house hunting

Alfonso and I went on our house hunting trip in Israel from Feb 2- Feb 8th. The housing market is really tight right now and there weren't that many options. We found out last week that the relocation company was unable to secure a contract with either house in which we were interested. So Intel will put us up in a hotel until we find a house and the relo company can secure a contract and get it furnished. I'm hoping we aren't in a hotel any more than a month. I'm sure it will pass quickly and the boys and I will find lots of ways to entertain ourselves. No problem. (What I'm really thinking: A hotel for a month!! Two toddlers!! Help! Help!)

The boys were fine and dandy at my parents' house during our trip and only cried when we would call on Skype (video call on the computer.) Out of sight out of mind. They were happy to see us when we came back so that's all that matters. Alejandro came running at me full force and just about leveled me. Alfonso is back in Phoenix until the end of the month while the boys and I are staying in Ohio. The move date for Israel is still March 1st.

Besides our fruitless days spent searching for a house, we were able to do a bit of sight seeing. We stayed in Tel-Aviv which is right on the Mediterranean coast. The weather was similar to Phoenix. We'd need a light jacket in the mornings and evenings but it got toasty mid-day. Monday we went up to Haifa which is an hour north of Tel Aviv, also on the coast and went to the Baha'i Shrine and Gardens. Wednesday we went to Jerusalem. Traffic was worse there than anywhere where else. The Old City is just a maze and we mistakenly thought we'd be able to navigate with just a map. We wandered around lost, forever asking for directions. If someone hadn't offered to take us to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (built around Christ's tomb) we would probably still be looking for it now.

This might be a bit long winded for some of you -- but I'm going to try to capture a bit of our experience over the next two years.

Observations, opinions, odds and ends

Language -- Contrary to everything we'd been told, everyone does not speak English. Many people know some level of English but not necessarily fluently. In most cases, there was at least one person around they could bring over to help us. The state languages are Hebrew and Arabic. In Jerusalem, we were trying to avoid being harassed by everyone trying to sell us things so we started conversing in Spanish. We made it half a block before someone came over hawking his services in Spanish.

Food -- We ate out the whole time and never had a bad meal. Of course since Intel was footing the bill, we dined at some fancy-shamsy places that we'll never set foot in again (especially with the little guys in tow.) The food is very flavorful but not spicy in the hot sense that we were accustomed to in New Mexico. We ordered burritos at one place that we labeled as spicy -- but it tasted more like a sweet bbq sauce than anything. They pickle everything! We tried pickled carrots and lemon rinds (I'm not a fan.) People raved about the pickled watermelon but we never had the opportunity to try it. We never made it to a grocery store -- so we shall see what that holds in store for us.

Traffic -- Insane. The drivers call themselves "aggressive." It's a free for all. People cut each other off like crazy, motorcycles weave in and out between lanes of traffic (if you can call them lanes -- people drive wherever they feel like it.) They park on shoulders and sidewalks and in the middle of the road if they can't find a parking spot and have a quick errand to run. Israelis live to honk their horns, not if someone cuts them off. No, usually when the traffic is stopped and there's nothing anyone can do but wait -- they just lean on the horn the whole time until traffic clears. Also, the traffic signals work a little differently. When the light is red, the yellow light comes on (while the red is still on) to let you know it's about to turn green. So if you don't start driving when the yellow comes on, they start honking. Sometimes they start honking before the yellow even comes on to let you know that it's about to turn yellow.

Smoking -- Apparently there's no Israeli surgeon general warning on all of the cigarettes because people there are smoking fiends! I foresee a huge lung cancer epidemic hitting the country in the next few decades.

Litter bugs -- Trash, trash, and more trash. People throw stuff right in front of you with absolutely no shame. There's litter everywhere. We walk out of this fancy five star restaurant and it's like walking into a dumpster. The contrast is hard to fathom. It's on the beach, parks, religious sites even (well, not the Baha'i gardens) but people have no respect for the environment. The smaller communities aren't as bad (not as many people to litter.) This is one of the hardest things for me to accept because it was such a shock to me (and I'm a neat freak -- not as bad since I've had kids but still a neat freak at heart.)

Random Encounters -- The best part of this adventure is all the people. While most Israelis appear a bit unapproachable at first, they are very warm hearted and happy to help. Everyone has a story to tell if you have the time to listen. Here are a few of the people we came across.

Mira -- When walking around in Haifa, Alfonso noticed a woman sitting in a car with a flat tire and offered to help. She looks at him and says "You are not Israeli. An Israeli man wouldn't help. He wouldn't even look at you." (Alfonso speaking english may also tipped her off to his citizenship.) She declined his offer as she'd already called for help. Later she drove by and gave us her phone number and insisted we come to her home to eat when we move next month.

Dorthy -- Met at the Baha'i gardens. She's originally from the States, her husband escaped from Poland when he was four but the rest of his family died in the concentration camps. They now live in Haifa and are activists for the occupied territories. She told a story about visiting Auschwitz and seeing the welcome sign that says "Arbeit macht frei" which means "Work liberates." While it is a nice slogan, it is a terrible thing to say when nothing could be further from the truth. She said it's the same going into Bethlehem in the West Bank there's a sign that says "Peace be with you" but the people there are living in violence, strife and no means of escape.

Zachi -- A Muslim tour guide we met inside Jaffa Gate at the Old City in Jerusalem. His cousin owns a souvenir shop on David Street. Talked about how Jews and Muslims are brothers because they both call Abraham father. "The trouble lies in Israel welcoming "foreign" Jews to come, have land, and make a living but the Palestinians whose homes were here have lost their land and can not make a living." He was very kind and very funny. After exchanging some witty banter, he turns to Alfonso and offers "a million camels for your wife."

Josh -- A photo journalist from Philadelphia that moved to Israel in 1985. He goes to the Old City daily and likes to talk to people and find out their stories. He also helps people find their way around but not for pay because he won't pay 22,000 shekels to become an official tour guide. When we met him, he was in jeans and a ball cap but he says he often dons Arab garb to go into East Jerusalem and Occupied Palestine. He told us that the ladder at the entrance of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is not there for restorations. It has been there for over 200 years when the Byzantines had control of the church and the Turks used the ladder to smuggle food into those trapped in the Church.

Levi -- His wife ran a food stand out of their garage in one of the small moshavs (farming communities) when where we were looking for houses. She had to track Levi down to help us order because no one else spoke english. He was originally from Morocco. He worked construction and had helped build one of Intel's earlier fabs. They welcome us into the home and the wife started making extra "freebies" for us to try and take with us. When he heard we were looking for a house, he started making phone calls and drove us around to see other houses he knew of for rent.

Baha'i Shrine and Gardens. Baha'i is a relatively modern religion that believes "there is only one God, that there is only one human race, and that all the world’s religions represent stages in the revelation of God’s will and purpose for humanity." Anyhow, the gardens are very impressive -- absolutely impeccable.

Church of the Holy Sepulchre
We'll have to go again with a local or tour guide so we'll know what we are looking at.

less tenative move date

We have our mailing info in Arizona but, I don't know if you want to bother penciling it in -- maybe use disappearing ink because we won't be here long. It's a shame because we just settled in and I like this apartment a lot better than the one in Portland. It feels a bit like a fishbowl because we are on the first floor and get lots of pedestrian traffic that like to peer in and check out what trouble the kids are up to.

We finally have a move date to Israel that's less likely to change than before only in the sense that Intel finally let us book our tickets. The movers are packing our stuff Jan 30th since it takes 6-8 weeks to get there by boat. We fly Feb 1st to Ohio and leave the kiddos with my parents while Alfonso and I go on a house hunting trip for a week. Then I'll stay with the boys in Ohio since we won't have most of the toys/books/etc.. Alfonso has to come back to Arizona to work for three weeks. Then he'll fly to Ohio Feb 29th and we'll all leave together for Israel on March 1st. Alfonso's mother was able to come for a week to visit before the next round of chaos ensues. (Alejandro and Alfonso are picking her up at the airport right now.)
Anyhow, the boys are doing well enough. The moving has been a little hard on them. We were in a hotel for two weeks, at my parents for three weeks, now we've been here three with one more to go. It messes up nap schedules and Alejandro wakes up crying in the middle of the night. Once they settle down, we leave again and start all over. But they are resilient little guys. Dante hit a growth spurt and is quickly catching up with Alejandro. They've been accused of being twins twice in the past two days. Alejandro still has about 2-3 inches and ten pounds on his little brother though. They play really well together when they aren't fighting. The other morning, they were playing with a wooden train they got for Christmas. Dante brought pieces to his brother one by one and Alejandro would say "thank you" for each piece as he assembled the track. But by afternoon, Alejandro didn't want to share and Dante destroyed the track just to make Alejandro mad.
Alejandro knows most of his letters and is working on material for a book as soon as he learns how to write. The title will be "1001 Ways to Procrastinate at Bedtime and Drive your Parents Crazy." Dante played tattletale for the first time yesterday. He comes running in tears (while Alejandro was hiding his face so I already had an idea of what happened.) He tells me, "Ale.. (incomprehensible blubbering) push me." (more sobbing) I discovered a miracle cure for his malady though. As soon as I disciplined Alejandro, Dante's tears dried up and he smiled as he jumped up to play. Such joy at getting his brother in trouble.

Well, I'll keep you updated with the progress of our move. The whole thing feels very anti-climatic as we made the decision to go to Israel over a year ago. We enjoyed our time in the Pacific Northwest. I can't complain much about living in Phoenix for the winter. But I'm tired of moving and ready to go back to Albuquerque. Seriously, once our things arrive and we get settled in Israel, I'll be fine. So April is looking really nice about now.

Love always,
debi

"new" address for december

Well, the moving company is coming to pack and load tomorrow. Then we fly to Phoenix on Friday. Our apartment won't be ready until Dec 16th so we'll be living in a hotel for a while. The boys are I are headed to Ohio Dec 12th so we won't even see the apt until after new years.
For those ambitious enough to send Christmas cards, feel free to send them to my parents' house since we don't have an address as of now and will be there most of the month anyhow. Anyhow, we are doing well enough. Alejandro kept threatening to cancel his birthday party because he has a Peter Pan complex and doesn't want to grow up. Dante has morphed into a book worm. His first sentence was "Read that book now." Demanding little fellow. Stories about flushing training pants and our trip our Mount St. Helen's (I got to fly the plane!) will have to wait for another day because I need to finishing packing.

Love always,
debi

moving sometime somewhere i think maybe

I'd been trying to wait until we knew what our plans were before sending an update. After three weeks of waiting to get some resolution from Intel, I decided to just send a message. We won't be going to Israel until at least April. Supposedly we'll be moving to Phoenix but we aren't exactly sure when that will happen (sometime between next week and April.) Hopefully we'll still be able to go to Ohio for Christmas but there are no guarantees of anything besides the certainty that Intel will change the schedule again.
Anyhow, we are doing well in Oregon. After three weeks of rain (when we had company), the weather has been gorgeous the last few weeks. A bit cool, but blue skies and sunshine. The boys are both doing their best to keep life interesting. After Alejandro mastered the rock wall at the park, he attempted to climb "Mount Dresser" during his nap time which toppled over and pinned his legs. I heard the crash and was up the stairs before the shock and pain had a chance to set in. Of course in the few milliseconds of silence before the tears, I had presumed the worst and six hairs turned white. Since then he just empties his dresser to make a mountain out of his clothes. Alejandro wanted to carve an anatomically correct pumpkin because he insisted everyone needed to know it was a boy pumpkin, not a girl one. He really enjoyed trick-or-treating and thought we could go again on November 1st because some people still might have candy. He's become very independent and needs to do everything by himself. He helped himself to a blackberry milkshake as you can see below. Apparently. Alfonso's English still needs some work because when I said "Quick! Bring a towel!" he came running with the camera.
Dante's vocab has really taken off the past couple weeks. He points to and says all the parts of the face by name (all in English, a few in Spanish) but it is a bit hazardous when he gets to eyes. I honestly believe he's trying to pop mine out of their sockets. He's learning to share and take turns and follows Alejandro around trying to give him things. It's really quite sweet. He hasn't quite mastered Alejandro's name so he calls him "brother" instead. He loves to play chase and I'm exhausted way before he ever gets bored. But his new favorite game is flipping on and off the lights now that he can reach the switches. Dante is also climbing and jumping/falling/rolling/sliding off of the couch/bed/table/toy box. Anyone want to take a guess on how many trips to the emergency room I'll be making in the next ten years?
love always,
debi

starting to rain again :(

Dante started sleeping through the night, so we stuck him in his own room which happens to be the same place the computer calls home. So the only time when I'm free to use the computer (when Dante is sleeping) the room is occupied. Such is life. Anyhow, we have company now and the boys have been sharing a room the past few nights. They wake each other up at the crack of dawn but otherwise it's going well enough.
Time just flies by these days. Dante's birthday came and went. The baby days are long gone. He's signing like crazy and he climbs up, over and into everything! He's very astute and puts his powers of observations to good use by finding what buttons to press to drive people crazy. When he's not too happy with his brother, Dante will go and get Alejandro's most cherished stuffed duck, wave it in Alejandro's face and take off running. With me, he just spits and then smiles at me. The boys go between fighting over toys and beating on each other to giggling and hugging and kissing within a blink of the eye. I try to ignore as much as I can unless someone's life or limb is in peril.
Alejandro has turned into quite the little person with his own opinions, reasoning and observations. "I know it wasn't nice to hit Elijah, but he hit me first and that wasn't nice either." "I'm not tired yet but how about I watch a movie and then I'll go to bed. Okay? Good." He loves to help. But you have to be careful when letting him help you put produce away because he likes to try a bite of all the fruits to see which one he really wants. It's really sweet to watch him read stories to Dante though. He uses different voices for different characters and everything. He loves to re-enact incidents, especially when he was getting in trouble but he makes them these big dramatic experiences. Some friends watched the kiddos one night and the next morning Alejandro tells me "When we were brushing teeth, Mister Jay said 'No, no, no. You stick that tongue back in your mouth.' And then Miss Hettie said 'No, no, no. You be quiet because your brother is trying to sleep.'" Apparently everyone waves their finger when they says 'No, no, no' which is funny because I don't know anyone that has ever done that to him.
As a family, we finally started going on more trips now that the summer is nearing an end. Visited friends from college in Seattle, went to Mount St Helen's and Crater Lake. Tentatively, we are still headed to Israel after Christmas but Friday they announced the schedule was pushed out another 10 weeks, so we may end up here until March. Who knows?
Love always,
debi

"really really much"

Well, the only one in the household left on their hands and knees is me (scrubbing the floors) -- Dante is through with crawling. While he looks like someone slipped some tequila left over from our wedding into his sippy cup, walking is his preferred mode of transit. He weaves and wobbles around and still falls down frequently, but he just gets right back up. Alejandro is now the victim of not-so-random drive-bys. Dante sets his sights on his target, runs in at full speed, swipes a toy while still on the run, turns and takes off knowing retaliation is not far behind. We've had some minor altercations thus far but the stage has been set for some serious turf/toy wars. It's all okay though because Alejandro says "I love my brother really really much." Dante keeps Alejandro company in the corner when Alejandro is in trouble (usually for picking on Dante.) Dante is also aspiring to be the next Lebron, I found him trying to shoot hoops. He's figured out how a lot of the toys' pieces and parts go together by watching his big brother. But the imitation is not one sided as Alejandro mimics Dante's stagger and gibberish.
Our trip to Ohio helped me notice some of Alejandro's personality quirks to which I had become immune. He prefers broccoli over french fries and you can bribe him to do just about anything for a slice of watermelon. When he's in a hurry to finish eating, he always stuffs as much food as he can in his mouth. He recently discovered another food receptacle. After he completed his own impression of a chipmunk, Alejandro decided to shove the remaining slices of carrots and cucumbers into Dante's mouth (who was more than happy to comply.) We have to keep a constant vigil at meal time as Alejandro tries to feed Dante unattended baby food as well. (If you know how messy a baby eats, and how messy a two year old eats -- just imagine the combination of the two year old feeding the baby. Did you think I was kidding about scrubbing the floors?)

Anyhow, not a whole lot else is going on. The summer here is almost beautiful enough to make one forget how miserable it was when we first arrived (almost -- but not quite!) Our move date to Israel is currently the end of December but that will probably change again by the time I finish typing this sentence. Short term we are looking forward to some company, both visitors and other families on temporary assignments for Intel.

Love always,
debi

"My, what big teeth you have..."

"The better to bite my brother's toes!" says Dante.

This last month has been a bit challenging. Dante has four teeth (with another two not far behind) and firmly believes that toes make the best teething rings. He can stand on his own and has taken a few steps. He signs "milk" and said "mama" for the first time while reaching up for me (I think he was trying to make up for waking me at 5 in the morning.) He loves being mobile and is pretty content to venture around the room playing with toys. He also manages to find every microscopic scrap he can find to put in his mouth. Alejandro is on constant patrol and comes to tell me "Dante is eating stuff again." On one occasion, I found Alejandro trying to fish a sticker out of Dante's mouth on his own. But Dante bit him so now he just reports the incidents. Dante's personality is really coming out as well. He can work up some mean crocodile tears if you tell him "no." You'd think the world had come to an end. But he's a tough little cookie. He holds on to the the back handle of Alejandro's riding toy. Alejandro pushes himself along, so Dante is trying like crazy to follow behind. Sometime he can't keep up, so his feet go out from beneath him but he won't let go. So he gets drug along for a while until he manages to get back up on his feet and keep going.
Alejandro has become quite creative. He makes trees, people and mountains out of his legos and they actually resemble his desired object. He loves his Mr. Potato head and puts an arm in the nose spot and calls him an elephant. He can get himself dressed but most days he changes his shirt three times before he decides what to wear. (His concern about fashion definitely comes from his father, not me!) He's been going swimming all the time in the pool here at our complex. We had to get him a life vest because he has no fear of the water. He's started giving us problems at bedtime and it takes an hour or two to get him to stay in his bed and then he gets up in the middle of the night and wakes the whole house. So everyone is tired and grouchy the next day. This has been going on for about a week now, which is six more days than I can handle. I prayed it would pass, and that didn't happen. So I prayed for patience with mixed results. Now I'm praying my mom and dad can figure out what to do with him when we go to Ohio next weekend!
Not a whole lot else is new.
Love always,
debi