Catherine Visit: Day Two (Masada, Dead Sea)

On Monday morning, we packed up the rental car and headed south towards Eilat, with a planned stop in Masada. We drove along the western edge of the Dead Sea, passing sign after sign referencing historical events (some biblical, some not)-- Jericho, Ein Gedi, where fdjasneiwoa and his men slaughtered thousands of Jews during Passover on their way to Masada; the turn off to Sodom and Gomorrah; a sign that just said "Lot's Wife," which I guess is the presumed place where Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt; we also passed very beautiful things--views across the Dead Sea, impressive mountains to our west, several ibex running along the desert next to us (we could hardly contain Aaron from running after the ibex to hunt them for dinner).

We knew that we wouldn't be able to stop everywhere we wanted, but still it was difficult to pass all these things by. But we did pass them by, and eventually got to Masada. We told the kids we would be walking around a lot but we didn't tell them it would be a hike since we weren't sure they'd be able to do it. Aaron loves to hike and usually wants to hike every mountain he sees. Since we got here, he has been wanting to hike anything he can. So when we saw the mountain ahead of us and I said, "So, anyone want to climb that mountain with me?" Aaron panted and jumped around and shouted, "ME, ME!" We got everyone lathered in sunblock, packed up some water and a picnic lunch, and headed into the visitors' center. We watched a brief movie about the history of Masada. According to the movie, and popular understanding, the story goes like this: A group of about one thousand Jewish Zealots (an extremist splinter group called the Sicarii) settled at the top of this mountain after fleeing Jerusalem. They disagreed with the way the Romans were ruling Jerusalem. So, naturally, the Roman legion, with their leader Lucius Flavius Silva, set out to lay siege on Masada. The Romans did everything they could to break into the community to kill the people within--fires, catapults, ramming, etc. The Jews hung out on the top of the mountain in their fortress, watching as the Romans got closer and closer, very slowly. It took them three months to finally build a ramp that would allow them to penetrate the fortress. The story goes that once the people saw that there was no hope, they agreed that they would rather be dead than be Roman slaves, so the fathers killed their children and wives, then the men drew straws to determine who would kill the other men--first ten people were chosen to kill the others, then one chosen to kill everyone else and fall on his own sword. Once the Romans broke in, they found hundreds of dead people. A woman and a couple of children who had been hiding came out and told the story to the soldiers. This makes a really great story, but according to the Oxford Archeological Guide to the Holy Land (which we have heard to be very reliable) the details of this story are a little inaccurate. Evidence has suggested that in fact that community did not all agree to die rather than be slaves, but that there was some disagreement and then they ended up killing each other. Not quite as romantic, and not in line with what Josephus (a first century Jewish Roman historian) wrote, but might actually be correct. Who knows.

After the movie, we set off to climb to the top.

Aaron was Catherine's buddy for the hike. They made a great team, surging ahead of the rest of us.

Ben and I stayed behind at Elliot's pace
(Elli took this picture.)

Elliot did a good job walking a portion of the way

But, alas, Elliot' s parents got impatient and I carried him on my back the rest of the way

In this picture you can see the cable car that we did not ride. Libbie called it a "choo choo."

The family!

Just a little girl playing around... (don't you love the ponytail?!)

Libbie got several skinned knees from our Masada adventures. Every time she would fall and skin her knee she'd say, "Knee! Ow!" Then Catherine would excitedly say, "You skinned your knee at Masada! How cool!" Then Libbie would smile and say, "Yeah."

An internet image of part of Masada

The crew on our way down

The ladies

After some overpriced ice cream in the gift shop at Masada, we continued our drive down the coast of the Dead Sea toward Eilat. When we saw a place where we could pull over and have access to the Dead Sea, we jumped at the chance. One of the top ten things to do in Israel is to float in the Dead Sea, so we had to give it a shot.

Aaron was super excited to be at the Dead Sea

The classic tourist pose... how could I resist?

I tried to help Elliot float, but he wasn't very easy to work with.

Aaron loved it. He's wearing his shoes because the ground was made of really rocky salt chunks. It was really difficult to walk on, even for me with my super-calloused and tough barefooting feet.

We got in the car to leave and the nastiness and burn of the salt hit us all. Elli and Libbie cried for a good twenty minutes (they both had open wounds that had been entirely immersed in the salt water... I can't really blame them). Aaron kept saying, "Maybe that wasn't such a good idea... I am covered in salt!" It was pretty gross.

After a couple more hours of driving, we arrived in Eilat, found our hostel without any trouble (Shelter Hostel... highly recommended--cheap and friendly, but no breakfast) and settled down for a much-needed snooze.

Catherine Visit: Day One (Jerusalem--Israeli Museum, Ammunition Hill)

The day before Catherine arrived, we realized that she arrived at Ben Gurion at 5:30 am and not 5:30 pm, as we had previously thought. Catherine sent me an email that said, "I AM NOT IN THE MILITARY!!" (Because if she were, she would not have mistaken an a.m. time for a p.m. time.)  Neither of us were expecting that she could possibly arrive at 5:30 am since most flights leave NYC at night and arrive here in the morning. But we were wrong, and she was indeed scheduled to arrive at 5:30 am. So we rented a car Saturday evening and I drove to pick her up first thing on Sunday morning. After a brief rest at home (which she abandoned shortly after starting, proclaiming, "How can I possibly sleep?! I'm in Israel!" So we headed out to see some local sights.

Our first stops were to see some of the viewpoints in our area that overlook Old and New Jerusalem. As we were driving and Catherine caught her first glimpse of the Dome of the Rock, she gasped, "Is that it?!! Wow, is that the Dome of the Rock?! I've been reading about that place for months!" Her excitement was contagious even though we see that dome almost everyday. Having visitors really helps us realize what an amazing place we live in. Catherine has said dozens of times, "This is where you live!"

Libbie took to Catherine ("Frinfrin") right away

Our next stop was the Israeli Museum, which has a model of Jerusalem in the second temple period (Herod's temple), the Dead Sea Scrolls (most of the ones on display are just fancy replicas since the real ones are in a vault somewhere in the basement), and quite an impressive collection of art, including a great sculpture garden.

The model of the Old City during the second temple period-- Herod's palace is in the foreground

One of the many outdoor sculptures in the garden

Elliot, Ben, Aaron, half of Libbie

There were several rooms there that had these butterflies all over the walls. We thought it would be a pretty great way to decorate a corner of a bedroom someday.

Elliot loved this sculpture of a Hindu god with thirty-four arms, each one holding a different weapon

After a few hours at the Israeli Museum, we went to our local falafel shop to introduce Catherine to French Hill falafel. The Arab guy who works there greeted us with smiles and fresh falafel. Catherine was instantly hooked.

Once we were full and ready to move on, we rode over to Ammunition Hill, where we read there would be a reading of the Esther story for the eve of Purim. Unfortunately, there was no megillah but we were treated to a propaganda-filled video about the events of the Six-Day War in 1967. I recognize that every story is biased in some way, but this was quite ridiculous. Every victory on the Israeli side was, according to this video, either a miracle or a result of pure hard work. Not to mention how they glazed over many tragedies of the war. It's to be expected in this sort of setting I guess. But what I want is a similar video from the Arab point of view. I get the feeling it doesn't exist though, which fact just further fans the flames of injustice. Anyway, the video was entertaining at least and informative in some ways. We were glad we went.

We had a few minutes after the video to wander around the grounds and check out the trenches they uncovered and tanks on display. We had fun wandering through the trenches, trying to not get lost. One of us may have accidentally succeeded in the getting lost part, but luckily it all turned out just fine.

Elliot being the leader on the stairs down into the trench

You can get a better idea of what the trenches looked like with this picture

Catherine is here!

Our dear friend Catherine Edwards arrived from NYC last Sunday morning. She has been here only four days but it feels like much longer than that since we have packed so much in. I have lots of pictures and stories to share, but for now I am just going to make some notes about what we have done so far.

• Israeli Museum (large, impressive model of Jerusalem during second temple period; Dead Sea Scrolls-- most of them just replicas since the real ones are stored in a vault somewhere; lots of art)
• Ammunition Hill (we watched a video of Israeli propoganda... an interesting slant to the historical events of 1948; very cool trenches to run around and get lost in)
• Masada (we all climbed to the top, in one way or another. Libbie was on Ben's back, Elliot on mine most of the time, Aaron practically ran up and down)
• Dead Sea (I floated, Aaron swam, Libbie and Elliot sat (and cried after), Catherine and Ben waded)
• Eilat (Israeli resort town on the Red Sea)
• Petra, Jordan (Catherine and I crossed the border and adventured out way up to Petra while Ben stayed with the kids on the beach in Eilat)
• Hung out at the Red Sea (could see Israel, Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia all at once)
• Ramon Crater (500 meter crater caused by erosion)
• Lots and lots of falafel

Stay tuned for more details and pictures.

Also, if you heard about the bombing in Jerusalem yesterday, no need to worry. All is well with us. We will continue to be very cautious and informed about the situation.

Purim

Halloween came and went last year without a single costume or candy overload. We told the kids that we would do costumes and candy in the Spring, for Purim. Purim is a Jewish holiday that celebrates when the Jews, thanks to Esther, were not destroyed by Haman, the story recounted, not surprisingly, in the book of Esther. Basically kids (and adults) get dressed up and celebrate.

I heard someone describe Jewish holidays in the following way: "Someone wanted to kill us. They didn't. Let's eat." That certainly seems to be the case, with a lot of merry-making included in the eating part. People have been celebrating for the last week, and Purim isn't actually until next week. All week long we have seen crazy hair styles, funky hats, pulled-up striped socks, faces painted, costumes, and all manner of craziness. It's pretty awesome actually. A few weeks ago, we had no idea what a big deal this holiday would be. I got my first clue early last week when I helped a few other moms decorate Aaron's hallway at school. I figured it would be a few streamers or signs or something, but they had much more planned. They transformed the whole hallway into a castle. I snapped these pictures today. I am really impressed that the kids didn't destroy our work.

The king and queen at the banquet table
(I helped make the king and queen)

Aaron's classroom is on the left, with the other "Kita Aleph" (first grade) class on the right.
I stood up on a kid chair on top of a wobbly desk to hang those curtains from the ceiling.

Aaron's class door-- he is in Aleph 2, which I think is the older kids who are in first grade

Another clue of what a big holiday this would be was that we heard from about ten different people that the kids were supposed to dress up on Friday and bring a wrapped-up treat to share. I learned from talking to my ultra-Orthodox playground friend Amuna that there are four mitzvahs (commandments) for Purim: 1) hearing the story of Esther read from the scrolls (the men hear it at synagogue; the men read it to the women) 2) a special Purim feast where all the men should get drunk, 3) giving gifts of food and drink to at least two people (called "mishloach manot"), and 4) giving charity to the poor. Obviously Ben is not going to be getting drunk, but we were glad at least that the kids could do mishloach manot with some friends at school. This morning was the big day-- the Purim party day the boys had been looking forward to. Elliot picked out a Spiderman costume as his special treat the last time we were in the Old City, so he was covered costume-wise. Aaron didn't want to wear a costume. I suggested that he be a book since 75% of his waking time is spent reading (he read the first two Percy Jackson books yesterday and today... but that's another story). He liked that idea and made this costume:

The strings were to hang around his shoulders so he could keep the costume on

He tried his costume on this morning but didn't think it looked good so he decided to wear the knight costume Elli wore for his birthday instead.

Needless to say, the Crusades, and knights in general, are not really a rage here in the Jewish nation of Israel. People didn't really understand his costume. Someone suggested he was a ninja so we decided to just go with that.

Libbie tried to sneak on Elli's costume before he could get to it

Ready to head out the door. (I love Elli's web-making hands... he's never seen any sort of animated Spiderman so we tried to introduce him to the hand position but it didn't quite work so last minute.)

The boys felt bad that Libbie didn't have a costume so Aaron put on her newest dress from Baba and decided she was a princess. Here are Spiderman and the princess riding to school

Some of the kids at Aaron's school

Aaron and his friend Noam. Noam has been so friendly with Aaron and all of us since the beginning of the year. Such a great kid.

Some more students on the playground-- complete "balagan," or chaos/mess
The female teachers all dressed up as ladybugs

Aaron fighting with a couple of friends

Fighting with another friend, whose name Aaron can't remember. Aaron has a hard time remembering the names of the kids in his class because they sound so similar to each other and so foreign to him/us.

Elli, Don-Ju, and Hajin

Some of Elli's friends from gan

In Esther it says of the celebration, "They rested and made it a day of feasting and gladness." We can definitely attest to the gladness aspect of that. As it says in the book, let it be written in the blog.

On another note, we completely missed St. Patrick's Day. We had no idea it was yesterday. Just think of all the pinching that could have been happening in this land where no one follows Irish holidays. Well, maybe I'll make green pancakes for breakfast tomorrow to make up for it.

The Cats

Our friends (the Grambos) who recently moved back to the states had four cats they had acquired over their years here. They tried to get rid of them before they left but had success with only one. I think I have mentioned before that our kids loved these cats. I played with the idea of taking one of them to our home but couldn't justify it since we were leaving soon and our kids are too young to really take care of them. So I decided not to take them, but when the time came for the Grambos to leave and the cats didn't have a home (but somebody was supposed to come pick them up soonish), I offered to take them in the meantime. I figured it would be a good pet trial period for us. We ended up taking in only two of them and put the other one back on the street where she came from. (Street cats are all over the place. It's not a problem we want to contribute to but we figured since she came from the street she could go back. And she's kind of a mean cat. And our house just isn't big enough for three cats, especially if one of them is a bully.)

There is something so cozy about sleeping cats on your bed

The cats have been in our home for several weeks now. We have tried a few times to get in touch with the agency that is supposed to take them but haven't had success with actually completing the pick up yet. They are really sweet cats and put up with a lot from the kids.

Libbie loves to carry Monster around

Honestly, we didn't try very hard at first to get rid of them because the kids, especially Elliot, are so happy to have them. It's pretty hard to resist these cuties...

Bono is a great snuggler. He especially loves to sleep with Aaron.

Monster is Elliot's favorite

Monster used to try to struggle out of Libbie's arms but now he just lies there and purrs. I guess that means he is okay with it.

But, alas, it is time to say goodbye to the cats. (I have been careful to not call them "our cats" so that it will be clear to the kids that they are not staying with us.) We are going to do our best to pass them forward this week before our next guests come in to town. If their poo didn't stink up our apartment so much, I might consider keeping them longer but I just can't stand the smell, or the associated costs of feeding and taking care of the cats. So, goodbye Monster and Bono. Thanks for being so indulgent of our kids and helping them smile a little more.

Happy Birthday Libbie!

Libbie was looking forward to her birthday several days before the actual day (March 1st). Once the presents were wrapped and I explained to her that in a few days she would get to open them and blow out candles on a cake, she was hooked. She kept repeating, with her eyes wide and a big smile, "My tur-day!'--every time she saw the presents, when anyone asked her how old she is, as she helped make the cake, etc. One time someone mentioned some else's birthday and she got really excited and chimed in with, "My tur-day!" She's been working hard on being able to hold up two fingers but can't quite do it on command yet, although she has done it on accident a few times and gotten really excited. When you ask her how old she is, she usually says five (just like her big brother Elliot says, even though he is four) but lately she has been saying either two or three, so we are getting closer at least.

A few notes about Libbie:

Some favorite snacks include cucumbers (either plain or with hummus or tahini), persimmons, pretzels of all shapes, bananas, bell peppers, and pretty much anything else she is offered.

She prefers to get herself dressed, although she usually needs help getting her shirt/dress over her head and then pulling her arms out of her sleeves when getting undressed.

She loves to push her stroller around, especially up and down stairs. If you so much as touch her stroller to help, she will calmly walk back to the bottom of the stairs and start over again.

She has a passion for hats and pockets, and uses them at every opportunity.

She started potty training herself a few months ago. Just like with the other kids, we let them walk around the house diaperless and after a few accidents, they start using the toilet. About a month ago, I got tired of buying diapers so I decided to start investing myself in taking her to the toilet when we were out and explained to her to not pee in her bed at night. She hasn't really worn a diaper since. She has been having accidents at night every once in awhile but overall she does a great job. She looks so cute with her little diaperless bum.

Things she says often: "yeah," "todah" ("thank you" in Hebrew), "tool" (short for "chatool," which is cat in Hebrew), "shosho" (which means "snuggle," which means, "hold me"), and anything Elliot asks her to say (which he loves to do often).

She loves to give hugs and kisses, and still loves to comfort people in distress.

To celebrate the actual day, Libbie chose "noonoos" (noodles) and broccoli for dinner so we went with the local "Wacky Mac" box as a treat.

Pretty wacky stuff

Libbie loved to open each present she got (thanks, grandparents, for the presents!). Here she is admiring a dress she just opened from Baba Marsha and Grandpa John

All the kids checking out the Lambert grandparents' gift-- Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, with a CD of a reading by Ray Charles. Elli and Libbie equally loved this.

The kids all helped me make this cake for Libbie. The boys decided she would like a cat the best and she agreed, so we went with it. Not my best creation, but we had fun.

Waiting for the song to be over so she can blow out the candle. She enjoyed blowing it out all by herself, just as she had been planning.

Cheese!

"My tur-day dress! Baba. Tur-day! Wee!"