Family pictures

Here are some pictures from my visits to the family that I described in my previous posting. My sister-in-law Brinda is on the far left, at the restaurant where we had brunch in Jerusalem. The rest of the photos were taken in Kfar Malal with Tal, Natalie, Bar, Nofar, Or, Dan, Shai and Yaacov. The twins are about to turn 10 and Or is 4. They were having quite a pillow fight with their Uncle Dan. Enjoy the pictures! Tomorrow I am going to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem. It is a very powerful memorial. I am going with the mother of one of my housemates, who is visiting from Colorado. I will keep everyone posted!

Busy with family

I've had a nice couple of days. On Wednesday I took the bus to visit my nephews and their families along with my ex sister-in-law's ex-husband (how's that for screwed up?). The bus trip took about an hour and was very easy to find. When I got off the bus I had a little lunch at a local hummus bar which was delicious. I then decided that I was going to walk to their homes. A little about where they live. All 3 brothers (my nephews) live on a moshav (sp?) which is a farming community. They don't farm their land but they do have fruit bearing trees. There is a main house which their father lives in and then there are 3 smaller homes on the property and each son has their own home. They all live, literally, feet from each other but they make it work.

So, I got off the bus, had lunch, and proceeded down the road, stopping people along the way for directions. I got there in no time and was rather proud of myself! I also have added the words for straight ahead, left and right to my vocabulary. My plan was to plant myself at the moshav and visit with whomever happened to come by and it worked out very well. I first spent some time with Shai, the oldest of the 3 brothers, catching up on life. His son then came by with Shai's mother (my ex sister-in-law) and I got to see them. They wandered off and then Tal's twin 10 year old daughters came home from school. They speak about as much English as I speak Hebrew, but we managed. They seemed to think that since I could not speak Hebrew, I must be able to read it (which is entirely false) so it was pretty funny. Soon after the girls got home, their father Tal (the middle of the 3 brothers) came home and we visited. Tal's wife Natalie then arrived with their 4 year old son and we all sat around talking and looking at family photos. Yaacov (the father) stopped by and joined us and then I went over to his house and visited for a while. It was soon supper time and Dan (the youngest of the 3 came over). He was the nephew that got married in June. Unfortunately I could not see his wife, as she was away overnight with her office. In the end, all 8 of us sat down to Chinese food for dinner. I don't know what the Chinese are like in Israel but I can tell you that they don't cook as well as the Chinese in America. But, it was really nice being with the whole family. Incidently, it was ironic that I was spending the day being embraced by this family because it is actually the family of my ex-husband and it would have been my 31st wedding anniversary that day. It made me feel great on a day that could have been bad.

The next morning I said my goodbyes and headed back to Jerusalem. I had to be at work at 3:00. I spoke to Adam, Donna and Josh because it was Thanksgiving and it was a little sad that I could not be with the family, but G-d willing, I will be there next year. They are all well and happy.

Today, my ex sister-in-law (and the mother of the 3 brothers) picked me up and took me out for the day in Jerusalem. We had such a nice day! We first went to a restaurant for a typical Israeli breakfast (ie: we stuffed ourselves silly). The restaurant had a beautiful courtyard and the weather was perfact so we sat and talked for a long time. She then took me to the Jerusalem art museum, where the dead sea scrolls are housed. We spent several hours wandering through the museum. They recently added to the museum. They imported several synagogue sanctuaries from around the world which had fallen into disuse. There was a sanctuary from Italy, India and South America. They were beautiful and would have otherwise been demolished so it was really nice to see.

From there we had an interesting "slice of life" experience. I told Brinda that since she had a car, I wanted to pick up some bottled water. They sell 6 packs of 2 liter bottles of water. The first time I schlepped one back to the house, I thought I might have a heart attack- they are heavy! So we went into a grocery store to pick up a couple of things in the hours before Shabbat. What a zoo! The express line, was anything but. The completely frazzled cashier was dealing with a guy who refused to speak and was trying to buy something without a barcode on it. Then some kid spilled something and I thought she would cry. Anyway, we got through the line and I am now set with water for a while.

We ended our day at sunset in En Karem, a little shopping/dining area near my home, sitting outside and eating ice cream. It was perfect!

I am now home. It is Friday night and I will spend a quiet evening here and work tomorrow. It is interesting to see Shabbat begin in Jerusalem. It is like a blanket falls over the city. Everything gets very quiet and life seems to stop. Tomorrow night there will be an awakening.

Life is good and I am well. I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving.

Fashion

I remember being at my sister's house once when my niece Jillian was about 2 years old. Jillian insisted on dressing herself and she put on such a crazy outfit that I told my sister that if a 2 year old could escape from an insane asylum, they would look just like she did.

This is how most of the people dress in Jerusalem. Maybe the lighting is too poor in the morning and they are reaching into their closets in the dark. It makes my eyes water. The religious woman all wear head coverings either in the form of a scarf or a wig. This is fine and if done well it is really nice. Most woman wear long skirts with mismatched shirts and tennis sneakers. It is quite a sight. Ok. I've gotten that off my chest.

The bus is interesting here too. To me it seems that all socio-economic classes ride the bus and it is a great place to people watch. The other day I was riding into town and an old lady got on, thumping her cane down the aisle. She sat down next to me. She then proceeded to police the bus. First she yelled at a woman who put her foot on the seat. Then a man got on and his backpack brushed against her. She gave the backpack such a whollop (she was about 4 1/2 feet tall) that the man whirlled around and gave ME a dirty look. I guess he figured that she could not have hit it so hard. I just started laughing.

Then a young woman got on and she was holding her baby. An old man was sitting in a seat and reached out for the baby. Without blinking her eye, she handed over the baby. Everyone does seem to look out for each other and it feels very safe here. I know that is hard to believe given the news that usually comes out of this country but the people are really wonderful. They have tough exteriors but they are really kind.

My family is getting together for Thanksgiving this week and I am going to miss that terribly. It has always been one of my favorite holidays. Obviously there were no Pilgrims here so no holiday.

However, Hanukkah is coming and the children at the school within the hospital are learning about it. It is nice to see. I will be in Geneva for the start of Hanukkah so I don't imagine there will be much of a celebration there. A co-worker invited me for Hanukkah and my friend will be over here visiting her daughter during the holiday so all-in-all it should be a great week!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends. Please keep in touch!

God is playing a joke on me

I have always said that I was not given daughters because I do not handle drama well. So here I am in Israel on this big journey in life and living with 4 girls between the ages of 20 and 27. One of the girls has adopted a kitten from the street. There are MANY feral cats in this city. Two of the girls are deathly afraid of the cat and there are screams whenever the cat comes near them. In a house this small, it is a frequent event. It has set the stage for drama in other areas too. I am trying to stay away from it all for several reasons. I am too old for it and I like cats. It will be interesting to see how the whole thing plays out. One of the terrified girls (my roommate actually) is leaving the first week of December so that should be fine. She is a nice girl but I've been promised the room to myself which will be good. She is an Israeli who moved to Canada about 8 years ago. She is studying physical therapy and is doing a 6 week internship. Another girl (a nurse) is from Finland and she too will be leaving the beginning of December. This leaves the 2 main drama queens and me. One is the 20 year old screamer and the other is the 24 year old cat owner. I will keep you posted on life in the house. I am thinking it could make a good reality show.

I worked the past 4 days and decided to get out tonight so I took the bus to Ben Yehudah Street. It is a popular area. The street is closed to cars and there are many shops and restaurants. It was nice but I've decided that it is really too much of a tourist area- not for us locals!

I hope all is well in Blogland! I miss everyone!

Sue

Safed

Hi everyone. I have been pretty busy and have not had time to write so let me take a few moments and fill everyone in on what I have been doing.

I told Adam and Donna that I wanted to get them their wedding present in Israel. Josh reminded me that one of Adam's favorite places in Israel is Safed. Safed is a beautiful city located in northwest Israel not too far from the Lebanon border (but not too close either). It is a city built into the mountains and is known for it's artist colony as well as being a center for Jewish mysticism (Kabbalah). It is 2000 years old. History takes on a new meaning in Israel.

I had off for 2 consecutive days and decided that it would be a great opportunity to go visit the city and hopefully find them the perfect gift. I set off early on Monday morning. The buses don't run to Safed frequently so I decided to catch an early bus. I got to the central bus station in Jerusalem and found the correct bus stop after asking many people. Along the way I managed to buy a cup of "Americano" coffee which tasted wonderful. Israeli's all drink instant Nescafe, which to an American palate (at least mine) it is terrible so my morning coffee was a treat. I also finally succumbed to a pastry for the trip up. The bus trip itself was about 3 hours but they seem to save their nice buses for the long hauls so I was very comfortable.

I brought along a book that I am reading but decided that I could read anytime and vowed to instead take in the landscape. I am glad I did. The trip reminded me of driving through Pennsylvania and upstate New York in that we were looking down from the sides of mountains. What was different of course was the landscape which is very dry and dusty with little natural foliage. I did see some olive groves along the way. I also saw camels grazing (unlike PA and NY) and several miles after that a McDonald's- again, only in Israel. There were small towns in the distance but not much civilization.

When I arrived in Safed I spent about an hour trying to get my bearings. I stopped at a little restaurant advertising the best pizza in Israel (probably not) and wandered around. I was given the name and phone number of a B&B that Donna knew of so I called. I met the wife of the B&B in town and she took me to her place. Apparently she has moved but keeps the home as a B&B. I ended up being the only person in the place which was a bit uncomfortable at first. Because the city is 2000 years old, the streets are a labyringth of dead end alleys which I was trying to negoitiate. Once I decided not to get anxious about it I was fine. My room had a private veranda, a large beautiful bedroom and private bath. I sat outside and watched the sun set over the mountains and it was very peaceful. I wandered around the artist colony and got some ideas for a gift. I walked for miles. I walked in to one place where a famous artist housed his sculptures which are displayed around the world. I saw pictures of one of his sculptures that was recently purchased by Northwestern University in Boston. Of course I can't remember the name of the artist but I had a long conversation with his wife. She told me the story of how her family ended up in Safed. She was fun to talk to and I think she enjoyed having someone new to tell her stories to.

After shopping I stopped at a little sidewalk cafe and had a shwarma sandwich. I was sitting minding my own business and a man came and sat down at the table with me and offered me some of his salad (which I politely declined). He then proceeded to wave to all his friends that walked by or came in to the restaurant. I think he wanted to be seen with an American woman. I was giving him some kind of celebrity status in the little town- too weird. So after dinner I found my way back to my little house using landmarks such as the blue trash can, the number on the electric box and the courtyard with toys in it. I must have been tired because I slept 11 hours!

This morning I got up and out and bought Donna and Adam their gift (I really hope you like it) and a little something for Zach for Hanukkah and am having them shipped out. I walked part of the way out of the city because Safed has a famous cemetary but it was too far by foot and I didn't feel like getting a cab so I just saw it from above. I then went back to Jerusalem by bus, had some dinner in the old city and got home. I am starting to be able to navigate around here and I can pick out landmarks.

The only unfortunate thing about the trip was that I forgot to charge my camera so I could not take any pictures. It will just have to live in my mind. I hope everyone out in Blogland is well. I miss everyone but I am having wonderful experiences and I am doing fine! Please keep in touch!

Love,
Sue

Eating---and eating

The morning of my first day shift at Alyn, I got up and had breakfast as was my pattern at home. I then went to work getting the children up and off to school. At 10:00 the nurse then went into the kitchen of the bayit cham and began whipping up a chopped salad, eggs, yogurt and cheeses and we all sat down to eat. At 12:30 it was time for lunch so I ate again! There is a cafeteria in the hospital that is excellent. As far as I can tell it is free to all staff. The head of the kitchen has an elderly mother who is a Russian immigrant and she does all the cooking for the cafeteria. There are usually a few entrees such as beef, chicken and fish along with rice and potatoes, vegetables and salads. Dessert is usually a piece of fruit not some of the decadent desserts we are used to. Lunch, the big meal of the day is available in the cafeteria to volunteers whether they are working or not so I have been taking advantage of it since it is convenient, free and good. When I work in the evening the hospital sends a cart with salads, hummus (a staple in the diet here) and cheeses and yogurt so I am well fed. The only problem is Friday and Saturday when the cafeteria is closed so that is when I rely on what is given to the home.

Once a week on a Thursday several women from the house go to the cafeteria and get a cart of food. It is a strange process. I went yesterday with one of my housemates. We were given food that we deemed insufficient for the week. I don't think the cafeteria people had gotten the word that there were 5 of us in the house. So we asked for more and the cafeteria person simple went into the refrigerators and began pulling out more stuff. I don't know how they plan or account for food but they just gave it to us. We then wheeled the cart out of the hospital, across the street and into the house. We get cheeses, yogurt, milk, bread, lots of veggies and fruit and some hamburger meat. It's not gourmet but it's adequate.

There is a farmer's market in Jerusalem that I've passed by on the bus and it looks really wonderful. I am planning to check it out this week.

So I am well fed and I am happy. I am considering a trip next week so I will write about it soon. I hope everyone out there in blogland is well!

Only in Israel!

Last night I did a little exploring of my community. I walked about 1 block from my home and hopped on a bus which took me close to the center of the community where I am living. There is a town square and shops surrounding it so I wandered around and had a bite to eat. There are several small clothing and shoe stores- nothing exciting and the clothing here is very expensive so I think I will save my shekels. There is also a grocery store, pharmacy, hair salon, bank etc. There are several spice stores which is big around here. There are barrels filled with exotic spices. It smells so good! Too bad I am not cooking.

When I returned my roommate (sounds pretty funny doesn't it) asked me if I wanted to go to a street fair that she heard about. Party girl that I am, I said sure and turned around and got back onto the bus, this time into the area of the old city. Only in Israel would I sit on the bus directly across from a kid (I mean it- not even facial hair yet) holding an uzi and listening to his Ipod. We ended up in Jerusalem at a street festival organized by the German colony and serving Chinese food. It was a beautiful evening and it was fun to walk around and see the sights. There was food, crafts and entertainers.

So after getting up at 6:00, working 8 hours, exploring the community and then going to a festival this party girl crawled into bed at 11:45pm- EXHAUSTED! And no rest for the weary- I was up at 6:00 again today for work. I am going to (interpret- have to) rest tonight. Tomorrow people are coming to clean the common areas of the house where I am. I am going to try to bribe them to do my room too and then I go to the food pantry for the weekly stipend. It should be interesting. I also had a quick chat with the head nurse of the hospital today and she wants to meet with me to learn about what kind of work I did and if I could bring any of my expertise to them. It should be interesting and I will keep you posted!

I hope you are enjoying my adventures. I will try to start taking some pictures to share

Love to all,
Sue

More wedding pictures

Pictures will be coming slowly since my connect is slow but here are some more. I hope you enjoy!

Wedding pictures!

Exploring Jerusalem

Today I set out to explore the old city of Jerusalem. I walked about a block from my home and took a bus directly to the old city. It is very easy to get to from here. You can buy a 10 pass bus ticket so the fair is only about $1.50 each way. The buses run about every 15 minutes. When I got off the bus I walked several blocks to the walled city and went to the western wall- a very holy place for Jews. I sat there for about an hour taking in the sights and sounds. It was very nice and the weather was beautiful. In keeping with tradition, I gave money to the first begger I saw.

From there I went to the Arab market and walked around. Again, in keeping with tradition, I haggled on the prices for 3 nativity scenes. I had a nice lunch in a cafe at the wall and sat around leisurely eating and absorbing my surroundings. It was wonderful having no responsibility except to myself and to be able to move about on my own timetable in the heart of Jerusalem. I then left the walled portion of the city and found a post office to mail the nativity scenes. I began my search for the perfect wedding gift for Donna and Adam. I will continue searching in the days to come.

I finally feel like I am living in Israel- I exchanged my dollars for shekels and I am getting a feel for converting the money ($100 US= 360 shekels). I am working on my Hebrew and have picked up a few words but have a long way to go. The hospital offers free Hebrew lessons once per week and I took my first lesson yesterday. Some people have a flair for language----and then there is me. I will give myself a month with the lessons and Rosetta Stone and if I am still not getting it, I will probably hire a tutor to bang it into my brain. Supposedly it is an easy language to learn but I am skeptical.

Tomorrow is my first day shift on the job so I am curious as to how it will be. I know the children must get up and go to school.

I hope all is well at home. I had long chats with both of my sons today which was wonderful! They are doing well and I will try to post pictures from the wedding tonight. I can't believe it's only been a week since the wedding- what a crazy busy week I've had!

Love to all,
Sue

Working

I am settling in to my new surroundings and getting adjusted to the time change. Last night I slept for 11 hours straight. I had quite the week between the wedding and moving here and I think everything finally caught up with me. I spent a little time figuring out the electricity without blowing up the house and managed to charge my cell phone and computer. For those of you who were worried, my curling iron is working here!!

Today I met my sister-in-law and her boyfriend. They drove to Jerusalem and brought me a few things that I needed (decent pillow, hangers, clock etc). We went out for a nice lunch in a quaint little shopping district that is about a 5 minute car ride from here. It was nice to be out and about. They then brought me home because I had to report to work at 3:00.

A little more about work. As expected "work clothes" are scrubs but they are pretty loose about a dress code and I've been wearing jeans and a hospital jacket over my top. Some staff wear scrubs, some jeans and some a combination so I have not figured it out yet. The children are all chronically ill. As mentioned, they all spend at least part of the day on a respirator (some are on it continuously) and they all have trachs. All of the problems are due to disease or genetic issues. Two children have SMA which is a muscular dystrophy like illness and they are both on continuous respirators. One of these children is 2 years old and the other is a beautiful 5 year old. She is the one I have connected with the most because she is mentally intact although she cannot move at all or speak. She communicates by moving her eyes sideways for no and up and down for yes. She has a beautiful smile, rich brown eyes and she LOVES Dora. In my continuing efforts to discover Zach's breaking point, I have just asked him to search for Dora stickers and a Dora puzzle to bring to Geneva with him. I did a Winnie the Pooh puzzle with her tonight. I would hold up a puzzle piece and move it around the table until it was in the place she wanted it to go and we got it done. I will save my stories about the other children for another posting. I think the work will be rewarding and the staff is very nice. Tomorrow is my first "day" shift and it is my first day that is not Shabbat so it should be different for me. The children will be going to school and therapies.

I hope all is well there and you are enjoying my experiences so far.

Sue

Just arrived

I certainly have had an action packed week. My parents arrived last Thursday and we began the celebration of Adam and Donna's wedding. The rehearsal dinner was fun and the hotel did an excellent job with the catering. The wedding was amazing. Donna looked beautiful and Adam was beaming. I will post pictures soon.

I bummed around for 2 days after the wedding- with Zach in Philly and Adam and Josh in NY before boarding a plane for Israel. My flight was non-stop (good) but I was stuck in the middle of 2 people (bad) the whole way there and I have now been up for 30 hours straight. I am trying to force myself to stay awake a couple of more hours to get on Jerusalem time (6 hours ahead of the east coast) so if I start sounding incoherent it is because I am. Tal met me at the airport and schelpped my 100 pounds of stuff to the hospital. He also took me out to lunch before departing. I love him!

As I was walking into the hospital I was met by a woman who was walking out with a snake- thankfully in an aquarium. I assume she was entertaining the kids. The hospital where I will be volunteering is a rehab hospital for children. There was also a clown in the lobby. I haven't quite figured out the rehab aspects of it but that will come in time. They have a wing of the hospital called the "bayit haim" or warm home. It is for severely disabled children ranging in age from 3-18. They all have trachs and are in wheelchairs. Some also have feeding tubes. The concept is to make the wing a home for these children which is of particular interest for me since I have been involved in the "culture change" initiative at the nursing home where I work. This is where I will be working.

As for my accommodations, I am living across the street from the hospital so that will be very convenient. The home has 3 bedrooms for 5 woman and 1 bathroom so I am thinking there will be some challenges in that regard. There is a dining/living area and a kitchen. There is a patio out back which I hope to enjoy while the weather is warm (86 today). I am definitely going to be the den mother here. I have met all the girls and they are in the age range of my children. I will see firsthand what Josh experienced last year living in a house full of young girls but I hope to stay away from the drama. The all see lovely. One is from Canada, one from Finland and the rest from the US. They love working at Alyn so that is encouraging.

Tomorrow I hope to go out and explore the area a little before I report to work. I will be working at 2:00pm tomorrow and Saturday. Sunday I am working in the morning and I have a 2 hour Hebrew class provided by the hospital. I am jumping right in to my adventure.

Please post responses so I know I am reaching my friends out there. I hope all is well. I am fine and just beginning my adventure!

Leaving

Well it is all behind me now. The divorce and all it's disappointment is over. The house is sold, the new one bought, the tenant in place. My stuff is all in storage with a smattering of things among trusted friends (thank you Nancy, Joan, Zach and Pam). The cats are safe and well cared for despite Lizzie's misgivings about her new surroundings (thank you Ferne). I was honored as I left work. My car can be found at Carmax (should anyone be interested in it) and now I am officially homeless, unemployed and without a car.

The wedding was awesome and I am so blessed to have many friends and family willing to travel great distances to celebrate with me and my children. A piece of my heart broke with each goodbye I said but I feel confident that I am doing the right thing. I leave for Israel tomorrow and I am spending my final time here with Zach and my children. I will post pictures of the wedding soon and will post when I arrive in Israel and finally get to see what "room and board" actually looks like and hopefully lay aside the terror I feel about receiving "work clothes".

Thank you to all my friends and family that have gotten me this far in the journey. I love you all.