Wednesday, August 12, 2009

The Beginning of the Three Weeks

Welcome to Loyal Reader #44 - Altmans! Glad to have you with us!

I would also like to give a shout-out to the entire Popper "Life, Universe, Everything" Fanbase. Aliyahbyaccident's new motto: "More Poppers Read Aliyahbyaccident than Any Other Blog." What many loyal readers probably don't know is that Sara and Shmuel were our VERY FIRST "shidduchbyaccident."

To new reader homeshuling: To be honest, the last time I heard the word "yalkut" was when some Hebrew teacher in the US taught me that word. Here, in the land of Real Israelis, it's "tik," all the way.

Leezy - it has not been six days since a blog entry, even if you're using some weird Australian counting method. The "Friday" date on top of the post indicates the day I started to work on the blog, by noting down the inane things happening in my life. (Recipe for an aliyahbyaccident blog post: 3 cups inane things + 1 tablespoon embarrassing DADZ story + healthy pinch, oh what the hell, a whole quart, of sarcasm + 43.5 poofahs.) The last blog post was actually published Sunday night, Standard Israel Time. So it has only been THREE days since a blog post. I accept your apology in advance.

This week has been the beginning of my own personal "3 Weeks" - the 3 weeks in between camp/gan - hereafter referred to as "gamp" - and school. It's not too bad, because Donny is taking off a week + 2 days - starting this Thursday, and not going back till a week from Monday. And we're going away next week to swim in the Kinneret. So, really, it's just 4 days this week, 4 days the week Donny abandons me, and then 2 days of the week after that. Then school starts! But really, who's counting? (Me! Me! For the love of God, me!)

Also, I decided this was a good time to take on a massive writing project, thinking, "Oh, surely the kids will be good for a few hours every day and let me get some work done!" Reality check: Every time I sit down at the computer, some invisible button is pushed and hair is pulled, people call other people stupid, and fuse beads spill all over the floor. Multiple times. Now, lest you think I'm a completely evil, neglectful mother, we have been doing an "activity" every day - the pool, going on the train and meeting Daddy for dinner in Tel Aviv, food shopping, running school-related errands - but even the best activity is over in 3 hours. Leaving me many, many more hours of bored children than I care to think about. So while I thought my week would look something like this, in reality, it is more like this. I have prayed diligently every day for well-behaved children. My personal plee goes something like this: pleasebegoodpleasebegoodpleasebegood


And while I figured, hey, at least the money I'll make will help finance our vacation, in reality, the money is going to fiance Bribery Toys. It's like Santa stole my credit card.

Now, some of you may be wondering - wait a minute, did you just count "food shopping" as a "fun activity" to do with the kids? Yes, I did, and I'm proud of it! Think about it. It gets everyone out. We get shoko b'sakit. This week - read it and weep, Baila - Ariella and I even beat the kupait!! Yes, she was slowed down by the need to call her manager and ask about every single item. ("This is a nectarine. What's the code?....Okay, now I have another, let's see, nectarine. What do I do with that?...Got it...And...oh look, another nectarine!") But that does not matter - we won!!!! And, in addition to the exilaration of victory, food shopping provides us with a wonderful chance to observe the local flora and fauna of Israel (in the form of frozen peas and chicken cutlets.)

Tomorrow, though, Donny will be home, and he can answer the eternal question, asked by children since the dawn of time, starting with Cain, who did not receive a satisfactory answer and then decided to go out and kill his brother: "What are we doooooing today?"

6 comments:

MOMZWIFEOFDADZ said...

First of all, when did you change the 'subscribe' button to "subscribe...on purpose!" it's very cute!

Also, hey Loyal Readers, I think we hit a high on 8 COMMENTS on the "Attack of the Backpack" (http://aliyahbyaccident.blogspot.com/2009/08/attack-of-backpack.html)
blog!

Yay Us!
Don't we think it's time for some kind of support group where we can talk about our mutual addiciton to this blog. "Hi, I'm Susan and I check gila's blog several times a day hoping for a new entry, or at least a new comment." "HI SUSAN!"

Cheryl said...

I'm certainly a part of that group!
My husband feels like he already knows sister of the new KJBS rabbi who recently made aliyah b/c that's how I begin the retelling of your stories so he has a frame of reference!

trn said...

I wonder what is preferable, the stress of trying to keep up with the kupait not to mention needing to concentrate on more than one thing at a time while at least retaining some control over how the items are bagged, or having the bagging performed by the staff only to come home to find the purchases bagged in ridiculous combinations that bear no resemblance to the organized groupings in which they had been placed on the belt and result in paper products made soggy by condensation from refrigerated perishables and soft produce squashed and cut open by heavy canned goods.

Right now I'm thinking I'd prefer the former only because I am so incredibly sick of the latter. I do know I also wouldn't like the stress of the former, though the shoko b'sakit might mitigate that a bit.

Mazel tov on your victory!

Unknown said...

Your Learning to Look teachers would be so proud!

Momz got me all excited to read some new comments and wasn't I delighted to note that now "Attack of the Backpack" is up to NINE COMMENTS!!

paper airplane design said...

are you counting me in the popper family sara's sister?

Risa said...

Regarding the improper outdated Hebrew us American Day School graduates are taught, I am sure that there have been some people who have asked for the "beit sheemush" instead of the "sheirutim" *(and presumably laughed at by the Israeli who was asked- and no, I don't recall that I was one used the wrong term). That's just wrong, given the price of tuition (although it was much less about 20-25 years ago). Shouldn't Day School students be taught modern Hebrew that is actually useful instead of learning dikduk, nivim or memorized Shiras Devorah and Shiras Chana? (By the way, I was also taught the work "yalkut.")