Another Week Begins

and it is going to be a hot one - 90 degrees for the week. Though we know we will be refreshed through our studies (and our trip to the store to get a fan later today. Learning/Teaching/Classes whatever you want to call it are going great - we are enjoying our respective programs and really look forward to a great year.

We are eating plenty of burekas and other Israeli delicacies and learning our way around more and more - maybe in 11 months we'll have it figured out.

Shabbat was in Beit Shemesh and assuming the adventure to get a plata and crockpot are successful I think we'll try making our first Shabbat in our place.

Thanks to everyone for all their well wishes, comments, etc. - we'll keep you updated.

Growth

We intended this year to be a year of spiritual growth, learning new skills, improving our hebrew and forging our way in a new home. We're getting more than we bargained for: Not only are we growing spiritually, Ilana is growing daily.

hmmm....what does that mean?


Rather intrigued aren't we?


Well you should be! I am happy to share with you that we are expecting our first child (due in March).
For future updates please refer back to this and other Branda related blogs.

Shavua Tov!

Immersing Ourselves in Israel

So we decided we had been here almost a week and hadn't really immersed ourselves in Israeli culture. We began to rack our brains thinking of the most Israeli thing we can do to show ourselves we are really here for a year. After much thought and deliberation, we figured it out - go to a baseball game. You read correctly, we went to one of the last regular season matches of the Israeli Baseball League featuring the Petach Tikva Pioneers (or as their shirts say Pionerim) versus the Modi'in Miracles. It was an exciting 6 inning game - they are supposed to have 7, but apparently the field doesn't have enough lighting in the outfield so they had to stop after 6 since it was getting too dark. Though the majority of the audience was at least american implants, if not still US citizens, there were some Israeli represented. However, in all aspects that was the minority, as the league clearly seems to be geared towards Americans. The scoreboard was in English, majority of the announcements were in English and we even sang "take me out to the ballgame" during the 5th inning stretch. Overall, it was a fun filled evening, though we will need to keep racking our brains for the real immersion opportunities.

Nanny 911 meets Animals Gone Wild

Ilana and I are starting to be productive getting our new place set up and trying to not sleep past 9:00am. We've almost been here a week and I still haven't slept through the night. It is definitely the worst case of jet lag I have ever experienced. What's even stranger is that I usually get over jet lag quickly. What's the 'x' factor? Well, I think it all begins with the first night. Perhaps the worst flight I or any of my closest relatives have ever experienced. Any transatlantic flight is arduous simply due to the length of the flight. On top of that we had two other factors (read: instruments of Satan) to contend with.

1) Two out of control children were running amok on this plane and there seats were directly in front of ours. Mom was of no help what so ever and ignored her children for the duration of the trip. Her pearls of parenting wisdom included, "just shut up already" as well as, "go ask the flight attendant for some food." The toddler, who could not be placated throughout the flight (no books, no games...I wonder why) regaled us with high pitched screaming throughout the flight.

If it was only the kid it would have been annoying but not mind blowing....however there was another...

2) The same women also brought her small dog in a carrying case. This dog had no muzzle and yipped and yapped for the ENTIRE FLIGHT. His ear-piercing cries were especially loud during when meals were served...because this women didn't bring any food or water for the dog. That was her plan to prevent him from marking his territory on seat 33D. People were actually yelling at the dog to shut up at points. If we weren't on the plane it actually would have been really amusing.


Anyway, we didn't sleep at all when we should have slept most of the time. When we arrived in Israel it was 8:00am and we had the whole day ahead of us. Therefore, I haven't slept in days.

But we're seriously having a great time!

We're Here

So we got here on Wednesday - though we are still unpacking. Jet-lag was pretty fierce (reads Aaron's soon to be posted post for more info) and we are still working to get settled in. Though we made our first dinner for ourselves on Thursday - figured out what temperature to put the oven to and how to light an Israeli stove. Thanks to my sister for helping to stock the kitchen so we didn't have to go out and by everything. We are slowly getting settled and brushing up our hebrew skills (lots of shopping is a great way to do that). Classes start on Wednesday and we will be unpacked by then. For now enjoy another glimpse into our apartment.

Almost Ready

So we leave bright and early in 3.5 days and thankfully we are almost ready to go. We both have our passports (don't worry I just got mine on Monday after a couple hours on the phone with the Passport Agency and the bribing of a mailwoman). We got our clothes half packed, we've hung out with the family, we've finished reading Harry Potter (not lugging that book with us) and we are almost there. We'll hopefully have internet set up in our place within a couple of days of landing, so we don't plan on being quiet for that long...