One Month

It's hard to believe we've been in Israel for a month already. It hasn't exactly been a smooth ride, there have been lots of challenges. That said, I never imagined we'd be this settled only a month in. Nehama's been at her new job for over a week now and I'm fairly settled into my new Yeshiva schedule. Matis still freaks out when we drop him off at Gan every day, but they claim he's happy the rest of the day. I suspect they may be drugging him (only partially joking), does anyone know where I can buy spy cams in Israel?

A couple weeks ago, Matis had a fever and we suspected his ear infection from before we left might have come back, so we went to the Doctor to have it looked at. The doctor said it was just a virus and we should expect Matis to come down with something new every couple weeks, because Israel has viruses that aren't common in the US and parents always send their kids to Gan sick. Unfortunately, he seems to have been right. His eyes started bothering him on Friday and got worse through Shabbos. He seemed to be better on Sunday, but we kept him home as a precaution. This morning his eyes looked clear again, so we sent him to Gan. In the middle of the day Nehama got a message that translated to something like "Matis is highly contaminated, pick him up now".

After I took him to the doctor and got his prescription, we walked around the neighborhood of Shaarei Chesed, where we had initially planned on living. I felt a little bit of regret for not having found an apartment there. It would've been nice to have the doctor within walking distance, not to mention people all around who speak English! Ultimately, I think we made the right decision. We didn't come here to live in Flatbush. Having the in-laws down the block is far more valuable. As evidenced tonight when my FIL drove us to the doctor while my MIL came over to take care of Nehama, who was unfortunately also not feeling well. Our neighborhood is beautiful and safe, even if I have to break my teeth on Hebrew and French to talk to anyone. It would be nice to live in Shaarei Chesed for a few months and who knows, maybe it'll work out that we can. 

Our first month here, we had so much that we knew we needed to get done. Now, it's not so easy to know what we need to do. My goal for the next month is to learn enough Hebrew that the cashier in the mini market down the block doesn't need to show me my total on a calculator so I'll understand :-) (again, only partially joking).