Swirling Thoughts #80 – situations

Lunch
No matter how good you are at Beytzim, spanech jibn in your lunchbox is grounds for teasing.

Don’t they worry about identity theft here?
In uplan today we learned how to fill out a questionnaire. Should I now return the paperwork to Rosie’s gan that they gave me to fill out 2 months ago? Important things to know: mispar teudat zehut (your Israeli ID number – memorize it since everyone asks you for it and not just government agencies – vendors like the butcher and the local community center theater require it before they take your credit card info), shem prati and mishpacha (private and family name), tariq and eretz l’eyda (date and land of birth), and matzav mishpachti (effectively ‘marital status’ but literally translated, family situation).

We have a situation
This is Asher’s newest expression. As in, “Aba – we have a situation. Mommy spilled the milk in a bag all over the floor. She is sitting in it and I think she might be crying.” Or this one, since he found out Bob is banking on me delivering early and hoping to travel to NY on my due date, “Mommy – we have a situation. Aba thinks he’s leaving the day you are supposed to have your baby!”

How a 3 mile road through the picturesque Judean Hills could remind me of a Tarantino film…
High on Bob’s mayoral platform is a plan to grind down the 12 or so speed bumps along the main road of Efrat. The older bumps are tolerable and serve their purpose – they slow you down and if you drive over them at a reasonable speed there is no negative consequence. The newer bumps, however, are totally unforgiving at any speed. People giving me tremps apologize as we bump along knowing full well they are contributing to the bumping up of my due date. So today for the second time I gave a tremp to a soldier. With a very big gun. And though it was pointed down and surely locked and safe, I held my breath as we bumped along the main road.

School Uniforms
In Brooklyn half of every flyer that came home from school seemed to reiterate the school dress code. For Asher, my little soldier, it was easy peasy. He had a drawer of khaki’s and a drawer of collar shirts. He mixed and matched every day. I never really gave it a thought until I came to visit the boys’ school last winter and the principal mentioned there is no uniform and also no dress code. No dress code? I was incredulous. He called some boys from the hallway into his office. They were in basketball shorts and crewneck t-shirts. “You see?”

Since school started Asher has been loving the freedom of wearing soft cotton crewneck shirts and soft gym pants to school. He wears this same style to bed each night and in the morning I have to really look at him to decide if he’s put on fresh clothes or if he’s still in his pajamas. Basically, he’s all snuggly all the time. What could be better?

My friend, who actually reads the emails in Hebrew as opposed to running them through Google Translator, gave me the heads up today. Hello Kitty uniforms in the girls’ school were just a rumor. Barbara will be relieved. But the boys school is taking feedback for the next two days and then deciding on uniforms. We’ll have to monitor this particular situation carefully….