Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Home Improvements

Since we rent our house, there are only so many home improvements we can do, but, in the Pesach spirit (as it is THE home improvement time here) here are a few little things we've done recently that have definitely improved things.

Israeli homes have no built-in closets.  This means that there is no coat closet close near the front door.  For many people, I would hazard to guess, this means that, like us, all sorts of non-closet-like places become repositories for coats, sweaters, backpacks and hats.  In our case, the main place was the sofa, which was esthetically unappealing as well as being uncomfortable when we wanted to sit on the sofa.....We chose to improve our "hallway to nowhere"--a dead-end tiny hallway alongside the staircase that has a deeply sloping ceiling giving about two feet of usable space before you have to duck and then crawl.  Our suitcases are tucked in the part that requires crawling and now we have hooks on the more usable part that give us, hurray, a place to actually store coats and backpacks. (By the way, walls here are concrete, and we had to hire a handyman to do this simple thing!)

A closet here does not even really have the same connotation as in the US.  While you can buy a vertical wardrobe with a hanging bar and that's it, most closets here have shelves and drawers, as closets here generally negate the need for a dresser.  Or, as an Israeli friend in the US once said to me, "I don't understand the closets in this country with just a bar and nothing else--what, I own so many ballgowns?!"

We had purchased freestanding wardrobes for Penina and Ilana, and Chana has a spiffy built-in system based on an idea from Auntie Kim, but what about us?!  Our room had an inlet that was made for a closet, but, thinking we would be moving shortly, we thought it didn't make sense to buy something that fit the space there, but perhaps wouldn't fit our next home.  So we spent 2.5 years in a room with a lovely assortment of plastic bins, a few moving boxes and a $20 hanging rack.  The master bedroom was definitely the weak link in terms of storage.  Until we upgraded a few weeks ago, and bought a five door closet (that's how closets are sold here--by the door!) with two hanging areas (ooh--his and hers!), shelves and even shoe drawers on the bottom.  I can't believe how nice our room looks without all those boxes in it!



Our last home improvement has been everyone's favorite.  We bought a "water bar", which offers instantaneous cold, room temperature or hot water. 

There is even Shabbat mode, so we don't have to put out a hot water urn (as long as we remember to push the button to change it into Shabbat mode.....Oops.  Sorry about that lack-of-coffee last week, Honey....).

 This spiffy gadget also means that the top shelf of our refrigerator is now much more spacious, as half of it was formerly taken up by an assortment of Brita filter pitchers, glass bottles and everyone's water bottles (once, a friend of Penina's walked from her house three houses away--at night, when it was cool--and brought her water bottle.  I laughed and told her she didn't need to do that, as we have water at our house (!) and she told me that it had been ingrained into her since she was young to NEVER leave home without a water bottle).

It seems that the neighbors are planning to put their house on the market, since they are also doing some home improvements.  They have converted what was once a bedroom back into its former state as their garage.  The neighbors next door to them did the same when they sold their house, as the conversion to a bedroom was not legal.  So we woke up one morning to workers with sledgehammers tearing the wall down.  Shortly thereafter, the new neighbors moved in and--surprise--we woke up to workers putting a wall up so that the garage could go back to being a bedroom.

the walls are left painted and they even left the hanging light up.  In case the car, you know, wants a fancy parking spot....

















Friday, March 16, 2018

Here, There and Everywhere

If only I could blog all the ideas that go through my head while I'm jogging or falling asleep.  Alas, you're stuck with sporadic updates written on the sofa.  You'll deal, I know you will.

So what's new here? 

--we are gearing up for Ilana's bat mitzvah!  Ahh, I remember that Shabbat HaGadol almost twelve years ago.  It was NUTS.  "I'm having contractions?!?!  I can't be having contractions--we didn't turn the kitchen over for Pesach yet!".  Anyway, I will say it set the bar at a totally different level and each season of Passover prep can only seem fairly-reasonable by comparison (and a still-heartfelt-after-all-these-years Thank You for Auntie Paula, Roz, Susie and Rissy who made sure we didn't starve that Pesach).

Her bat mitzvah here will be (per school rules) at the school.  She and I have been working on her dvar Torah about blessings over food, which she will translate into Hebrew with her mentor and tutor, Adina.  When we come to the US over the summer, there will be a luncheon in Malden so no fear if you won't be here after Pesach :)
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--Ulpan started again!   Yay--I'm in for another round!  This time, Irit is back teaching Level Gimel, and it's just what I need.  While I'm nowhere near the top student (that prize goes to the French woman who speaks 6 languages and already lived here for nine years, before going back to France for over a decade), I'm holding my own and trying to absorb all I can.  Which results in some amusing conversations when I'm out and about, as I'm constantly correcting myself as I realize that, although I got my point across, my grammar could be tweaked. So I do.

This class has the least number of Americans of any ulpan I've taken and the highest number of Russians/Ukranians.  I love them because they had to work even harder than I have had to to get to this level, as most of them came without even knowing the alef-bet and had to start in the lowest level, Aleph.  Thanks to 8 years of the Temple Shalom Charles and Esther Lew Religious School, I was able to start in Aleph Plus, which is for students who can read, write and speak, yet do none of it well.  I told Yvgeny that I understand almost 100% of what he says because it's like watching myself speak (were I a male, 60-something, former Ukranian....): I can practically see his mind at work as he slowly and deliberately reaches up through his word bank, searching and searching for the word he is looking for.  It's great!
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--Purim was awesome!  The girls used their loot that Uncle Stephen spoiled them with last summer and went as Hogwarts students.  I borrowed a Professor McGonagall robe and our mishloach manot consisted of breadstick wands ("may contain Ron Weasley's broken wand. We were out of spellotape to repair..."), Hogwarts Hommus with Dried Dragon Flame (Penina's genius marketing for the paprika we sprinkled on top), Bertie Bott's Beans, and Gringott's Gold coins. 
with Maldener Natanyah!

We had a really fun and also spirited-yet-spiritual meal with our friends, the O's.  We each chose "something" to do to enhance the holiday, so during the meal we were treated to a puppet show, original holiday song (from Ilana and Raaya), Purim Mad Libs (my offering--totally cribbed from Malden. Thanks, guys!), and a Alef-to-Tav Purim question and answer (based on a weekly Shabbos-themed Q & A sheet Ilana brings home from school.  This was Shalom Shachne's contribution and it was great; he worked so hard to make up a question related to every letter of the Hebrew alphabet).  Lastly, Penina decorated the table gorgeously and then made "Penina's Purim Pizzeria". YUM.

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--We ended Purim by getting on a plane to San Francisco for my nephew's wedding!
 

Benjamin and Natalie are a wonderful couple and we had a really amazing weekend being with family.  We arrived early Friday morning and left Sunday night, so it was quite brief, but we did so many different things with so many different people that it felt like longer.  We all loved having an 11-person game of "Apples to Apples" Shabbos afternoon in our hotel room, and seeing Uncle Stephen and Amanda, who, despite being from "the other" side of the family, shlepped up from LA since we were (sort of) in the neighborhood.  What sweeties!


Oh, those crazy uncles!

Ilana did a very good job as flower girl ;) and I think the 15 hours on a plane each way was probably worth it because we got a good family photo (miracle!)





Mazal tov, Benjamin and Natalie!  We love you guys!