Lizrael Update: babbling about the expat life since 2004
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Good bras, good nursing.
Since having children, I have been on a journey. It’s not quite spiritual, but certainly challenging. It’s about… finding the best nursing bras. Seriously, what’s the deal? At least half the women in this country breastfeed, yet it’s fairly difficult to find good quality nursing bras here. Forget the malls – Intima and the like have…
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Surviving Israeli mortgage hell: a checklist.
Buying your first home in Israel? Welcome to Israeli mortgage hell! (As opposed to anywhere-else-mortgage hell). Here are some points about the process that might be helpful to you if you’re going through it now too. Note that we bought our apartment from our landlady, so there was no issue of real estate agency, moving…
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The new American consulate in Jerusalem (now with room to breathe!)
Let’s hear it for American consulate 2.0! Had to go back to ze Fatherland territory to register new baby’s citizenship, get her passport (1/3) and apply for her Social Security number. For a while now, Jerusalem and Jerusalem-area American-Israeli residents have been going to the shiny new consulate in ‘west’ Jerusalem (is Arnona not a…
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Big plans for Tzur Hadassah.
Build it, and they will come. In our case, many already did, but I’m sure that attracting more is part of the plan. Walking through the yishuv this week I noticed the sign declaring what we all thought were just rumors and faraway promises: a major community center in the middle of Tzur Hadassah, servicing…
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Thank you, Beit Shemesh fire fighters.
Very appreciative, very uncharacteristic.
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Free to be… sixty three.
Had a great day, especially since Park Begin wasn’t a disheveled, polluted mess by the time it ended! I love how a bunch of immigrant friends can get together, no local family aside, and have a great time of a national holiday. To the %#@! asshole who let his Doberman Pinscher run loose through groups…
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Israeli flag protekzia.
Someone is watching over us. Taking care that we do right by our adopted citizenhood. And that someone… is our mortgage bank representative. She happens to live in Tzur Hadassah, and her home happens to be located at the bottom of the hill our apartment overlooks. And now that she knows exactly where we live…
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Still here.
It confuses me that about one half of myself can’t believe we’re still here, and can’t believe things will continue the way they are – growing, productive, surviving… and the other half of myself thinks, look at the progress! Look at how far we’ve come, and how far we’re poised to go! We build buildings…
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Family outing, Memorial Day, contributing, Israel.
Proud that we managed to dress, pack up, and transport the kids to the Yom HaZicaron tekes in Tzur Hadassah tonight. And that my two-year-old stayed silent and un-startled throughout the siren. And that we managed to stay for the first 15 minutes. Watching all those kids socialize up until they suddenly stopped for the…
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New baby: One month.
There is nothing like those first few days with your newly born baby. It’s a gray zone; they were just inside you, an extension of your body, but not yet uncurled, open, an entity apart from you. One of my favorite parts is the smell. Before they’ve been cleaned, had a bath, smell like laundry…
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Birthdays.
New parenting milestone: the kindergarten birthday party. I’m not a big birthday person. When I was a kid I was, as much as any other kid. Who doesn’t want presents? But at some point it switched off. I don’t like the attention for something I didn’t do. It feels a little forced and awkward. I…
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Pizza has come to Tzur Hadassah.
As I recently reported, Tzur Hadassah now has the one business that could ruin my entire post-pregnancy weight-loss scheme: a pizza shop. It’s called טומטו Pie (02-6503355) and it’s nestled in the row of shops on Rechasim street. And today, I tried it. Doesn’t it look good? I was excited by the look of it,…
Questions? Comments? Advice?