a balloontwister’s aliya saga

Last night I was hired to twist balloons at Marvin Blush’s grandson’s Bar Mitzvah. My first Bar Mitzvah in Israel. It was in Reishit in Beit Shemesh.. nice hall. I was a little bit upset when the Musician told me not only was he not going to play any Rick Springfield songs, but he had no idea who he was… very upsetting.
I was told there will be 5 of his songs at Shira Kenig’s Bat Mitzvah.
The funniest part was the startled look on peoples faces when Marvin Blush told people that the balloontwisting stiltwalker was the ba’al koreh in Staten Island…
All in all it was alot of fun, I didn’t charge what I wanted, but it was worthwhile bec. this was the simcha of one of the owners of the catering hall.
I drove the rented minivan to the hall and wound up picking up 4 hitchkikers there and 3 back… I like to pick them up.. doing a chesed is great AND I get to practice my hebrew and they can’t run away.
we FINALLY decided on a school for Moshe, Moriah in Ramat Beit Shemesh. It has a stronger program i.e. more Hebrew and Torah studies LESS english.. actually.. NO english studies.. just Math.. and it goes through half the summer as well. We have a neighbor that sends their son there, so Moshe will know at least one person in his class. We will try and get him a english reading / writing tutor at some point. This is a more established school and Penina is comfortable with it… so Moriah for Moshe.
I drove to work today for the first time. It was my turn to drive, because the main driver is still on vacation… What a mechaya to drive a diesel engine. All the other cars pale in comparison here.. the small cars have problems up hills.. not this car.
I was in Tel aviv in 30 minutes approx.
about 130 Kms per Hour… not sure how many miles per hour that is…
Work is coming along ok. They are bringing me along slowly… which is good.
Tonight, the family is going to jerusalem to the biblical zoo with the train or a cab. Im going to head there after work and drive them back.
We held off going to the zoo because of the heat.. BUT… the past few days have been tolerable. You can feel the weather turning slightly… I hope it stays.
The big news here is Katrina. Too bad the saints weren’t destroyed.
I just turned down an lunch invitation.. Im not sure about the hechsher in this area, so Ive been skipping lunch most days… When I get some time I’ll ask around to learn about these things.
Well, I have to get going. Im in the middle of inserting screen captures in a manual… about 150 of them.. gulp!
Have a great day and keep in touch!
Yudie