Happy Hanukkah !

This evening Hanukkah begins, so it is the time for doughnuts, chocolate coins and of course, the candles in the hanukkiah. I think deep inside in each child lives a pyromaniac...

Happy Hanukkah!

Maya celebrated it today at the kindy and it was lots of fun...From all the Jewish holidays , it is my favourite one...

She is My Guardian Angel

Today I am going to tell you about a very special person...I am calling her my guardian angel, and you know what, I really believe she is one...People like her are oh, so rare, and I consider myself blessed for meeting  her.
I met Agy more than 15 years ago, back in Romania. I was a young career woman and single mother, struggling with life in a new , post-communist Romania. She was my cleaning lady...Well, that was in the beginning...because, in time, she became my friend, my confessor, she took care of me, cooked meals for my son and waited for me when I came from work exhausted, with a cup of coffee and an understanding ear. Only one year my senior she was like a mother to me because she has wisdom beyond her age. She was my sister because she has a true, tender and loving heart and she knows how to listen. Truly listen. She was my best friend because she wasn't afraid to tell me the truth even if she knew it would hurt and then it was there to wipe my tears.
After I left Romania and come to live in Israel she stayed there and took care of my "affairs" (I have an apartment that I rent) and then she "adopted" my mother-in-law and became her friend and helper and guardian angel until the her last days...When my mother in law passed away, Agy was there and not her son, and she made the funeral arangements and now she is the one that goes to the cemetery and lights a candle on her grave...
Twice a year, on Easter and Christmas she sends us presents, each summer when we travel to Romania, she is there and takes care of everything for me, gives me one of her mobile phones, brings me flyers for take-aways and does my washing, take us fishing and spends hours entertaining Maya, which adores her.
And she is like this with everyone around her...
She is a simple woman, no higher education, no fancy life...just a simple, hard-working woman, and believe me, she works hard...but every person that knows her loves and respects her. Because she is honest, above all, and has a heart the size of a continent.
I consider myself lucky and I thank God for the day when our paths crossed because I know that He sent Agy to watch over me. She is an angel. And I love her.
The words are too poor to describe the depth of my thankfulness, to tell you more about the woman that touched our lives and made them better.
I am just telling this: Thank you Agy, from the bottom of my heart. I love you.
And this song is for you:

Red Sea in a Box

We had a quiet Saturday at home, with Friday's alarm and rockets and me still feeling green around the gills. And so I had a daughter to entertain. And because last week we had a trip to Eilat - I know, I didn't say, I wanted to, but with the food poisoning and stuff I wasn't in the mood but I'll put some pictures, I promise - as I was saying, because of Eilat we did a "Red Sea in a box" kind of craft, from playdough. It came out surprisingly nice and Maya took it today to the kindy to show it to the kids...

Have a nice and quiet week!

Do You Want to Lose More Than Six Pounds in Two Days ? - Try This Diet

No, no, no...I am just kidding...Don't try this...In fact, don't ever do what I did...
never- ever, promise?
But I made you curious, didn't I? What kind of wonder diet would it allow you
to lose this amount of weight in two days? Well...to end the suspense,let me tell
you :
FOOD POISONING!!!
Yep, that what I've got...
It was was I deserved, really, as I went on Wednesday to the weekly open market
and bought some snacks to munch on...Rule number one: Never buy food that is
presented on open stalls in markets...In Israeli markets they have this tables
where they put huge quantities of different varieties of roasted and salted nuts,
and everybody comes and takes a handfull and shove them into their months...
only God know hows many germns are there lurking on the snacks...So I was
stupid and I fell into the sin of glutony and I paid the price...Believe me, I paid
it dearly...I was so sick I thought (honestly) that I would die. I couldn't eat  or
drink anything (only sips of mint tea and my daughter's rehydration solution) because I couldn't keep anything in...After the trips to the toilet ended, on Thursday night, I think, I was feeling so weak I barely could stand...but I managed to sleep a bit and on Friday morning I began to fell better. Now it is Saturday morning and I am still shaky and my bum is awfully sore (don't laught, it is the truth!). I am grateful to God that it ended and I am still alive but my goodness, I thought I would die. Apart from the obvious digestive problems my body hurt, all my muscles and bones and I thought my head wouls explode...
So, rest assured, from now on I will think twice about where to buy and what to buy...I don't usually do what I did last Wednesday...but, as you can see...you don't pay attention once and you pay the price thousandfold...
So now you know the story behind the 6 pounds that I lost in two days...and don't do like me...

And yes, everything looks colorful and nice...but I say, be aware of taking chances when you buy...

(the picture is from the the green prophet site)

Saint Nicholas in (the) Rubber Boots

When we were kids in poor, communist Romania, on Saint Nicholas Eve we used to put our boots on the windowsill and wait for presents. They were usually sweets and oranges, a book or some crayons...but the joy was unmeasurable. It meant so much for us...
Now, here, in Israel, I try to put together a holiday, to built a tradition for my daughter. We don't have a windowsill as windows are different in our apartment and only rubber boots for the rainy season but my daughter's smile was worth more than I invested. Her joy was my joy as a mother and the child in my soul was happy with and for her.
As I said before, it is not easy to be different in Israel, but this is what I know, what I grew up with, this is what my souls resonates to...I do my best to offer my daughter my heritage and also to let her learn the ways of this country, and let her be to one to choose for herself. I just hope I'll have the strenght to stand for her whatever she chooses... 

Cool Craft - Recyclable Noah's Ark

This is a project we've been working at as a family. Maya and her daddy started it and because my husband is very short on free time, I helped Maya finish it.

It is for the kindy and it has to be from recycled materials, ours is from a milk carton and a shoe box. We drew inspiration from here: Milk Carton Noah's Ark.

What I liked about our project it is that it looks like it's done by a five year old kid, with a bit of help. The other arks I saw at the kindy where magnificent works of art, obviously done by the parents.

How do you feel about it? When you kid has to do a project for school, do you work with her/him, encourage them or you simply do the prtoject for them because "I don't have time for this stuff".

And of course, my sweet baby is case showing our work. Love you, princess!

Autumn Treasures

Who said we don't have autumn here in Israel?

A trip to Canada Forest on a sunny week-end (now it is raining cats and dogs here) and we came back with a bagfull of autumn treasures, lots of sunshine and laughter...

I Am Furious

OK, so today I am furious...fuming, actually...there are too many things that bother me that I cannot simply sit and shut up. Even though I know that writing all down won't help, not even a tiny bit, at least I'm getting it of my chest...
First thing...Maya's kindergarten is a WASTE OF TIME, believe me. She is in the year before going to school and they are supposed to learn the basics, you know, letters, numbers and such. We decided to enroll her in that specific kindy because we heard the teacher there was very good...but this year, surprise, they got a new teacher! The old one took early retirement - I've heard later through the grapevine that she had a very difficult year because of some parents. So, good for her. Not so good for us...
I also have another kindy related problem, but I think in this one I am alone...I absolutely hate the way they take care of the kids. I know there are only one teacher and one helper at 32 kids, but...still... Nobody pays attention if the kids eat all they luch or not (lately, Maya has been coming home with the food barely touched in her lunchbox), if they fall and hurt themselves. Sometimes, when I take Maya home she looks like she's been in a battle or something...literally. I don't say to mollycoddle them, but for Heaven's sake, they are 5 year old kids! Teach them to take care of themselves, not just let them figure it out...
Today the weather was awful, cold and windy, and nevertheless they spent time outside. Maya told me "her head was cold" (she didn't have a hat as I couldn't imagine somebody sane to send the kids outside to play in such a weather, I gave her a headband but she didn't find it). As we live near the sea, the winds tend to be very strong in the autumn-winter..
It is very difficult for me to understand all this... Even if I come from a country considered poor and with uneducated people, believe me, it is not!
My husband keps telling me that I have too high expectations, but when my kids are concerned, I don't consider them that way...
Oh, and another issue...we are dealing here in Israel with an on/off doctors' strike. I won't bore you with the details as the story began in the summer when the country's resident doctors began a strike, followed by mass resignations. I thought they solved their differences with the Ministries, but this morning I read in the newspaper (Haaretz in English, the best) that a great number of senior physicians "resigned to show of support for beleaguered residents" (I qouted from the newspaper). I don't want to start on the subject of doctors, because, if you've been reading my blog you already know I have my issues with them. But, come on, what is it, some sort of game? I mean, they are doctors, they have to put the interests of their patients first (yeah, as if). OK, the money problem is a reality but aren't they supposed to figure out something while not letting people die because nody cares or treats them? What about the Hippocratic oath?
My head hurts...I fell like I live in some sort of Kafkian reality and I'm going in circles, round and round...to nowhere...Nobody knows, nobody cares and I feel so frustrated that I could scream...
I guess at least I have to sort out the things where I have a say - like Maya's kindy. I'll start talking to other parents, see if they are OK with our kids not learning anything. Oh, everything is such a waste of time! I don't even know why am I writing this...because I don't feel better. At all...So I'll go.

Thank God for "Pour Your Heart Out Wednesdays" at Shell's blog...



Go and visit. I'll be there...

You Are Lonely When...

...there is nobody to talk to about...favourite movies or British sitcoms or urban fantasy books or the book you are working at...
... there is nobody to have a cup of coffee or tea with, so you're going by yourself, loud music blaring in your earphones, to block all the silence that comes crashing on you...
...there is no shoulder to cry on when your daughter is sick...or you are sick...or you just need a cuddle...and there is nobody there to hold you...
...there is nobody to laugh with...
...

Eventful Days...

Even though I said I'd write more, the past days were pretty eventful...so now that I am more (or less) relaxed about what happened, I can sit and talk about it.
First of all, Maya had her first playdate from the new kindy...and boy, did it end in tears...Our cat, Dasha, scratched the girl (on her face) as she wouldn't let the cat alone, no matter how many times I asked her to. I was lucky enough that her mother was there at that moment (came to pick her up) and she saw the scene, otherwise only God knows what she would've thought about the red, angry lines on her daughter's face. I disinfected hjem, give her some antibiotic ointment and pray that it will go away without any complications. Dasha is a house cat, imunized, clean and all...and she scratched us (especially Maya) lots of times, before we learned to interpret her body language and understand when she wants to be left alone.
I hope the girl will be all right, her mum was very understanding (once again, I am glad she saw when it happened) and that the girls will remain friends...
Well, if that wasn't enough, it was Maya's turn afterwards...She had a nasty accident at the kindy: during the sports lesson, another girl fell down and Maya didn't see her and tripped over and knocked her mouth on the other girls head. I didn't see it right away when I took her from the kindy, as she ran away to the swings in the park (the kindy is near a small park), I saw it a few minutes later...and I thought I'd pass out...She had a fat lip (mainly half of it) and said it hurts "a bit"...Then, when I looked more atentively I saw that she had a blod clot on her inner part of the lip and the upper gum was a bit swollen. She didn't complain much, we even went to her weekly swimming lesson, I gave her in the evening "Nurofen" and kept her at home today.
What bothers me in all this malarkey is the fact that it happened during the  sports lesson and the sports teacher didn't see it (in fact, nobody saw her swollen lip all day afterwards). When I asked Maya where was the teacher when it happened she said that "she was talking with our kindy teacher and all the kids were running around"...Well, tomorow I am going to give them a piece of my mind...I know it is not easy to watch over 30 kids, but as I understood from Maya during the sports lesson they are divided into two groups, one is playing and the other is participating in the lesson. And anyhow, the kids are their responsability as long as they are in the kindy...
Well, I won't say anymore, I am just grateful it wasn't worse, it'll pass in a couple of days with lots of TLC and I hope she'll pay more attention next time (as she is a bit "head in the clouds" type of kid).