Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur was nice here, we davened at a minyan that was a combination of religious and non religious people. The upside was there was a play room, so the kids were happy, and Nat wasable to daven a little bit. The downside was there was no air condition, I did have a seat by a fan, so it wasn't to bad.
Services started at 7:30 and we took a break at 12:45ish, returned at 3:30 and finished up by 6:00.

is this an "only in Israel" story

Everyone has these story that can "only happen in Israel" except me. I might have one now. you be the judge.
I tremped (hitched) home yesterday, and it was a two-parter, I got a ride from Jerusalem to Ofra (about halfway between Ariel and J'lem) and then from Ofra I got a ride home. As I entered Ariel, I realized that I didn't have my cell, I feared that I somehow left it in the first car.

When I got home, I called the phone, and the driver picked it up, and said she found teh phone in her car, I told her I was person who left it there, and when can I pick it up. Our schedules didn't mesh, so she said she'd leave it with the guard at the entrace to the yishuv.
This morning I tremped to Ofra, and got my phone.

I told someone this story and he said, "only in Israel" I'm not sure I agree that the same thing wouldn't happen elsewhere. Generally people who pick up hitchhikers are good people, unless they like to hack people up and harvest their organs, and they would get me my phone back.
Your thoughts.....

Hypothetical question

If an old person gets on the bus and there is no place to sit, common courtesy is to get up and allow them to sit.
What about a kid, should a little kid, lets say 4 or 5 years old, should they give up their seat for the old person. Or do kids also have preferential treatment when it comes to seating on a bus.
I believe that the kid shouldn't stand up, due to safety. They are still pretty small, don't really know how to balance themselves as the bus stops and turns. I think you should tell the kid that when they are bigger they should give up their seat, but right now they should stay in their seat.

Boys will be boys

Iwas walking home from Shul with Sammy (2 yrs old) and Jonah 5(yo). Sammy said something. which I didn't understand so I asked him what he said, he look at me and said..
You farted?
I hadn't and I told him so, but Jonah wasn't a believer: he told Sammy to smell my tush. So Sammy smelled my tush and announced that I smelled.

I have such sweet boys :)

Turns out I have a sensitive side

While I was giving a speech at our kiddush today, I spoke about why named our daughter Kayla Rivka, and thanking the community for all they've done for us in the past year, I just broke down and wept like a baby....
Oh, wait that's not what happened at all. My sensitive moment took place on Friday Night.
During dinner, I started feeling itchy all over, I checked myself ouyt and saw that I broke out in hives, for the first time since I was probably 1o, It was crazy looking. I showed Nat my blemished skin, and she mentioned that she just switched laundry detergents, my skin must be sensitive to the new stuff.
Then she made the comment that it's weird that my skin is more sensitive then everyone else in the family.

Kiddush in SHul

This past week we celebrated our Aliyahversary, one complete year living in Israel. Therefore, plus the fact that we still haven't made a kiddush in honor of Kayla being born, we decided to make a kiddush in our shul.

Tremping

One of the hardest adjustments I've had to make in the past year is not having a car. Ever since I got my drivers license (I was either 16 or 17) I had access to a car. Now we have to rent a car when we want to go away for a few days, or over the holidays. It really sucked the other day, when my sister made Aliyah (moved to Israel) and we couldn't get to the airport to greet her.
My main method of travelling these days is hitchhiking, something I never would have dreamed of doing in the States.
Ariel is about 40 minutes to the entrance of Jerusalem, an hour to the city center, by car. The bus takes anywhere from an hour and a half to two hours. Tremping usually gets me there somewhere in between driving and the bus.
Today was a pain, it took and hour for me to get off Mount Ariel, but once I did, the rest of the trip wasn't so bad. Last week it took me 5 rides to get from Jerusalem to Ariel. Luckily I didn't have to wait that long in between rides, and it went pretty quick.
On average It takes 2 rides to get to Jerusalem, maybe 2 or 3 to get back. There are rare occasions where I can find one ride that takes me there or back, those are great days. I only speak when spoken to, I usually speak in Hebrew, the conversations are pretty much teh same, where are you from before making Aliyah, why did you leave the U.S.. do yo, have family here, what do you do for a living etc. I pretty much know how to answer all these questions in Hebrew, which is nice.
The few times that I've had a car, I pick up hitchhikers, sometimes I try and speak to them, I'm not sure what it depends on, I guess my mood.

I'm back (Again)

After a long break from blogging, I'm going to give it another shot.
Today(9/8) is our Aliyah Anniversary, I'd love to say that I've been so busy in the past year that I didn't have time to blog, but that would be a lie. I've spent a good part of the year sitting around on the couch figuring out my plan.
I gave up looking for a job after a few months, and spent time trying to start my own company. After months and months and months of getting everything figured out, I started working this past Sunday. I walked into a bunch of restaurants in the center of Jerusalem, and I have a couple of leads and I'm hoping for the best.