Elmo, Sari's and Swabs

Whoah. Could this be correct? Another blog posting IN THE SAME WEEK? Wow.I know, crazy huh? Maybe I really did turn a new leaf or maby some exciting things are happening. Who knows. The point is, I'm writing so enjoy reading. So I said in my last post that I was on break. Here is one of the things that I did.

Last week I was babysitting/housesitting for 3 great kids (who ranged from 2-7) Let me tell you. I learned a lot. Here are a few things:

1) Elmo will solve almost every (and any) problem.
Crying? Elmo. Reward? Elmo. Missing the parents? Elmo.
2) That being said, Elmo is an evil evil red puppet that was created to drive parents, teachers, older kids and babysitters mad.
3) When you think you finally have dinner ready, someone is going to change their mind. Ive learned to be a short order cook.
4) How to check a babies temperature when the ear reader wont work.... Uugggghhh. Well now I know how to do it. :)
5) Supergoal cards. They are these trading card/sticker things that go into a book.
6) Both gigglypuff, and jigglypuff are not desserts, they are actually characters from Pokemon..
7) You dont wake up when the alarm goes off, when the sun comes up or when you just arnt tired anymore. You wakeup when someone is crying or punching you in the arm because they want more of #5.


I also got to drive in Israel for the first time. Let me tell you, I fit in perfectly. I think I honked the horn more times than I ever did when I was living in Toronto. Good times. It was nice to beon the road again (But 3 kids in the backseat, 2 of whom are killing eachother is not always a good idea.) I even pulled the car over once (in the hopes of avoiding blood in the backseat.)

It was a great expereince and I really liked the kids - heck, I'd even do it again. It's awfully quiet now and I'm still getting up at 5.... Hopefully soon that too shall pass... All in all, it was a really nice week. Sweet kids that I am sure I will see again. It's hard being a parent. So J&J kudo's to you two and hope you enjoyed Spain, I enjoyed Modi'in.

I learned many other things. These I just felt like sharing.

Fast forward to last night. A friend of mine, Rachel, volunteers for this organization called "Gift of Life" ( www.giftoflife.org )and she needed some people to help out at the birthright megaevent, so naturally, I said sure - why not. So after getting into the mega event (which is always a challenge if you dont have a badge on you with the proper bracelet/band thing) which we had some problems. So me being the Israeli that I am (also done this a few times at various conferences) pretended like we owned the joint and walked in. My friend Dave Neer (who I went on a teen tour w/ USY to Poland and Israel in '98), also a fellow yeshiva student, and I got in and got to work. First, we had to learn how to do the whole thing, so natuarlly, we tested on ourselves, in less than 5 min, we were done and on the registry. When we got there, most of the students were in the main room singing and dancing (and watching a video of the PM from a few years ago welcoming them... slight eerie and strange) Dave and I decided to go check it out. We walked into the room and iot was a pretty amazing thing. birthright participants from all over the world, all different backgrounds "cool" standings all together singing and dancing. It was pretty cool seeing this - people that would have never been together on a college campus (or even admitted that they were Jewish) were there and were proud. It was a nice moment. Living here you kinda forget the importance of being here. I really got to see the excitment insomeone elses eyes - it was nice. Made me remember how special this place is... So We go back to doing swabbing. Let me tell you. For one second we'd have nobody, then we'd have 15. It was pretty crazy. Dave and I were cracking up most of the time, we had a great time. INfront of us one of the birthright groups was there dancing up a storm (there was also a disco...which our booth was right next too...) this was the group happend to be from India. They will the prize for best dressed. so many different beautiful colours and styles. Also, their group leader had the ENTIRE group come and get registered, it was pretty special. The birthright groups last night were from all over, Canada, USA, Brazil, Mexico, the FSU, India and more. Pretty great program.

Ok. I've rambled for no other reason then I really had nothing to do right now. So I'm done.

Drop me a line.

Nikki