Omicron Won

I feel a bit embarrassed and guilty to admit it, but we are now a COVID household. Reuben and I both received positive test results for COVID on the last day of January. According to Israeli data, more people tested positive for the coronavirus in January of this year than the entire year of 2021. …

Taking the Support We Need

Did you know that travel to Israel has been closed to non-citizens (with the exception of specific visa holders…and contestants of the Miss Universe pageant) for the last 3 weeks? Apparently most Israelis don’t. Maybe they aren’t paying much attention because the rules change every day. My cousins had to cancel their trip from London …

Returning to Routine

No one seems to know what day it is at the moment. I checked my calendar to confirm that it is in fact October now. Getting back to a “normal schedule” is a challenge after an entire month of holidays. Here in Israel, the kids attended school for a total of 11 days in September. …

Travel log

We arrived back in Israel last night after our month-long stay in the US. We flew Turkish Airlines, which was mostly a great experience. Online check in was simple, and we were each allowed 2 pieces of checked baggage (luckily, considering we left Israel with 3 bags and returned with 6!). We received a “hygiene …

Not a vacation

I’m taking a break from organizing and cleaning a house that doesn’t quite feel like ours. As soon as we walked in to our house, after two years away, I knew we weren’t going to stay here this trip. The cabinets were filled with dishes, glasses, cookware, and tchotchkes that don’t belong to us. All …

Moving Day

The movers arrived this morning, asked for cups of coffee, and sat chillin’ at the kitchen table, chatting away in Russian for about 30 minutes. One guy was playing a video game on his phone. The boss was the only one outside organizing boxes and setting up the packing system. I’ve been anxious about the …

Kai’s Pride Post

Hey, it’s Kai. I know you guys have probably been sitting on the edge of your seats waiting for another one of my amazing, comedic, grand blog posts. Here it is, but it isn’t a funny one this time. I’m going to talk about some pretty serious stuff in this post. This is one I …

Living with Uncertainty

I can hear fighter jets soaring above our town throughout the day and night. Here in Zichron, that is as close as the war has come. Many of our friends are hosting families from the south, especially friends or family who live in a home without a mamad (safe room). One mother told me that …

Qi Gong Teacher Training

Many of you might not know that I am in a course here in Israel to become a Qi Gong instructor. I started practicing qi gong outside in the garden at Ramat Hanadiv soon after we moved to Zichron. I have done so many different types of exercise over the years, but somehow I felt …

Lockdown Update

To set everyone’s minds at rest, I am happy to report that Sarit is doing much better. Her scar seems to be healing very well, and we have an appointment in early February to see a pediatric dentist to check on her teeth. We think she will be just fine, but we want to look …