Gan Birthday

Today was Silvia's birthday celebration at her pre-school. Aaron, myself and Miriam joined her. She specifically asked for Mim to join her, and wanted to include Mim in several of the activities.




Firstly, I was kvelling the whole way there today. My little girl turned 4! And she has adjusted to a year in a new country, learned a new language entirely, and made new friends. Amazing, I was thinking.

Enough kvelling on a public blog, right?

The order of the birthday celebration at her gan:
First, birthday songs. Lots of them. Kids and musical instruments involved.



Next, she walked in circles in the middle of the classroom, with the kids all sitting in a semi-circle around her.


Silvie leads a train of kids around the room (to music.)




Next, Silvie dances with her parents.


Silvie then hands out flowers to her friends and they sing "Erev Shel Shoshanim" while waving the paper roses. It was sweet. It is also the song that we walked down the aisle to at our wedding, so sweet on another personal front as well.



Silvie gets to sit in the middle of the parachute and also under it while her friends pull it up and down.

Her class dances around Silvie and she sits on a chair and is raised up high (like at a Jewish wedding.)

Silvie has to make a game that a parent has to follow, walking on blocks. She chose me.

Aaron reads a story to the class. Silvie and I illustrate it with puppets. It is May I Bring a Friend, and is the same book I read as a kid and took from my Houston home to share. I'm glad she chose that book; that was really meaningful to me.
Silvie gets a present from the class. Lots of show around that.
Candles and cupcakes!

This whole thing took over an hour and was quite the choreographed event. It really says to me that the Israeli culture likes choreographed programs, show and pageantry. Every one of her 23 classmates celebrates their gan birthdays in just this manner.

Silvie LOVED it. She was, as always, quite reserved, but so, so happy. The crown she is wearing is a "garland of flowers" that is mentioned in the Hebrew Happy Birthday song, and we made it for her birthday.

For Silvie, the happiest thing that she could do was to give to her friends. She was SOOOO happy handing out the cupcakes (that she made last night with us!) and SOOOO happy handing out the birthday gifts to all her friends. She got to give a present to all of her friends, and it made her extremely happy. We couldn't be happier that she loves to give. It really is true to her nature.

Her English birthday is Sunday, and we will have a small party on Sunday. More pics then!

We're here!

Hello friends and family!

We had a very smooth trip to Israel through London! We spent 24 hours there and went to the Tower of London, which all of the kids loved. Everyone was hoping we'd get to ride a "double ducker" bus (Liam), but we didn't. We did, though, ride the "tubes," and had deja vu of the first time I rode the tubes when I lived in London 24 years ago.

Eiden's duffle and Liam's carseat were left behind in Chicago (arrived a couple of days after us), but E was a good sport about it. Actually, it turned out to be quite lucky because our Israeli cab driver artfully got everything of ours into the back of one large cab (with us smushed in between the luggage), and one more bag would have required another cab! The hilarious thing about the cab ride from the airport to Jerusalem is that the cab driver, trying to be nice, put on Donald Duck videos in Hebrew (on a screen that was in place of his rear view mirror!) and the kids were glued to it as we drove up to Jerusalem, past the walls of the Old City, all the while chortling away.

Our apartment is great - very spacious inside with a little garden in front and a patio in the back. We have two kumquat tress and lemon trees in both the front and back and all three kids cooperated to make lemonade for our first Shabbat here. The kids have already "adopted" one of the many cats here. It stays outside, but they've given it milk and tuna.

Our neighborhood is amazing - much like the Upper West Side. We are right across the street from a community center where Liam already went to a Gymboree class. We are also within walking distance of many synagogues, including Kol Han'shama (where we joined and where Liam's gan [preschool] is and where M and L already went to youth group). We went there our first Friday night for services, and it was wonderful to sit together as a family. Everyone was perfectly behaved, singing along and enjoying being close together. Liam was pointing to Hebrew letters in the prayer book and asking about them. Eiden and Mirit were singing beautifully We also saw several people that we knew - some from the States and some who live here.

We've been walking a lot, getting to know our neighborhood, grocery shopping and such as a family. Every excursion is a great lesson for everyone - learning more Hebrew, seeing different kinds of people, etc. Eiden's very brave about using the Hebrew he has, and both he and Mirit seem to be able to pick out some words and meanings. As he was falling asleep the other night, Liam was asking me, "What's 'arm' in Hebrew...what's 'ceiling' in Hebrew...how do you say 'silly billy' in Hebrew" :)!

Liam seems to enjoy his gan. It's amazing how little kids just follow along in a language they don't know at all. He has, though, found the kids who speak English, and I'm sure that gives him a little break from all the Hebrew he's hearing. As I write this, he and Adam are in the Old City at the Kotel (the Western Wall). Liam said, "I want to go so I can pray there."

Mirit and Eiden are at a neighborhood school called G'ulim a few blocks from our apt. It has just that is newly affiliated with the Tali schools (Reform Mov't schools). It is a relatively small school, and, so far, has been very friendly. Eiden has two English-speakers in his class, which is both good and bad. His teacher, Orit, is very nice. Mirit has no English speakers in her class. She was so warmly welcomed, especially by all the little girls who took her hands and wanted to sit next to her. Her teacher, Liron, had all the kids write her a welcome blessing. Very sweet!


We're sampling the many synagogues that Jerusalem has to offer - a great way to experience different worship styles, meet new people and gather interesting melodies. We had an amazing 3 hour Shabbat walk last week with incredible views of the Old City through a Peace Forest. The Peace Forest was fun because each level down that we went from the top revealed a new hidden playground or climbing structure. Mirit said it was the best day of her life!

All of the kids seem relatively comfortable here -- perhaps, in part, because we feel so at home in Jerusalem. Eiden said he feels like he's been here his whole life already and says he'd like to live here some day and serve in the Israeli army. We'll see...

Adam and I will likely do an intensive two-week ulpan (Hebrew study program) to brush up on our Hebrew. We're both speaking quite a bit, but would like to improve. Each of us is looking into which classes we'd like to take - there are so many to choose from!!! I'm focusing primarily on Torah and other text classes. I've already been to three Torah classes this week (all different), and I'm loving it!

Next week we are driving up north to Degania for a little tiyul (trip) and to visit the kids' partner school. Talmud Torah in St. Paul is paired with this school, and they have been exchaning letters with pen pals. Now they will get to meet them and bring letters and candy from their school St. Paul.

We've gotten together with and seen several friends and colleagues already and plan to see more folks soon. Tomorrow, my friend, Sharon, will come to Jerusalem with her family. I met her on my first trip to Israel when I was 16, and we've stayed in touch and seen each other many times (on three different continents!) over the years.

Jerusalem is, indeed, a magical place. We feel blessed to be here and to have this incredible opportunity to study, renew ourselves and have such meaningful time as a family.

We hope you and yours are well. Please stay in touch!
rachelspilker@gmail.com
adamspilker@gmail.com
unicycleboy19@gmail.com (Eiden)

With Love,
REALM (Rachel, Eiden, Adam, Liam and Mirit) SPILKER