a cold diet coke and pick a treat for herself.

She was SUPER excited! She went running out the door with her little money pouch. She came back about 10 seconds later. Wait, Ima- where is it again? What am I getting?

A glass a milk, a crust a bread and a stick ug buttah

Wait, scratch that :)

Ok so we went over the whole thing again. Seh was pretty sure she had it now. I reminded her to come right home after, an so she took her little pink polka dot pouch and off she went.

About 10 minutes later I hear the door slam.

"Hey Chan. How was it?" (expecting a bouncy and excited 5 year old).

"Terrible. They had no candy."

Wait, what? They have a whole wall of candy. And a huge thing of ice cream and popsicles.

"They only had donuts and I did not know if I was allowed a donut and I do not know how to say donut".

Oy. She had gone to the felafel place. I knew that becuase they had an add campaign running about selling American style donuts.

Ok, so we worked out that she did not see the makolet (next door to the felafel place and lots of stuff out in front of it) and so she went to the felafel place that had soda, got the diet coke, but then was upset there was no treat for her- jsut felafel and donuts! So I asked her if, now that she knew where she was supposed to go she wanted to try again. As both places had air conditioning and we still did not she was game.

But she wanted to know if she could have the donut. I told her sure. The next question "How do I say donut?". She was a little surprised to learn that "donut" would work just fine. she left and came back about 10 minutes later happy as a clam (are clams really that happy?) with my change and her donut.

We did osme sorting of old shoes and clothes and then the chashmal finally came back on so I got a bunch of work done before my piano student showed up. I have another ring seminar student hopefully starting tomorrow so I had some stuff to get ready for that as well. We actualy went out to dinner (mmmm aroma salads and ice chocolate milk!) and raced home so I could finish the work stuff before clients came to pick up their items.

So my day really only started at 4 o clock. I managed to get everything done that I wanted to that I had budgeted a whole day for. I did NOT get any normal packing done- but lets face it. Have I ever moved with enough notice for it to not always be last minute? I just did not want this move to think it was special...

In other news, Congrats Gasners on getting your stuff. does that mean we can come for shabbat now? Actually, b'h we are good for I think the next 2 weeks around the move- I love our friends and neighbours around here!

We're moving :)

Movers are booked for August 3rd, we have already confirmed with the painter just need to figure out if he is going in on the Friday or the Sunday (he will do this place after) and we are good to go. I now have 4 weeks to pack up and get ready to go. I am pretty sure we did it with having to go through 10 years of crap in last time last year.

The hunt might be coming ot a close

We think we might have found an apartment. We like it, the rent seems right, the location is good. We just need a confirmation of terms for the rental from the owner (We spoke to the property manager) and we will know if it is a for sure go ahead.

Random updates

Ok, so I have been sort of letting my online communications lag. A good part of that is because I have nothing really to say- it is amazing how nice it can be to have NOTHING worth reporting going on for a little while.

Be that as it may, there are a few things to bring up to date.

First off, the apartment hunt is on and we are planning to stay in RBS. Basically, it comes down to the fact that we are just too darn lazy to uproot ourselves a year after we did it the last time. Fortunately it looks like we will be able to do quite well and stay within 2 blocks of where we are now.

Before anyone gets all up in arms about the landlord being insane, we did sign a contract with him stating he could theoretically do what he is doing. We did not know that A) the world economy would TANK, or that B) he would be so hard-nosed about something that just does not happen here anymore. It was a good place to be for a year, we have learned something from our mistakes about the value of not tieing ANYTHING to a foriegn currency in even the losest sense of the word and about last minute changes being thrown in and being scared to walk away, but Baruch Hashem the whole thing could have ended up a lot worse.

Truthfully the whole tihng might be a bracha in disguise. Better to find out sooner rather than later/if anything were to have gone wrong) what sort of person we are dealing with. At least now we have plenty of time to find something. It is also nice that this time we are local and know a little bit more about what we want and where we want to be so we are not pressured into something we do not need/want.

We are going to look at something tonight that is right near here, a 3 bedroom with a large storage space (We are currently in a 4 bedroom with no storage space). It is a little cheaper than what we are currently in, and as it is slightly smaller the property tax will also be a little lower. I would likely put my studio into the storage space, and although the balcony is going to be smaller we should be just as functional as we are now.

We would likely move during the fist 2 weeks of August and then have 2 weeks to make sure this place is return-ready. I guess I do not get the help of the Bubbie Brigade in cleaning out this year... thankfully with not nearly as much stuff, and not having been here nearly as long, it is not going to be a difficult move. I think our plan is to hire someone for the piano, fridge, washing machine, couch and beds and do the rest of it pretty much on our own.

In other news I turned 30 last week. Yes I feel old. Yes I know I am making my family feel really old. Oh well. To be fair, although 29 got off to a rough start it turned out ot be one of the best years ever- hopefully 30 will be even better.

I was sooooo homesick leading up to my birthday. The combination of not being with my extended family and having people here basically all but do nothing made me really lonely. B'H Jason (with Lorien and Avri's help) managed to pull oversized bunnies out of hats and turned it into a really nice day.

I got home to find a huge thing of baloons on my doorstep from my parents that thrilled me to no end. (Yes of course I got teary- this is me we are talking about!).

In other news,

I got an award!

http://news.cnnbcvideo.com/?nid=Uo3z0MBj4cQOfqrFoM1.sDkwMzgxNTQ-&referred_by=16340819-_kvPkBx&p=moveon

On the move again...

Need to move.
Landlord raising the rent by 25-30% (will not know until the dollar closes the day of the new lease.

Not happy, but such is life. We found this place in roughly 3 weeks- hopefully we will have good luck again. We need to be out by September 1st (having painted and fixed nail holes for artwork when we go).

Yes this is totally legal here. Lizards have more rights than renters.

We are now officially

Drumroll please.

Tam pa ta da dum da tum

unpacked!

Yes ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, chez Swirsky is proud to announce the completion and total annihilation of our very last box!

Pictures and video to be posted after yom kippur.

Olly-olly-oxen-free

There are a number of things that, although most of our boxes are unpacked, we still can not find and we are starting to fear may have been mislaid in our hurried exit.

1. My favourite green winter skirt.
2. Jason's shabbat shoes and belt.
   
3. the nuts and bolts from Channah's crib. If/when we need to use it again we are going to need to write the manufacturer to get buy more. I am actually thinking of doing it sooner as I am worried the crib will go out of production. No whispers please.
4. A short, wide, white bookshelf.
5. My rain-boots (which will become a problem within the next couple of weeks and I think I am going to need to bite the bullet and buy a new pair. So long Eddie Bauer Ducks. It has been a great decade.
6. Our oven mitts
7. My favourite earrings (ok, really not such a huge problem since I made them the first time, and I can remake them- I just have not gotten around to it)
8. Our sanity
   

Unpacking

Lorien came over and we spent pretty much all morning unpacking. The vast majority of the kitchen stuff is away. The vast majority of the rest of stuff is not. The boxes were stacked so high and are so heavy we could not get them down. I am going to have ot get Jason to help me when he gets home.

Now that we have our couch and chair and book cases and everything else, it is finally starting to really feel more like "home". We were worried that the apartment would feel really cramped once we got all our stuff into it, but even with all the boxes it is still really light and airy. The "salon" has more than enough room for all our stuff, plus room to extend the table fully, and an open space for Channah to dance around.

Currently the mirpeset is a little cramped with other people's stuff, but once that is gone (later on this week and early next) there is a tonne of room out there. We plan to store our pessach stuff out there (we brought click tight rubbermaid containers with us and I have already repacked all the pessach stuff into them). We are hoping to buy a small shed for Jason's sports stuff. Even with that storage out there, and the required Israeli dying rack (we do not have a dryer) there is still loads of room for Channah's picnic table and tricycle. Those will need to move to one side for succot, but even then there should be more than enough space for our needs.

We have our guest room mostly set up. It is still full of all the packed boxes, but there is room in there to get to the bed (although we can not pull out the 2nd one as of yet) and to put things into the closet and drawers.

No progress has been made in the studio since last week. I juts keep piling in studio stuff, but none of it has been unpacked.

Other than the addition of a dresser, our room still looks pretty much the same. We were too tired last night to put all the clothing in piles in suitcases away so it is all still there. That is on this afternoon's "to do list".

The room that has changed most dramatically (other than the salon) is Channah's room. All her furniture is in there now (Except for her winnie the pooh toy baskets as we have not found them yet) and it looks like a real little princess room. We found her princess rocking chair, and put up the princess wall stickers we bought. Add the princess linens and the pink nightlight and you have a 4 year old's dream room!

Now we just need to unpack the toys and books and put them all where they go!

I have a couch!!!!!!!!!!!

Ladies, and gentlemen, children of all ages, the Family Swirsky proudly presents...

ALL THE SAME STUFF YOU SAW BACK IN TORONTO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, this morning we got the call that our lift had finally cleared customs (while being hit with a 1300nis fee for the 39nis they assessed us as owing for things taxable on our lift) and as soon as we paid the fees (which would go up by a few hundred nis overnight if we waited, but as we did not have the cash on us and the bank was already closed for the day at 11:30am so we had to pay a 4% penalty for putting it on a credit card).

Oh, did I mentioned that the "inspection" was just someone cutting into random boxes with a knife so things were scratched and torn? Yeah, 600 nis for an "inspection" that ruined a bunch of stuff... plus the daily storage fees for the whole time it was in port...

Anyhow, that is all behind us now, and WE HAVE STUFF!!!

To be clear. I now have way more stuff than I know what to do with. After living with so little for so long, I am not really sure why I need roughly 100 various sized boxes of stuff, but I am sure once I get it all unpacked (and I do plan to do so in way less time than it is taking some other people I know whom shall remain nameless to protect their identities) I will once again understand how I could not live without it all.

I have to say though that it is awesome to be sitting on a couch typing this with my feet up on a footstool looking across the room at my piano, and having a drink out of a real cup! I have already put away most of my shabbos dishes (except the dinner plates and bowls that I have not found yet) and a bunch of my milchiks stuff.

If pessach were to start tomorrow unexpectedly, I would be ready! I have my milk, my meat, my parve- Heck, I even have my seder plate and afikoman cover! I have no idea how the packers decided what was going into each box, but for some reason all my pessach stuff managed to appear from a million different boxes tonight! Seriously, anyone want to come for a seder tomorrow?

I have arranged for a handy man to come in next week to help hang artwork and the medicine cabinet and stuff like that. I am going to ask my landlord if I can have him fix our door handles as most of our doors have some closing issues.

Picutres to follow once we are unpacked and the boxes are out of the way.

The eagle has landed

Our lift is In Israel. It is currently in Chaifa, and will take roughly 2 days to get to Ashdod. from there is can be 3-4 days for customs, then they will think about getting it to us.

Probably another week at least.

On top of that, sitting through 4.5 hours a day of ulpan is killing me. I had trouble making it through a 45 minute Ivrit class in high school, and ulpan is like Ivrit on steroids. With no excuses to get out of doing your homework. I am seriously not sure how long I am going to last. Being put into the highest class is more intense than I can deal with on a 5 days a week basis.

I am having an "I want to go home to Toronto" sort of day :(

More Paper Work

This morning was the second full day of Ulpan. I cannot believe how much information there is to pack into 4.5 hours. After Ulpan I came home and quick lunch. I then took the bus into Jerusalem. Applying my learning from the morning I was able to ask in Hebrew if the bus was going to where I needed to go. I was able to understand his answer, that he went near where I wanted to go, which was good enough for me. I also was able to go into a store ask for a digital photo frame (frame digitali), ask for the price and understand the answer all completely in Hebrew.

I went to Jerusalem to deal with the customs paperwork for our lift. Normally, I would have had to travel to Ashdod. They have a sales person in Jerusalem that is able to handle the paperwork. This was the only time that it is beneficial to fill out government paperwork in English. The authorities get suspicious if the Hebrew is too good, plus it allows for 'mistakes' when translating information into the government computer. We are hoping I don't have to pay duties on my hockey equipment.

We met in the coffee shop next to Mahane Yehudah. Apparently it is one of the few places that has fresh coffee beans not destined for Turkish coffee. Speaking of Turkish coffee. During the meeting I found out that due to the port strike our the boat with our lift had been diverted to Turkey. Fortunatly, the port in Turkey refused to unload the shipment. It was not clear if it was becuase Turkey didn't want another countries shipment or the strike ended just in time. Either way we don't have to pay the port and storage fees in Turkey.

Afterwards, I walked down to the Kotel for mincha. There was a bride and groom having their pictures done, which was kind of neat. I took the bus back to the bus station. I bought a digital picture frame and headed home. I got on the 420 bus. I had noted earlier that there it was one of the buses that stops near our apartment. The bus was getting emptier and emptier and the bus approached the road to the Rama and turned back to the city centre. The bus driver finally asked me where I was going. He immediately threw me off the bus. I have no idea how the bus route is supposed to work.

Fortunately the taxi service is great. I was able to hail a cab after 3 minutes. It was the friendly cab driver ever. He gave me an opportunity to try to make conversation in Hebrew. There was a lot of welcomes and best of luck. He told me that he had been to Toronto once for two days. He had gone to Niagara Falls & Mi nature Village. He also told me how great the beer was. There was some brand with a Captain or General on the packaging.

Tomorrow will be a low key day getting ready for Shabbos.

Currently not in the mood to Hodu* L'ashem

My lift is in Turkey!

Due to a work to rule in the Ashdod port (where our stuff was supposed to land, and that, coincidentally ended within HOURS of them detouring our stuff) nearly everything that we own is currently in a giant metal box in Turkey. I am not amused.

I do not generally consider myself to be particularly materialistic, but we have hit the point where I am pretty much willing to trade my kingdom (such as it is) for a couch (obviously a trade like that would leave me with a pretty !@#$%^ couch, but it would still be a place to flop at the end of the night.




* The Hebrew word for Turkey, animal, meat or country is Hodu, from the same root as "Thanksgiving".

And more updates on today

Took back the desk and the night tables. They helped us figure out why it was not working. upgraded the desk to a more expensive one (although one we liked less) for free. Also through in a mirpeset mountable Israeli flag for our trouble. We also managed to find a badly damaged medecine cabinet/mirror that suits our purposes perfectly and got it for 2/3 of the SALE price. Thanks Lor!

We got a great surprise later on tonight when they called ot say they were coming with our dining room table and chairs. I can not even begin to tell you how much I love my table! The whole thing is esspresso coloured wood with cream upholstery on the seats. One person call pull it out in under 30 seconds. Love.

We got two new shower heads and a new toilet seat. All is good now in bathroom land.

I went grocery shopping. I did good. I even managed to figure out the whole shmitta thing (more on that later in the week).

Ok, pictures tomorrow, sleep now.

Le sigh.

Ok, so today is not exactly going as planned.

The phone and fridge came no problem, but in order to get our internet, we need to go get the modem from Jerusalem. Ok, maybe tomorrow. Or the next day. Or maybe the one after that.

On top of that, the two night tables we bought from Ace were clearly faulty. The screws were not long enough to go through the wood to where the needed to go. One of the under sink counters we bought was broken.

Then the beds showed up. The mattresses are great, but the frames are of incredibly poor quality. The bed frames are so poorly constructed JASON bows them out when he sits down so they are going to crack. We are BOTH sleeping on our mattresses on the floor until we come up with some sort of solution. Ok, ok, I knew I might have a problem and that would be something we would need to deal with, but no way should Jason have trouble.

We did not even bother trying to assemble the desk as it was the same make and line as the night tables. Lor and Jason just went ot return it all.

On the other hand, the fridge is small enough that we can fit a pantry into the kitchen. This means that I think I now have enough space in my kitchen for it to work out well.

Channah got home from her firrst day of school and LOVED it. More details when she decides it is time to share.

Day 1. Again.

I am currently sitting on the floor in my almost completely empty apartment using someone else's wireless internet connection. B'h we have met our neighbours and they seem lovely! They loaned us a bed for Channah (so she does not need to use an air mattress until our stuff gets here). They coincidentally are getting new beds and closets today so they had what to lend.

I will post pictures on our blog later on today.

Channah got off to her first day with no real trouble. She was nervous this morning ("I AM NOT GOING TO SCHOOL. I AM VERY, VERY ANGRY!!!"), but once we got there she went running in. She asked where to put her tik and all was good. Meeting the teacher and some of the kids in advance was a great idea and I am pretty sure it made today a whole lot easier.

We also made a big deal about how cool her new school is because now she can take peanut butter to school. For lunch today she has a peanut butter sandwich, bamba (a peanut flavoured cheesy sort of thing that all the kids devour here) and an apple with peanut butter. Oh, and the ever-present water bottle! We put it all into her little snoopy tik (thanks Suzanne. She loves it and takes it everywhere! It is the perfect size for day to day use).

So, on tap for today.

• Bed Delivery
• Fridge Delivery (And the other guy who has to come over ot plug it in or it is not covered by the warentee!)
• Night table, desk and other stuff from Ace delivery and then self assembly
• Figure out where the heck the air conditioner panel is. Not that we need it right now, but I am way to anal to have a remote and have no idea how it works.
• Get some basic groceries and palstic plates
• Put away whatever we can
• Find a table to borrow until we get ours
• Call to set up electricity account
• Remember to pick up Channah!
• Figure out how to move an aron that seems to be too tall to slide through the door and to heavy to lift sideways.
• Bring all our !@#%^ over from where we were staying
• Possibly buy and install new shower heads as the ones we have are pretty gross and leaky
• Possibly buy and install shelves into the holes in our kitchen wall that used to have some. Either that our buy a poster to cover the ugly anchors in the wall. We thought they were staying. Oh well.
  

New News

Well, we finally have an apartment in Israel.

Jason just got off the phone with the landlord and we can go to the apartment ot get the keys any time now. Yay!

Did I mention our keys are purple. Ok, not a big thing, but a fun thing none the less.

We spent all day today running and going and doing. I can not believe how much there is to do!

Today we got-

2 under sink cabinets - 1 for each of the bathrooms. I should explain that we sort of have 1 and 2 halves of a bathrooms in our new place. The "master bath" has a toilet, sink and open shower so the entire room gets soaked when you shower.Yes we have a shower curtain, but the water goes all over the floor and sprays pretty much all over the room. The "public" washroom is divided into two rooms. A tiny room contains a toilet and an itty bitty sink. A larger room next to it contains a bathtub and shower and a larger sink. A door at the other end leads to the laundry room and entrance to the mirpeset (balcony).

None of these rooms had any storage. We felt that toilet only room needed no real storage (but will likely be getting an on the wall shelf above the toilet for extra toilet paper and bathroom readers and what not). The other rooms clearly needed some storage for things like shampoo, toothbrushes, extra supplies, face towels, etc. Not having any cabinetry in a bathroom is a normal occurance in this country, so there are cabinets made of rubbermaid type plastic designed to fit around sink plumbing and are sold fairly inexpensively in hardware stores).

While we are on the topic of bathrooms, I also got two small garbage cans for the toilet bathrooms and toothbrush holders, toilet brushes, soap dishes, etc. Oh, and two night lights. One for each toilet room.

two phones (one for our regular phone line and one for our voip line.) - And while we are on that note, we still do not know when our phone lines will be set up. We called the guy who was supposed to arrange for it all, and he told us it was taken care of, and then we never heard from him again and he is not so hot at returning our calls. We called the phone company ourselves today and we know the order was palced, but it was for next week. We asked to have it changed to tomorrow, and they told us they would try. In other words, don't bet the farm on hearing from us any time in the next week. I really hope it goes faster than that becuase a week without internet might send me round the bend!

Night tables - we were having a hard time finding anytihng we liked in a reasonable price range. We found a set of desk drawers today. The right size, the right height. Decent colour. Excellent price. It is just funny becuase the top drawer of each set has a lock on it... I wonder what we should put in those...

A desk - Ok, so as we both have laptops we do not really need a desk per se, but we do need a permenant home for our files, our printer, regular office supplies, etc. We found a nice, cheap desk (actually, the one designed to go with our night tables) that has a hutch above it and a decent ammount of storage space and places for other electronics.

Lightbulbs - seems fairly self explanitory. I told you Israeli apartments did not include anything. Actually, I take that back. Want to know the funny thing? It includes mezuzzahs! Seriously, every door has a simple mezuzzah already in place. We will replace some of them with ones special to us, but theoretically they are already there. (Actually, as the halachot of putting up a mezzuzah are different in Eretz Yisrael and they need to go up the day you move in- even in a rental (no 30 day grace period like in chutz la'aretz)

Bubbie friendly objects - scrubbies, a broom, a squeezy (what Israeli's use instead of a mob), a dustpan, and other random bubbie toys :) Yes Bubbie, I even plan to use them once in a while. In this catagory

2 fans - when it is 37 degrees you run the air conditioner at night and save your sanity. When it is 32 you use fans and save your shekels.

a microwave - I do not think this one really needs an explanation.

a garbage can - every kitchen needs one. It is shiney!

a timer - for once we fianlly settle on which shabbat appliances we want ot buy (we are trying to decided between two different brands on hot plates, crock pots and shabbos kettles.

4 chairs - the precious tennants left us a nice sized table on the mirpeset. We are giong to move it inside and use it as our only piece of furniture in the main room until the nice one we ordered gets here and/or our lift shows up (whichever shows up first). We bought 4 plastic chairs to use with it that will end up on the mirpeset and being used in the succah.

So all the stuff is beign delivered tomorrow. No wait, I lie. That is what was supposed to happen. In the end they could not do that so my saviour Lor is picking the stuff up for me in the morning. Did I mention that I was in the store for almost 2 1/5 hours this afternoon?!?!?! Service here is not what it is back home... wait a minute... maybe it is... Ace is sort of like Canadian Tire now that I think about it.

Also being delivered tomorrow is our fridge, our mattresses and our beds. We hope.

Busy, busy, busy

Today is another nutty day in the lives of the Swirsky family. I am so glad that next week I only need to move into a new home, get all the STUFF a new home needs, start my kid in school, start Jay and I in Ulpan, and take delivery on a bunch of stuff we already bought... ahhhhhhh, a week to relax.... (snark).

Anyhow, this morning we ran out to the bank to pick up our bank cards and stuff from the bank in the ramah. We also ordered checks because I forgot to do that the first time. Those will be ready in a couple of days. No big deal.

Came home and baby sat for our hosts son for a while while our hosts were at a brit.

We dropped Jason at the train (he is going into Jerusalem for a drivers eye test and a job interview... not a lot of money, but it is part time and work from home for a legitimate company to supplement our sal klita (absorbtion grant) and whatever money I can make while I am setting up shop. It is only for 3 months so should carry us until when at least I have money coming in again) and off we went.

Lor and I went back to the ramah so that I could take out money to pay for the dining room set we ordered (pictures to follow when we get it. He gave us a discount for paying cash). We had some time to kill so we went linen shopping and I found sheets for our bed. They are nice and green and say "beautiful life" all over them. Ok, a little tacky, but they are fun and bright and I like them.

From there we went to buy the table and chairs and make sure our mattresses really were going to be delivered by September first. They will be. Maybe. We think. Hopefully.

Picked up the girls from camp and came home.

We were going to go with Chana B and her Bubbie to a drum concert, but when I got home I had an email that today was "Meet the Teacher Day" and Channah's new gan. So, today at 5:00 we are off to go see the gan and meet the gannenet (preschool teacher).

After that, Lor is taking my Channah home to give her dinner and put her to bed while Jason and I have a meeting to go to in Jerusalem. Since he is already there I am going to bus in and meet him and we will go the rest of the way together.

We are missing the local "games night", but we should be home in plenty of time to get an almost decent night's sleep before needing ot be up early to go to register for Ulpan in the morning.

Thursday Aug 21st Getting Stuff done

We have now been here for a whole week. Yesterday and today were devoted to finishing up the last of the major things in order start getting settled in our new home.

Our first stop yesterday was to the Absorbtion Ministry to deal with our Sal Klita. They needed our banking information in order to receive money from the government. They explained to us what our rights were and what things we needed to have taken care of. We had already dealt with most things on the list. As a surprise they were able to take care of our baby bonus as well as the rental assistance in a year from now. They gave us the documents we need to register for Ulpan. That is on next week's schedule.

We then went to the post office for health insurance for DW and Boo. We then went to the health insurance provider to sign up for the insurance. Next we went to the cell phone store in the plaza. They were still under renovation. We waited forever for a bus to the train station. We arrived to watch the train pull out of the station. We then waited an hour and half for the next train.

We finally got to the mall. There was a cell phone booth right at the entrance. Technically, we needed to go back to the bank to have a document signed before we could get our phones. Since we are New Olim (re: they really wanted to make the sale), they activated on the spot as long as we faxed the information the following day after going to the bank. We then went to the food court for Shwarma. It was really good. Back on the train to pack in for the day.

First thing this morning I went to the bank to deal with the cell phones. The bank told me to leave them the document and they would take care of the rest. We went to a furniture store out of someone's basement. The pricing and quality were great. We bought beds and will return next week to finalize the purchase of a dinning room table and chairs. We bought a fridge and beard trimmer before calling it a day.

Tommorrow we are going to Kiryat Sefer for Shabbos.

Monday August 18th The Last Few Days

It is time for a brief update on the last few days.

Friday: Took the bus into the old city. Visted the Kotel. When Boo touched the Kotel she thought about morah's message to think of her. We then got lost looking for a store that was supposed to be on the cardo. We then attempted to take a taxi. It got pulled over 20 ft later trying to leave through dung gate. The driver didn't have his proper papers and jumped out to the car to deal with the police. He had left the metre running. After 5 minutes we decided not to keep waiting and went to take a bus to the mall. We had KFC for lunch. (That was really good). They have a Pizza Hut next door that I intend to return to. We then took the train back to prepare for Shabbos.

Shabbos: We stayed in RBS half a block from our apartment. They made early Shabbos at 5:40. We met lots of nice people and got a tour of the neighbourhood. When testing out shuls a 5 minute walk is considered a negative for beeing too far. There are something like 18 shuls within a 3 minute walk. We are really happy with our choice of where to live. We can't wait to move in.

Sunday: Boo started camp. She had a great time. DW and I went to Tel Aviv by train, so she could check out some jewelry suppliers. We then went to Sbarros for lunch. After a miscommunicatio

n asking for directions we ended up taking the bus back to the home we are staying with.

Monday: Got a call from my SIL in the morning that Rogers had screwed up transferring my MIL e-mail account. Dealt with Rogers. Got a ride into RBS to pick up our apartment rental contract. We picked up Boo from camp early and took her to see the new apartment. She had her choice of room and picked the right one. We have a beautiful view from our balcony. We really like the apartment.

We took the bus to the NBN offices to pick up our Teudah Zhoot (We are now officially Israeli citizens). We got some information on different health care providers and banks. We asked one bank rep if they had a branch in RBS. He responded with "Are there banks in RBS?" There were cell phone reps that were even more useless. We will go into a store tommorrow instead. We then went to Centre 1. We had lunch/dinner at the restaurant in the middle. The food was really good with generous portions, plus the excitement of eating in the restaurant at the mall. We then bussed back to the place we are staying.

Some of the many things we are hoping to accomplish tommorrow include bank account and cell phones.