Rainy Shabbat

Part of the pleasure of being home is that my baby bro can come for Shabbat with his family. We were joined Friday night by my old friend the Gooner and one of my soldier boys; Shabbat lunch by a young family and some sem girls.

Both meals were wonderful with lots of good company and food. Particularly special was the heavy rain fall over Jerusalem immediately prior to Shabbat which is so badly needed and the Sedra (Torah Reading) being one of the most Aliyah centred of all which I always enjoy.

We even had the pleasure of trying out a new (for us) minyan this morning, just down the road which, whilst lacking something in comparison to our usual haunt, is certainly a lot more convenient.

Shavua Tov,

Gilly

(Mainly) so far so good

A long overdue post. It's 5:50 am and the sun is rising over Yerushalayim; I've been up for a while - I'm wired.

Home now for 2 weeks and couldn't be happier. After an amazing flight and arrival ceremony we spent our first ten days with my parents' in law who have been amazing. Free babysitting allowed us to get on and do stuff - really and truly, I take my hat off to all the Olim who manage somehow without a mother-in-law.

The apartment is great - big with lots of storage, outdoor space and spare rooms for guests. All our stuff made it across from the old apartment without incident; most of our stuff has made it's way from storage in the attic at my in-laws safely (1 wine glass and 1 tea cup broken in transit). The shipment from the US arrives in a few hours so we'll have plates to eat off and the monkey will have a proper bed at last.

We have a car - nothing fancy - a 2007 Hyundai Elantra. Boring but with a decent sized boot and enough leg room for all.

I finally treated myself to a new grill and cooked dinner last night - our oven may be redundant!

The monkey had his first day at Gan yesterday and came through with flying colours. Today I'm taking him along, will spend the first 1 1/2 hours with him and then leave him with that Gananot and other kids. Mrs G says that a pretty girl kept hitting him yesterday which means she's interested......

Back to my Monday night football game after 3 years of absence. Despite signs of rust I scored a couple and was better than I thought I'd be - could I be the midfielder that Rafa needs to replace Alonso?

The only blots on the landscape have been a series of visits to various Doctors over the last 2 days; Monday night Mrs G. took off her fingernail and a slice of finger when opening the blinds; we spent 4 hours in Terem and Miyun and she's wandering around with a bandage and instructions not to do any washing up; yesterday the monkey managed to dislocate his elbow but is now back to his normal boisterous self. Visits to Terem (10 minute walk), ER, hand specialist, Pediatrician (literally downstairs from our flat) and Orthopedic specialist (10 minute walk) - where necessary appointments were made no more than an hour later and with a total cost (including prescriptions) of no more than NIS 150 and a tremendous level of care. I love socialised medicine.

Gilly

Packing up

With less than a month to go before we get home, we've been having a busy couple of weeks. We sold our old apartment which was way to small and would have been hazardous for the Monkey due to it being on multiple levels. We've also rented an apartment close by - significantly bigger with lots of space for guests and big balconies to make up for the loss of the garden. We've signed up the Monkey to start at a Gan on September 1st.

With so much good stuff going on, I was really worried about today - the shippers coming in to pack up all of our stuff which has potential to be a stressful activity. Last night found Mrs G and I frantically getting things in order so that things would go smoothly and we were just finishing off the final details this morning when the shippers showed up - bang on time.

After showing them what needed to be packed up they set to work and in double quick time the apartment was filled with large boxes as our stuff began to be packed away. We hit a slight glitch when the freight elevator was not available for use at the agreed upon time but shortly afterwards the guys were schlepping stuff down to the truck and departing for the port with generous tips for their hard work.

The shipment should arrive shortly after we do - hopefully all in one piece. If the remainder of our move is anywhere near as smooth I'll be a seriously happy camper.

Counting down the days - 26 more to go!

Shabbat shalom

sending off

I spent 3 days in the Big Apple this week, giving our office there a bit of assistance in this, the busiest times of the year.

One of my conditions for coming to the big city was that I'd be able to go to JFK on Monday morning to see off the first NBN Charter flight of the summer which carried 21 of "my" Olim. It's one of my regrets that I haven't been able to do this more often during the course of my Shlichut (this was only the second time I've managed it out of 13 charter flights whilst I've been here) so I wasn't going to pass up on an opportunity.

I arrived at the airport with 3 of my colleagues and after saying hi to my friends on the NBN staff I went to find my people; a young girl just out of High School who's father I know from the football field who'll be going to the IDF, an incredible family who I've had lots of contact with over the years I've been here, young people from Philly, Richmond, Rockville and Atlanta and a great guy from SC. I missed 3 of my other people - young Olim, going to the army and also missed much of the goodbye ceremony when I realised that a family of 6 was nowhere to be seen.

Eventually I tracked the mother and kids down and it was obvious why they weren't at the ceremony; rental car being returned, unloading one car and another car with luggage somewhere at JFK (but not where it should have been). I take the view that different people need different things from their Shaliach. I did what was needed at that time - schlepped suitcases and drafted in others to help (a family of 6 takes a lot of bags!) and wrote out a dozen luggage labels to make sure that everything got there safely. I saw pictures of the family at Ben Gurion the next day so everything must have worked out (although I don't know about their bags).

All in all it was a tremendous experience to see my Olim off. The next time I do it, I'll be with Mrs G and the monkey and we'll be getting on the plane with the Olim on our way home - something which I've been dreaming of doing for a while (more in another post).

Leaving friends behind

Friday night was a memorable one. I have been suggesting for a while that rather than spending all day cooking we should be having "bistro style" meals - simple and hearty with like minded friends, possibly with shared preparation.

The holiday weekend provided a perfect opportunity to try this out with a Bar B Q theme and an invite to one of our favourite couples with another of our favourites also on the guest list.

We arrived early on Friday with a 6 pack of Sam Adams and a marinated London Broil (basically a big steak - in London it's called something totally different). I took out the meat and made sure the grill man had a beer. Being a gentleman I didn't let him drink alone. Boneless chicken thighs (definitely the best for grilling) were already cooking and as the meat went on, so too did some thick slices of seasoned red peppers.

A couple of flips later and we were ready to roll. The menfolk went to shul, womenfolk discussed their knitting and the monkey played with their little lady (got a goodnight kiss out of the evening, we already like the parents.....)

The addition of an excellent green salad and some oven roasted potato and some sweetcorn finished the menu in style. A bottle of red, some beers and a 15 year old Balvenie graced the table.

We talked, laughed and ate our fill in a casual meal that continued until late. As Shabbat meals go it's up high on the list. Even the monkey transferred comfortably.

Although I've missed our friends at home, we've been blessed to land up in a community with plenty of like minded people and have made some amazing friendships. We'll miss them but look forward to hosting them in the years to come.

Gilly