This year, to celebrate being in Israel for a year, and because I have always wanted to take a family beach vacation, we spent a week in Ashkelon. We stayed in a small AirBNB right near the beach. I considered getting a larger place (this place had only 2 bedrooms and only 1 bathroom) for 7 people, but the fact that the complex had a pool, and none of the other available apartments did, made it worth it to be a little squishy for a few days.
the view from our room
In the end, it was a benefit to have a small space. We all had to stay organized (which is not natural for any of the Treisters) and we all spent a lot of time together, which was nice.
My idea of a fun vacation is a time away where I have no plans. I know that many people have
different ideas of vacation, and many people like to schedule their trips to see and do exciting things. Well, we didn't do that. We went swimming the pool every day (it was open from 10 - 5 most days), sometimes twice. We would go to the park or the beach in the morning with the little kids (while the bigger ones slept). We ate at restaurants on the Marina (about a 3 minute walk from our apartment) and we also bought food from the grocery store.
Happily, Ashkelon has an Osher Ad (my favorite Israeli supermarket) about a 5 minute drive out of city limits and about a 15 minute drive from where we were staying. We went there several times, there was a fantastic bakery there, where we got bourekas and baguettes and pastries.
American Ninja Warrior at the beach
There was also a great Mall in Ashkelon which was much less expensive than Jerusalem. We were able to get the kids lots of new clothes for not a lot of money. We found skirts for the girls that were 8 for 100NIS.
another fun park
The parks in Ashkelon were out of this world. Three-story high slides, and tons of grass. The vibe I felt there was a cross between Newport Beach and Venice, with almost everything being kosher. Ashkelon was a founded in the 50's by Jews from South Africa and they created neighborhoods that feel very pleasant and residential, with lots of trees and flowers. More recently, many French immigrants have arrived, bringing with them better restaurants and cafes.
It's a growing city, there are building a LOT of new housing units in the next 5 years (I think something like 30,000), as well as a new technology park and new train station. It's about an hour to Tel Aviv on the train. Aryeh was able to go up to Tel Aviv one day to meet a friend.
I wanted to visit Tel Ashkelon (an archeological dig) as well as the state beach, but we had too much fun at the beaches near us. We rode bikes and scooters and had a blast.
Yaakov made a friend with the lifeguard at the pool and he gave him swimming lessons during our time there. He made a lot of progress toward being able to swim. He's not perfect at it, but he is getting a lot braver.
We rarely stay away from home for Shabbat, but we did this time in Ashkelon. We got amazing take out for Shabbat, the AirBNB had a plata with a timer, as well as candles. It is so different to vacation and travel in Israel than in the US. On Shabbat we took a walk around the neighborhood with some new friends. It was really beautiful.
Aryeh has had a good year. I have a lot fewer pictures of him than everyone else, since he is living in a dorm this year and he usually only comes home for Shabbat.
He has grown up a lot this year. His school has been good for him. He has roommates and no one to clean up after him (at school...). He roomed with Moshe from Denver and Sholem from Switzerland.
Aryeh was independent before we came to Israel, but since being here, he is really becoming an adult. He can get all around the country by himself, he gets himself to and from school in Modi'in, he goes to the beach in Tel Aviv, and he loves to hang out at the kotel.
Aryeh has really embraced certain parts of Israeli culture. Within about a month, he started wearing
Naot sandals (Birkenstocks), much to my dismay. He hasn't put on a tie since we moved here, even getting him to put on a button shirt is a bit of a challenge.
Aryeh has been great about inviting friends over for Shabbat. We have met classmates of his from Italy, New York, South Carolina, and around Israel. We feel really lucky that his class is full of nice boys from around the world.
I think one of the things Aryeh has really been enjoying is the restaurants. Coming from a place with only two choices, it is amazing to be able to get sushi, or pad thai, or falafel, or hamburgers, in addition to the regular pizza.
Being at yeshiva means a lot of time away, but also he is able to come home for all the holidays. Unlike in America, where it was a 2 hour flight to come home, here it is a 45 minute car ride, or an hour bus ride. He came home for almost every Shabbat and holiday. They are expected to stay for a few Shabbats each year and they stay in school for Yom Kippur and Shavuot.
He came with us to Jeruslaem on Shushan Purim... So fun! He took us to the kotel and showed us some of the old city we hadn't seen before.
During Pesach, we all went to Herodian, then we had a picnic lunch near Takoa.
This summer, Aryeh went to visit his friend who lives in Milan and then they took the train to Zurich to visit another friend. They spent time on a lake in Zurich, they went to Davos and saw all the Chasidim at their kosher hotels, and they spent time shopping in Milan. I was so proud of him for getting around Europe on the train and not missing his plane and basically being super responsible!
Lake in Zurich
Town in Switzerland
Milan
Later this summer, we all took a trip to Ashkelon. We had a great time, and I'll write about that in the next post.
Sima has had the hardest adjustment of all the kids. It's hard enough to be in 7th grade, without having to move to a new country, make all new friends, and learn a new language. Some days, when you talk to her, it seems like Israel was the worst thing in the world. But other days, especially when we sit together and talk about all the things that have happened, even she can see that there are some good things about this new country.
For one thing, for the first time ever, Sima has her own room! Israeli houses are very different from houses in the US. We have a lot more bedrooms here than we did in America, with smaller square footage. However, we have a correspondingly smaller amount of communal living space. We have the one room that is living room, dining room and kitchen. We are very fortunate to also have a small sitting area upstairs that the kids can use as the TV room. But that is it. There is no other space to sit around, do homework, hang out with your friends.
couch in the living room
Sima has taken on a lot more responsibilities since we have come here. She cooks for the whole family now. She helped make doughnuts for Chanukah and she had to sift the flour before we used it. That is another thing that takes some getting used to. We are trying.
This winter we had some real excitement here in Israel. We got snow! Now to those of you who live in Denver, or Maryland, or New York, this is not so exciting. But for us, it was amazing. Everyone put on their snow clothes and went outside for a few minutes. It didn't stick for too long and luckily we didn't have to shovel or anything, but it was very exciting.
There are a lot of things to complain about when you change schools in 7th grade, but there are also some really cool things about coming to a place where you get to go to a regular school. Sima was able to join the robotics team and the gymnastics team at her school.
The robotics team had a multi-month project of programming a robot to do a course, plus doing a research project about how astronauts are affected by being in space. The girls worked on their projects once a week and then at the end for several days straight. They went to compete in the regional competition in Jerusalem at the arena. They didn't advance in the robot portion, but they did win a medal for their research. Next year we hope they will have better luck.
The girls on the robotics team became friends, which is amazing. What a cool opportunity.
Sima and her coach doing the splits
The gymnastics team was another exciting part of the year. While gymnastics in Israel has been a bit of a dissappointment (more about that later), the gymnastics team at school was pretty fun. They had a competion at the end of the year and Sima won a medal for her banana hold that she held for 5 minutes!
Another awesome part about Israel is being able to go out to eat. For Sima's birthday, we went into Jerusalem. We got breakfast at the coffee bean and lunch at Sushi Rechavia. While we all miss Brooklyn Pizza (seriously, the pizza in Israel is blah...), we do not miss having only one or two choices of restaurants.
Right after Sima's birthday, it is Purim. Purim in Israel is slightly more fun than Purim in the US. Those of you who really know me, know that Purim is my least favorite, most stressful holiday. It is a little easier here. You can buy the stuff for mishloach manot (the bags, the candy, everything) at literally any store in the country. Costumes? Also everywhere. Want to go to a Purim Carnival. Well the parade passed right by our house, and someone set up cotton candy and popcorn machines on the street.
So gymnastics. We miss coach Dave SOOOOO much! We still have not been able to find any normal bars anywhere in the country. The gyms are all multi-use, so there aren't any regular spring floors. The competitions are odd, and mostly about dancing around as a group or with a partner (or doing strength competitions). But Sima has been working on her floor fundamentals, and I have seen a lot of progress. Very excitingly, she learned to do a back tuck by herself!
It's been hard not to have the ability to have a normal gymnastics team, and Sima would really love to have the chance to come back to America and work out at a gym. I wish I could find a good gymnastics camp that was shomer shabbat.
Since Sima came in 7th grade, she missed the bulk of the bat mitzvah's, but still got to go to a few. They are fun here. Pretty much everyone has some type of meal and dancing, although she did go to a sleepover or two.
Birthdays are a big deal here too. Everyone is assigned a partner, and on your partner's birthday, you have to make a cake and share it with the class.
All in all, Sima had a pretty great year. She is not ready to speak Hebrew yet, but she is understanding more every day. She is making great friends and most of the time she is pretty happy. I'm just happy she let me write this about her and post pictures! Thanks, Sima.
