Trip to Israel, Dec-Jan 2012-2013: First week in Ra’anana: Tuesday to Friday

1. Trip to Israel, Dec-Jan 2012-2013: First week in Ra’anana: Tuesday to Friday

2. We slept badly: Alma woke me up in the middle of the night as her fever went up. It went up twice during the night. When daylight broke at last she was willing to eat and drink a bit. We cancelled our plans to visit Dasha. Unfortunately, Tuesdays are the “Cleaner’s Day”, which means that Rachel the cleaner arrives at 7:30 am, puts EVERYTHING up and covers everything with water – until 4 or 5 pm... Not the best time to stay in... Hahgoot was difficult (the unexpected changes with Alma being sick and this extra person that disturbs the space were hard for her). I wasn’t feeling that great myself, so we needed to keep things under control or we’ll end with a meltdown. So all day the girls did very little and stayed on the beds at all times, which was quite remarkable. I printed out lots of colouring worksheets and they drew endlessly for hours.

3. Alma was very quiet and her fever went up a few times. She only fell asleep for a day nap when the cleaner left late in the afternoon. Hahgoot suddenly fell asleep for two hours and I forced her to get up for dinner. She was very sluggish (overload from being inside the cleaning day with all the stresses of noise and change it brings). Alma had high fever in the evening but went to bed by 9 pm. When Hahgoot finished her homework I went to bed as well.

4. Wednesday started at 4 am when Alma arrived at my bed with high fever. Managed to get her back in her bed by 5:30. I was feeling not too great myself, but when Alma woke with no fever and in better spirits, I decided we need fresh air (the weather was gorgeous), so we went out shopping. The girls even asked for ice cream on the way back.

5. Alma’s fever started climbing up a bit and she didn’t want to eat lunch. She got medicine and went to have a day nap. Hahgoot ate well, saw TV and put herself to sleep (very unusual). I had one hour to myself! Managed to eat lunch and have a cup of tea before they both got up, both in better spirits and no fever. For afternoon tea they had Crembo, a special Israeli treat.

6. After 6 pm Emanuel took us to Herzelia, to Guy and Aviva’s home. Or (who is exactly Hahgoot's age) was a perfect host and kept the girls busy while his brother Adi (in green jumper)kept to his own business and we didn’t really see him.

7. The girls enjoyed playing with Or outside and he showed off his great basketball skills. When Aviva arrived from work we had a light dinner together and chatted.

8. We were surprised to find out that Aviva was a month and a half away from giving birth to baby no.3! We lighted the fifth candle together. After a fever free day, at night Alma’s fever went up again. I slept VERY little that night as at 4 am she had 40c and I was getting worried.

9. Thursday morning was spent organizing a doctor’s appointment (not an easy task when you are a visitor from overseas). At 11:30 am my mother arrived and instead of spending the day at the park as planned, she spent the morning with me and Alma at the doctor’s clinic in Kfar Saba. Alma’s fever went down at last in the morning and she was happy to play with her grandma. The doctor said all was well with Alma, we just need to keep waiting for the fever to go away (and took 200 NIS). We had a nice lunch in “Achuzale” in Ra’anana. In the afternoon Alma’s fever went up again and she ate when it went down.

10. At 7 pm Pnina and Bentzi, and another friend called Mati, arrived. Pnina helped feeding and caring for Alma while I washed Hahgoot, which was a big help. Alma missed the sixth candle lighting as she was in bed by 7:30 pm (no fever). Hahgoot followed a short while after. Alma woke up with a low fever at 10:30 pm, took medicine and went back to bed. We all slept till 8:30 am.

11. Friday morning Dasha popped in spontaneously without Noam and joined us for a trip to Borohov park. Everything was wet but the girls needed some fresh air. Alma was feeling significantly better and enjoyed jumping in puddles and dancing around. We came back inside for morning tea.

12. We had a fun drawing session. Dasha isn’t only a serious Physicist, she is also a talented artist. When Alma had her day nap I went out for a few minutes to buy Sufganiyot for the meeting we’ll have tomorrow. In the Afternoon the girls watched TV and ate Bamba and Bisli (local snacks).

13. While Eti and Emanuel prepared the house for the Friday night dinner I took Alma out to Gan David, another park nearby, to play, as she was becoming very restless. Bottom: she saw in a book a girl ride a see-saw with her hand in the air, and decided to imitate her. We saw on the way back a Chanukiya lit in a very unusual place...

14. Around 7 pm Asaf (Barak’s middle brother) his wife Adi (who is also my cousin) and their kids Yahli (year 3) and Hagar (preschool) arrived to light the 7th candle with us. We lit the candles and had dinner in a happy and relaxed atmosphere, which was very nice. Itamar arrived and brought presents for all the kids. The girls first tried to play with Yahli and his collection of miniature action figures, but he was very nervous about them touching the toys so they let him be.

15. The girls quickly connected with friendly Hagar, who had a magnetic ballerinas dress-ups set. There were only two dolls so the older girls helped make a third paper doll for Alma. The rest of the evening the kids shared the space but not the toys and everyone was happy. Despite being tired, Alma lasted till 10 pm and only after the guests left went to bed at 11 pm.

16. So we managed to get through our first week which was exhausting and not much of a “vacation”, but we were hoping things were going to improve next week, now that we were all out of the germs and the jet lag.