We aren't in Kansas anymore...

Our first Shabbat in Israel, spent at the beach. Look at how the sun came through the clouds!

Its been 1 week, 2 days in Israel, almost 2 weeks since we left the US, but who is counting!  First of all- sorry for the radio silence over here.  As you can imagine, moving across the world is a bit hectic and I haven't had a spare second to sit down and write.  Things are settling down, at least a bit, so I am finally finding time to do a quick update.  I have a million things to write about already, but I have plenty of time for that.  For now, a quick hello and updates will suffice :)  We haven't done any exploring yet, but that will come soon.  First off, some photos from our stop in London on our way to Israel below.  We will definitely be making a trip back to there to stay longer- 2 days was not nearly enough!  We decided to make it low key- with a jet lagged baby doing organized tours with long days was going to be too much, so we bought a 48 hour bus pass for the double decker busses and headed out to the Tower of London (where she insisted in wearing a princess dress, of course!)  Our hotel was across from Big Ben and the London Eye, which was the perfect location for our first trip to the city.

We got into Israel early in the evening last Wednesday.  Since our house had nothing but furniture, we had to make a very quick trip (with a very tired baby) to get basics- like sheets, towels, cups, etc.  Since there is no Walmart or Target (insert sad face), our only option was to head to IKEA.  Turns out, everyone in Israel shops at Ikea, eats at Ikea, plays at Ikea, and wanders around aimlessly at Ikea. Its everything we know Ikea to be, but combined with the chaos of Walmart (screaming kids, people everywhere, parking lot chaos)...  It doesn't sound nearly as comforting as I write this, but I think Ikea  may end up being my new Target.  I gotta hold on to whatever familiarity I can find out here, and for now, Ikea is it.

The next day, we had our first Israeli grocery shopping experience.  It wasn't nearly as dramatic as I had made it out to be in my head for week's prior, but still a culture shock.  The market was very small, and we had to guess what a lot of things were (based on the pictures on the labels).  Even more interesting was getting home, realizing not only were we unsure of what the food was, but also unclear on how to cook it.  Instructions are in hebrew.  Then, when we decided to "ballpark" the cooking instructions, we realized we also had no clue how to use the oven/stove.  Sigh.  Since then, we have found some much larger "super markets" not far from the house that are a bit more familiar and have sort of learned how to work the appliances.

We also had our first experience at the Israeli pharmacy.  I started getting a nasty sore throat and migraines the middle of this week, coupled with stress and anxiety of adjusting to life over here, and I was sick sick sick.  Not sick enough to go to the doctor, but in need of some meds.  So off the the "super-pharm" we went. Not comforting not knowing what any of the medicines say, or that the pharmacist speaks very little english...but he gave us some meds, and we are back to feeling better.  On a side note, finding doctors for "private" healthcare isn't super easy either- as Israeli citizens have government healthcare (Maccabi or Clatit) and most doctors operate under one of those programs. Luckily, the US Embassy has a list I can use, as well as some referrals I have found on the Israel Expat forums.  I found Ledoux a doctor (he actually does house calls, how awesome is that?!) but am still working on one for Lee and I.

New friends from school

We also brought Ledoux to her new "other" school for a meet the teachers/students day. Suffice it to say she didn't take to the new environment quickly.  I didn't expect her to.  Ledoux is cautious at first... she takes her time, she analyzes the situation, and is sometimes slow to join in until she is comfortable in new environments (much like me).  It is going to take more time- but the next couple weeks are "transition" weeks in her school.  It will be half days, and the parents can stay as long as needed, in the classroom, until the children are comfortable.  That will (hopefully) be enough time for her to be good. The program itself is a Reggio program, which I really love, and I think once we get through the first couple weeks its going to be an amazing experience.  Once Ledoux is settled, we will all start to feel settled.   She misses her other school and her other friends, and I got tears in my eyes when her "other" teacher, Miss McKenzie, wrote us to say hello.  We did meet some of her new classmates, and have spent time with them outside of the classroom, so I am hopeful that will also help her ease into the new class.

I asked Ledoux about how it is going so far:

Favorite thing about Israel?  I like that my toys are here and the parks. I also like the grass that lives here.
Miss about Tucson? My BG and Opa
Look forward to doing in Israel?  Going to the swimming pool with my friends at the new school (her school has a swimming pool with open swim on the weekends)




From there, every day has been full of experiences.  This past week has been one of a lot of ups and downs, for all of us.  Ledoux is doing well, but you can tell at times she gets uneasy or anxious about the change.  We talk about it, reassure her that her feelings are normal, and focus on the good (which there is ALOT of!) We have some awesome parks (see above!), the beach, and a really awesome country to start learning about.  We miss waking up and going to starbucks, shopping at Target, and all of the other "american" things we loved, but cannot wait to start exploring the country soon.  Annnnd... we will be back in October- which makes us happy!  I will start blogging more consistently after today, I promise!  In the meantime, I post ALOT to Instagram and Facebook.