In 500 Meters, Turn Left

In Israel, the work week begins on Sunday. Most things close by two or three on Friday for Shabbat, so life follows a very different rhythm here than it does back home. Millie started day camp Sunday morning, which meant the four of us taking two buses across town to make the 7:45 am kickoff (and we made it!).

She is in a mixed group of second graders where some of the kids speak Hebrew and some speak English. The dropoff went smoothly, then the remaining three of us boarded another bus to pick up the rental car we had reserved. Just to let you know, it worked out in the end, but the Kia Picanto in the picture below was hard-won.

The “rental association” we used to make the reservation presents itself as specifically catering to English speakers (it is called iAnglo), but they do not seem to have a brick-and-mortar location. The ordeal began when we walked into the Lease4U storefront, and the gentleman behind the desk informed us that he only spoke “ktzat” or “a little” English. Over two hours later we were rolling.

Adena has been particularly stressed about driving in Jerusalem. Cousin Kayli’s husband Ziv told us to block out all of the noise and just drive. So far that advice has worked. Now if we could just break the habit of using our turn signals everything would be “beseder”.

Adena was able to meet up with some old friends at a cafe on her day off.

At three it was time to pick Millie up from day camp. She had a good first day and at the urging of one of the parents, we picked up anti-lice conditioner for the girls on the way home. We learned later that she misplaced her swim goggles on Day 1 and her t-shirt on Day 2. There is a large park across street with three or four playground areas, which is great because camp ends at three but Adena works until six. One of them has this spherical climbing structure that we have seen at many of the playgrounds here.

The shades stretched above the playground really help with the sun and the bird droppings.