Month: April 2011

  • Koala update: Two years.

    Happy birthday, Koala! I appreciate that you woke up today at the same hour you were born two years ago – 6:10 am. Could be worse; we’ve been there together, haven’t we? And here I thought the first year saw the most change from start to finish… But the second year definitely held its own;…

  • Set your aspirations high…

    …and your expectations low. Spotted in Tzur Hadassah: an effort to be funny and effective! Stickers adorning the public garbage cans, with the following message: אם כל אחד לא ילכלך, יהיה פה נקי כמו בשוויץ If everyone wouldn’t make a mess, it could be clean here like in Switzerland. Nice touch, Va’ad Tzur Hadassah! Seriously. Now,…

  • The fish, the shark and Passover.

    When Gilad Shalit was 11, he wrote a short story called “When the Shark and the Fish First Met.” Though it seems this was originally published and spread around in 2008, I only came across it now via Facebook shares. It resonates with me because I did a lot of short story writing when I was…

  • Do Israeli kids ever learn the fire safety lesson?

    The answer, sadly, is no. There is an unhealthy Israeli-Jewish obsession with fire in the springtime. It starts today – with Biyur Chametz, the burning of chametz, which is done on erev Pessach. Soon will be Yom Haatzmaut – the national barbecue bonanza, and after that, Lag B’omer, which pretty much celebrates bonfires the way it’s done here.…

  • And then there were four…

    Having two kids, I’ve heard people say, means now we’re a ‘real’ family… Of course, it’s silly to think there is a limited definition to ‘real family.’ Two parents and a child felt pretty real, but so did being a couple before that. And I’m pretty sure it’s just the same whether it’s one parent…

  • My home birth story: Israel, Tzur Hadassah, apartment, bedroom.

    My home birth story: Israel, Tzur Hadassah, apartment, bedroom.

    In the months leading up to labor and childbirth, I think we all spend significant time organizing our expectations, fears and hopes. For this birth, my expectation was it would be at least slightly easier than last time, my fear was that it could become complicated due to complications from last time, and my hope…

  • *Something* was due today…

    According to one of three calculations (?!), today was a due date for Bebe. We’ve been betting on whether the final closing of the apartment would come through before the baby. Initially, it seemed like apartment was a no-brainer; we already live there and have a solid relationship with our landlady for three years. But,…

  • Registering your newborn after home birth.

    In Israel, when you give birth in the hospital, the hospital takes care of the bureaucratic paperwork fun-time, otherwise known as getting a teudat zehut number for your newborn. They submit the papers which go to Misrad Hapnim to get processed for a birth certificate and ID number. But when you do a leidat bayit – home…

  • Rude awakening.

    Ventured outside today for the first time since Bebe was born. I hated having to get in the car with my five-day-old daughter to drive into the center of Jerusalem and visit, of all places, Misrad Hapnim (ahem) (and here’s why). The idea of city-center air up her nostrils alone makes me sad. But really,…

  • On the sixth day…

    And on the sixth day, man… And on the seventh, they rested (sort of). Our baby girl was born in our home this past Friday, just in time for Shabbat. The labor took less than a third the time it took with Koala, and she beats her brother by 150 grams at 2.85 kilos – and…

  • What it’s like to get a mortgage in Israel.

    …or anything at all from an Israeli government branch, bank, organization, supermarket, public toilet… I could go on. Doesn’t it feel good to know that this level of bureaucracy exists all over the world, and not just here? I do plan to post advice and checklist for navigating the home-buying and mortgage-obtaining process here in Israeli banks and…

  • Israel’s National Cleanup Day – one little bottle.

    This just gave me all kinds of happiness. A video in honor of National Cleanup Day in Israel, which was held March 29th, organized by the Israel Ministry of Environmental Protection. Not that we ever knew such a ministry existed. Not that most of us probably knew about the occasion at all… Maybe the video…