Go Pioneers!

My brother Hudy is on an IFL team here, the Tel Aviv Pioneers. The team is a huge for him- during the season I think the team has two practices and a game each week. It's a joke in our family that Hudy is always wearing some kind of Pioneer clothing, a hat, a t shirt, something.

Last Friday the Pioneers played the Jerusalem team, and it was here, at Kraft field in Gan Sacher. So we went! It was the closest thing to a real Sunday we've had in a while. We went to the game, had hot dogs and beers, and a fun old afternoon. Except for the Jerusalem team like, killed them, but it was all in good fun. Oh, and Eitan kept running off onto the field, that was hard to control. But they let the kids run all over at halftime, so that was fun for everyone.

A few observations:

• It's awesome to be able to be at a game and just go up and get whatever you want to eat!

• The field was 60 yards long, instead of 100, so the best seat in the house was on the 30 yard line. As you can see, we had some great seats.

• The Jerusalem team mascot was a lion, in a full on lion costume, but not the paws- her high heels were just on, and she would randomly just take off the face part for a few minutes at a time. 

 

Recent Shuk Adventures

So we went months without mentioning Machane Yehuda, and now two posts in a month. Craziness. But there have been some notable recent purchases and adventures, so let's go with it!

Two Sundays ago, I bought everything pictured here for 10 Shekels and 50 Agurot. It was on the "sale" side of one of the kiosks, items that were aboooout to go bad. So I consider the reach achievement that I used it all!

And a couple days ago purchases included:

Three Shekels worth of potatoes. Get it, it's a  3?

One and a half kilo of these babies for 10 Shekels. That's 3.3 pounds!

And 3 Shekels worth of carrots

And reveling in our deals of the day, we stopped for a late lunch/early dinner/snack/meal at the famous Azoura restaurant in the Iraqui Shuk. I don't know anything about the Iraqui Shuk, only that it's right next to the "regular" Shuk, but people have been telling us to get ourselves to Azoura forever.  And wow. They are right. We had Kubeh Soup, and an order of "Hummus Basar", Hummus and Meat.

Kubeh Soup. Check out the pickle on the left. Pickle in soup? Delicious. 

Tasting...

Trying to feed Eitan, Eitan trying to feed me his hand.  The soup was better...

A bite of Hummus Basar on Pita. With real kavanah.

I've never heard of either of these before we got here. Kubeh soup is amazing. It's a soup base with these balls, that are like almost matza balls with meat inside. This Kubeh soup is a little bit pickly/sour, and a little bit spicy, and so so good. And the Hummus Basar, well that's really exactly what it is, a plate of Hummus, with some ground meat on top. Both incredible. We each at half and switched. Eitan stuck with the pickles and pita. Go. Don't wait months like we did. Just go. And know they'll be a line. There was a 2:30pm on a random Tuesday. And there's a guy at the door that takes down your name and calls out to you when something opens. And the reciept is a  plain piece of paper with what your ordered and how much it costs, no address, no phone number, no "form" and probably no credit cards (I came prepared for once!).

The Ball Pit

I take Eitan to a gymboree nearby a couple times a week. It's basically a huge room with a ton of toys and kids playing, perfect for wintry days where the park isn't an option, and I'm sure hot hot summer days as well. And there are couches, and other moms to hang out with while we half pay attention to the kiddos. 

Eitan spends a LOT of time in the ball pit. He loves it! Last week he figured out how to get in and out on his own, and I was so proud of him! First I freaked out because I didn't see him for a second, but then, there he was just swimming in plastic balls. 

I tried to record him in and out, but was not successful. I think he knew I was trying to get it on camera...

Having Fun

Having Even More Fun!

Throwing Balls out of the Pit

Bored

Escape!

Shopping!

As a lone solider (a status in the Army that Nina gets because our parents are in America and Nina is serving here) Nina gets a whole bunch of special benefits that regular Israelis don't. These include extra time off, opportunities for special programs, and gifts around the holidays. For Chanuka the army gifted Nina a 400 Shekel gift card which can be redeemed at many different stores, including groceries. Of course, typical Israeli style, she was given it only last week and it, of course, has the same expiration date as if she had received it in December.

So a shopping trip was in the cards for us last Friday. I usually stay away from malls or anything really potentially busy on Friday because everyone's off and out, it's generally really a hassle, and since I have the luxury of doing pretty much what I want most days, it's so much better to go say, on a Wednesday.

But Nina doesn't, so off we went to Malcha mall, the largest shopping mall in Jerusalem. I was thinking about leaving Eitan at home with Ami, but Nina, not so into that plan, so he came too. And it's a good thing, because strollers make great racks for hanging clothes, and the basket underneath was a nice thing to have too.

Now, I haven't bought much since we've gotten here. So going out to a mall was, wow. We had a great time at H and M- oh how I felt SO at home and have missed it! We checked out a few other stores as well, but the clock was ticking and the mall closes for Shabbat at 2pm and buses stop running soon after. Which is annoying if you a) are not shomer shabbat and b) are just super organized and know that you want to go out on Friday so do all of your shabbat prep on Thursday night, but you know. Them's the breaks.

Eitan was a champ. He kept himself busy by eating bamba and taking in all of the colors and sounds, and while we were trying things on by crouching on the floor out below the stall into the hallway of dressing rooms making friends. 

My mom and aunt went shopping and all I got was a stupid bureka

What's cool about malls here on Fridays (as opposed to everything that's annoying), is that they turn into Shabbat stores. What I mean is, in all open spaces stalls are set up that sell things for Shabbat- challahs, cakes, prepared meal foods, Judaica. It's pretty cool that I came out of the mall with a fresh challah.

Another thing that I noticed was that in the food court the entire right side was filled with dairy places, and the left meat. And when you're walking around and someone has samples of ice cream that they're giving out, it's a perfectly acceptable answer to refuse because you're "meat". Just a little cool thing about being here that I will remind myself when I'm waiting in line places forever, being pushed, yelled at or watch the garbage piling up on our street because of a strike

Last but definitely not least in our excursion, was on our (two second) walk from the mall to the bus stop, a woman told me that she thought Eitan was cold. Obviously, as he was only wearing a sweater and swaddled in his fleece "bundle me" and it was 55 degrees, I know, I'm a terrible mother letting him freeze. So, you know, my first line of defense was "hu beseder", he's fine. But she then told me (in Hebrew)  it was very windy out (like I didn't know already) and I answered, "hu gavohah" which means, he's tall. Now, what I meant to say was "hu gibor", he's strong, but I guess I just flubbed up words and out that went. As we continued to walk Nina looks at me and says, what does being tall have to do with being cold. And I said nothing. And she said, well why did you tell that lady he was tall...So first haha on me, and second, it got rid of her real fast, so maybe I'll use it again.

So, all in all, good day, lots of people, lots of Shabbat prep.



Double Trouble

Eitan has a best friend here! His name is Shlomo and he's one day older then Eitan. It took some work, us mom forcing them to hang out, but this week it seems they finally agreed that they're pals.

One morning a week I have both boys at our house, and another morning Eitan's over there at Casa Shlomo. This way both mommys get a bit of free time and it's great for the boys to learn about playing together and sharing.

So as I mentioned, at first they mostly ignored each other, or tried to pull toys out of each other's hands. More recently though, they've been babbling at each other (for sure talking smack about us) and playing together ish- running around after each other, playing with the fridge magnets, and most importantly having snack time together.

See below for some shots of these two dudes.

And, a video! Shlomo's upstairs neighbors are getting new floors put in adding some real noise to their house, particularly messing up naptime. We tried to put both boys for their afternoon nap together. At first, they were both crying. And then we started to hear some babbles. So I opened the door as little as possible and stuck my arm in, camera recording.

Here's what I got:




As you can see, Eitan eventually caught me (when the camera abruptly pans to the floor) ending the game and begin the crying again. We then decided to be responsible and stop giggling and put those boys to (separate) naps.

Babbles

Our little toddler is in full on babble mode. When he's with new people, it takes a little while, but with us, or in our house, he's quite the chatter box.

His Dadu, Aviva, taught him the word more, his first word, over the summer, and it's still his favorite thing to say. It means, more (duh), but he also uses it whenever he wants anything. He'll point his little finger and say maw? maw? over and over until we figure out what he wants. And if it's something he can't have, well we're going to pay for it.

Around the time he started saying "more" he also started with mommy and daddy. He's graduated to calling his daddy "Ami" half the time though. You know, because only babies call their parents mommy and daddy.  A couple months ago he learned a couple new words, teeth (while we brush our teeth) and diaper (biper).

More recently he's been babbling a lot to himself, and also surprising us with what comes out of his mouth. As I mentioned here, he also says doggie and cat, and adds a choo choo to the Hinei Rakevet song with flourish. He's been repeating words we say, and can repeat most of our family's names and even sometimes will say them on his own. Last week he even said Todah to me after I gave him something. We freaked out! His first hebrew word and said at exactly the right time with no prodding.

His favorite time to talk is on "the phone" which is any object he picks up and puts to his ear. Of course if someone really calls him and wants to talk to him on the phone, he's silent. Most recently this little black box that a keychain came in.  You'll see.

And now, for our almost naked Eitan (have I mentioned that Eitan impossible to dress nowadays...that's another post) entertaining himself on the phone and with other exciting toys.

Scenes from a rainy afternoon

Escape!

In a country where water is scarce and precious, it's hard to be mad when it rains. So I'm not quite mad, but annoyed. OK? Rainy days here suck. They just don't know how to handle it. It's like DC and snow. The city just freaks out.

No More Pictures!

The cobblestone streets turn into slip n slides, there's tons of traffic, and umbrellas are useless as it comes down from all sides. And it gets just bone chilling cold. Not fun. The good news is that I work from home, but the bad news is Eitan gets a little loopy if we don't get out. And it's really hard to go out for a walk in the rain with a toddler. The rain cover needs to come onto the stroller, and Eitan hates it- he spends the whole time trying to pull it away. And holding a (useless) umbrella while pushing a stroller, well, I think that should be the latest Olympic sport, at least that way I'd have someone to emulate next go around.

There's been a lot of rain this winter. So much that it's national news. In fact, the Kinneret is up 81 centemeters from where it was this time last year. That's a big deal apparently, there's also news about it rising above a lower red line of some sort. Good stuff for Israel.

Here are some shots of our recent rainy afternoon, again courtesy of Paparazzi Ami.

Shabbat Shalom from a rainy (again!) Jerusalem!

America's Got Talent, here we come!

Okay, maybe not, and also we're in Israel, but still.




So I sing that song every time we got onto Rakevet street, almost every day, so it was a matter of time before Eitan started interjecting. Rechov HaRakevet is a street that runs parallel-ish to Emek Refaim that's right behind us, and I love getting places because there are no stop lights and it's a fun place for Eitan to get to walk on his own. It is on the path of the old train tracks and the city renovated, added planks over the tracks and grass and trees on the side. It's really fabulous and there are always people out biking, running and just hanging out on the many benches around. It's like a boardwalk with no water.

Right now I think the whole street is about a mile, but the city is extending it continuing on the path of the tracks that go all the way to Malcha Mall. I have no idea how far away that is, but it's not close. So that should be cool.

Anyways, because he's shy to go all out on his choo-choos over the phone and video chats, you'll see it here first. Oh and off to the side he's watching some dogs being walked. And for the record, even though on this day they were actually dogs, he calls all animals doggies nowadays. He can also say cat, but first he calls them doggies and then I tell them they're not DOGS, they're CATS and he says TADTS. And birds, well he doesn't seem to mind calling them doggies one bit.

In the middle of the night...

Ami is up watching the Super Bowl.

Also, that's the song I sing to Eitan when he gets up in the middle of the night and can't get himself back to sleep.

Back to last night though. Ami got home from work, ate dinner, went to bed a little early and set an alarm for him to get up at 1:30 am for kick-off. I remember hearing little bits and pieces while being fast asleep, perhaps the Giants were up at half time? He considered coming to wake me up to watch the half time show because Madonna was performing, but it was a wise decision not to. Especially because I watched it on YouTube this morning. If there is anyone else who missed it, or you want to watch again, check it out. It was really really awesome.

Anyways, that was last night. I think he came into bed around 5am after making the round of congratulatory calls to his Giant fan friends. The Kirschenbaum side of myself really wants to be excited about the win, but you know, I'm happier that I got a full night sleep last night.

And last but not least, two photos of Eitan all geared up with Ami for football from his inaugural season and from earlier this fall. Neither new, but, as I've reported, all posts must have at least one picture of the little Redskin.

November 2011

November 2010

Congrats Giants fans, and I'm feeling next year will be a big year for the Redskins.

Machane Yehuda

Next week will be our 3 month mark here, and I can't believe I haven't yet written a post about a place that's become a weekly destination- Machane Yehuda, Jerusalem's outdoor market.

Eitan and I go there probably once a week (sometimes more). The shuk has the most fresh produce I've ever seen, all really local and in season, and cheap. Like crazy cheap. Recently I bought one kilo (2.2 pounds) of tomatoes for 3 shekels. What?? My weekly shopping list also includes 20 pitas for 10 shekels.  The shuk also has all other kinds of little stands, sit down restaurants, spice shops (one's named Rozmaryn!), bakeries, gummy and candy guys, butchers, fish markets and cheese shops. It's really phenomenal.

This week, because Ami finished up Ulpan (yay!) and has some more free time in his schedule, he was able to join us. I mentioned that my and Ami's shuk experiences really sum up the differences in the way we are. I come with a list- I look around for the best prices and the best looking stuff and go ahead and buy. A lady on a mission. Of course, if I see something that looks particularly interesting, I'll get it, but Ami, well, the whole world is interesting to Ami. He's a wanderer. He just walks around, smelling, touching, tasting, and of course pulling out the camera playing paparazzi.  Sometimes, this dawdling makes me insane, but for some reason this week, I was (kind of) okay for a few minute delay here and there between picking up the items on the all important to-do list.

The good news is, we were together this week, so the Rozmaryn family not only got the groceries we need, but also some pretty great shots of the morning and the shuk's offerings. And of course the obligatory family self portrait. Because my mom has recently decreed that every post on this blog must include at least one photo of Eitan.