Hi everyone - I hope you all had a good week.
Our week started with the Yankees baseball game on Sunday, as I mentioned. As expected the game was shockingly dull - they almost never manage to actually hit the ball, so you are basically just sitting there watching two people play catch for hours on end. It is quite incredible that the sport is so popular. On the other hand the atmosphere at the stadium was great and we felt very authentically American. We purchased two huge foam fingers and everyone had a kosher hotdog, so it was a positive experience, but not necessarily one that needs to be repeated.
The rest of the week was fairly straightforward. Yom Kippur in Teaneck was uneventful - it turns out that not eating is pretty much the same wherever you do it. Shul was much the same as BKOA, only with a few more Israelis. We fondly reminisced about Yom Kippur in Raanana. In particular we greatly missed the liberating feeling of roaming up and down the middle of Shwartz Street, dodging crazed cyclists.
As this is a time of stock-taking, we have been giving some thought as to how things are going here in general. The kids are all very upbeat and are still enjoying school. Their British accents are still intact, though I shuddered last night when Eitan commented dismissively about an extra-curricular course in school for which "you don't get any extra credit" - a worrying step on the slippery slope towards American-ness. Tzofia is delighting in winding me up by pronouncing Hebrew words with a thick American accent, like "Rosh Hashana" and "shofar" and "etrog" with an "o" as in "pope" rather than in "pop", and the dreaded "loooolav".
In contrast, Leora is conducting a one-woman campaign against using American terminology in the house. She is particularly adamant that "maths" is plural, and I for one applaud her for that. Maya is embracing the American capitalist experience and appreciated the higher rates paid by the US tooth fairy this week. She's also learning all about the upcoming elections, the 50 US states and she has a weekly lesson on the stock market! There is something a bit disconcerting about hearing your eight-year old talk about share prices, ticker symbols and dividends.
In an uncharacteristic display of organization and forethought, we put up our sukkah on Sunday, a full week before it was strictly necessary. Well done Gilberts! Tomorrow we will decorate it and put up the s'chach. But we are sad to be missing our annual tradition of terrorizing the BKOA kids in our sukkah as part of the shul Sukkah Hop. However, Leora has invited a bunch of her friends here on Monday as part of their own unofficial sukkah hop, but she has made Avrom swear that he will not try to engage them in any of his games, and preferably not actually try to interact with them at all. Parents can be very embarrassing, you know.
Today marked a mini-breakthrough in our absorption here, as we hosted guests for a Shabbat meal for the first time. We were pleased to have two of Avrom's old school-friends and their families over, so we could all have a good whinge about America together. Unfortunately, one of them is married to an American so we had to tone it down a bit. It was a great thrill to use our fancy dining room for the first time, and I was relieved there weren't any hotplate-related disasters.
That's all our "news". Be in touch and tell us some news from your neck of the woods. Or write a comment down below. Meanwhile, we wish you all a fun Sukkot, with much palm branch waving and booth dwelling! חג שמח!
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Fruit, guitars and American stuff
Hi everyone,
I hope you all had a successful Rosh Hashana. We had a good time and did lots of davening, walking and eating. My feet, stomach and brain were all hurting by the end of it, so I'd say that counts as successful.
The rest of the week was taken up with school for the kids and work for the grown-ups, and obviously plenty of trips to various supermarkets. In my quest to find some decent fruit (ie fruit that does not taste of cardboard) I bought some nectarines, peaches and apples from some real, live Amish people. Right here, at the Teaneck Farmers' Market! Though according to their little signs, I actually bought "nectertines", "peeches" and "apple's". This is not a joke. I'm hoping that the Jewish day schools are better than the Amish ones. It was quite thrilling to meet real Amish people though.
Another exciting quest this week has been the search for a guitar for Eitan, who is having guitar lessons IN SCHOOL, as part of the curriculum! For some reason which I can't quite recall right now, we didn't bring either of our two working guitars with us from Israel. That would have been far too simple. Instead we brought an old guitar from London that had been lying around in my in-laws' attic in Golders Green. (Thanks, Uncle Benjy.) Of course, after shlepping it here we took it to the music shop and were told that it was a write-off - it would cost more to fix it than to buy a new one, which I could get for $80.
So in an attack of extreme thriftiness we posted a message on the Teaneck Shuls email list (like the Raananalist or EdgwareK but times 1,000) that we were seeking a guitar. And at 10pm on Wednesday night Avrom drove off to Englewood and picked up a second-hand guitar for the bargain price of $30. Unfortunately, on Thursday evening, as Eitan happily started to tune the guitar, one of the strings broke, at which point we realised we would need to replace all the strings. But it was very urgent that Eitan get hold of a guitar to practise on Thursday for his lesson on Friday so he phoned a friend and we zoomed over to the other side of Teaneck to borrow one. Eager to get going with it, Eitan immediately started tuning the guitar, only to find the little tuning knob in his hand, somehow severed from the instrument. Yes, Eitan managed to break two guitars in about half an hour. A record probably only ever beaten by rock stars in hotel rooms.
So, on Friday morning, I stood outside the music shop waiting for it to open, and begged the man to fix these two sad-looking instruments. Which he did, at a cost of $33, saving us the grand sum of $17 in total. I think I shall go out and buy myself a new frock! Hopefully that will be the last guitar-related incident for a while.
Living here is giving us a certain appreciation for how Americans must feel when they make aliya. Things are very different here. They must have lots of questions about their strange new lives in Israel. Like: Why are the roads so narrow? Why does the food come in such tiny packages? Why don't the shop assistants want to know how I'm doing today? What are those people doing with their legs? Walking - what's that? Where are all the coupons? Where's Costco? Who's going to drive my kids to school? And what is this delicious white stuff? Oh - it's bread. I never knew it could actually taste like food.
It must all be very disconcerting. It will certainly make us a little more understanding towards American olim in future. They have a lot to get used to.
And in our attempt to sample all things American we have tickets for tomorrow's baseball game (not "match", by the way - you sound VERY stupid if you call it that) at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx! We're quite excited even though the game is no doubt as boring as cricket. But as long as we come back with a huge foam finger I think we'll regard it as a successful outing.
Meanwhile, hope everyone has a good week, and a decent YK. And good luck to all the Israelis for the mammoth YK-to-Simchat-Torah school holiday. Thinking of you!
I hope you all had a successful Rosh Hashana. We had a good time and did lots of davening, walking and eating. My feet, stomach and brain were all hurting by the end of it, so I'd say that counts as successful.
The rest of the week was taken up with school for the kids and work for the grown-ups, and obviously plenty of trips to various supermarkets. In my quest to find some decent fruit (ie fruit that does not taste of cardboard) I bought some nectarines, peaches and apples from some real, live Amish people. Right here, at the Teaneck Farmers' Market! Though according to their little signs, I actually bought "nectertines", "peeches" and "apple's". This is not a joke. I'm hoping that the Jewish day schools are better than the Amish ones. It was quite thrilling to meet real Amish people though.
Another exciting quest this week has been the search for a guitar for Eitan, who is having guitar lessons IN SCHOOL, as part of the curriculum! For some reason which I can't quite recall right now, we didn't bring either of our two working guitars with us from Israel. That would have been far too simple. Instead we brought an old guitar from London that had been lying around in my in-laws' attic in Golders Green. (Thanks, Uncle Benjy.) Of course, after shlepping it here we took it to the music shop and were told that it was a write-off - it would cost more to fix it than to buy a new one, which I could get for $80.
So in an attack of extreme thriftiness we posted a message on the Teaneck Shuls email list (like the Raananalist or EdgwareK but times 1,000) that we were seeking a guitar. And at 10pm on Wednesday night Avrom drove off to Englewood and picked up a second-hand guitar for the bargain price of $30. Unfortunately, on Thursday evening, as Eitan happily started to tune the guitar, one of the strings broke, at which point we realised we would need to replace all the strings. But it was very urgent that Eitan get hold of a guitar to practise on Thursday for his lesson on Friday so he phoned a friend and we zoomed over to the other side of Teaneck to borrow one. Eager to get going with it, Eitan immediately started tuning the guitar, only to find the little tuning knob in his hand, somehow severed from the instrument. Yes, Eitan managed to break two guitars in about half an hour. A record probably only ever beaten by rock stars in hotel rooms.
So, on Friday morning, I stood outside the music shop waiting for it to open, and begged the man to fix these two sad-looking instruments. Which he did, at a cost of $33, saving us the grand sum of $17 in total. I think I shall go out and buy myself a new frock! Hopefully that will be the last guitar-related incident for a while.
Living here is giving us a certain appreciation for how Americans must feel when they make aliya. Things are very different here. They must have lots of questions about their strange new lives in Israel. Like: Why are the roads so narrow? Why does the food come in such tiny packages? Why don't the shop assistants want to know how I'm doing today? What are those people doing with their legs? Walking - what's that? Where are all the coupons? Where's Costco? Who's going to drive my kids to school? And what is this delicious white stuff? Oh - it's bread. I never knew it could actually taste like food.
It must all be very disconcerting. It will certainly make us a little more understanding towards American olim in future. They have a lot to get used to.
And in our attempt to sample all things American we have tickets for tomorrow's baseball game (not "match", by the way - you sound VERY stupid if you call it that) at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx! We're quite excited even though the game is no doubt as boring as cricket. But as long as we come back with a huge foam finger I think we'll regard it as a successful outing.
Meanwhile, hope everyone has a good week, and a decent YK. And good luck to all the Israelis for the mammoth YK-to-Simchat-Torah school holiday. Thinking of you!
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Shana Tova!
Hi everyone,
We've had a good week. No major mishaps or embarrassing moments.
The kids are still loving school, and the excitement and confusion surrounding their British accents show no signs of abating.
Over the last week I have attended 3 different "back-to-school" parent orientation evenings, one for Kindergarten, one for Elementary School and one for Middle School (grades 6-8). (They are all part of the same school - Yeshivat Noam.) Avrom managed to accompany me for half of one of those evenings, which is more than he has ever attended in Israel, so I'm not complaining.
All I can say is: WOW! Avrom and I have agreed that it is actually cruel to have brought our kids here and exposed them to this kind of education. What with the gorgeous buildings, lovely grounds, tiny class sizes, incredible facilities, young, motivated teachers, smart boards in every classroom, 300 iPads, a broad and enriching curriculum and delicious school lunches, it's going to be interesting watching them try to slip back into the Israeli school system when the time comes. On the flip side, in Israel they get to wear denim to school. So it's all swings and roundabouts really. For my part, I'm really missing the joy of making sandwiches every morning and my kids keeping me company all afternoon.
We've been here almost a month and the time has really flown by. We're really missing everyone in Israel - friends and family. I have a feeling much of my conversation is misinterpreted by the Americans I've been meeting. I'm sure they think I'm either very weird or very stupid. Or both. There are not many British people here so the locals haven't had as much practice at understanding Brits as our multicultural Ra'anana friends have. Never mind - they'll pick it up.
We're looking forward to a busy Rosh Hashana here in Teaneck, (davening at Rinat, for those of you to whom that means anything). We have been invited out for 3 of the 4 meals - which is great news since my family has been fairly unimpressed by my cooking in America so far. (And of course it will be good to meet more people.)
Meanwhile, we wish you all a shana tova - a happy and healthy year to you and all your lovely families. We look forward to next Rosh Hashana in the Social Hall at BKOA and Tashlich at the Clements household!
(By the way - some people have had trouble submitting comments, so please try just to see if the comment thing is working...Thanks!)
We've had a good week. No major mishaps or embarrassing moments.
The kids are still loving school, and the excitement and confusion surrounding their British accents show no signs of abating.
Over the last week I have attended 3 different "back-to-school" parent orientation evenings, one for Kindergarten, one for Elementary School and one for Middle School (grades 6-8). (They are all part of the same school - Yeshivat Noam.) Avrom managed to accompany me for half of one of those evenings, which is more than he has ever attended in Israel, so I'm not complaining.
All I can say is: WOW! Avrom and I have agreed that it is actually cruel to have brought our kids here and exposed them to this kind of education. What with the gorgeous buildings, lovely grounds, tiny class sizes, incredible facilities, young, motivated teachers, smart boards in every classroom, 300 iPads, a broad and enriching curriculum and delicious school lunches, it's going to be interesting watching them try to slip back into the Israeli school system when the time comes. On the flip side, in Israel they get to wear denim to school. So it's all swings and roundabouts really. For my part, I'm really missing the joy of making sandwiches every morning and my kids keeping me company all afternoon.
We've been here almost a month and the time has really flown by. We're really missing everyone in Israel - friends and family. I have a feeling much of my conversation is misinterpreted by the Americans I've been meeting. I'm sure they think I'm either very weird or very stupid. Or both. There are not many British people here so the locals haven't had as much practice at understanding Brits as our multicultural Ra'anana friends have. Never mind - they'll pick it up.
We're looking forward to a busy Rosh Hashana here in Teaneck, (davening at Rinat, for those of you to whom that means anything). We have been invited out for 3 of the 4 meals - which is great news since my family has been fairly unimpressed by my cooking in America so far. (And of course it will be good to meet more people.)
Meanwhile, we wish you all a shana tova - a happy and healthy year to you and all your lovely families. We look forward to next Rosh Hashana in the Social Hall at BKOA and Tashlich at the Clements household!
(By the way - some people have had trouble submitting comments, so please try just to see if the comment thing is working...Thanks!)
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Week Three - School Begins
I am pleased to report that, after two delightful months of summer fun, my 4 darling children started school on Wednesday. Obviously I have been very tearful over the last few days, missing them all terribly, but I'm going to be strong and put any more ideas of home-schooling to the back of my mind.
I'm very happy to say that so far school has gone very well indeed. When Eitan came home after the first day he said it wasn't really like school - it was more like camp!!! And he really meant it. I guess it can only be downhill from here. Luckily for the kids they are minor celebrities at school as everyone's very excited about their British accents. Neither their classmates nor their teachers can get their heads around the fact that they come from Israel but sound like they're British. It's really quite perplexing for them.
There has been a lot of excitement among the kids about riding on the adorable yellow school bus. Contrary to what most of us Brits think, these buses don't just exist on TV and many American schoolchildren actually go there and back to school on them every single day.
So it was with great anticipation that we walked down the road to the bus stop early on Wednesday morning. It is important to point out that this stop serves buses going to 3 different schools. Needless to say this expedition did not go exactly as planned, and despite being at the bus stop ten minutes early we cleverly managed to miss the bus. In our defence, the bus had the wrong school name and bus number on it, so we're still not quite sure how we were supposed to know. (The more perceptive among you may note the similarity between this episode and our inauspicious start to the trip at Heathrow. No need to dwell on that any further, thank you.)
As you can imagine the kids were none too pleased about this turn of events and were more than a tad angry at me. (It was obviously completely my fault.) I drove them to school and even got them there before the bus, but that didn't really help to allay their fury. They stomped into school rather less relaxed and excited than we had all hoped.
But here is a lovely photo I snapped of them in front of what turned out to be their bus, just before it drove away without them.
Thankfully the day picked up for them after that, and things have gone very smoothly so far. They're making friends and enjoying the incredible facilities at school. They are particularly impressed by the clean toilets. It doesn't take much...
In other news, we had a fun Labor Day weekend last weekend. Sunday was spent at a bizarre Renaissance Faire (jousting, archery, knife-throwing and all things "ye olde", and lots of grown adults dressed up as wenches, knights, Vikings and the like). And on Monday we all went boating on the lake at Central Park. Very wholesome.
That's pretty much all for now. I'll be starting work this week, which is great because I really can't face any more malls or supermarkets. It's weird though - with all the different shops I've been to, no cashiers have asked me what I intend to cook with a particular item, no-one has told me to save their place behind me in the queue, and no-one has "asked" to go in front of me because they "only have a few things, Toda Motek". It's going to take some getting used to.
Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, Avrom is in fact here with us and he's doing fine thank you.
Anyway, have a great week and be in touch.
I'm very happy to say that so far school has gone very well indeed. When Eitan came home after the first day he said it wasn't really like school - it was more like camp!!! And he really meant it. I guess it can only be downhill from here. Luckily for the kids they are minor celebrities at school as everyone's very excited about their British accents. Neither their classmates nor their teachers can get their heads around the fact that they come from Israel but sound like they're British. It's really quite perplexing for them.
There has been a lot of excitement among the kids about riding on the adorable yellow school bus. Contrary to what most of us Brits think, these buses don't just exist on TV and many American schoolchildren actually go there and back to school on them every single day.
So it was with great anticipation that we walked down the road to the bus stop early on Wednesday morning. It is important to point out that this stop serves buses going to 3 different schools. Needless to say this expedition did not go exactly as planned, and despite being at the bus stop ten minutes early we cleverly managed to miss the bus. In our defence, the bus had the wrong school name and bus number on it, so we're still not quite sure how we were supposed to know. (The more perceptive among you may note the similarity between this episode and our inauspicious start to the trip at Heathrow. No need to dwell on that any further, thank you.)
As you can imagine the kids were none too pleased about this turn of events and were more than a tad angry at me. (It was obviously completely my fault.) I drove them to school and even got them there before the bus, but that didn't really help to allay their fury. They stomped into school rather less relaxed and excited than we had all hoped.
But here is a lovely photo I snapped of them in front of what turned out to be their bus, just before it drove away without them.
Thankfully the day picked up for them after that, and things have gone very smoothly so far. They're making friends and enjoying the incredible facilities at school. They are particularly impressed by the clean toilets. It doesn't take much...
In other news, we had a fun Labor Day weekend last weekend. Sunday was spent at a bizarre Renaissance Faire (jousting, archery, knife-throwing and all things "ye olde", and lots of grown adults dressed up as wenches, knights, Vikings and the like). And on Monday we all went boating on the lake at Central Park. Very wholesome.
That's pretty much all for now. I'll be starting work this week, which is great because I really can't face any more malls or supermarkets. It's weird though - with all the different shops I've been to, no cashiers have asked me what I intend to cook with a particular item, no-one has told me to save their place behind me in the queue, and no-one has "asked" to go in front of me because they "only have a few things, Toda Motek". It's going to take some getting used to.
Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, Avrom is in fact here with us and he's doing fine thank you.
Anyway, have a great week and be in touch.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Week Two - More Shopping
Well, we just survived our second Shabbat in Teaneck. I'm pleased to report that it was significantly more successful than the first - no oven chips for dinner, no exploding appliances and the challah was fully defrosted. We were out for lunch, meeting some more locals (thanks to Mireet for the intro) and managed to get around all day without a map! Progress!
The week began on Sunday with phase two of our propaganda campaign - we took the kids to see the Cirque du Soleil Zarkana show at the Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan. (Note: We have been informed that the locals refer to Manhattan as "the city" but I don't think we're ready for that level of familiarity yet, so we're going to stick with Manhattan for now. Sorry if we sound very uncool.) Apparently the show has also been showing in Israel, but please don't mention that to our kids, because that would seriously decrease the "look-what-cool-things-there-are-to-do-in-America" factor. The show was great, if a little weird in parts, and afterwards we wandered around FAO Shwartz, the underground Apple store and the insane American Doll store, without spending any money at any of them! Woohoo! An almost completely successful day except for the parking ticket we found on our windscreen for parking too close to a fire hydrant. They really should tell you about that rule at immigration.
The rest of the week was spent completing all the kitchen and school shopping. We now have a fully equipped and tovelled kitchen and enough school supplies to last until everyone graduates from university. The kids have been kitted out with the requisite school clothes. Sadly denim is not part of the "dress code". Eitan is not impressed that he can't wear jeans and basically has to wear Shabbat clothes all week, whereas the girls are delighted to get lots of new skirts. Interesting to note these differences in perspective. I know everyone thinks shopping in America is lots of fun, but when you have to just buy kitchenware, unfamiliar food in huge packages and dozens of skirts and trousers in only navy and beige, with four bickering kids trailing you, it can get a little tedious. So I'm pleased that's more or less over.
On Friday we were taken to the Teaneck Swim Club by a very nice new friend here (thanks Fara and Tania for the intro). It's a bit like the Ra'anana Country Club but with diving boards and swingball and without any French people. It was a welcome break from malls and supermarkets and Cable TV. But luckily, bickering can be done anywhere, so no break from that.
School starts on Wednesday (can you see me smiling from there?) and the kids have each met a few classmates from the area. Quite a few of these have been new Israeli families. I think I've spoken more Hebrew over the last week than I did over the last 10 years in Ra'anana. The children are all looking forward to starting their new fancy American school. It's going to be weird having 20 kids in the class with 2 teachers, instead of 40 kids with 1 teacher. I wonder if they'll manage to concentrate without the background noise.
I've been doing a LOT of driving around over the last two weeks and am finally getting to know my way around. In fact I'm quite enjoying defying the GPS and going a different route from the one suggested. She doesn't like it though. I can sense it in her voice.
Over the last couple of weeks we've had a few important USA-related questions answered. First - American house numbers. Why are they so big? I have always imagined American residential streets to be several miles long with thousands of houses, hence addresses such as 1298 Mercedes St. But no! We are not the 1298th house on our street. We are approximately the 3rd house. ??????????? Makes no sense. The answer is that the number denotes the distance from a particular road in the neighbourhood. What's wrong with the normal way of counting? Maybe it's part of the supersized American culture - bigger is better. People here feel empowered by being house number 1298 rather than a measly 6.
Another thing is that American houses are made of wood. Didn't they learn anything from the 3 little pigs story? I'm keeping a close eye out for any wolves roaming the area.
Meanwhile, we are, of course, missing Ra'anana. In particular, our lovely shops on Sheshet Hayamim which we can walk to whenever we want or even send a child to if we forget something. And of course our friends! (In no particular order.)
Lastly, we now have a landline. [I have now removed the number since the blog is public but will happily send it by email to anyone who asks.] We are 7 hours behind Israel. Please bear this in mind if you plan to call!!! Would love to hear from you.
That's all for now - sorry it was so long - amazing how much you can say about a week of shopping.
Have a great week!
The week began on Sunday with phase two of our propaganda campaign - we took the kids to see the Cirque du Soleil Zarkana show at the Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan. (Note: We have been informed that the locals refer to Manhattan as "the city" but I don't think we're ready for that level of familiarity yet, so we're going to stick with Manhattan for now. Sorry if we sound very uncool.) Apparently the show has also been showing in Israel, but please don't mention that to our kids, because that would seriously decrease the "look-what-cool-things-there-are-to-do-in-America" factor. The show was great, if a little weird in parts, and afterwards we wandered around FAO Shwartz, the underground Apple store and the insane American Doll store, without spending any money at any of them! Woohoo! An almost completely successful day except for the parking ticket we found on our windscreen for parking too close to a fire hydrant. They really should tell you about that rule at immigration.
The rest of the week was spent completing all the kitchen and school shopping. We now have a fully equipped and tovelled kitchen and enough school supplies to last until everyone graduates from university. The kids have been kitted out with the requisite school clothes. Sadly denim is not part of the "dress code". Eitan is not impressed that he can't wear jeans and basically has to wear Shabbat clothes all week, whereas the girls are delighted to get lots of new skirts. Interesting to note these differences in perspective. I know everyone thinks shopping in America is lots of fun, but when you have to just buy kitchenware, unfamiliar food in huge packages and dozens of skirts and trousers in only navy and beige, with four bickering kids trailing you, it can get a little tedious. So I'm pleased that's more or less over.
On Friday we were taken to the Teaneck Swim Club by a very nice new friend here (thanks Fara and Tania for the intro). It's a bit like the Ra'anana Country Club but with diving boards and swingball and without any French people. It was a welcome break from malls and supermarkets and Cable TV. But luckily, bickering can be done anywhere, so no break from that.
School starts on Wednesday (can you see me smiling from there?) and the kids have each met a few classmates from the area. Quite a few of these have been new Israeli families. I think I've spoken more Hebrew over the last week than I did over the last 10 years in Ra'anana. The children are all looking forward to starting their new fancy American school. It's going to be weird having 20 kids in the class with 2 teachers, instead of 40 kids with 1 teacher. I wonder if they'll manage to concentrate without the background noise.
I've been doing a LOT of driving around over the last two weeks and am finally getting to know my way around. In fact I'm quite enjoying defying the GPS and going a different route from the one suggested. She doesn't like it though. I can sense it in her voice.
Over the last couple of weeks we've had a few important USA-related questions answered. First - American house numbers. Why are they so big? I have always imagined American residential streets to be several miles long with thousands of houses, hence addresses such as 1298 Mercedes St. But no! We are not the 1298th house on our street. We are approximately the 3rd house. ??????????? Makes no sense. The answer is that the number denotes the distance from a particular road in the neighbourhood. What's wrong with the normal way of counting? Maybe it's part of the supersized American culture - bigger is better. People here feel empowered by being house number 1298 rather than a measly 6.
Another thing is that American houses are made of wood. Didn't they learn anything from the 3 little pigs story? I'm keeping a close eye out for any wolves roaming the area.
Meanwhile, we are, of course, missing Ra'anana. In particular, our lovely shops on Sheshet Hayamim which we can walk to whenever we want or even send a child to if we forget something. And of course our friends! (In no particular order.)
Lastly, we now have a landline. [I have now removed the number since the blog is public but will happily send it by email to anyone who asks.] We are 7 hours behind Israel. Please bear this in mind if you plan to call!!! Would love to hear from you.
That's all for now - sorry it was so long - amazing how much you can say about a week of shopping.
Have a great week!
First Week Update
Hi everyone,
First - sorry if I haven't replied to your emails - I have read them all and really appreciate them, even the really sarcastic ones (you know who you are...). I just haven't had a chance to respond to everyone yet. Sorry!
So here's a quick update after the first week:
I'm pleased to report that only a few hours after I sent my last email, our lift arrived. Woohoo!!! The kids were happy to spread their junk around their rooms so that the place felt more like home and I was happy to put off buying pots and pans for another day due to all the unpacking.
Unfortunately, that night we went to Dougies restaurant for dinner and realized that the time had come to buy some kitchen stuff. Sorry Americans, but we did NOT like that place. What is that onion thing??? For the non-Americans, it was basically a huge onion that was opened up like a big flower, dipped in batter, and deep-fried. The waiter said it was good. He was wrong.
So the rest of the week was spent in shops like Target, Bed, Bath and Beyond and Glatt Express (ex-Teaneck people - stop salivating!!!) stocking up our kitchen with food and utensils. The first time I tried to prepare anything in the kitchen (a tuna sandwich) I had a massive shock when I opened the can of tuna and saw some white mush. I checked the tin and it told me I'd bought "Albacore", which to me sounded like a bird of prey and I was convinced I'd treifed up the kitchen on my first attempt. Thankfully, albacore is just a type of tuna which Americans like because it's white. What's wrong with brown tuna? No idea. But at least it wasn't albatross...
Meanwhile, as part of our "living-in-America-away-from-
Suffice it to say that Friday night dinner was not my finest hour - the hotplate exploded just before shabbat, the oven burnt the apple pie, I forgot to take the challah out of the freezer until just before shabbat (and there was no hotplate to defrost it on because it had exploded), there was no time to make roast potatoes, so we had to have oven chips with our take-out chicken, and the shabbat urn didn't work. Basically, a complete disaster - but we had fun and reminisced over the week's experiences. We decided that the most American things we'd bought this week were a whistling tea kettle (because they haven't discovered electric kettles here yet) and brown paper bags for sandwiches.
Luckily we didn't starve today as we were out for both lunch and seuda shlishit. It was great to meet some locals, plus another new Israeli family - they are actual Israelis, not fake ones like us. It was nice to hear some Hebrew spoken, other than in the aisles in Target.
Anyway, that's all for now. Tomorrow is SUNDAY, so we are all going OUT again!!! This is very odd. We are not used to such excitement and frivolity. It's also our 16th wedding anniversary tomorrow. Well done Avrom!
Oh, and Avrom says I should switch to a blog so that (a) people can comment, and (b) I stop littering your inboxes.
So, when I get round to it, I'll do that.
Have a great week and good luck to all the Israelis for the first week of school. Enjoy, and well done for not strangling any children over the last 8 weeks.
Hi from Mercedes Street
Hello from the US of A!!!!
Just thought I'd update everyone on the first steps of our trip.
We made it here in one piece though not without some excitement. Due
to some bizarre turn of events, despite arriving at Heathrow over 2
hours before our flight was due to leave, we somehow managed to miss
the time slot for going through security which we didn't know existed.
So our bags were unceremoniously removed from the plane and we had to
go and book ourselves on another flight. Luckily they got us on a
flight 5 hours later, so we had some quality time hanging out in
Terminal 5, doing plenty of window-shopping and eating large amounts
of English chocolate. I explained to the kids that this was all
beshert and that we had no doubt narrowly avoided either sitting next
to someone with bad personal hygiene or getting food poisoning from
the meal on the earlier flight. And Avrom was delighted since it meant
that he could get in an extra few hours of work before he had to pick
us up from the airport.
The flight went smoothly - tho we had seats right by the toilets,
sorry - bathrooms. I was once told that the only reason to sit near
the toilets on a plane is if you have diarrhoea or you'd like to meet
people with diarrhoea. Delightful....
Anyway, now we're happily enjoying our new place on Mercedes Street. I
arrived here to find that Avrom had been shopping at Costco for a few
essentials. I was met with a lifetime's supply of soap and Snapple
(iced tea). So, if nothing else, we will come back after our trip
fully hydrated and smelling lovely.
The house is fully furnished - we just need to kit out the kitchen.
Haven't done that yet, and I'm contemplating holding off for a few
weeks. What's the rush? Luckily, Teaneck is not short of kosher
eateries and having no cooking utensils is pretty convenient. We have
so far sampled "the Kosher Experience" on Cedar Lane. Actually, that's
the only road I know how to drive to so far, so we might be going back
there very soon.
Anyway - am now going off to a friend to borrow some towels since, not
surprisingly, our lift hasn't appeared yet, despite being promised for
last Friday, and we only have a few towels. Better put that Costco
soap to good use or the kids won't make any friends!
Be in touch!
the Gilberts
xxx
Just thought I'd update everyone on the first steps of our trip.
We made it here in one piece though not without some excitement. Due
to some bizarre turn of events, despite arriving at Heathrow over 2
hours before our flight was due to leave, we somehow managed to miss
the time slot for going through security which we didn't know existed.
So our bags were unceremoniously removed from the plane and we had to
go and book ourselves on another flight. Luckily they got us on a
flight 5 hours later, so we had some quality time hanging out in
Terminal 5, doing plenty of window-shopping and eating large amounts
of English chocolate. I explained to the kids that this was all
beshert and that we had no doubt narrowly avoided either sitting next
to someone with bad personal hygiene or getting food poisoning from
the meal on the earlier flight. And Avrom was delighted since it meant
that he could get in an extra few hours of work before he had to pick
us up from the airport.
The flight went smoothly - tho we had seats right by the toilets,
sorry - bathrooms. I was once told that the only reason to sit near
the toilets on a plane is if you have diarrhoea or you'd like to meet
people with diarrhoea. Delightful....
Anyway, now we're happily enjoying our new place on Mercedes Street. I
arrived here to find that Avrom had been shopping at Costco for a few
essentials. I was met with a lifetime's supply of soap and Snapple
(iced tea). So, if nothing else, we will come back after our trip
fully hydrated and smelling lovely.
The house is fully furnished - we just need to kit out the kitchen.
Haven't done that yet, and I'm contemplating holding off for a few
weeks. What's the rush? Luckily, Teaneck is not short of kosher
eateries and having no cooking utensils is pretty convenient. We have
so far sampled "the Kosher Experience" on Cedar Lane. Actually, that's
the only road I know how to drive to so far, so we might be going back
there very soon.
Anyway - am now going off to a friend to borrow some towels since, not
surprisingly, our lift hasn't appeared yet, despite being promised for
last Friday, and we only have a few towels. Better put that Costco
soap to good use or the kids won't make any friends!
Be in touch!
the Gilberts
xxx
Contact details
Hi
Apologies for the mass email.
Well, much as we've enjoyed roaming the streets of Raanana and London for the last month, the time has come for us to make our way to sunny Teaneck, New Jersey. I'll be flying today with the kids, and with a bit of luck Avrom will meet us at JFK. Fingers crossed.
I plan to keep you all posted about our adventures in the US by email. Please stay in touch and fill us in on all the important issues of the day in Israel, England and Australia.
[I've removed our contact details from here now that this blog is public - please email and I'll send them to you if you want to call or send us a present!]
Meanwhile, a big thank you to everyone who helped us get to this point - especially to those generous souls who provided interim housing. Your hospitality was greatly appreciated. We are looking forward to unpacking the suitcases and finally getting over to Target to buy lots of stuff we don't need.
Be in touch!
love Karen, Avrom, Leora, Eitan, Maya and Tzofia xxx
Apologies for the mass email.
Well, much as we've enjoyed roaming the streets of Raanana and London for the last month, the time has come for us to make our way to sunny Teaneck, New Jersey. I'll be flying today with the kids, and with a bit of luck Avrom will meet us at JFK. Fingers crossed.
I plan to keep you all posted about our adventures in the US by email. Please stay in touch and fill us in on all the important issues of the day in Israel, England and Australia.
[I've removed our contact details from here now that this blog is public - please email and I'll send them to you if you want to call or send us a present!]
Meanwhile, a big thank you to everyone who helped us get to this point - especially to those generous souls who provided interim housing. Your hospitality was greatly appreciated. We are looking forward to unpacking the suitcases and finally getting over to Target to buy lots of stuff we don't need.
Be in touch!
love Karen, Avrom, Leora, Eitan, Maya and Tzofia xxx
Welcome
Hi everyone
Welcome to my little blog. I'm not really a blogger, but I have been convinced that a blog is the best place to post my updates from Teaneck. So, first I'll post the 3 emails that I have already sent, for the sake of completeness, and then all future updates will only be posted here. Please feel free to comment, and to pass this on to anyone that I might have missed off my email list.
Looking forward to hearing from everyone!
Welcome to my little blog. I'm not really a blogger, but I have been convinced that a blog is the best place to post my updates from Teaneck. So, first I'll post the 3 emails that I have already sent, for the sake of completeness, and then all future updates will only be posted here. Please feel free to comment, and to pass this on to anyone that I might have missed off my email list.
Looking forward to hearing from everyone!
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