My Home in Israel

Yeah, I’ll be there tonight…I’m very cynical about it, but not in the way that was publicized in Haaretz. I’m just a big cynic regarding one of the sponsors. You can check Sarah’s blog to see what I think of them.

For work I had to scan images from a film that we have in our collection. I fell in love with the film…the colors were beautiful, the girls in the film were human sized (and not toothpick models), and their dresses are coming back in style.

Go see for yourself how Three Girls filmed in 1958 feels to you. The three girls in the film are now 66 years old. I’d love to meet them. (I’d also love to be transported back to that time period in Israel.)

We had a very nice vacation, and I highly recommend what we did! We spent three nights (Thursday through Sunday) at the Belmont Hotel at Kibbutz Tzuba. By staying at the hotel, you get free entrance to Kiftzuba and the pool.

Kifzuba is great for kids 2+, but even our little one enjoyed the play area which they have for babies. She was able to crawl around with other kids, be tossed (gently, I assure you) in the ball pit, and even go on some of the bouncing castle type toys. (She also went on the train, but I don’t think she liked it so much.) The bigger girls went on the bumper cars, bumper boats, slides, inflatable houses etc.

The down-side of Tzuba, is that it isn’t a religious kibbutz. They do have kosher food, but there aren’t activities appropriate for Shabbat. I took the girls for a hike up Tel Tzuba, which is ruins up on a hill. It was outside the Eruv, so we couldn’t carry water, but we did enjoy the walk. On the way, we saw a man picking Sabra fruits for his family. He used a long piece of wood, with a tin can on the end to pluck them from the cactus plants. We asked him a bit about how he knew they were ripe etc.

At the top of the Tel, you can walk in and out of the buildings, and even on the roof. We saw some lizards, and beautiful views. The little one was terrified to enter the buildings, but I enjoyed it. Both girls also made friends with the other kids staying at the hotel, and engaged in some games of Tag and “Dag Maluach” (It is similar to red light green light)

We ate most of our meals on the Kibbutz, but we did do take out (delivery) from Burgers Bar. That was a great idea provided by some helpful person on Janglo.

We managed to get to and from the kibbutz with taxis/van service. I’d say it would have been better if we had our own transportation, but on the whole everyone had a good time.

During the past few days, the news has been filled with information about the fighting between Russia and Georgia. If you live in the US, or other places in the world, you might be reading analysis of why it happened, or numbers of people injured, but here in Israel, from the beginning you were hearing about how to get our people out, and granting immigration status to anyone from the region who is Jewish.

This is one of those times that I’m proud to be an Israeli. (We won’t discuss my feelings on the current government.)

In other news, I will be attending the JBloggers Convention in Jerusalem. Based on my lack of writing, or even theme to my writing, either this will inspire me, or get me out of the game all together.

I also just bought a Flip Mino, so maybe you’ll start seeing videos of my cuties!!!

Also, the family is here, and we are going away for Shabbat…we’ll be at Kiftzuba (not on Shabbat, but on both sides of it…), so no blogging for a few days. Be well all…

is due to a complete Facebook addiction….

But in other news, I do spend quite a bit of time reading some awesome blogs.

Here are some of my new favorites.

Cake Wrecks showing how some people should not be allowed do design cakes.

Just Bento a site about making bento box lunches, which is a great way to take control of what you eat at lunch–as opposed to eating out or just eating lots of PB & J.

Curbly housewares and crafty apartment type ideas.

Green Prophet nice Israeli eco-blog, although sometimes I feel that their ideas need more local flavor (in Israel).

Also on another note…today we had a work trip, and while we were there I was standing next to the (7 month pregnant ) secretary, and the woman giving the tour made a comment “oh, I see two of you are pregnant”…I have to say I was SEETHING. I weigh less than I did before I got pregnant with the baby…now almost 8 months old. I also think I look pretty darn good for someone who graduated from high school in 1986! Anyway, I didn’t say anything until the THIRD time she offered me a seat. I sort of spit out “I’m not pregnant, and I don’t want to sit down.” I will not learn tact until those around me learn it!

Just to start, let me say we are all fine. While the most recent terror attack was very close to where we live our lives, we weren’t in the area at the time, and were not physically impacted by the events.

I do want to state, though that the last two attacks, have been perpetrated by “neighbors” of mine. Every day I hear the school bell from Sur Baher, and I can see their fireworks from my porch. To walk there would take me no more than a half hour, and the reason it is so long is that I would need to go down in a valley and back up the hill.

Jabel Mukaber is the next village over from Sur Baher. The guys who installed the security bars in my previous apartment were from there. The employees of my local supermarket are from there.

Should we destroy the homes of these terrorists? Is that really a deterrent? What makes someone who is gainfully employed, as both of them were, decide that it is time to “take matters into their own hands?”

The longer I live in Israel, the further to the right my politics move. When someone said that the number of dead is higher on the foreign sites because they include the terrorist, I commented that these terrorists aren’t human.

Do I want a security fence between them and us? These people are Israeli citizens…with the same rights I have. Do I have any answers…No. We just need to keep living our lives and hope we will eventually get a government that cares about us and not their own wallets and status.

Note: Although this may mean nothing, Sur Baher is very quiet this evening. No fireworks (which are very very common in the summer) or other noises.

I’m a big fan of the Hoopoe as the national bird, but this just makes it all the better.

Devra and I met doing the tour of the hospital to prepare for the birth of her youngest daughter, and my middle one. Please send some prayers/good thoughts, whatever you do forChayim Zvi Ariel

May everything go well today.

Today was the little girl’s birthday party at gan (childcare). Surprisingly enough, it was lots of fun for both her and us. They sang songs, played some cute games, and she enjoyed being the center of attention.

My favorite part of the party was when they sang the song “Meachorie HaHar” (Behind the hill). In the song they sing “one, two, three” (in Hebrew). The teacher got all the kids who spoke different languages (English, Hebrew, French, Danish, German, Arabic) and each one of them said it in their language. It was beautiful. (Note, the teacher taught them the Arabic, nobody in that class speaks Arabic)

This is my second baby sick day. The baby had a fever on Thursday and Friday, and today she has a rash. The doctor says it is probably something viral. While there I mentioned that she has been sticking her whole hand in her mouth…after a little investigation, it appears that my almost 5 month old (who weighs nearly 8 kilo) has a tooth!

So I guess we will the good with the bad.