We are on our way home!
So sorry to spring that on everyone - I have been rather lax about updating you about our whereabouts recently. Apologies. The last few weeks have been a bit busy, with us leaving Teaneck, traveling around all sorts of wonderful places in the US, and a brief stop in London for a nice long, hot Tisha B'av without air conditioning, a couple of trips to Brent Cross and a lovely family wedding. I am, of course, writing this on the plane home. We are due to land in one hour. (Apologies to anyone we didn't manage to contact in London. Things were a little hectic. See you next time!)
Not surprisingly, leaving the US and heading home has been bittersweet. The year away has been a fantastic experience for the whole family, but we're all really looking forward to settling back into normal life in Israel, with our old friends and family, and of course our lovely, familiar, overpriced shops at the end of the road. The kids can't wait to return to the freedom of Ra'anana, though I suspect they're less excited about being sent down the road to buy potatoes every five minutes.
By the way, you might all get a bit of a shock when you see the kids, as they've all grown a lot (in height, not spiritually) this year. It must be the Dunkin Donuts. But don't worry - there are no detectable American accents.
As Leora mentioned in her update a few weeks ago, we are going to miss lots of great things that we enjoyed in America. The good news is that we know that any time we are feeling homesick for Teaneck, we can just head straight to BKOA (shul in Ra'anana) and we'll be transported right back!
Can't wait to catch up with everyone again back in Israel. If you are passing Sheshet Hayamim any time over the next few days (weeks?), feel free to drop by for a chat and a spot of unpacking! Our old Israeli cellphone numbers (mine and Avrom's) will be working immediately. The kids' numbers will not. No land line right now. No internet either. The kids will NOT be happy!
Thanks so much for reading our little updates. It's been fun!
See you soon!
Now that the six long legged people have left the tiny built- for- two people bungalow (without air conditioning as has already been pointed out) I can reflect. Although I had recently visited Les Gilberts in their very fancy Teaneck home I was just as excited and thrilled as Grandpa when we went to meet them at Heathrow.
ReplyDeleteThis euphoria lasted until we reached the Car Park and I realised that this much looked forward to visit was going to be a bit of a challenge. I was feeding during the Nine Days this lovely family who between them are allergic either to dairy or to fish or to eggs or to all three of them. Karen philosophical as always made light of this and suffice to say that thanks to The Kanteen, most of The Orlys and my newly acquired Pancake Maker we survived. I know that pancakes are no good for milk or egg allergies but hey a new gadget is a new gadget.................
During this particularly calm and relaxing visit Karen finally solved a question which has bothered her for over 13 years.
As soon as Leora was born her mummy faced the dilemma of how to differentiate between the two grandmas - over the years she has tried out many names which did not meet her exacting standards and then finally two days ago she had a
Eureka moment - one Grandma shall be called Crazy Grandma and one Grandma shall be called Normal Grandma (I shall leave it to all of you to decide which of us is which). It has always struck me as strange that Grandpas do not need specific definitions - ponder this at your leisure.
I believe Avrom was with us for a few days but since none of these days were Shabbat we were only able to elicit the odd grunt or finger signal during his non-stop phone calls. Still not sure what he does but he does do it a lot.
Lest you think I am uncaring and should be grieving over their depature I have developed a philosophical attitude to these things and anyway we shall be joining them in Israel on Thursday PG