I had planned to start writing this blog about a week after moving from Jerusalem to San Diego with my husband Jay and our 3 boys, Boaz (6) Eitan (3) and Tzvi (1). Turns out that I didn't anticipate the total overwhelming craziness of the move and just how long it would take until we'd get internet in our home and I'd feel rested enough to sit down and write this.
I haven't figured out how to upload photos yet, but hopefully they will follow soon.
Why are we here? After about 3 years of anticipation and planning (as well as numerous delays and disappointments along the way... but we won't dwell on that....) we picked up and moved our family to San Diego for Jay to do a Pediatric ENT fellowship at Rady Children's Hospital here. I left my job as a corporate/business atttorney (at which point I said "Yay! I'm on vacation!" and Jay corrected me: "No Sharon, you're unemployed"), we pulled the kids out of gan a little early, and we all flew out on June 22nd at 12 am to Philadelphia.
The flight was great (we got the bassinet seats in the front with extra legroom), the kids were thrilled at their first flight ever (Boaz flew at age 1 to South Africa but he doesn't remember), and we arrived in Philly at 5 am with all 3 kids, 2 strollers and 8 out of 9 of our suitcases. Boaz's first thoughts upon arriving in America: "Wow! Look at how much water there is in the toilet!" We breezed through the greencard process at the airport and took a shuttle to meet Jay's parents at the hotel they'd rented nearby. It was SO NICE of them to meet us there- it really made a huge difference to helping us survive the day. We got a delicious breakfast at the hotel and took nice hot showers and then went to the Please Touch Museum http://www.pleasetouchmuseum.org/ which is an AMAZING children's museum in Philadelphia. It definitely kept us and the 3 kids wide awake until we caught our next flight to San Diego.... and then the fun really began.
Since we arrived in San Diego 5 weeks ago, we have:
1. Fallen asleep at 11 pm only to be woken at 1 am by our jetlagged kids, then run around a supermarket at 3 am and had a 5 am breakfast picnic in the park;
2. Been to Walmart so many times that the cashiers all know me as "oh hey, you with the 2 kitchens!" ( I guess not many people buy 2 of everything for kashrut);
3. Slept on air mattresses for one week, and a HORRIBLY uncomfortable futon for 2 weeks, all while our kids slept on the floor (carpeted, at least);
4. Rented 3 cars from 3 different companies;
5. Made lovely friends among both the Israelis and Americans here;
6. Made enemies (Israelis who promised us their van then backed out of it at last minute- I guess it doesn't matter now since they've moved back to Israel);
7. Eaten mint chocolate chip and peanut butter-chocolate ice cream at every opportunity;
8. Bought IPhones for the first time, only to find out that they're the ONLY kind of IPhones that won't work afterwards in Israel (though I do LOVE my IPhone and the GPS function has been a total lifesaver);
9. Swum in the 2 pools and jaccuzzis in our complex tens of times;
10. Lost our pool key and paid $50 to replace it;
11. Waited 10 days (!) for our internet to be installed, only to discover that they did it incorrectly and it didn't work;
12. Put on a brave face;
13. Cried and felt incredibly overwhelmed;
14. Almost never seen Jay (he leaves most days at 5.30-6 am and returns around 8-8.30 pm);
15. Had my mom fly in at last minute all the way from Israel to help us for 2 and a half weeks, thank G-d!!! Thank you Mom!!!!!! (she just left yesterday :(
16. Contemplated often why Americans seem to like and understand dogs more than children;
17. Met our crazy neighbors: a retired Jewish couple from New York who have hobbies which include (1) selling Kentucky Derby memorabilia on ebay, (2) collecting dragons, (3) yoga, and (4) collecting native-American art;
18. Lost my glasses and bought new ones (which takes much longer here than in Israel);
19. Found great furniture at great prices on craigslist (Sofa - $120, 2 beds + mattresses + nightstand + large dresser - $200!);
20. Blown $250 on a bad craigslist purchase which may very possibly have been a scam;
21. Seen pandas and polar bears at the amazing San Diego Zoo, spied seals at the beach, strolled in Balboa Park, been to a haunted house, gone out drinking among thousands of Comic-Con fans in the Gaslamp district, played all day in Legoland and had the best time;
22. Had the checkout cashier at Trader Joe's supermarket give me extensive advice on the many homepathic uses for the apple cider vinegar I purchased (this is California...);
23. Bought a TV from a sweet newlywed Indian couple who ran after us in the parking lot afterwards just to tell us that we were the "happiest couple" they'd met in a long time and that they were so happy to have met us;
24. Severly dented the TV in our van the way back;
25. Had people stare at us wherever we go because our kids wear kippot, and heard many comments like "look at that Superman and Batman yarmulke - isn't that the cutest thing you've ever seen!";
26. Had "Jesus is Lord" screamed at us while we were walking to shul;
27. Eaten at every kosher resteraunt in San Diego (all 2 of them);
28. Had 2 houseguests (my mom and a friend of hers, Linda, who specially flew up from Houston for a few days to see my mom);
29. Been denied credit repeatedly, even by Sears;
30. Sent Boaz and Eitan to great day camps which they loved;
31. Had our children be practically adopted as little brothers to our cousins here;
32. Bought a used minivan (love it!) and car for Jay, which already broke down once;
I haven't figured out how to upload photos yet, but hopefully they will follow soon.
Why are we here? After about 3 years of anticipation and planning (as well as numerous delays and disappointments along the way... but we won't dwell on that....) we picked up and moved our family to San Diego for Jay to do a Pediatric ENT fellowship at Rady Children's Hospital here. I left my job as a corporate/business atttorney (at which point I said "Yay! I'm on vacation!" and Jay corrected me: "No Sharon, you're unemployed"), we pulled the kids out of gan a little early, and we all flew out on June 22nd at 12 am to Philadelphia.
The flight was great (we got the bassinet seats in the front with extra legroom), the kids were thrilled at their first flight ever (Boaz flew at age 1 to South Africa but he doesn't remember), and we arrived in Philly at 5 am with all 3 kids, 2 strollers and 8 out of 9 of our suitcases. Boaz's first thoughts upon arriving in America: "Wow! Look at how much water there is in the toilet!" We breezed through the greencard process at the airport and took a shuttle to meet Jay's parents at the hotel they'd rented nearby. It was SO NICE of them to meet us there- it really made a huge difference to helping us survive the day. We got a delicious breakfast at the hotel and took nice hot showers and then went to the Please Touch Museum http://www.pleasetouchmuseum.org/ which is an AMAZING children's museum in Philadelphia. It definitely kept us and the 3 kids wide awake until we caught our next flight to San Diego.... and then the fun really began.
Since we arrived in San Diego 5 weeks ago, we have:
1. Fallen asleep at 11 pm only to be woken at 1 am by our jetlagged kids, then run around a supermarket at 3 am and had a 5 am breakfast picnic in the park;
2. Been to Walmart so many times that the cashiers all know me as "oh hey, you with the 2 kitchens!" ( I guess not many people buy 2 of everything for kashrut);
3. Slept on air mattresses for one week, and a HORRIBLY uncomfortable futon for 2 weeks, all while our kids slept on the floor (carpeted, at least);
4. Rented 3 cars from 3 different companies;
5. Made lovely friends among both the Israelis and Americans here;
6. Made enemies (Israelis who promised us their van then backed out of it at last minute- I guess it doesn't matter now since they've moved back to Israel);
7. Eaten mint chocolate chip and peanut butter-chocolate ice cream at every opportunity;
8. Bought IPhones for the first time, only to find out that they're the ONLY kind of IPhones that won't work afterwards in Israel (though I do LOVE my IPhone and the GPS function has been a total lifesaver);
9. Swum in the 2 pools and jaccuzzis in our complex tens of times;
10. Lost our pool key and paid $50 to replace it;
11. Waited 10 days (!) for our internet to be installed, only to discover that they did it incorrectly and it didn't work;
12. Put on a brave face;
13. Cried and felt incredibly overwhelmed;
14. Almost never seen Jay (he leaves most days at 5.30-6 am and returns around 8-8.30 pm);
15. Had my mom fly in at last minute all the way from Israel to help us for 2 and a half weeks, thank G-d!!! Thank you Mom!!!!!! (she just left yesterday :(
16. Contemplated often why Americans seem to like and understand dogs more than children;
17. Met our crazy neighbors: a retired Jewish couple from New York who have hobbies which include (1) selling Kentucky Derby memorabilia on ebay, (2) collecting dragons, (3) yoga, and (4) collecting native-American art;
18. Lost my glasses and bought new ones (which takes much longer here than in Israel);
19. Found great furniture at great prices on craigslist (Sofa - $120, 2 beds + mattresses + nightstand + large dresser - $200!);
20. Blown $250 on a bad craigslist purchase which may very possibly have been a scam;
21. Seen pandas and polar bears at the amazing San Diego Zoo, spied seals at the beach, strolled in Balboa Park, been to a haunted house, gone out drinking among thousands of Comic-Con fans in the Gaslamp district, played all day in Legoland and had the best time;
22. Had the checkout cashier at Trader Joe's supermarket give me extensive advice on the many homepathic uses for the apple cider vinegar I purchased (this is California...);
23. Bought a TV from a sweet newlywed Indian couple who ran after us in the parking lot afterwards just to tell us that we were the "happiest couple" they'd met in a long time and that they were so happy to have met us;
24. Severly dented the TV in our van the way back;
25. Had people stare at us wherever we go because our kids wear kippot, and heard many comments like "look at that Superman and Batman yarmulke - isn't that the cutest thing you've ever seen!";
26. Had "Jesus is Lord" screamed at us while we were walking to shul;
27. Eaten at every kosher resteraunt in San Diego (all 2 of them);
28. Had 2 houseguests (my mom and a friend of hers, Linda, who specially flew up from Houston for a few days to see my mom);
29. Been denied credit repeatedly, even by Sears;
30. Sent Boaz and Eitan to great day camps which they loved;
31. Had our children be practically adopted as little brothers to our cousins here;
32. Bought a used minivan (love it!) and car for Jay, which already broke down once;
33. Stood in line for "Super 8" with hundreds of highschool and college-age kids dressed in Harry Potter themed costumes.
34. Received complements on our sons' toughness and unspoiled natures (thank you Israeli gan!)
35. Quickly grown to despise the extreme comsumerist culture and ridiculously large size of every store here that makes it exhausting to walk up and down a store and impossible to walk between any 2 stores - how I miss Israel's small stores and makolets;
36. Fallen in love with the library here and checked out 65 books, 5 CDs and 3 DVDs so far;
37. Been invited out for every shabbat lunch since we arrived, and are already invited for this week and next;
38. Become informal Aliyah emmissaries for all sorts of Zionist Americans who are interested to meet an Anglo doctor and lawyer who chose to live in Israel, and Israeli yordim who are all longing to go back;
39. Missed Israel, our friends and family so much, and can't wait to go back...
That's it for now. I hope to follow soon with more posts, thoughts, and of course photos!
Shabbat Shalom,
Sharon
36. Fallen in love with the library here and checked out 65 books, 5 CDs and 3 DVDs so far;
37. Been invited out for every shabbat lunch since we arrived, and are already invited for this week and next;
38. Become informal Aliyah emmissaries for all sorts of Zionist Americans who are interested to meet an Anglo doctor and lawyer who chose to live in Israel, and Israeli yordim who are all longing to go back;
39. Missed Israel, our friends and family so much, and can't wait to go back...
That's it for now. I hope to follow soon with more posts, thoughts, and of course photos!
Shabbat Shalom,
Sharon
Welcome welcome again! We had an amazing time seeing you in Israel just a few weeks ago and we're really hoping to see you in SD but definitely again in Israel....stay tough.... :-)
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