Ron, the first-grader, can choose which subjects he wants to take. Math and Hebrew (reading and writing) are the only subjects that are mandatory. For the rest he will have to decide in a week’s time which “courses” he wants to take this semester. This week and next week, he can still try them out for size and see which suit him best. I really want him to take English, to get prepared for our trip (only six months from now!), and other than that, he can also take woodwork, history, lots of different classes in PE, and a few other subjects. To be honest, I feel that it may be a bit too much choice for such a young boy, but he’s having fun trying out the different classes, so we’ll see what it all boils down to in another week’s time.

Dan, in the adjoining kindergarten is just having fun, as well he should be. He’s actually joined Ron in a couple of classes, out of interest (kindergarten kids can choose to join classes if they want to) and he says he wants to take the history course too.

There is some bad news today too, a bit upsetting for me, actually. My mom phoned to tell us that they had a burglar come into her home. She lives with my 80 years old grandfather and my invalid uncle in the same apartment, so like IsraeliDad was saying, it was actually lucky that they never noticed anything and he only got away with her purse. You never know, when surprising a burglar how things might end, and he could have gotten violent. Still, she’s had quite a bit of cash in her purse, as she was getting ready to pay a loand, plus somehow, the theives managed to withdraw more cash from her bank account already. All in all, a loss of ten thousands shekels (about three thousand dollars), which is a lot of money for Mom, sigh.

So, when it came to my own kids, I had to remind myself that they are two boistreous boys, very self confident and sociable, and quite different from what I used to be (I think). We’ve also taken great care to find them a good school, one that is much better than any that were available when I was a kid. This one is a democratic school, with 21 kids per class at most. More importantly, the emphasis is on democratic humanistic values, respect for the invidvidual and all that. So…. fingers crossed, this would be a much better experience than I ever had. First day over, seems like it was too. They both came back fairly happy. I was so nervous for the past three days, it’s such a huge relief to see that they’re happy and relaxed.

Oh, and good news today - we made reservations for the flight tickets for our US trip! It will be only seven weeks in the US + maybe one week in the UK, so a total of 8 weeks. It’s less than what we had originally shot for, but between the various obligations of the school year, IsraeliDad’s work routine and our concern of being away from home and the family for too long, we ended up with a shorter trip. If all goes according to plan, we’ll be in the US in the middle of March!

One IsraeliDad down with a bad case of strep throat. One kid with an annoying wound on his leg that got a bit infected. It’s not very serious, but you can’t go anywhere when you hop around on one foot, can you. So, I’ve resigned to my role this week, as nurse, driver and baby sitter. Not too much else accomplished, I’m afraid.

Anyway, just touching base with the blog. Our little family is doing well, with my brother-in-law and his fiance back from India. Another one of my brothers-in-law is carrying on with the adventure of a lifetime, for him and his wife, sailing across the globe. You can read about them on their blog at www.chasamba.com - wishing them both a happy and safe trip, as they’re about to enter the pirate zone of the Arab sea…

I still remember how last year, come the last two weeks of August, we were on the phone trying to arrange a last-minute get away in the north of Israel. It was unbelievable. Prices shot through the roof, and still you couldn’t get a bed almost anywhere!  And don’t get me going about the main tourist attractions here. We went to this nature reserve in the upper Galillee last August, and we could hardly move around, I swear. It was so crowded with people swarming along the narrow paths alongside the streams.

The amazing thing about this, is that most Israelis seem to be abroad, this time of year. Half of our friends and relatives are out of the country. India, Thailand, Holland, Italy, you name it. Everyone’s on vacation. Which makes me wonder, who are all the people crowded in the local tourist joints? I think I figured it out though, after giving this a lot of thought. No political innuendos intended, but Israelis seem to occupy more space than other people. It’s our national character, I think. Israelis tend to shout, wave their hands, and just very much “be”, taking up more space than ordinairy people. (Note to any potential hosts of ours: of course, myself and my family are different… we’re all polite, quiet and take up very little space!)

With so many Israelis traveling to India, this is an old joke by now -

Local Indian: So, tell me, how many Israelis are there?

Israeli tourist: About 7 million of us.

Local Indian: No, I meant in Israel, not just the ones in India.

One of the nice things about summer is the wonderful fruit. I took Ron out for a walk the other day, and we took pictures of all the fruit we could find around our home. Quite a variety too - though I can’t say I like them all. Still, all organic produce, absolutely fresh, and none goes to waste!

Some figs, ripening in the sun on the tree in our backyard (you can actually see a mango tree in the background, but not too much fruit on that one this year).

My personal favorite - our vine with lots of delicious grapes. They’re amazing when served cold.

We have a huge bush of passion fruit. It keeps growing year by year and we have tons of fruit this year. I don’t like it myself, but others swear by it.

The famous Israeli sabra fruit. It’s a nasty cactus, but they say the fruit tastes good -

They’re not yet ripe, but these pomegranates will be on our table at New Year’s Eve.

Ron insisted that we take a picture of the last remaining bucket of pecan nuts too.

Bon apetite!

We’ll have more people over, but my guess is everyone will want to get into our manificent pool :p

Now, my kids are very difficult when it comes to food and I read somewhere that the best thing to do is prepare a variety of dishes and put them on the table. The theory is that watching the grown-ups having varied dishes, the kids will just grab the dishes and try them out for themselves. Well, I have to say, my boys quickly caught on to the concept of a varied meal. They insist on having at least five different dishes on the table for dinner. They still only eat “clean” pasta, but they enjoy feeling like we’re all having a fancy dinner. So, this is what our dinner table ends up looking like. I’ll describe the dishes and who eats what.

Starting at the top blue plastic dish, and moving clockwise, and please excuse what might be Engrish rather than English -

Green beans steamed and seasoned with some olive oil - me and Israeli dad love this one.

“Clean” no-sauce pasta - the kids eat that. They consider different shapes to be variety in their diet.

Wild rice - real yummy but the kids won’t touch that.

Sweet potato slices, steamed and seasoned with olive oil and a local herb we call “Za’atar” - it’s delicious and finally, something that Ron will eat too.

Vegetable salad - we have a salad with every meal, pretty much. Fresh and colorful - if only the kids would have some…

“Cabbage salad” - i.e. chopped up cabbage for Ron. For some reason or other, he thinks it’s delicious and I’m not complaining.

Soy meat replacement burgers, schnitzle and meat balls - they’re very popular in Israel, easy to make and frankly, I hate preparing meat or chicken, so they come in handy.

Bon apetite, or as we say in Hebrew, Bete’avon!

Well, they’re playing sad songs today, and that’s when you know that something sad happened, probably soldiers getting killed. Of course, this time, they weren’t exactly killed today, but probably quite a while ago. Whenever you have people getting killed, it’s a sad thing, but this was a bit more complicated. These are the two soldiers that were kidnapped almost exactly two years ago, the incident which sparked second Lebanon war in July 2006.

Ever since then, the Hezbulla refused to give any details about the two kidnapped soldiers, not saying even if they were dead or alive, only that they are holding them hostage until their demands regarding the release of Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners are met.

That ambiguity about whether the soldiers are dead or alive, was and still is perceived as extremely cruel on the part of Hezbulla towards the families of the soldiers involved. The ambiguity had been kept till the very last moment, and the families were still praying to see their loved ones back home safe and alive, only to have their hopes shattered as they saw two coffins brought out of the Hezbulla vehicles in Lebanon. There’s the tragic element to the day - the very human need and hope, so cruelly nurtured by the Hezbulla only to be crushed with the sight of the coffins. And in a sense, the entire nation went through the same thing.

It’s all contrasted with the red carpet laid out in Lebanon to honor the released Lebanese prisoner Samir Kuntar. And yes, I know, one nation’s terrorist is another nation’s freedom fighter. Still, this particular individual was involved in one of the more horrific terror acts ever. Not a big one either, “only” 3 people died, but with all due respect to the the Lebanese cause, the guy sounds like a total psychopath. Cold coldbloodedly killing a man in front of his four years old daughter, and then killing the child by crushing her skull. As someone said today on the radio, woe to the people who celebrates THAT as heroic.