On Your Mark...

The pace has really accellerated this past week or so. It usually does, in August, but this year, the summer was busier than usual. Here's a recap:

• June began with our air conditioner needing replacement (a necessity in the Washington DC area!).
• My mother died shortly thereafter, after a long illness. I spent a week with my father and brothers.
• We received notice of grant funding for Madrichim (teen aide) training, to be held on August 30th.
• A colleague contracted for a major curriculum rewrite - we worked together over 25 hours between the end of June and the end of July.
• Our kitchen, dining room and hallway were painted and "re-staged."
• I met with another client to plan some family programs with her.
• We went to Israel.
• I wrote lessons and teacher guides for the Madrichim Training - and submitted two of them to a publisher who'd asked me to develop some materials for madrichim training.
• We staffed the Training session and distributed teaching materials to the facilitators.
• Five directors spoke to me about doing training workshops - three for staff orientations, and two for training during the school year.
• I met with another colleague, who's piloting an innovative idea for family education.
• I had eye surgery (successfully!)
• We received notice of funding for another large program (Lev B'Lev - "Heart to Heart") in Northern Virginia that I'll be facilitating again this year, in January.
• Materials for that program were compiled, duplicated and will be distributed at a regional directors' meeting next week.
• And there's been the usual complement of volunteer work: meetings (committee and board), knitting, Mitzvah Heroes work.

Whew! I knew the summer was busy as the weeks were passing - but, wow! I really did get a lot more accomplished than I thought. My "to-do" lists have seemed unending - I hadn't really focused on the "Done" part of the list until now.

That's the recap. Tomorrow begins the Hebrew month of Elul - which is a preparation month in anticipation of Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement): a month in which we focus on how the past year has gone and what we look forward to in the year ahead.

Stay tuned!

Totally Random, Disconnected Musings About Israel

Israeli drivers drive like bats (you know, "bats out of.....") BUT we didn't see a single red-light runner.

Traffic lights in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv are timed so that you can only get half-way across the street at a time. Fortunately, there's a median in the middle where you can wait until the light indicates it's safe to cross the second half of the steet.

No right turn on red meant we didn't have to play dodge 'em with cars wanting to turn right while we were crossing the street.

Didn't see any "don't block the box" signs.... but also didn't see anyone blocking the box.

North of Tel Aviv, we began to see some green stuff growing; almost totally covering the brown soil. But still too much brown and not enough green for my psyche.


(Left) Jerusalem hills from the Old City, in August.

(Right) Wisconsin farmland, early summer




Next time, we'll make a conscious effort to see more green spaces - the Golan and the Galilee are supposed to be beautiful and green. Our son says there's nothing like a walk around the Kinnert after dark.

Neither of the Israeli hotels we stayed in had washclothes. Getting a towel wet to cool down our faces seemed like over-kill. Next time, we'll bring a few extra washclothes.

Speaking of hot faces, next time, we'll cut up some old t-shirts into wash-cloth sized pieces. I'll stash several in my purse. As we are out "enjoying" the heat, I'll have something to dry my face and neck with during our "pause that refreshes."

We'll do a better job of looking for brochures about the places we see. There was a lot of verbal information, but very little written info to jog the memory a couple of days later.

We'll continue to take cabs everywhere. How much fun not to have to drive!

Probably won't do a July or August visit - one cab driver said, "I don't understand you tourists. I'm glad you're here, it helps the economy. But why don't you come in October or November or December when it's really beautiful? January and February aren't so great. And I'd avoid March. But October and November - that's when you should come." I think we'll take him up on his advice.

If we go during the school year and class is in session, I'd like to sit in on a class at Meled, if that wouldn't be a violation of any kid's privacy. I love to watch experts at work - I get really revved up again and think all things are possible.

When we go again, I'll pack a bunch of good sci fi for Caryn Green's library at Crossroads. I'm thinking maybe some Heinlein and Assimov.

We'll have dinner at the Village Green again in Jerusalem and we'll hit Benedict's for shashuka again. Maybe Renee (pictured right, waving) will still be working there: that would be awesome!

We'll make a conscious effort to find a felafal stand and some schwarma - didn't get either this time, which was a mild disappointment balanced (for me) by my discovery of shashuka.

We really didn't meet any rude Israelis.... I kept waiting to see if we would. We weren't crazy about our tour guide - but he wasn't rude: just not the right guide for us.

Next time, perhaps we'll rent a guide and do a self-designed tours. But if we'd done that, we wouldn't have met Susan and Steve Grad.

Next time, we'll look for a non-stop flight from Ben Gurion to either Newark or Philadephia. The six hour-layover in Madrid was very frustrating.

I'm really glad we took our first trip together - that it was new for each of us: no preconceived notions or prior experiences to live up to.

Neal got his dream of swimming in the Mediterranean and was thrilled when he watched a ball game on TV and found he could understand enough of what was going on.

The El Al security desk in Madrid (going into Ben Gurion) was curious about our names: "Meyerson," he said, "Isn't that the name of someone famous? Are you related?" "Golda," we answered "was a Myerson before she became Meier." "No," he shook his head, "Someone other that Golda. Who was it?" We had no clue and only later remembered that Neal's grandfather Philip had received several thank you letters written shortly after the establishment of the State of Israel for his work in fundraising. Letters thanking him came from Chaim Weitzman, Albert Einstein, and Eddie Cantor. Maybe this young man was taking a course about that time and came across those letters? Who knows? In any event, Irv's making copies for us. Next time, maybe we'll take the letters with us.

I was surprised by how many words of Hebrew I was understanding by the end of the trip, compared to the beginning.

Next time....

It WAS a Busy Week

Wow!

What a week...

I finished and submitted an article for publication....

My colleague and I finished over-arching school goals, individual grade goals (accompanied by some strategies for implementation), and a Scope and Sequence for the coming year. Still many pieces to pull together, but the framework appears to be solid. I'll put it aside for a couple of days and then look at it with fresh eyes.

Our kitchen, dining area and adjacent hallway were painted this past week. Alison of Alacrity Consulting and Design did a superb job. Here's her description of what the job entailed. I'm still trying to find new "stashing" places for the stuff we need (which is actually a lot less than the stuff we had). And as you'll see from her to do list at the bottom of her posting, we've still got some finishing touches to add. But it's a clean, warm look and the space has become much more restful than it was previously.

And did I mention that we're leaving for Israel in less than 3 days? I haven't really begun to pack yet (although I've given it lots and lots of thought!)...

It's the first trip for both my husband and me - both of our adult kids also took their first trips (individually) within the last two years.

We decided not to do a tour - neither of us likes to be told to "hurry up and let's go." Since it's a short trip, we decided to spend four days in Jerusalem and four in Tel Aviv. We've had a lot of fun planning our trip - my husband does a superb job of tracking details and researching options.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Arrive Wednesday evening
• Mitzvah Heroes work Thursday
• Ben Yehuda market and shops on Friday
• Shabbat dinner with a friend
• Shabbat morning with other friends - maybe services with the Reconstructionist minyan
• A walking tour of the Old City
• Tel Aviv on Sunday
• Some museums - Independence Hall, the Palmach
• Maybe a day trip
• Some beach time
• Some shopping and wandering

Sounds like fun, doesn't it? I purchased a new netbook and plan to take it along with us to blog, email, and perhaps watch a movie on the flight over or back. With my knitting needles and some yarn, I'll be ready to go!

Stay tuned!

Usually the Summer is Quiet....

...but all of a sudden things have gotten "crazy-busy" here!

I'm doing a lot of writing (other than on this blog, obviously):

• lesson plans for a regional Madrichim/Teacher Aide program to be held August 30th
• some material I hope will be published on Madrichim training
• thank you notes for donations and kindnesses received after my mother died

I've got the pleasure of working with a colleague on a major curriculum review. She's doing it right, in my opinion, by starting with the goals for each grade and then trying to figure out how to teach them and what materials to use. We're also trying to build in some assessment pieces as we go along, so she'll be able to determine at the end of the year where the strengths and weaknesses are in her new curriculum.

I'm working with another colleague on modifying her family education program.

We're having our kitchen, dining area, and adjacent hallway painted this coming week.... which means the decluttering needs to happen NOW.

We're getting ready to leave on our first-ever trip to Israel in 11 days. I'll definitely be blogging from Israel!

And then there's just the odds and ends of summer - doctors' appointments that are difficult to schedule in the winter; office files and materials that need to be reorganized and culled; new books and other materials that need to be reviewed in order to prepare for the coming year; and my website to review and update.

On the back burner: my year-end review and the year-long madrichim course I'll be teaching in the fall (I've got a syllabus done, but need to prepare lessons and activities).

Whatever happened to "those lazy, hazy days of summer????" NOTE: I'm NOT complaining - I like being busy - am just surprised at the sudden influx of things on my "to-do" list!