Happy Birthday Leora!

Our big news this week was that we successfully celebrated American birthday No.2. Leora turned 13 on Tuesday. I'm pleased to say that there were no extreme overnight transformations from sweet little girl to horrific teenager. You can draw your own conclusions about why that did not happen. (See this clip if you don't know what I'm talking about.

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Anyway, I suggested that Leora have some friends over on Shabbat afternoon in honour of her birthday, so she invited her entire grade of girls (around 40 of them) and instructed me to purchase a large supply of snacks for the occasion. She was also very clear that she wanted a home-made cake and not a lame Costco effort. I guess I should have been flattered.

In the end, some girls couldn't make it as they live far away, plus it was insanely cold here, but we had a decent turnout of about 25 excited American 12/13 year old girls. Maya and Eitan were strongly advised to evacuate the premises for the duration of the gathering. They didn't need to be told twice and were both taken in by some kindhearted friends. Avrom somehow managed to sleep through the entire thing - no surprises there - and Tzofia enjoyed being the group mascot and wowing her audience with her 5 year-old British accent, which is apparently even more entertaining than the rest of the family's British accents. Thankfully, all went well and the house was soon restored to its natural state of just one teenager and her (long-suffering) family.


Wish us luck!

More from Mercedes Street

As you all know, America suffered this weekend from yet another terrible school shooting. The whole country is obviously devastated. I'm not going to wax lyrical about it and I certainly don't want to get into politics, but the following one-minute clip was posted today on Facebook, and I think it is nicely put:




Toby is a very wise man.
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This week we were fortunate to have Avrom's brother here again, and he even stayed with us for Shabbat. As a result of his public shaming in my post of two weeks ago, he arrived this time with a very respectable selection of English chocolate, for which we were extremely grateful. I hope the American readers are not offended by our obsession with English chocolate and rejection of the American kind. I don't mean to be rude but Hershey's really is vile. Sorry, was that rude?

In case you were wondering, the kids had school over Chanuka, except for one day. They were not particularly impressed with this, since in Israel Chanuka is a school holiday. But the school lunches are still top-notch so they didn't complain too much about having to go. However, it meant that it was a bit less Chanuka-like here and they felt a little bit robbed. Plus the donuts weren't as good. I'm hoping Christmas will be better here than it is in Israel. Here's some photo evidence of the Gilbert American Chanuka experience on Mercedes Street, complete with extra Gilbert.

Don't be fooled by Leora and Eitan's apparent "hug" - I'm pretty sure she was trying to strangle him.

Today we took the kids ice skating. The three big kids had only ever been ice skating once before and for Tzofia this was her very first time. The rink is only a 5 minute drive from our house, which is most convenient. We were there for a couple of hours, during which time no limbs were broken and we got to see some real ice hockey (scary), some 10 year-old figure skaters (impressive) and some insanely skilled toddler skaters (weird). I'd like to be able to tick this off of our list of fun things to do in America, but I have a feeling there will be some pressure applied by the junior Gilberts to repeat the experience in the near future. However, I'm skeptical about how long our good fortune of no serious injuries will last, so I'm going to try my best to recommend bowling wherever possible.

That's all for now from us. Have a good week!

Happy Chanuka!!!!!

I'm sure you're all dying to hear how last week's parent-teacher conferences went...

Well, first I decided to bunk my 9 o'clock appointment and take all the kids to Avrom's cousin's son's brit instead. I realised that a family simcha was far more important than finding out how well Tzofia writes her name (very well, by the way). The brit was at Yeshiva University in Washington Heights and we managed to get there in time without getting lost or getting a parking ticket. Unfortunately, though not surprisingly, Avrom had to rush off straight after davening for a meeting and missed the breakfast, so the kids and I were left representing the Gilbert family at yet another of Avrom's family simchas. A little bit of Jewish geography revealed that Leora was sitting next to her Gemara teacher's wife and that Avrom's cousin (the baby's father) was at yeshiva with two of Eitan's teachers. Small Jewish world, even in America.

I spent the entire afternoon at the school and was pleased to hear that the 3 big kids are all doing well. (I'll get an in-depth update on Tzofia's academic progress on Wednesday.) Their accents are still wowing the masses and they've all settled in nicely. I was informed by several of Eitan's teachers that he is occasionally distracted by the iPad during class. Shocking!!! I mean, one couldn't possibly have anticipated that giving a bunch of 11 year-old boys a state-of-the-art, shiny toy might be detrimental to their ability to focus in class.

It's interesting to be here during the "holiday season". I'd always heard that Chanuka was a big deal in the US but I hadn't realized quite how big. The New York Times was full of "Happy Chanuka" wishes from all the big stores, and the shops around here are selling lots of insanely tacky stuff like Chanuka stockings and magen david pasta. It's pretty weird.

      


Today we were ultra-cultured and spent the afternoon with the kids and some friends from Raanana at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan. We warned the kids that it might not be quite as fun as an amusement park or ice skating but explained that it was an important cultural experience and that we wouldn't be interested in hearing any whinging. That glowing introduction clearly did a good job of lowering expectations and they all actually greatly enjoyed the afternoon. Tzofia was especially thrilled to come face to face with a real, live Jackson Pollock. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, then you could have a look here.)

We then rushed back to light Chanuka candles and have dinner at friends here in Teaneck, which was a really lovely end to the day. We definitely miss Roladin doughnuts, but the local ones are passable, and we managed to get through enough to fulfill our halachic obligation (according to all opinions).

I apologise to all my 7 readers for this post being a day later than usual. I think I might be moving to a regular Sunday night slot. Obviously this makes absolutely no difference to anyone at all, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

Have a great week!

Finally...some guests!!!

We've been here for over three months and are feeling well and truly settled. The honeymoon period is over and some minor things have started to go wrong. This week I had one kid home from school with a cold for 3 days, one kid at the dentist with toothache, the heating broke and the smoke alarms went crazy. This is really beginning to feel like home.

We also had our first proper house-guests this Shabbat and were finally able to put our 5-star guest quarters to use. A friend came to New York for a quick trip with her mum and chose Hotel Gilbert as their Shabbat holiday destination. (Actually, their first choice was not Hotel Gilbert, but the preferred family had suffered quite badly at the hands of Hurricane Sandy, and so our friend was forced to go with Plan B. We're not at all bitter about being the consolation prize.) We had lots of fun and enjoyed catching up with news from home. We especially appreciated the English chocolate delivery (chocolate orange and dairy milk - YUM!) and lots of other thoughtful gifts. We have also been joined tonight by Avrom's uncle who's in town for the brit of his new grandson (mazal tov Goldsteins!!!), and we're really pleased to be able to host him. He brought a huge box of Quality Street with him, so he is very welcome here any time. Our other foreign visitor this week was Avrom's brother who flew in from London for a couple of days for a work trip. He didn't come to Teaneck but Avrom and I joined him for dinner in Manhattan one evening. (It was my first time driving in Manhattan and I felt very grown-up and sophisticated.) Sadly, he came bearing absolutely no English chocolate whatsoever, so I'm not sure we'll be meeting up with him again.

In case anyone was wondering, Maya's birthday party last Sunday went very well. The Costco cake lived up to the hype and the girls seemed to really enjoy themselves. I think the best part for our kids was the fact that they didn't have to suffer the usual humiliation of their parents trying to talk Hebrew throughout the party. Parents are so embarrassing at the best of times, but when you have all your friends there and your dad keeps talking to them in the wrong gender it really is excruciating, apparently. Here's a pic of Maya and her cake (and Tzofi in the background playing Temple Run).

Tomorrow we have all the kids' parent-teacher conferences (that's a fancy American way of saying "parents' evening" or "aseifot horim"). I had to book my time-slots online 2 weeks ago, and only managed to get one slot at 9am and then all the rest spread out from 2 til 4pm, so I'll be spending a large amount of tomorrow on the highway driving to and from the school. I've heard that there are some ultra-competitive parents who sit at their computers and wait for the website to open at midnight of the appointed day, so they can book the best time slots. (Shockingly, Avrom will not be joining me as he has some "important work meetings" in Manhattan in the afternoon. Hmmm.) I am not all that worried about what the teachers have to say tomorrow. As far as I'm concerned, the kids have some nice friends, are enjoying their lunches and are in school for more than half the day - how bad could it be?

That's all for now. Enjoy your week and be in touch!!!