1. Efrat - Efrat is located in Gush Eztion but is considered its own municipality. It has its own city government (which I had the rare opportunity to meet during one of their emergency drills) and is home to around 8,000 plus families. We rented a 5 bedroom apartment with gorgeous views of the Judea"n Hills. For some reason we are only using two rooms since all four kids are insisting in sleeping in one bed. (Yitzi went to sleep later so he is not in this picture)
The people here in Efrat are very sweet, caring and outgoing. We have been overwhelmed with calls to the house every day with offers for help of every kind and are currently booked for all Shabbat meals for the next month straight. The kids continue to enjoy the "Israel Kids Zone", as I call the entire country, because Israel is basically built for kids. Even the little ones are starting to exert an independence both Mimi nor I ever saw in Florida.
Intro To Israeli Medicine
Our second Shabbat here unfortunately brought with it a health scare. We were out for the Friday night meal when I got a very severe abdominal attack that felt like someone stabbing me. We went home and called the emergency Efrat medical response number. A Doctor, Dr. Yitz Glick actually came to the house! He started me on IV pain meds and I was ok within a few hours. He then followed up the next day by picking me up personally and taking me to the medical center for blood work. He then streamlined the process for me to get a scan at the Jerusalem office of Maccabi (our health plan) Between Dr. Glick and Dr. Ben-Zev I can not tell you how impressed I was not just by the quick response of the system here but but the personal active involvement of the MD's. They went, in my mind, above and beyond what I would ever expect, but by local standards is considered their norm. I want to use this forum to thank both of them as well as the staff at Maccabi Health.
CAR
After finally learning the bus system here we finally rented a car. It has been a real thrill driving around Israel. The feeling is amazing to see the scenery of the Judean Hills driving into Jerusalem. So far the only down side I see to driving here is filling up the tank which cost nearly $120 US dollars. However, I think that is worth it for the privilege of driving in Israel. Hopefully, the state will eventually convert over to electric or natural gas powered cars.
ULPAN
Mimi and I have decided that we want to do Ulpan together so I am going to restart Ulpan in September. I look forward to being in a classroom setting with Mimi.
THE KOTEL
Going to the Kotel as a citizen of Israel was a completely different experience than as a tourist. The feeling was one of being much more connected. All of our kids had very different reactions. Sarah went with Mimi on the lady's side and apparently enjoyed herself. Yitzi, Sruli and Goldie went with me to the far left side that is covered. The summer heat was too intense to be outside at that time of day. Yitzi davened very intensely for almost 30 min. No siddur just his face up against the wall. Sruli and Goldie were fascinated byt he see through glass that gives viewers an unreal view of the tunnels beneath. Sruli has been asking everyday since to go back to Yerushalayim and the Old City so he can see the Kotel.
Since we were in Jerusalem we decided to take a trip (ON FRIDAY) to Machane Yehuda (The Shuk). Very Very Very bad idea on a Friday with 4 kids. We made our way somehow through the market with the stroller and the kids. Mimi had ha little run-in with a local Israeli. The kids were overwhelmed and upset. Sarah had tried to eat a bag of popcorn. Not the popcorn, just the bag, so Mimi took it away. Sarah was very upset and began crying in that very loud high pitched scream of hers. A woman then very forcefully began banging Mimi on the back and yelled at her, gesturing with her hands and yelling something about the baby. She then swiftly disappeared into the crowd as quickly as she appeared.It was an amazing scene but one that we will not be going back to on a Friday for a while.
SUMMARY
So far things have been both eye opening, tiring and a little scary. We are still not certain where we are going to when this lease is up at the end of August. We also need to lease a car for a longer time period. We are still learning basic things like how to food shop here and where to shop. However, along the way we are meeting amazing people that literally have taken us by the hand to show us and assist. The people are amazing here. Israeli life is not exactly what we had anticipated before we moved but in some ways it is better. The worst part (which really isn't that bad is NO WALGREENS). Even though it is Israel and we love it this transition is more than we thought it would be. It is hard and at the end of the day can be overwhelming with all the things we are learning and still need to learn. However, we are in Israel. We believe in being here and hopefully will eventually learn how to live here like sane people. And, even if Mimi and I go totally crazy the kids seem to be very very happy. That is all for now.
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