First Year - Rivka

Rivka has had a great year.  She was in kita daled this year (4th grade) and learned a ton.  Her Hebrew is getting better every day and she is speaking  more and more fluently.  She has made a bunch of friends, but unlike Yaakov and Yummin, many of her friends live in other neighborhoods in Efrat.




This year, because we were new olim, we had a bat sherut come to our house once a week.  Our bat sherut was Hodaya.  She was so nice and really helped everyone speak Hebrew.  One day, we even had a BBQ for all the new olim in Efrat.

Oded Ravibi mayor of Efrat

When we first moved to the neighborhood, Rivka joined the local Bnei Akiva group that was in the Tamar neighborhood. In Israel, youth groups are a big deal. They even let all the kids out early on Tuesday so they can go the meetings.  And every Shabbat they get together.  It is a fun activity, although her group was a bit disorganized and she stopped going in the middle of the year.  They had a big ceremony in November where everyone moved up to the next group.  Even the mayor of Efrat came to speak.

Rivka doing her dance

During Chanuka, I took the girls to the city to do a doughnut tasting. There were so many choices, we had a hard time.  We only ended up trying three, and then we all felt kinda gross and needed real food. It's really fun to live in a place that celebrates all the Jewish holidays as the main holidays.  Every store during Chanuka is full of doughnuts of all kids.  We loved the cookies and cream one from Roladin.

Cookies and Cream

So many choices!

On Purim, everyone dresses up, but some of my kids were too shy to wear their costumes to school.  But not Rivka!  She looked so cute as a cowgirl.  Her friend let her borrow some boots and Sima let her borrow her vest, and we got the hat from a costume shop that popped up on Ben Yehuda.

Rivka is a good sport and likes to get into the spirit of holidays!  This year on Purim, Daniel was really sick.  He finally went to the doctor on Taanit Esther and found out that he had full-blown pneumonia.  This year, Rivka also had pneumonia and Sima had walking pneumonia.  The healthcare system here is very different from the US, but in many ways it is so much easier.  You make an appointment online with your local medical office, and usually you can get in same or next day.  There is no charge for these appointments and the pharmacy is in the same building.  It was sad that Daniel was sick this year.  The day after Purim is Shushan Purim, which is celebrated in Jerusalem. So the next day, we took the bus into the city to see what it would be like to celebrate Purim in Jerusalem.  Wow, it was exciting!  The streets were filled with people in costume.

Some guy in Jerusalem on Shushan Purim

Rivka's class at their Chumash celebration

Some of Rivka's friends

Rivka's class finished learning the entire Chumash this year. To celebrate, they all memorized Haaziinu and said it for all the parents. It was incredibly impressive. Of course, since it was Rivka's first year, she only learned a few lines, but she is learning more and more every day!

Tzaf with Bara

During Passover, we were so lucky to go to the North.  We visited Tiveria and the grave of the Rambam.  We also got to see some friends from Denver in Tzfat.

We even found a restaurant in Tzfat that was kosher for Passover and didn't serve Kitniyot!  That was lucky.  We all had a really fun time.  However, when it was time for the drive home, it took like 5 hours!  Everyone in Israel feels the need to travel during the holidays.  I think the entire North comes South and the entire South goes North!

It was our first time only having one Seder. It was really different, but I didn't miss the second seder as much as I thought I would. I did buy WAYYYYY too much lettuce and horseradish though.  And there just isn't time to eat all the foods we have come to know and love for Passover.  It's also hard to plan for guests.  You either have guests the first lunch, or you don't have guests at all. That is a change. And when it is only one day, it's really no different than a Shabbat. I didn't have to pre-cook nearly as much as in America. 

Beach at Acco

I hope we can spend some time in Tiveria.  It seems like a cool place to vacation. In particular, we all want to go to Aqua Kef.  Aryeh's school was planing to go for Lag BaOmer, but it was during a heatwave and it was 113 in Tiveria, so they had to cancel it.

 During Lag BaOmer, when we went to Acco, not only did we see the cannon and the walls, but we also went to the beach. It was nice, but rockier than I might prefer. If I want to go to the beach to hang out in the water, Ashkelon is so far my favorite (but I haven't been to Herziliya or Netanya which I also hear is beautiful).

Rivka was brave like Binyamin and went into the cold water of the spring near Meron.  Some people came to the spring to collect water from the little waterfall to drink. They said it was safe and delicious, so we tried it.  The water was delicious, and very cold, and no one got sick, so I guess it was safe :)

Yom Yerushalyim

On Yom Yerushalyim, Sima had gymnastics and Binyamin had soccer so we couldn't go to the city. But lucky Rivka got to go with the Eisens. They tried to get to to the kotel, but it was SOOO crowded.  They were scared they would get crushed. 

Lucky girl got to stay out very late. I think she got home at close to 11!


One thing that has been a challenge this year is figuring out how the dental system works.  One Friday night a couple  months ago, I had a crown fall out.  Wow, did that hurt!  I couldn't eat or drink anything.  I had no idea what to do to get it fixed, especially on a Saturday night.  Well, we got some help from our neighbor who works for the Shira Pransky Project, which is dedicated to helping new olim figure out the medical system here. She found me an emergency dentist who would take me right away.  He started a root canal and made the pain go away (amazing!) and told me I had to get it checked out.

Waiting for the dentist

We found a dentist in Beitar that takes our insurance.  I ended up having to go there like 8 times over the past 3 months to finally finish everything up (mostly getting the crown figured out).  We also were able to take the kids for check ups, cleanings, and a few fillings.  The best part of all of this is that it is SOOOOO much less expensive than in the states, even with good insurance.  We have been happy with the dentists so far, and I hope that will continue.

Rivka's bunk at camp Dror

 Rivka was also very lucky this summer to get to go to Camp Dror. The camp was an overnight camp for 2 and 1/2 weeks in the north of Israel. They took trips (ice skating, AquaKef, water hikes) and had an overall fun time. Rivka was in the youngest bunk (even though she was the oldest in the bunk) and everyone in the camp loved her. She became very famous.

 Thanks to the wonderful bnot Sherut of Efrat, Rivka also got to go see a movie at Cinema City in Jerusalem. They took the bus, and saw the Lion King (in Hebrew!).  The movie theater is pretty awesome, even though the actual movie screens are much smaller than in the US.  It is great to actually be able to buy popcorn and snacks because everything is kosher!

Rivka with the bnot sherut at Cinema City

Overall, I would have to say that Rivka has had a pretty fun year.  She is learning and getting more Israeli every day.

Rivka also got a phone this year and loves to take pictures of herself.