Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Joseph is Moshe's favorite musical!

When he drives the kids to school in the morning, he often plays the music in the car.

A always wants to listen to the album. She knows all the words, by heart. Y and MD also love the music, but do not necessarily want to listen to it every day.

Moshe read about the performance at HaBima, in Tel Aviv, and suggested we go with the kids. I agreed; this would be an exciting family outing!

Most performances were sold out; but there were tickets left for the Friday before school starts. We were able to get front row seats! What a perfect way to end our summer vacation!

When we told the kids about it, they were.... well, less than enthusiastic.

"We've been to plays before;" they said, "if it's in Hebrew, what's the point?"

I tried to explain that this was a professional play, that the performance
would be on a different level than what they have seen until now. The kids were happy to go, but skeptical.

On Friday morning, I told the kids to dress up. After all, we were going to the theater. "In Israeli culture," Y protested, "jeans are dressing up." I was mortified. Moshe insisted that her choice of clothes would be fine.

"How do you know?" I asked Moshe. Many years ago, he told me, his grandparents attended the Opera in Tel Aviv, dressed, as was appropriate in New York or Germany, in evening attire. They were the only people dressed in that fashion. People stared, assuming his grandparents must be actors, based on their unusual attire.

To my chagrin, he was right.

The performance was excellent. The singing, dancing, and costumes were wonderful.

"It wasn't really worth it," I teased my kids.

They giggled, realizing how foolish they had been.

Of course, they had their critiques: "They did not sing the songs right," protested A, who expected every nuance to be the same. "The scene with Potifar's wife was obscene." (it was quite provocative). "Why did they lift their dresses up?" asked Y, who did not appreciate the risqué can-can, nor some of the other dance scenes and costumes. (neither did the rest of us)

Yes, this was Tel Aviv theater. So there were more than enough gratuitous exposures.

That said, the choreography was fantastic. The costume and set design were excellent. The performers were talented (in every way: singing, dancing, and acting). Overall, the performance was 100% professional.

We all had a wonderful time, and enjoyed the show immensely!



Please daven (or send happy, healing thoughts) for RivkA bat Teirtzel.

With love and optimism,
RivkA

I'd Rather Be Camping

All my friends are camping this week!

Some of my friends are camping for the first time! (You know who you are...)

Even Y is camping (with her youth group). MD and A went camping last week (with their youth groups). (Please, don't even get me started about why my kids are in different youth groups!!)

I love camping more than anything else in the whole wide world.

No one will go camping with me.

Well, that's not exactly true.

Several friends offered to go camping together.

But, between my kids' summer schedules and my chemo schedule...

Well, it was impossible to find a time that was good for all the members of my family, much less try to schedule around someone else's family!

I am bummed.

My kids would totally go camping with me. But, these days, I can not do it by myself.

Go figure; I married the only man in the whole wide world who hates camping.

My husband, who I love so much, suffers from the heat. He really suffers. He needs air-conditioning. And he has a strong prefrence for in-door plumbing (and private showers).

I could camp out for a month, no problem!

(The summer before my Aliyah, I went camping with my brother. We spent a week in California's beautiful parks, with no shower. We swam in a sparkly river, but, apparently, that only does so much. At the end of the week, we arrived at my friend's home, in Berkley. Only after I greeted my friend with a huge bear hug, did I realize how much I must STINK!)

I love being cut off from the rest of the world!

When I go camping, I do not bring anything electric with me! (OK, maybe my cell phone....)

(Oh, and there was that time that my son stepped on a burning coal that had spilled out of a defective coal bin. We did purchase one of those pseudo Tetris toys, to help distract him from the pain.)

Last Pesach, my parents came to visit and I figured they would go camping with me. After all, they are the ones who raised me to love camping so much! No go.

I even tried playing the cancer-card. Would you believe that I got no sympathy?

No one would go camping with me.

My parents claimed they are too old to go camping.

Who are they kidding? My dad could run circles around me, even before I got cancer!

But, who am I to judge them?

Not so long ago, given the choice between camping and staying in a 5 star hotel, I would choose camping. No contest.

These days... well... a soft, fluffy bed, and air-conditioning doesn't sound so bad...

Still, I'd rather be camping.



Please daven (or send happy, healing thoughts) for RivkA bat Teirtzel.

With love and optimism,
RivkA

The Mifletzet (Monster)

Every summer, we go with friends to various parks around Jerusalem.

Parks are great for so many reasons. They are FREE, and FUN, and MANY different families can all come and PLAY TOGETHER. Also, the kids feel free to run off and play by themselves, leaving the moms free to sit around and chat!

We love finding "new parks," but we also have our "old favorites."

My friend, IS, is the primary motivator and coordinator.

Our favorite park is The Mifletzet in Kiryat Yovel, in southwest Jerusalem. (click here for an arial view).

That's where we went today.

Our get-togethers are open to anyone who wants to join us, but there are several families who are "regulars." IS, NA, CV and I, all spent years together, meeting for "playgroups" with our kids. In many ways, our park excursions are the natural extension of our playgroups. The kids still get to play, and the moms still get to talk.

I was happy to learn that we would all be there, though it took a while for everyone to arrive. As usual, we talked about many interesting topics. (Thanks IS, for stimulating our discussions with your thoughtful questions!)

Y was the last to arrive, coming by bus from her course in French Hill (northeast Jersusalem). Due to a few mixups, she took 3 buses and still ended up in the wrong place!

She was not far away, but by bus it could take another 30-45 minutes. I felt so bad for her, and a bit frustrated, but I was too tired to pick her up. My friend, NA, just shrugged her shoulders, noting calmly "that's how they learn to get around." I wish that would be my first reaction!

NA offered to go pick Y up, and I was so grateful and relieved. I called Y to tell her; Y's first response was "if it's not too much trouble." I was so proud of her. I knew she was frustrated about the amount of time she already spent on those THREE buses, and yet she did not want to inconvenience someone else. (it makes a mommy proud)

Once Y arrived, she immediately disappeared with IS's and NA's daughters. The younger siblings were already out and about, sliding, climbing, and building sand castles.

IS had arrived early enough to claim a bench right across from the slides, so we had primary visual access to our children. And a short, stone wall just opposite us, so the kids could sit and hang out with us whenever they wanted.

At one point, A was building sand castles with RV, who is several years younger. CV asked me if I thought A was just being nice to RV. I looked over at my youngest daughter, and noticed how happily she was playing. Clearly, she was not concerned about the age difference.

As we were about to leave the park, the girls suddenly jumped up and went down the slides all together. It was a pleasure to see Y and the other older girls playing and laughing freely.

My son finally reappeared, with the other older boys, when it was time to go. MD is at his best, when he is outdoors, and can run and climb. He has always been my little "nature boy;" though he is not so little anymore.

We all had a wonderful time.

I had really pushed myself to get out of the house this afternoon. I was so tired.

It was so worth it!

Parks bring out the best in us all!



Please daven (or send happy, healing thoughts) for RivkA bat Teirtzel.

With love and optimism,
RivkA

Uncamping

Juggling Frogs wrote a wonderful comment on Mother in Israel's blog:

"You know how some homeschoolers work without a curriculum and call it "unschooling"? Well, we're not homeschoolers, but in the summer, our family engages in "uncamping". We bask in the lack of a schedule and float across time..."Juggling Frogs 07.07.08

I have not yet decided if I am a "homeschooler-wannabee" or just a "homeschooler-sympathizer". In either case, If I homeschooled, my kids would definitely be an "unschooled" -- which is why Moshe would never agree to it.

Thankfully, despite a rocky start with one of my kids, all three of my kids love school -- though they don't always admit it! They all love to learn; most of their teachers are excellent; and they have great kids in their classes. (Don't be fooled, I have my share of criticism of our school in particular, and the educational system in general! But, since we are sending to school, at least we have frameworks that work, overall, for our kids.)

That said, we all look forward to spending our summers together! Up until this year, we also basked in our free time. We slept late in the mornings, stayed out late at night, played with friends, and had a wonderful time.

When asked, the kids would tell their friends that they are in "Kaytanat Ima" (Mom's Summer Camp) -- we even made T-shirts, which we would wear on our outings. (Every summer, each kid would paint his/her own "Kaytanat Ima" shirt)

Last summer, I lost a lot of my summer running around to tests and doctor's appointments, and, eventually, chemotherapy (starting, Thursday, July 26).

Thankfully, my friends, especially IS, really helped make sure that my kids' summer vacation still included many fun activities.

Each year, we plan most of the summer with IS -- She is much more organized than I am, she has a daughter Y's age and a son MD's age, and ALL our kids play well together! (At the end of last summer, MD told me that he especially looked after TE, one of IS's young twins, as if TE were MD's little brother!)

So, it was natural (and more than generous) that IS volunteered to organize transportation and food so that my kids could continue to participate in all our usual fun activities (museums, parks, etc).

At one point, IS mentioned that the outings were different without me. I was sort of surprised. I knew that IS would miss my company (since we both look forward to hanging out and talking all day). But I did not think my kids would really notice my absence. After all, when I'm there, my kids practically ignore me while they play with their friends. It was nice to know that they missed me (in a bittersweet sort of way).

I am glad that I did not know then, that that would be our last free summer together.

This summer, my eldest daughter is busy almost all July. As I mentioned before, she went away the first week of summer vacation for four days and three nights, to a "madatzim" (young leaders) seminar. She came back Wednesday night, bursting with enthusiams and eager to share what she learned!

Next week, she begins a 13 day course to become a "madrichat ezer" (assistant teacher) for her gymnastics chug (class). Even though Y only started gymnastics this past year, she also volunteered as a "mitnassah" (teacher trainee) for the younger kids. She took her volunteer job very seriously, and almost never missed it! Her instructor was so impressed with Y (both by Y's personal improvement and by her commitment and skill as a "mitnassah"), that she strongly recommended that Y take this training course, even though Y is still relatively new to gymnastics and cannot do all the exercises for this level, yet. The training course is a serious and intense course, run by the municipality and the Wingate Institute.

MD also put in a special request this summer: he wanted to learn computer programming. We searched around and found a 2-week program, in the same building as Moshe works!

Only A chose to stay at home! I was so excited to have her to myself!!

Who knew that I would spend the entire week running to the hospital?! Thankfully, one of her good friends is also home, and they spent a lot of time together, including one spontaneous sleepover. At least we have next week together!

So, our family has gone from having all the time in the world, to having to schedule around Y's programs, MD's kaytanah (summer camp), my chemo, and, let's not forget, youth group activities! Y is now in "chagas" (chevraya gimel -- high school age group), which means that she has activities all the time, at all hours of the day and night.

It is a bit frustrating for IS, whose kids are still home and don't go to youth group, so she is still free as a bird! I am grateful that she is so flexible!

Meanwhile, I have mixed feelings.

I loved our summers of uncamping. I loved waking up each morning and deciding what we were going to do. I loved being able to stay out late, and not have to worry about waking up the kids in the morning. I loved being able to just pack up and go, whenever/wherever I wanted.

But I am also proud of the things that my children are choosing to do with their summers.

And I am proud of the independence that they are developing.

Of course, these mixed feeling can hit you in the gut. Like, when I asked Y if she would be joining us for certain activities, and she answered "Sure, if it fits into my schedule."



Please daven (or send happy, healing thoughts) for RivkA bat Teirtzel.

With love and optimism,
RivkA