Work has been going well. I love being back in the classroom and having a job, even if it is only part time. I like being a stay at home mom, but I have discovered that I am not great with this age. Its fun to play with babies, but day after day of the same things without adult conversation got to my head. I feel like I am a better mother when I get to spend part of the day out of the house...

Ulpan has also been going well, and I can really feel my hebrew improving. My teacher wants me to go back to Ulpan Aleph and take their graduating test, that way if I want to go back to get my teaching degree here in Israel I will have proof that I took ulpan. apparently you can only get this proof from the first level, not the second. It involves an oral exam and a long (3 hours or something) written test. My teacher and I went over a higher level test and it wasnt horribly difficult, so I think I can do it. The problem is that it means I have to go back to level one- which meets every night for three hours.

On the home front- we got invited to our first non-family wedding here in Israel, which I feel is some sort of milestone. It means that people actually think of us as friends! Its a given of course that its a friend of my husbands... but still, I feel that its one more step towards being 'really' israeli.

I missed the bloggers night in Modiin this week, after catching a cold over the weekend and deciding that it wasnt worth driving an hour to work, an hour back home, then 45 mins each way to the event. I was upset about it too, because I really wanted to meet some of these people who I read about so often. Blogging is funny in that way- you create these connections with people that exist only online.. yet they have helped me so much in this aliyah process, from trying to figure out the israeli bureaucracy, to what kinds of foods to buy in the supermarket. Hopefully next time I will be able to meet up

Ulpan

Yesterday in Ulpan we were handed a sheet of paper with a series of questions on it in hebrew. We had to rate each question from 1-5 (1 being disagree, 5 being agree), and then we discussed everyones results. I am the youngest in the class, and the newest immigrant (both by a lot of years....). There was one Argentinian who made aliyah in 2001, and the rest of the class is made up of russians, who made aliyah between 10 and 25 years ago. The ONLY question we all agreed on was "are Israelis nice drivers". The answer was a resounding 1 (NO WAY). but that was about the only thing we agreed on.

One question said חבל שבאתי לישראל- too bad that I came to Israel. I put a 3. Ive only been here 5 months, which I dont think is near enough time to make a decision. I miss my family like crazy, and no doubt things have been hard, but I do like living here. A Russian woman next to me said that she put a 3 because it used to be a 5, but after 10 years here she is getting used to it. The Argentinian teared up and said that she put a 1... she loves living here, it is the Jewish homeland and there is nothing better.

Another question said נעים מאוד לעמוד בתור בארץ- It is nice to stand in a line in Israel. We all know that Israel loves its "lines". I put a 2- I dont mind standing in lines really, but lines in Israel arent lines the way americans know it... they are crazy messes! Its all about parking yourself to block everyone else off, to make sure that no one is trying to cut in front of you and fighting your way to the front. I hate it. One woman put a 4- said that she likes to people watch in line, to talk to friends, see the world. The only male in our class, a Russian who is over 80, put a 5- he said that in Russia after the war he would have to get up at 2am to stand in like for 6 hours to get bread for his family... standing in like here is a piece of cake.

We also discussed if every Jew in the world should learn hebrew, if every Jew should live in Israel, if it is fun to learn Hebrew and if Jerusalem was the prettiest city on earth. It was a very interesting conversation, and I loved hearing from more seasoned olim... especially that my mixed feelings about aliyah are perfectly normal. ulpan is a real bonding experience, and I am glad I decided to take it

As I have mentioned before, I am taking the second level of ulpan. Since we dont live in a place with many immigrants (at least non-Ethiopian immigrants- they get their own ulpans), there are only two levels offered. Thus the class I am taking, while supposed to be "bet" is really a combination of all levels above the first. Since I never really finished the first level, this has made it hard to catch up. I feel comfortable in class, but I know that the level is really slightly above where I should be if I really want to learn.

Last night class was crazy. We had a sudden influx of new Russian students, and a lot of them took cell phone calls, talked in Russian and totally ignored the teacher. After class the teacher pulled me aside and said that she knew I really wanted to learn, but thought that I could use some help. She gave me a workbook to use that is more on my level, and told me to do the exercises, then come show her and ask when I need help. I was floored and so thankful! She wouldnt take any payment for the book (or the extra time, but since I also have Yehi I promised not to take up too much of her extra time). It was nice to know that she really wants to help me learn.

It is still strange to me to be learning a language to use in daily life. Most of my previous experience has been with Latin and ancient Greek, neither of which are actively spoken. I am trying to keep up my motivation without grades or tests, and keep reminding myself that my tests are really in every conversation I have with my mother-in-law or in the grocery store. I know that I rely on Yehi and his perfect hebrew too much, but right now I just dont have the vocabulary to go some places... I will have to get over that fear once Yehi gets back to work

My goal is to be relatively fluent in two years- at least to the point where I can understand the news and tv shows and most of daily life... I was told this is a possible goal- seems so far away, but I am working on it. Language is so important, and I hate feeling one step behind everyone else... or like people are talking to a first grader. Oh the joys of living in a foreign country...

Cultural Changes

After a two week break I am back to Ulpan... which always leads to some interesting moments. My teacher is a religious Jew, and the other women in the class are anti-religious. This last class we read an article on how modern society has helped religious women... especially Muslim women. It was an interesting discussion on when girls should be able to get married (the legal age in Israel is 17) or what the laws should be about divorce rights. The bigger question of course is whether or not a country's laws actually have any effect on religious laws, or if they should. For instance, although the legal age for a girl to get married is 17, some Muslims will marry before that age, but not report it to the authorities until after. Has this actually improved the status of that girl at all?

Its still hard to have these kinds of discussions in hebrew, when I can't properly explain my views. The good news is that the other students struggle almost as much as I do, so at least its an even playing ground. I have learned a lot, and I enjoy the classes.

In other news... tomorrow is Ami's henna. Should be interesting, though its going to be a really long day. His fiance is from the VERY north of Israel, which is something like a 3 hour drive. Due to circumstances beyond my control we are going up there and coming back in the same day... Im excited for the event, but not so excited about the trip with a baby. Heres hoping that she sleeps most of the way! The wedding is next week, and closer to us, and that will be exciting. My mom bought the baby a BEAUTIFUL dress, and I am excited about the chance to dress her up... its all about the little things.

Yom Kippur

In the five years since I started coming to Israel, I have had the pleasure of experiencing every Jewish holiday here in the holy land, with the exception of two- Lag Baomer and Yom Kippur. When I was studying abroad here, I had an amazing Rosh Hashana in Jerusalem, but flew to meet my parents in Germany for Yom Kippur, only to return in the middle days of sukkot.

I dont like fasting, in fact I hate it. Last year I was pregnant... I got very sick and ended up eating and drinking in small amounts before the fast was over. This year I am breastfeeding, but only about half of the time, so I am hoping it will be easier. Everyone always tells stories of how amazing Yom Kippur is here, and I am excited about it. Its also exciting that for the first time I dont have to argue about taking a day off so close to the start of the school year- here it is a national holiday!

In Ulpan this week we talked about Yom Kippur. Sadly enough, I was the only person in the class (besides the teacher) who knew what Kol Nidre was. Tonight we will hearKol Nidre, which I have always thought is the most moving prayer. Until Monday at midnight we will dwell upon our transgressions in the last year, and how we can better ourselves in the year to come. I hope those of you fasting have an easy fast and

גמר חתימה טובה

things have been going pretty steadily. Ulpan has been a lot of fun, and part of me likes being a student again. I know there is a lot of work ahead of me as far as learning hebrew, but I like the challenge. I have been getting a newspaper once a week called Shaar Lamatchil, which has all the news in hebrew, but written with vowels and in relatively easy grammar and vocab.

The holidays start this week, and it will be my first Yom Kippur ever in Israel, and my first time having my own sukkah to build. I am sad to not be able to spend the holidays with my family, especially since Rosh Hashana also happens to fall on my brothers birthday. At least we have Yehis family here to celebrate with, and most of his siblings will be around.

One of Yehi's brothers (the best man at our wedding) is getting married after sukkot, and things have already been gearing up to get ready for the henna and the wedding. They have been planning decorations, food, outfits and everything else one could possibly think of. My mother-in-law has been teaching me how to make Moroccan style cookies, so I can help her with the preparations. I enjoy baking, so it has been fun. We will be baking for about 600 people for BOTH the wedding and the henna, so there will be a lot of work. at least it enjoyable, and helps me practice my hebrew

adventures in ulpan

so back in 2005, when my husband and I first met, I had started ulpan Aleph in beer sheva. I did about 5 months of ulpan aleph, enough for me to be able to go to a grocery and get out with something relatively close to what i was looking for. since we started dating i have tried many forms of hebrew lessons- i did a year online (at their level C), a year at the reform temple near my house (at their level D, which was wayyyy too high for me) and many many tapes.

although my husband might not always admit it, my hebrew has gotten better. the problem is that my classes levels always skipped around... so while i can get by in present tense, and pretty well in past tense, the future still confuses me to no end.

all this made signing up for my free hebrew lessons here kind of confusing. the city we live in only offers two levels as i said before- aleph and bet. i know i dont need the beginning of aleph, but im sure i could learn things. it meets everyday. the bet meets only twice a week, and really is a mixed class of all sorts of levels higher than aleph.

i went yesterday to sit in on the bet class. there are about 12 people in the class, all russian and all over 60. i am also the only new immigrant. the class was challenging- i understood everything that was said, but my speaking and reading are severely lacking. for better or worse the whole class was in hebrew, only punctuated by brief explanations in russian, which dont really help me any. i talked to the teacher after, and she thinks i should stick with the bet. part of me wants the challenge, and part of me thinks i should go back and learn future before i attempt this level. since those seem to be the only two options, and Yehi and my teacher have offered to help me learn the future and my buildings, i am sticking with bet. wish me luck, im going to need it!

taking care of... stuff

this whole week has just been a mess of running from office to office to office. after we FINALLY got our id cards, we needed to go to the ministry of absorption to try to figure out what our status is as immigrants. i am an immigrant, maya is something like a returning resident... but for some reason no one can figure out what yehis status is! we filled out some paperwork, and were told that in about 3 months they would tell us. the only thing it would change would be how much help from the government we would get, so we can wait.

i also had to get approved for ulpan, the hebrew classes. turns out there is a first level (aleph) class starting next week right here in KG! the bad news is i dont really need level one, i need level two (bet), and the aleph class is a night class. i really need a bet class in the morning. they dont yet have enough people to open up a bet class, so they told me to come in next week to the first aleph class and see how it goes... i dont really want to sit through a whole ulpan aleph again, but hopefully they will be opening up a new class soon.

today we also had our first visit to the kupat cholim, or the doctors! we wanted to take maya in, simply to meet her doctor, hand over her information and just do a brief well check. all went smoothly, though the doctor did try to guilt me into not switching to formula. we had started because i was going to start ulpan in the day while maya was at daycare... but if ulpan is at night we will have to see i guess.

emotionally its been a challenging couple days. i enjoy having so much to do, but when i get a chance to stop and think... well its been hard. i miss my family, and i miss them being able to see maya growing and changing, even in the last week. lots of skype and phone calls help, but of course its still not the same...

to cheet me up we are having a welcome home party tonight, which has apparently turned into a massive bbq, israeli style. if you want to see pictures i will post them up on facebook... love you all, miss you all too!