Where's the Snow?

Last week the weather mavens were predicting with total and utter confidence the "mother of all snowstorms and freezing conditions" in most of Israel from Sunday night. Monday's snow was supposed to be more plentiful than what fell a couple of week's ago.

People were in a total panic, anxiety at its worst, when they heard of below freezing temperatures in the Tel Aviv area, where the only thing that freezes is ice cream and trendy Italian gelato.

Here in Shiloh, we heard and saw Monday's garbage trucks Sunday night. The Beit El yeshiva, a dormitory school, where I teach, dismissed the students at 4:30pm Monday and told them to return on Wednesday.

Well, I heard the rain all last night, and this is what I saw out the window this morning.




I don't see any snow. Do you? The rain has even stopped, at least for long enough for me to take these pictures out the opened window.

Of course, it may be snowing in Beit El and Ofra. Twenty-six years ago, during our first year in Shiloh, on a winter's day like today, my eldest daughter and the other kids too old to study in our fledgling school, were waiting for the van to come and take them to Ofra's school. They waited and waited and waited. No van. We didn't have phones here in those days. Finally, someone got one of the security walkie-talkies and contacted Ofra.

"School? There's no school when it snows!!"

Beit El's Another World

Israel's a tiny country, and climate differences abound. We had snow in Shiloh, yes, lots--by Israeli standards--snow. But by the time I went to work yesterday, the snow was just a memory. As I rode south, it was different. By the time we passed Ofra, the roads were surrounded by snow on both sides.

Here at Givat Asaf, the T Junction to Beit El, snow wasn't a memory at all. There was lots more in Beit El, but I didnt' feel like taking out my camera.
Though I did take it out for this sunset. It's not terribly clear, since I took it from inside the classroom. The double window, one bullet proof, was closed.

Bullet proof, you may be asking. Yes, bullet proof since during Ehud Barak's reign of terror, Arab terrorists shot towards the yeshiva from Ramaala.

Multi-tasking

Yesterday I returned to work after summer vacation and two days of sick leave. Actually it was a good day to return, since I had only the 11th and 12th grades, very few students. Those who showed up were polite, well-behaved and even a bit enthusiastic. I explained what they needed to pass the bagrut, national final exams, in English.

Traveling was miraculous, Baruch Hashem, thank G-d. I kept my cool when I realized that I had missed the bus, which came "on time," instead of late; I was less than a minute's run when I saw it leaving the bus stop. Good thing I didn't panic. I caught a ride a few minutes later. It dropped me off at the "t junction" to Beit El, where I had to wait for a ride or bus to Beit El. A large vehicle with a "foreign press" sign was sitting there. As I walked by, I noticed them taking my picture. What will the caption be?

"Middle-aged woman with bag on wheels hitchhikes to Beit El."

A few minutes later, a van stopped and offered me a ride to Beit El. The driver was nice and took me all the way to the yeshiva where I teach. That saved me walking in the hot sun.

After my last lesson, I changed "uniforms" and got dressed and made up to go to a wedding.

Yes, it was a beautiful wedding.


The music and dancing were great!


I had my camera strapped to my waist and danced with it on. Periodically, I'd stop and take pictures.


That's the way to celebrate.

MAZAL TOV!!

So it's Saturday night

Saturday night's not "Saturday night" as it was when I was a kid.
It's called motzei Shabbat and means that the Sabbath has gone out. I end up blogging and washing dishes. Nothing very exciting. I could be going to see Shuli Rand of Ushpizin fame, who will be performing in Eli, but I'm not.
I hope to do my "social thing" tomorrow night when there's a women's Rosh Chodesh party here. I could have signed up for a "light dairy dinner" and some sort of comedy in Beit El as a staff party, but I really don't feel like wasting time after work until it starts and then being dependent on a ride home after finding a ride home.
Periodically they have those "surveys" at work about how we feel and one of the questions is always about how much we socialize with the staff. Sorry, but I don't, even though I got the job through friends, and we still work together. I spend so many hours at work, at least it feels that way, I just don't feel like making an effort to socialize with them. We're a rather varied group, considering ages, background etc.
Last week I spent hours at that parents meeting, and almost none of the parents showed up to talk to me. Three out of twenty-one. (I teach tiny groups in each grade.) There were others, but their darling sons convinced them not to come in. And for those three I waited around over three hours.
The week before we had that staff meeting, a total waste. I waited four hours between finishing work and the meeting, which didn't accomplish anything but took another three hours plus to accomplish that nothing.
Sorry for all this ranting.
I should have had blogged about our quickie second birthday party for Porat. And I have to work on the Kosher Cooking Carnival! Get your posts in and any others you see which fit the bill, please, and if you want to guest-host please let me know. Either send to shilohmuse at gmail dot com or to blog carnival.
Thanks

Guess where I am!

No, I'm not a home.
And no, I'm not in an internet cafe`
nor the public library.
I'm not at my husband's office,
nor at a friend's or one of my kids.

I'm at... work!

Let's put it very simply. I came about four hours too early for a staff meeting. How did I do that? Simple! I finished teaching at 3:25, and there's a staff meeting called for 7:15.
My daughter said that she'd be with the girls today, so I don't have to babysit. It doesn't pay to "tremp" (hitchhike) home or even go to Jerusalem for an hour or two, just to spend money. I did that here in Beit El while waiting. There's a nice-sized store near the yeshiva. I bought a couple of pairs of stockings.

That store "saved" me from being at a terror attack almost eleven years ago. Our old road went via Beit El, after going through downtown Ramallah. I was in a ride with a neighbor who wanted to shop in that store after going to the Beit El gas station. So instead of turning right to the main road from the gas station, she turned left to go into Beit El. Then she stopped the car and called the store owner on her cellphone to see if they'd open a few minutes early.

When she got off the phone we saw people running out towards the road. An Arab terrorist had shot at the people, mostly teenagers, students in this very same yeshiva. The terrorists murdered David Boim, HaYa"D.

If we hadn't turned into Beit El when we did, we would have had been on the road when the Arab terrorist was shooting.

I hadn't really planned on writing about it, but I guess it was on my mind, since I had already told the story to one of the teachers before going to the store. In three weeks, it'll be eleven years since the terror attack in which I was injured, lightly injured, but just have had been there changed my life.

That's another story of course.