Goodbye to London

This is our last week in London.
On Friday we will say goodbye to what has been our home for the past two and a half years and get on a plane to Berlin which will be, for the foreseeable future, our new home.

Life is funny this way, if you let it, it will take you to places you never imagined you'd get to. If anyone would have told me ten or even six years ago that I will become one of those people who move around the world I would have never believed them, and yet Germany will be the fourth country we've lived in; if anyone would have told me my wandering will bring me to Berlin I would have laughed, and yet here I am, packing; if anyone would have told me I would take two kids with me on all my adventures I would have really gotten angry, and yet both my boys happily approved this move and are impatient to get to Berlin.

In the last few weeks there has been a bit of stir in the Israeli press about the fact that young Israelis choose to immigrate to Berlin. It was called "the pudding protest" because apparently pudding is cheaper in Berlin than in Israel (honestly, it is cheaper here in London as well), and apparently we Israelis follow the pudding. Well, while it is true that for Jewish and Israelis food is not just an important thing, it is the most important thing of all, people do not leave their whole life behind just to buy cheaper pudding.

And yet here we are, part of a trend. I have to say I am somewhat excited, I've never been part of a trend before. On the other hand, it is in part why I've waited with this post until our bags are (almost) packed. I was hoping it will go away and I won't have to deal with it in my post. After all we are not moving to Berlin because it's cheaper than London. First of all because everywhere in the world is cheaper than London, and second of all because I don't even love pudding.
No, we are moving to Berlin for the same reason we moved to Gibraltar and London - for the adventures.
Because adventures is such a better reason than pudding.

A few years ago I've read this story about a family who travelled around the world, stopping for a few months in each place to learn how people there live. They had three kids I think, and they chose mostly less developed countries as destinations. I remember thinking they were crazy, that they were ruining their kids' lives, that they were bad parents who'd rather realise their own dreams than raising their kids. Well, I was young and much more prone to criticism in those days, and I guess I deserve the people who look at me and think the exact same thing. These days, though I would still won't be caught dead in any place that requires a tent, I understand their choice so much better.

Because adventures aren't about having fun all day every day, they are about experiencing everything the world has to offer. And everyone knows the world likes to throw crap your way.
Adventures are about the fear of the unknown and the belief in yourself.
Adventures are about the people you meet along the way and the things you get to do that you'd never imagined you will. Hey, I got to meet David Cameron.
Adventures are about inventing yourself every time - who will I be here? What will I do? You get the chance of a clean slate and a new beginning.
Adventures are about the option to experience life from different angles, see other cultures,  understand that every place is different, that there is no right or one way to live.
It is, if you allow me some schmaltz, about building a better future for your children. It is about letting them grow up and live without seeing colour, or religion, or country of origin. Wherever we see all these differences, they just see friends.
But most of all, if you let it, living in different places teaches you all about freedom. A lot of people think the hardest part of being an expat is the fact that you don't belong anywhere anymore. You are no longer a real part of the country you left, and you will forever be a foreigner in the country you live in now. I think if you embrace this feeling what you get is an enormous amount of freedom to be who you want, to do what you want, to think what you want.
No, the hardest part of being an expat is the food. Don't look so surprised, I did say we Israelis are very attached to our food.
And they do say Berlin has great bakeries.

Now that the time to say goodbye has come, I should be able to say something about London, summaries the last two and a half years in one sentence. But I can't. Mostly because writing short sentences was never my strong suit, but also because I am just not sure it will be the right sentence. There is, after all, something to say for perspective.
For now mostly I feel that I am ready to move on, but I can say that London gave us a lot, we've had so many good things happen to us here, we've accomplished so much, but that it all came with a very high price-tag. Like everything else in London.
I am proud of us for what we've achieved, and at the same time I hate that we had to pay so dearly for it.

And then, because life is funny this way, someone shared this Elisabeth Kübler-Ross quote on Facebook that just seemed so fitting for my goodbye to London -
"The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen".

So Long London, and Thanks for All the Fish!

All the photos in this post were taken by Hidai on his recent travels to Berlin, and not by me because I haven't been to Berlin. Yet.

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Our adventure at Chessington World of Adventures

In the midst of all the chaos of life, work, and Yon assessments we've been having around here we decided to take a short break and tick off another thing from our London Wish-List, and so we booked a weekend at the Chessington World of Adventures for my parents and us.
We've been planning on getting to Chessington for about a year now, and every time we were on our way to press the "book now" button we found an excuse not to, because we were very worried about how Yon will handle the whole experience and with it being a let's say not very budget friendly holiday, we knew we'd be really disappointed to have paid all that money and make all that effort for it to be a disaster. And believe me, after you go through a few of those - lets puke in the restaurant, grab the 400 years old boat and cry through a cathedral while there are people praying trips - you kind of hesitate before you jump into the water of another family holiday.
Also, Ron isn't really the adventurous type - he likes both his feet on the ground, and so all the roller coasters and scary rides are not his cup of tea.
My parents are even worse.
But then we've been to Legoland over Christmas and everyone had a good time, and we really needed a break from everything, and we are in the crossing off things from the list kind of mood, so we did press the "book now" button this time, and ended up with two days and one night of adventures.

Grandparents & kids next to the Chessington map

The park itself is really amazing, and I will give you the button line first - everyone had a great time. It has so many different types of attractions and rides that everyone found things they enjoyed doing.
A few tips -
1. If you are getting there by train then you can walk from the rain station to the park as it's only about 10-15 minutes, but you can also take bus number 71 which will get you there faster, and with less complaining from various people in your group.
2. The park has lots of places to buy food and drinks, but if your kids don't like fizzy drinks then you are in a bit of a problem, and it will be water all the way. There are a few places that sell Capri-Sun but they are few and far between.
3. We chose the specific attractions we wanted to do each day, because the place is huge and also it minimised the arguments.
4. Check online the "What's going on in Chessington today", because that is the only place you will find it.
5. The hotel guests get an "early rider" offer where you can get in through the fast-track from 9 to 10:30 am. It's great because you don't have to wait in the queue and the park is less busy.
6. Queues. Be prapared for lots and lots of queueing time. The average time I've seen is 40 minutes, and it can get up to an hour and a half on the main attractions.
7. There is no real shade in the park so suncream is very important. As are umbrellas, it is London after all.

Yon can't wait in queues. Honestly I don't understand how any child is supposed to wait 40 minutes in a queue for a 7 minutes ride. But with Yon it is just impossible, and after the 20 minutes queue at the entrance to the London Aquarium ruined his and our ability to enjoy the visit, we decided to ask for a disability pass for him in the park. I know it might sound silly, but it was really hard for us to ask for the disability pass, I find we stumble on the words and feel awkward, like on the one hand it somehow makes his disability and difficulties more "real" and on the other hand we are waiting for someone to look at Yon and say "hey, he isn't really disabled". We've tried to do it over the internet just so we won't have to go through it, but since you can't we got to the Adventure Services with him and his certificates and they were perfectly nice and helpful in getting us the pass and explaining the rules. In a nutshell, you go through the disabled entrance which is usually at the exit of the ride, and you don't have to wait in the queue, BUT the operator takes your pass and write down the time when you can go on your next ride, which is the amount of time you saved on the queue, i.e if you skipped a 40 minutes of queueing, you will still have to wait them until you get to go on the next ride. You just don't have to do it standing in a queue, but running around freely.
As hard as it was going in there and asking for the pass and showing them Yon's CVI and explaining he can't wait and is undergoing more assessments and all that, it really saved our trip. And Yon got to say "I am special so I don't wait in the queue. I have Ocular Albinism" and feel very important.

Sailing ships instead of queues

The hotel wasn't as good as the park unfortunately, which was a bit of a letdown, and not at all what we expected after staying in Legoland. I honestly can't understand why when you order two rooms under the same name and credit card, they can't guarantee they'd be close to each other, and in the end we got opposite sides of the floor, but hey - at least they were on the same floor. It is also beyond me why they gave us four single beds, and it took three requests and Hidai doing it himself to make our bed as close to a double as possible.
Some tips, if you are planning on staying in the hotel -
1. Book dinner in advance. We didn't, and when we got to the hotel we had to reserve the 8:15pm slot, which effectively meant we got served at 9pm. Not good after a whole day of running around with hungry kids and adults.
2. There is no real entertainment for the kids - there was Madagascar with no sound, and a hotel show which was a bit lacking. You can go outside to see the few animals that stay outside for the night, but with hungry and tired kids it was less than ideal.
3. Breakfast wasn't as good as the one in Legoland, though it wasn't really bad, and there was a queue even for that.

The bottom line is that in our two days we ended up going through 20 attractions, taking a photo with the Octonauts & the Madagascar animals and watching the Madagascar show and after the mandatory visit to the shop which got us a bubble-gun and a tiny Alex, we started heading home. That is where, after massive train delays we learned the most important lesson of all - always have a taxi for the drive back.

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House number nine

Way back when we started thinking about moving a house we really did meant for it to take three months to find a new house. We planned on being less in "shopping mode" and more in "browsing mode". Fast forward exactly one month an we think we found The One. Yes, I know, we really are not to be trusted in these matters. Honestly though I really have no idea how that happened. We've compiled a very long and detailed list of things that will make everyone feel happy about the house, and after Hidai said I can't just store it in my head but we have to write it down, he made me break it down to "must have" and "nice to have" and we called it in the apt name "list of demands" and sent it to all the realtors around. It is a very long list.
In the end we've seen a grand total of nine houses in real life and (dozens more on the internet), and house number nine won us over.

House number nine

The thing is, house number nine is... Well, it is a house. We have never lived in a real house with three floors and cracking floorboards and what people around here like to call "character" or "period features" and we usually call "uninhabitable" (yes, renovated was one of the must haves). We have no idea how you live in a house? Ever since we moved in together all those years ago we lived in flats, and though our first one was over three floors, it wasn't a house and it wasn't on the ground floor but a part of the weirdest apartment complex you have ever seen.
We loved the control and closeness an apartment gives you - for better or worse there is nowhere to run in an apartment, and when the boys were tiny it is exactly what we wanted, to able to know what they are doing and where at all times. It kept the scribbling on the wall to a necessary minimum. But now we found ourselves having our Weekend lazy coffee and cake sitting on the floor in our bedroom because the boys are a) watching a movie or b) playing something very loud on the xBox or computer or iPad or c) running around in some sort of weird pretend-play.

Coffee and cake on the bed, because this is how we roll

And as fun as hiding on the floor with cake sounds, the penny finally dropped on the day I found myself hiding under Ron's bed (he has a raised bed with a very nice reading / hiding corner underneath) while the kids invaded the living room with their loud noises and electronic games. They can sit there together, Yon with the iPad watching YouTube movies about his favourite games (Infinity and Mindcraft) and talking back at it, while Ron is playing his Fifa on the xBox with that annoying soundtrack and shouting at the screen and all the while music is blaring in the background. So I did the only thing possible - I hid under the bed. In my defines we have heated floors and that spot is the best in the house, but still. So we decided it might be time to expand, and have the boys banished to a floor of their own where they will get one bedroom for beds and quiet reflection (also known as reading time) and the other for more physical activities (also known as playing football in the house) and electronics (as in breaking our own rule and kicking the xBox from the living room ), while we get a floor of our own and we all reconvene around mealtimes in the lower floor. We are willing to let them pass through the kitchen not on mealtimes on sunny days to release them in the garden for a bit of outdoor football, but that's it.

Hiding under the bed

The problem with the whole thing is that I never wanted to live in a house, I have never thought of myself as a house person, as "house material" and now I found that I stopped looking at apartments completely. I guess it is the natural order of things, and I guess the majority of the ten people who will read this post live in a house anyway and won't understand how people can raise a family in an apartment.
I can explain about my bad knees and (very justified) fear of falling down the stairs, or the too many horror movies and TV dramas where the people get killed in a HOUSE, or the fact that I don't do well with gardens, or insects. But the truth is it is the stereotype, the one I have in my head after too many years of lousy American TV and too many romance novels - the suburban wife/mum stereotype. And I am really worried that I will become exactly that.
But on the other hand, that is all it is - a stereotype. And it is a big step for me in letting the boys grow and starting to let them go. So we decided to treat it as "a house adventure", after all in the past five years, living life as expats, we learned to look at most things like that - a two year adventure and then we'll see.
We decided to take the boys with us to all the viewing, so they could get a "feel" of the houses and we could see how Yon is managing the stairs, because we were and still are to be honest really worried about how he will handle it when he is hurrying or when he, as usual, goes around without looking (yes, friendly stairs were a must have). They loved it in house number nine, didn't want to go home in fact, and Yon ran up and down the stairs without fear (he did went down on his bottom and held the rail on his way up, but he did not let it ruin the game for him).
And that is what won us over. Yes the house ticked all the must have's and most of the nice to have's, but so did other houses we've seen. The thing is that house number nine has something that the others didn't. It has the love-in-first-sight and that all important x-factors that makes a house into a home.
House number nine is the first house we've seen that actually made us want to live in a house, and hopefully it won't take us long before we embark on our very first two year House Adventure.


I am linking this post with #MotivationalMonday over at Pinkoddy because... Well because this house motivates me to move on and to let my boys grow. And with #MagicMoments over at The Oliver Madhouse because it was a magic moment for us to feel the possibility of living in a house!




I hope you enjoyed reading the post :) I would really appreciate two minutes of your time and a vote in the writer or family categories in the Bib blog awards - Just press the photo and copy in my URL - http://londondegani.blogspot.co.uk Thank you very much!
 

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House hunting in London

Last week I woke up and it hit me. In four months will reach the two years mark of living in London. It's a silly thing, but I can't believe it's been almost two years. They have not gone as planned at all. London was supposed to be my oasis, my peace and quiet and no more worries zone. It was supposed to give me back the peace of mind and ability to sleep a full night. It was supposed to be, in my head, a smooth ride. Instead it gave us two years full of bumps along a magnificent road.
So I didn't notice the time passing, because I was too busy looking at it through appointments and tests and forms to fill. The only way I track the months is through my friend Michelle's beautiful little girl - every month she puts a photo on Facebook, and every month I "like" it and say out loud to myself "but she can't be 11 months old! She was just born, like, yesterday!" I stopped saying that to Michelle though. For some reason she doesn't find it amusing...
Time is a funny thing, and as we are fast approaching the birthday season around here, it never even occurred to me to connect it to the passage of time in London.
And then another frightening thought hit me - our contract for renting this flat is up. Now you might think that it's frightening because we really want to stay here and the landlord won't renew our contract, or he might up the rent a few tens of pounds a week. But that's not it at all we can stay, and the rent around here stayed about the same this last couple of years so no upping it. No, the real reason it's frightening is because it suddenly dawned on me that we can move.

Just an example for a house and a street around here

Why would we want to move? Mostly because it's been two years, so somehow it feels mandatory. We've never lived anywhere more than two and a half years. In 13 years we moved 6 homes, 4 cities, 3 countries. I just can't think about this flat being the one that breaks our tradition. Then there is the fact that it's practically a shoebox, and not an adult-zise high-heel knee-high-boots shoe box. No, we live in a child-sized shoebox. And it's getting a tad crowded, but then again, maybe only when the kids are around. And thirdly, because moving solves everything. I mean, what do you do when your head becomes over populated with worries and questions and what-if's? You move. If the over population isn't too bad, you move a house, or a city, or in London's case a borough. If the questions become too much, you move a country (or at least that is what I tell Hidai whenever the question of Ron's secondary school pops up).
The problem with it is, that once the the thought of moving starts creeping in, you can't put the genie back in the bottle. Now we have to move because everything about this place annoys us.
So last week we decided to check the area, you know just to see what's out there before we actually start looking.

Look! THere's a rainbow! It must be a sign that it's time to move ;)

And here arose a few tiny insignificant problems. First of all, I have no idea how not to move immediately. Our average time of finding a place and moving is between 2 days and 2 weeks. I always find a place I want to move to, and then it annoys me to no end if I can't. But Hidai said we have to get to know the area better and be much more calculated and reasonable this time around. I on the other hand found three places I was willing to sign with on my first hour of looking.
But we are being calculated and all that, so we sat down to make a list of demands. It turned out we want to live in our flat, if only it included the flat above, just so we'll have somewhere to hide from the kids. We narrowed it down to the most basic two demands - obviously the kids can't change school, and we can't move too far away from Arsenal or Ron will hate us forever. But that's ok, we thought very naively, because we are on the border of three boroughs, two of which have a very good selection of homes in lower prices than what we pay today. Success. But not for us, because we have to stay in our borough. Yon is in the middle of all the evaluation / assessment / registration process and if we move we lose everything and have to start all over. And the worst part is we lose our special advisor, right before he starts year 1. That is a big fat no.
So after a very nice weekend of Zooplaing around the boroughs and selecting a few homes to see and fantasising about all the money we'll save, and the incredibly spacious house we'll have, we found ourselves right back where we were two years ago when we  had one week to find this house - with no choice of properties. Our borough is not an easy one to find a decent house for a decent price in. In fact it thrives on very old houses and very high prices. Mostly because it populates too many "young professionals" who think putting the main loo on the roof is quirky rather than just plain idiotic, its advantages - central, close to the tube, trendy, diverse and close to Arsenal - are also what makes it so hard to find a decent place that fits a family of four.

Our view in Gibraltar

Our view now

Then you have the problem of not actually wanting a house. I have to confess, I am what you might call totally paranoid, and Hidai is what you might call a neat-freak. And we got used to having a magnificent view when you look out the window. Somehow living in an old crumbling house (not because that is how houses in general are, but because that is how most houses that are for rent in our area are), that looks exactly like every other house on the street, that never feels clean, always faces the street, and has no view other than cars, just doesn't seem appealing. But on the other hand, it has a garden and much more space. And also it might have a loo on the roof, which is a feature after all.
Truth is, we love our flat. We love everything about where we live, right from the "legendary address" to the newness of the complex, to the underfloor heating and double glazing, and the view. It's just that it's small. And our downstairs neighbour is against kids and treadmills. And it's been almost two years.
And I am starting to feel those itching feet, that need for newness, the thirst for adventure. I can feel it bubbling just underneath the surface, and I know - hold on to your suitcases boys and girls. We are moving.
Well, not really, we have about four months here, and still no idea what to do with our list of house-demands. Then again, my Zoopla, Right Move and Prime Locations accounts are all set to "immediate alerts" so...

I hope you enjoyed reading the post :) I would really appreciate two minutes of your time and a vote for Best Writer (and best blog if you are so inclined) at the MAD blog awards -
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Christmas 2013: The Highlights!

Ten days since my last post. It's been a very long vacation which cost me about 5,000 pounds and 5 kg. I'm joking of course. It was only 3,000 pounds. While writing this I am still half comatose from the enormous lunch I've had today, and yesterday and every single day before that. Holidays and food are intertwined in a way second only to football and beer (yes, I know my analogy is steaming from the fact that today's entertainment was watching an Arsenal match at the pub), and trying to write anything while in this state is proving to be somewhat difficult. Summarising a holiday is never an easy thing. After all in our family if you finish a holiday with lots of photos it can only mean one thing - it was a lousy holiday. And if you did have a good time, and you don't have photos, you probably ate too much and drank too much and already went through all the Christmas chocolate and now can't move or think. And anyway nobody wants to hear how you are full of love and light and wine.
On the other hand, no one wants to hear how my Christmas did not go as I planned at all this year. I was sick for most of the time and even needed antibiotics, my Christmas baking did not go as planned (at least as far as I'm concerned. Everyone else said it was totally fine, at least that is what their crumbs filled mumbling sounded like ), I haven't slept well in weeks, my posting schedule went down the toilet, and I gained at least 3 kilos.
So I have decided to do a Christmas recap in one go by using everyone around and publish it when no one will read it - right before New Years.
Without further ado - Christmas 2013: The Highlights!

1. Grandparents visit (because they made me write it first). It is so much nicer to have then here when we are all on holiday, there is no pressure to get to school, or get things done on time, or while everyone is stressed and busy. Holidays are the best time to entertain and Christmas with its many activities and added excuse for everything (we absolutely HAVE to eat a second breakfast made entirely out of chocolate and Baileys. It's Christmas) is the best time in the year for it.

2. Christmas dinner. Well, actually no one here put it down as a highlight, but the way I see it - we survived the making and eating of yet another holiday meal, during which we swore at least a dozen times that we will never do that again, yelled about ten times per person, accused each other on ruining the food at least a dozen times, ate too much during preparations, worked for ten hours on food that got eaten in under an hour (and had three days worth of leftovers). How can that not be a highlight? And yes, of course we will do it all again next year. After all it's what we call bonding in this family.

3. Yon's pick - Meeting Santa at the London Zoo. Yon is not a big fan of Santa actually, he finds the whole thing quite intimidating, and he is never willing to talk or smile, but this time was (somewhat) different, because it was in his beloved zoo. I booked the tickets in advanced and prayed for weeks that we'll have good weather. I hate booking in advance, especially in London, exactly because of that - you never know what kind of day you're gonna get, but we ended up with a sunny and cold one, which as it turned out was perfect - the animals were all awake and inside so we saw all of them (except for the always sleeping lion), and though the queue to see Santa was about an hour long, he was really nice, everything was organised really well and the boys loved the gifts they got. We even managed to get a family photo out of it with Yon not looking as if we made him sit next to a serial killer.

4. Ron's pick - his xBox. He asked for one four months ago. He waited ever so patiently for it. He did his best to be on the good list. He worried up until Christmas Eve that he won't get it. He jumped in the air (literally) when he ripped through the wrapping paper. He can't stand being apart from it. He already mastered the FIFA 14 game, and is having long conversation with the Kinect. So it comes as no surprise that his xBox was his choice, but what he really meant was Christmas Day. I really don't think there is anything better than waking up to Christmas Day. I got a Kindle and have already read one book, Hidai got a ticket to a Pearl Jam concert in July, grandparents went for phones and booze, but Yon got the best presents of all - a robofish (who died an early death due to lack of batteries) and a camera and is now spending most his time walking around the house snapping blurry pictures of everyone.

5. Hidai's pick - LegoLand Windsor. As we were sooooo good this year Santa has decided to give us all an extra gift - one night at the LegoLand resort. Actually we decided on that because we want to work our way up to DisneyWorld. We were unsure how Yon would react to the hotel, and Ron to the activities and figured one night at LegoLand when most of it is closed because of winter is the perfect place to start. Despite a few minor glitches at the beginning (apparently it's a big surprise that when you book two rooms under your name you want them to be adjoined. Or at least close.) and the fact that Yon wasn't feeling very well, we powered through (got the rooms) and it turned out to be a wonderful holiday for the family. I was so happy to see Yon running through the castle in the indoor play area, or the outside play area, and I was happy to see Ron willing to try all the activities (he was only slightly crossed about losing to Hidai in the shooting game). We will be back for sure in the summer to see the rest of the resort and activities (and beat Hidai at shooting).

6. Grandparents pick 1 - Boxing Day Shopping. As real Londoners we laughed in their faces about the thought of going out to Oxford St. for a spot of shopping, and declined their generous invitation to drag two boys to do their favourite activity of all - watching other people shop. As it turned out grandparents loved every minute of it, and bought everything they planned to, so next year we are sending them with a list of our own.

7. Grandparents pick 2 - Football at the Pub. We wanted an authentic pub watching experience as we've never done that, but as it turned out we chose the poshest pub around because of a combination of having to have vegetarian food, a family-friendly atmosphere and clean toilets. As my dad summarised it, it cost us the price of a new tablet, and the boys were less keen on the food (the chocolate brownie went down without a problem though), but Arsenal won, the people were happy, and the food was great. Next time we rob a bank, we'll be back for sure.
8. My pick... Well, I loved it all, but my highlight was without a doubt watching the Hobbit movie (the second one of course) in the cinema. And although I spilled half my popcorn when I tried taking a photo with my phone, had a shrieking girl sit behind me and encountered a drunken guy on the bus back, I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience of actually not going to the cinema to watch an animated movie. And as for the distractions, which to be honest used to drive me crazy, it's amazing what getting used to watching TV and movies with children gets you accustomed to.

9. Last thing we did just before Christmas was connect our TV (and all other devices) to both Netflix and Hulu. This is the place to admit I love silly American TV shows, and by using some electronic hocus-pocus managed to connect all my devices so that I can watch all my TV shows and the American Netflix channel. We've already watched three movies (which is a personal record for us, but unfortunately were lousy).
10. As I see it, like most things in life, Holidays never go as planned, and so far this one has proven to be the same. Every year we find a different solution for it. Usually it includes some chocolate, lots of arguments and the weirdest sense of humour around, but this year we've decided to add the secret ingredient and added alcohol to the mix, and by now grandparents have already drank the whole Chocolate Baileys we bought them, a few bottles of wine and many many glasses of beer. Next year we are planing ahead and starting to stock up in September.

Happy New Year Everyone! See you on the other side :)

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The nights before the night before Christmas

Three more days till school breaks for the holidays. I never thought I'd say that as a parent, but I will - Bring on the holidays. It's going to be 16 and a half days of total madness - Christmas, entertaining people, grandparents, bored out of their mind children and bad weather (hopefully snow, probably lots of rain). And still it will be better than what we have now. Now we have a whole lot of people who are at the end of their rope.
So let me count the ways in which this period of a second-before-the-holiday drives everyone crazy -

We went to the school yesterday to give out our Christmas gifts to the teachers and the moment the head teacher saw us you could see her thinking "on no! What the f*&^ck could these two want now?!" Yes, we have been spending a lot of time at school lately. Yesterday I told Hidai I think I'm there more than some of the teachers. Hidai is a governor and had some governor things before the break, we had all the festivities, we've had our usual meetings about Yon (and some unexpected ones) we've had trouble with Ron, I will be volunteering in school from next term helping children learn towards the 11+ exams, we've had parents-teachers meetings, and we've had lots of talks with our head teacher, so she was excused for thinking we were there to nag her once again, so just stood there waving chocolate at her saying "no, no, just Christmas gifts!". She is exhausted, Yon's teacher said they are all counting the minutes, the boys are so out of it Ron actually had a fight with Siri (about weather or not Arsenal would win the league). And with the iPhone (it bullied him). And with the computer (none of his players scored). And with my baby-tree (it's in the middle of the football pitch also known as my corridor). Yon just informed me yesterday afternoon that he "absolutely definitely totally NEEDS YouTube. He can't do anything else because he NEEDS YouTube". Of course he watched YouTube all afternoon. How could I refuse that plea?

Baby tree at the football pitch

It is not surprising then that the school is on a not-really-studying-anymore mode, they had pantomime, class parties, school play, movies, presentation days, fair, singing, etc. Yesterday it was the school play. They don't do nativity shows in our school, just secular school plays that are nice regardless of your religion and beliefs, and this year they chose The Wizard of Oz. I am not a big fan of school plays to begin with, and this one had even more issues for me than most with the amount of time they needed to commit to practice during school hours and after, the person in charge of it, and it having 8 main roles and a whole school who wanted to participate but couldn't. Ron got to be a guard and had three lines and insisted we come watch him perform. Of course we came. And sat in the second row, and smiled, and waived and took loads of photos. Was it worth the 6 weeks of after school practice? and the week he missed football for it? and the fact that he had nothing but rehearsals for the past week? No. He was very excited about the whole thing and hardly slept the night before, he was worried about his scene, and he was up to the end quite disappointed to get such a tiny role. He was excellent of course - came on stage on time, fell asleep on time, sang on time, and performed his lines in the same incomprehensible mumble as everyone else. And immediately went to change and play some football in the rain. As one does.

Guard-Ron

I am just happy it's over for the next year or so, so I could go back to my never ending list of things that needs to be done before Christmas. To add to the fun I've had my first physiotherapy session this morning, and now if you remember I wrote a few months ago about my health-scare and tests and everything I went through. You would think I would have an update on that. You would be wrong. When I went to see the doctor she didn't have the results. When I went back today they had the results but not the doctor, so I still don't know exactly what we are talking about. I did have a physiotherapy session where she basically told me to continue wearing the splint at all times, do some neck movements and come back in a month. Not really sure why. As a result I now have pain in my back, neck and hand. Totally worth it.

I have spent five hours in total I think wrapping presents this past week. It used to be fun, I used to do it while watching the xFactor final with a glass of wine and some nibbles. This year the children have decided to watch the xFactor so that was out of the question, and I was left with having to wrap them in the middle of the night with Hidai checking the boys every few minutes to see that they are still sound asleep. I finished it all yesterday morning and now have to check that I have enough chocolate to put in the stockings (I don't). And I still have to put all the bows and trimmings on the wrapped gifts.

Last present to be wrapped this year!

I have my menu for the Christmas eve dinner, but there were a few disagreements about my choices, decisions to be made about what to give the children on the night before Christmas (books), still haven't bought any of the food and I am living in fear that Ocado won't deliver my turkey. If you wonder why I don't buy it sooner the answer is really simple - lack of fridge space. And as a vegetarian that turkey staring at me every time I open the fridge gives me the hibijibis, so if everything goes according to plan it (and the rest of the food I have yet to even order) will be here on Sunday. And now I remembered I am missing one wine glass. Don't suppose when a guest asks if I want them to bring something "one wine glass" is an acceptable answer???

Hidai last year with our first ever turkey (all cooking thanks goes to my mum)

We are late to everything. Everything. I am never late to anything, you see, I have a rule against it. But these days, we are a few minutes (not to say half an hour) late to everything. No one has any energy to actually get up and get ready, and so in the end everything is done in five minutes, in a rush and with lots and lots of yelling. On Saturday we had a Christmas party at Yon's outreach program. We were half an hour late. And still we were the first to arrive. It ended up being wonderful, the boys love going there (Ron likes it because they have a court he can play uninterrupted football in) and we ended up in McDonalds having a very good and open conversation with Ron about Yon's condition. When asked if he has any questions of his own, Yon answered with a resounding "I love my glasses".

Kids at the outreach gathering

I have made a Christmas Fun List which bear a striking resemblance to a bootcamp agenda, and is intended to make sure everyone has fun. And that's an order. We will be - going to meet Santa (and reindeers) at the zoo, going to WinterWonderland, Having a night at LegoLand, having a few days of shopping (including the mandatory Boxing Day), Taking my parents to see the lights at Oxford st, Piccadilly st. Covent Garden, Upper st. etc., Doing the Kew Gardens at night tour, and probably a museum or two. Some people hinted that it might be a tad too much planning.

Last year at WinterWonderland. Yes we still have the giant teddy

I got into a fight with a company who did not pay me for some work I did for them. It was 35 pounds, and after a month of chasing them I did what any sane person would do. I went on LinkedIn, found the names and emails of every person whose job title began with a C (or a director) and wrote them a very angry email including a promise to let some other partners of theirs know how they treat people. I got 3 apology letters, including the CEO, my money and a delivery of flowers & chocolate. Which the boys ate alone.

Apology chocolate. THe best kind.

I have Christmas songs stuck inside my head. I can't shake those jingle bells. Yon however have decided that our new theme song is Gary Barlow's Let Me Go, and whenever someone turns on the iTunes he runs over shouting "I Want That Gary Barlow Song!!!" He still hadn't figure out he can find it on YouTube. Please don't tell him.

So as you can see, life here is going smoothly and peacefully as ever. Just keep it in mind, that if you don't hear from me again after Christmas you will know why!


And yes, the blog share buttons have mysteriously disappeared. Or as I like to think of it - has taken some time off to enjoy the holiday with their family, and will just as mysteriously come back after they have some mulled wine and a rest...

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So how is it to live in London? - Recap Friday part 1

Mid-December, it's 10 o'clock in the morning and everything outside is dark and grey and gloomy, the only sound around the house is the Christmas music, and my eggnog latte is right beside me. Something about this whole scene makes me pensive, and I feel the need to start making mental lists of the good, the bad, the what-where-I -thinking of the year. December always get me in this mood. The need to look back over the year(s) and see where life has taken me. It's not only because December is the obvious month for it - after all in 18 days it will be 2014, it's also because I am not the best person there is with dates, ok, I am extremely bad with numbers and dates. I had to have my wedding ring inscribed with my wedding date so I'd remember it correctly; I am forever forgetting Yon's birthday (it has a 7 and a 9 in some order); I have no clue what my phone number (or my home number, or Hidai's number) is. I can go on. That is why I long ago decided to celebrate everything in December. Well, it's kind of a no-brainer really because Hidai and I met in December, got married in December and left Israel in December (not the same one obviously).
So for the next few weeks, Fridays will be known as "recap Friday", and will give me the option to look back at the last year and get some much needed closure.

This week is my - So how does it feel to live in London? recap. Truth be told we moved here in July 2012, so you should have read this one back in July, but you didn't. Because I didn't write this in July. First years don't always take 12 months. Sometimes they take 18. Sometimes they take more. A first year ends when you have inner-security, when you can hold your head up high and say "I'm here". First years are over when the fear is manageable, when you feel you have a place to call home, when not everything feels like life-or-death all the time. I am not sure I'm there yet, but I am going to fake-it-till-you-make-it, and say that yes we are starting our second year. Second years are about building, having roots and belongings. Third years are usually when we leave, so I have no idea what they are all about.

Living in London was our dream from the moment we set foot here on December 23, 2003. One of the hardest moments of our lives was stepping inside the plane to go back to Israel 10 days later. We swore we would some day come back to live here. It took us 8 and a half years to make it happen, but we did. Over the years we came back here to visit every chance we got, so it wasn't like when we moved to Gibraltar and didn't really know what we are getting ourselves into. But living is not the same as visiting is it? Tourists have a different sense of the city, of life. You are never in a hurry, you don't care that everything is so bloody expensive, you stay in a hotel. The biggest fear when you get what you dream about is - what if it turns out to be not as good as I dreamt it? What if my bubble will burst? What will happen if the life I built in my mind will turn out to be so much better than the life I will have in the real world??? (The second fear is what's next? but that's for a different day.)
We had an image of life in London, we had so many expectations of it, and we arrived here after a very tough time a bit broken and sad. In a sense I think we expected London to heal us, to give us back some things we lost along the way. It's not really fair to expect it of a city, or of anyone for that matter, but unconsciously that what we did.

London is a very confusing city, it's big and small, touristy and intimate, young and old. It is full of contradictions, and is never boring. So you won't be surprised when I tell you that it did not fail to live up to every single one of our expectations, and at the same time that it didn't.
Life in London is more than anything else confusing. We chose to live in a central part of London, in one of the more touristy areas around here (especially on match days), and yet there are weeks I don't leave the house and I am starting to feel like I live on a different planet; This city makes me feel old more than anything else (and frumpy and a bit fat, but that's more to do with me than the city I guess. Everyone here is always on the way to or from the gym it seems). Everyone around here are my age or older, but they all have younger children, or no children, they all have careers, they all make me feel as if I am living a different lifetime; This city frustrate me to no end when I try to find something (other than "London has lots of parks") to do with the kids that won't cost a hundred pounds to enter and all the emails I get on "what's going on in London" hasn't got one thing; This city feels me with a sense of wonder whenever I walk its streets; This city always makes me smile when I'm feeling bad; This city makes you feel like a foreigner, but that being a foreigner is perfectly fine; No matter what you do, how you dress, what your accent sounds like - walking the streets of London there will always be someone weirder than you. Even two; It's London - everything is possible, everything is at your fingertips, you can do anything. And as soon as we win the lottery and finally get a babysitter we will.

I love living in London. Its reality is different to my dreams, as reality is, but it is no less wonderful. I missed the green when I was in Gibraltar (now I miss the blue), I missed the ability to order food (now I miss the Morrisons), I love the buses (but not the tube), I love walking around, I love the changing of the seasons (we don't have autumn in Israel. Or spring. Just Summer and three days of rain), I love the ability to be a tourist in London because you can, but then just take the tube and be home in less then half an hour, I love the culture (though I would enjoy more of it if I win the lottery or at least get a babysitter), I love online shopping (though maybe if I enjoy it less I would be able to enjoy the culture more), I love that my kids grow up in a multicultural and tolerant environment, I love the grey (not the rain. I hate rain) I was afraid of it before we moved, but I find I love it (in the winter. Less in the summer) and I love how excited everyone get when it's sunny (adore the "the weather is too good for work" line) and how everywhere you can see people sunbathing or cleaning in the nude (seriously). London, and the UK, has welcomed us in, and I am grateful for that. It has also taught us some harsh lessons about what living as expats really means and made us feel at times like we are trying to get in to a club that doesn't want us; it made me feel sad and afraid and lonely; living here made me realise that I don't belong and I will never be; living here made me come to peace with the widening gap between me and my children; London did not heal my wounds, it did not gave me peace.
But it did give me Oxford st. in December, and that is pretty darn close.

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