Happy Anniversary!

Happy 1 year wedding anniversary to me! Happy 1 year wedding anniversary to Pidgeon! Happy 1 year wedding anniversary to us! 

Wow - I can't believe its actually been an entire year.  There has been some really good stuff, some bad stuff and just life in between. 

The Good

We had a fantastic honeymoon in the Dead Sea

We got pregnant (yea!!!)

We both finished school

We both passed all our school exams

We're still madly in love with each other (which is very nice)

We've grown together as a couple, which is even nicer

We've both been through medical crisis and realized that we can count on the other person to be there for us

We went to the States for Pesach and had an awesome time, despite the morning sickness

We're still each others best friend

I'm so thankful to G-d that we found each other, and I hope that we're still at the point where we don't take each other for granted yet (hopefully, that day will never come)

For once in my life, I am dreaming of a family, and it's wonderful to be able to dream a dream that P"G can come true

The Bad

We both put on some serious post-wedding weight, although now I just call my weight gain baby weight. We need New Year's resolutions to lose weight STAT!

I don't feel any closer to Pidgeon's family, in fact, I feel as awkward as ever

Life in Between

We went to London together, which was one of the best trips I've ever taken in my life! I miss my Starbucks here in Israel.

I still get that awed feeling when I light candles on Friday night and Pidgeon comes home from shul, sings, makes Kiddush and we have Shabbos dinner. When I was single, and during the depressed single years, I used to fantasize about that moment and what it could be like. And, having it come to fruition for me is truly amazing. It's like when you want something so bad and you dream about it and then it happens, it takes a while for you to actually realize it's real. I still get that feeling, even when it's just the two of us and I come to the Shabbos table in my scrubs. It's pretty incredible.

So, let the celebrations continue!

We had a lovely Shabbos in Ashkelon and then, on Sunday, we drove to Cinema City in Herzliya. We made it there in time for the 2:45 p.m. showing of The Dark Knight which was extremely dark and disturbing. I, of course, compare each and every new Batman movie to the original Michael Keaton version and it was basically no comparison this time. They were so vastly different. It wasn't exactly a pick me up kind of flick, but it was very entertaining nevertheless. We were starving by intermission, but we had some heavy duty dinner plans, so we both sucked it up and chewed some gum to keep our appetites for dinner.

And, it was a very good thing we did, because we ended up at the Herzliya Marina at the kosher Papagayo's. For people unfamiliar with the Papagayo concept, it's basically an all you can eat set menu. For 145 shekel a plate, we went with the meat menu. We tried to be strategic though, about the eating, since you don't want to fill up on crap before all the good stuff comes out. But, we were starving, so we had to start with something. We passed on the bread, but we both got fruit smoothies for drinks. That, in hindsight, was a bad idea since it was just air and fruit and water and it was a waste of stomach space. We then digged into the salatim which were very good, and a plate of sweet and sour sauces battered chicken wings. I usually am not a wing person, I never was really into wings, but I was hungry so I ate two. And then, the meat came out in the following order:

1 sausage (spicy and delicious)

1 strip of skirt steak (done well and also delicious)

1 chunk of marinated chicken breast

1 chunk of marinated steak fillet

goose hearts (I passed on this one, I'm not a fan of organ meat)

1 grilled and battered chicken drumstick

chicken livers (I passed on this too)

lamb kabob (I took a bite and passed it over to Pidgeon. It was too rare for me)

Sliced steak entrecote WELL done (which was actually for once, too well done for me. Tasted a bit like shoe leather)

At this point, Pidgeon and I were BURSTING with all the food and we contemplated turning the green sign to red (which signals to the wait staff that you are done and that they shouldn't bring you any more food) but I insisted we continue. I mean, for 145 shekel a plate, I wanted to make sure I got all the food I was paying for. Not the smartest thing I've ever done, but, I'm a New York Jew and I wanted to get my money's worth. So, we asked the waiter what was left to come. He said there was Asado on and off the bone and that we must at least try one. He was also very surprised that we made it this far, but there was no way I was passing up on that Asado. So, they brought the Asado without the bone to the table and carved us pieces right then and there. I got the smallest piece I could get, as did Pidgeon, and then we just caved and turned the green to red.

Now, I was really not feeling so great at this moment. I've been on all protein diets before, but never consumed this much meat (only) in such a short period of time. Even the 5 potatoes they brought us with the salatim went untouched practically, because we were holding out for the beef. So, I told Pidgeon I wasn't feeling so great, and I headed towards the ladies room where I prayed to the porcelin god. 

What a waste of 145 shekels! Pidgeon felt bad that I got sick so quickly and, instead of walking around by the water and through the marina mall, we just packed it in and headed home. It was a good idea because by the time we got home, I was just wiped. I managed to unpack our stuff though, before crashing pretty quickly. 

The worst part was that my parents paid for our Papagayo dinner and, so when they asked me how it went, I lied and told them how great it was. I mean, it was a wonderful dining experience, I just pigged out and paid the price. That's one secret I think I'm going to keep from them, I know my Father well, and I could do without the pigging out lecture. Next time, I think we're going to just pass on the whole Papagayo experience. I do much better when I can order what I want, and just leave what I can't on my plate and then wrap it up and take it home. That's the problem with Papagayo's - no doggie bags.

Yesterday, we basically spent the day a part. Pidgeon went to the office to continue working on his project, and I stayed home to be the little housewife. I did a huge load of laundry, washed dishes and cleaned up around the house. We stopped by Pidgeon's parents later at night, before dinner, so I could pick up my blood test results. The GREAT news is that my sugar test came back normal! Thank G-d! I was so worried about gestational diabetes, on top of everything else I'm dealing with, that I'm just so thankful it came out ok. The abnormal results were with my blood and Pidgeon's Mom said that it means I'm anemic. I have to call my hematologist to see if the results are because  I'm just iron deficient or if it's the Clexane. But, I'm not worrying. My sugar is good people and that means I can eat CAKE again!

Nice!

So, Pidgeon's Mom asked us what we're doing today to celebrate and we just looked at her blankly. We don't have plans. We have a 5:00 p.m. heart echo test for the baby and, depending on the results, we figured we go from there. Although, we somehow managed to pack our day today with errands. Already this morning, before 9:30 a.m., we had Mei Eden delivering our monthly allotment of water, the cleaner guy came back to refund our money and pick up an outfit they accidentally gave us that wasn't ours (love when that happens) and the cabinet builder here to measure the alarm system in the room so he can build a cabinet that will cover the system (so that, P"G, the baby won't be able to get to all the wiring) along with 2 shelves on top for baby books. We're hoping the price will be decent and he promised we'll get it by the Chagim, which is basically in two months time.  

Our other plans include going to the post office to pick up Pidgeon's anniversary present, heading over to 4UGifts to finish off our registry. We still have almost 2,000 shekel that we need to spend and I'm looking forward to replenishing the dishes we both shattered in the past year. After that, we have a 300 shekel credit for a wedding gift we returned in town that we're going to redeem and maybe, just maybe, we'll go check out some baby furniture stores in Talpiot.

Not exactly a romantic anniversary in bed, but just being together is all I really need today.

Yom Tov from Baka!

Pidgeon and Pigeons in Ashkelon

I love this place! It's 2:30 p.m. on Erev Shabbos and Pidgeon and I are relaxing in the fabulous AC and looking at the glorious beach view. We are here celebrating our 1 year anniversary. And, even though technically it's not until the 19th, we're spending this entire weekend in celebration. Which means that the next 3 days will just speed by, faster than ever! Why does that always happen? When you're happy, life just goes by so fast. But, when you're sad, life just drags on? Curious.

So, yesterday, we woke up at 8:15 to give my dry cleaning to the cleaners. We use the same guys who saved my behind during the great mold debacle of January 2008. They were able to literally clean ever since moldy item in my wardrobe, so I'm now a loyal member of Yaniv's dry cleaning in Meah Shearim. And, since they pick up and drop off for free, it's perfect. After Pidgeon gave them all of my Shabbos maternity clothing to dry clean, we went back to sleep and didn't get out of bed until 11:30! Meanwhile, I had a lot of USA Men's Olympic swimming to catch up on and cooking and packing to do. So, I sat down and wrote my packing list and put up the quinoa. 

By the time we left Jerusalem, at 4:30 p.m., I managed to make the quinoa, pick out CD's and DVD's for the trip, pack myself, help organize Pidgeon who packed himself, and tidied up the apartment. We traveled light for us - which means one overnight bag each, a cooler full of quinoa, fresh cooked corn, roasted broccoli, 2 challot from Pe'er, 2 frozen bottles of Mei Eden water and the meatloaf, a small bag with snacks for the car and my purse. I was impressed with us - since we're not planning on returning until late Sunday night.

We ended up making incredible time, even with hitting the post-Thursday rush hour traffic right outside of the City. Even with a pit stop at Shaar Hagay gas station for some lunch - tuna sandwiches and shoko (for me) and diet ice tea (for Pidgeon) - we still managed to get to Kibbutz Yavneh before 7:00 p.m.! We both were afraid we were going to be really late meeting with Pidgeon's favorite teacher from High School - Avraham Stein - but we were right on time. We chatted with him and his lovely wife for over an hour and then it was back on the road and heading to Ashkelon. We were a little surprised to hit such bad traffic but then we realized it was all cars trying to get into one lane to turn off into Ashdod. Once we were able to bypass that lane, we managed to hit a bit more Ashkelon traffic and then pulled into the car parking garage by 9:00 p.m. We got the keys from my in-laws neighbors and then we were here!

Unfortunately, Pidgeon was starving and like my Cousin Neil tends to do when he's hungry, was having a bit of a hunger attack. So, we quickly dropped our stuff, plugged in our computers to charge, put my shots in the fridge and called the restaurant for directions. Somehow, the restaurant doesn't appear on Pidgeon's GPS, but we managed to "use the force" and made it there with an hour to go before they closed. The food was great! We ordered two skewers of entrecote steak (well done for me, medium rare for Pidgeon) and that came with a million types of salatim, some hummus and french fries. The pitot were also fresh and hot from the over, and absolutely delicious! Pidgeon and I devoured our food - I hadn't realized I too was hungry - and then we decided to order 4 pargiot for Shabbat lunch. The owners were really nice and they also packed us up some extra salatim to go. Satisfied and bloated, we returned home so I could do my shot and we could make the bed. I was so tired though that I started to get a bit cranky with Pidgeon, and being the amazing and patient man that he is, he helped me make the bed and tried his best to get me to sleep STAT. 

We woke to a beautiful, hot, sunny day this morning. Well, I should amend that, I woke to a beautiful, hot, sunny day this morning. I asked Pidgeon to set his alarm for 9:30 and he quickly shut it off and went back to sleep. I logged on and relaxed and let him sleep for 30 more minutes before I started to get ansy. We had a schedule today and I am determined to keep to it! While he slept, I noticed that the windowsill outside of our bedroom is covered in bird poo and the Ashkelon Pigeons have made this their home. At one point, there were 4 lined up and one even pecked at the window! I felt like I was back in Manhattan, with all the pigeons lined up in a row waiting for an unsuspecting resident to scurry beneath before they let their droppings fly and hit their bullseye down below. So, I woke Pidgeon up and told him that the pigeons were here to greet him. He smiled and I managed to get him up and out of bed.

Since we didn't know the address to the main shopping complex, we once again "used the force" and somehow managed to make it to our destination. At that point, I was so hungry, I told Pidgeon I was going to knaw on his fingers if he didn't get some food into me. We parked and jogged to the Aroma and Pidgeon ordered me the Aruchat Boker which comes with 2 scrambled eggs, some chopped salad, 4 olives, 5% feta and cream cheese and 6 slices of whole wheat bread. I also got an ice coffee cause I was in the mood, which Pidgeon had a Chai with 1% milk and an omlete sandwich. It was nice to eat although it was a bit uncomfortable in our booth. The chair was too far back from the table, but the table and chairs were bolted to the floor, so unless I sat at the edge of the booth I was too far away from my plate.

Which brings me to a phenomenon I notice in pregnant women. It's called the eating all over yourself phenomenon. When you see a pregnant lady and she's got a big stain somewhere on her shirt or skirt, chances are she has no idea how that happened nor does she even realize that it's there. I've been finding stains on my stomach hours after they happen, and I'm constantly wondering how the heck it got there. Well, sure enough, about 5 minutes into eating my food I managed to drop a big bite of salad all over myself. And, since the dressing was green, I was now sporting a huge stain right in the middle of my chest.  Pidgeon tried to make me feel like less of a pig by saying that it could be a logo for the Greek Islands - but I wasn't biting. So, with my big stain, we wrapped up at Aroma and went next door to the SuperSol Big to buy our food.

Food in Ashkelon is so much cheaper than in Jerusalem, it's insane. For less than 350 shekel, we managed to buy: a pound of potatoes cooked, a pound of noodles, one large challah, 6 nectarine, 10 small plums, a small pineapple, sorbet, a can of cocktail olives, a can of hearts of palm, a can of baby corn, a bag of lettuce, 5% creamy italian dressing, a box of Telma bran flakes, 1% skim milk, this roasted onion salatim that Pidgeon wanted, 3 bottles of hand soap, silver foil, plastic ziplock baggies, 2 bottles of diet lemonade, 1 bottle of green tea ice tea, 1 big bottle of grape juice, and 1 package of duracell AA batteries. That would have cost us at least 100 shekel more in Jerusalem. I told Pidgeon we should take advantage and do our weekly grocery shopping in Ashkelon, even with the price of gas it would probably be worth it. 

We also bought 3 green shopping bags as we're trying to save the world by cutting down on plastic baggies. With our booty, we made our way back to the car, turned on the GPS and managed to get home in no time at all. Unfortunately, it was too much time for our sorbet, and when we got to the apartment we discovered it had melted and leaked ALL over all the stuff in that green bag. At first, I thought we cracked the dressing bottle, and was relieved to see it was just the sorbet leaking. That's how hot it is here people! I quickly washed everything, including the bag, and Pidgeon put the wet ones out on the balcony to dry so we could use them to pack some stuff up when we leave on Sunday.

Meanwhile, I was so distracted, that as I was unpacking the bags I pulled out this strange package and it took me a minute to realize what it was. It was a Trivial Pursuit mini game gossip edition. I gasped when I saw it and asked Pidgeon if he knew how it got there. He said he had no idea and I though, my g-d, I stole this from the Supermarket and I didn't even realize I had packed it into the bag! My mind started racing, I needed to go back and pay the Supermarket or return it! I've never stolen anything from a Supermarket before and I felt awful.

Suddenly, Pidgeon smiled, and wished me a Happy Aliyah and wedding Anniversary! He put it in the bag AND he bought it for me months ago as a surprise. I was soo shocked and surprised! I had no idea when he even did that, and then everything started clicking into place. He insisted when we got to the car that I go and put on the AC rather than help him load the bags into the trunk. I wasn't happy that he didn't let me help him but I did it because I thought he was really hot, little did I know that he had hidden the game in the trunk and wanted to slip it into one of the bags without me seeing. Plus, when we got to the apartment, he didn't really help me unpack the bags which is very unlike him. I was wondering why he wasn't helping, and only when I found the gift did I realize what went into getting me the whole present and keeping it a surprise! Apparently, Pidgeon bought this game online and shipped it to his brother in London, who brought it with him when he was visiting in July. Pidgeon then hid it in the house - somewhere - and waited until the time was right to give it to me.

Now, we had agreed on no presents this anniversary - but both of us are  big fat liars. Pidgeon's present is on its way and I can't write what I got him here since he sometimes reads my blog and I want it to be a big surprise too. But, boy am I happy that I got him something! Whew.

Well, I'm off to change into my bathing suit and get ready for the pool! I can't wait to take a nice, long swim in the cool waters. 

Shabbat Shalom from Ashkelon!

Cupcake Dreams

I'm tired! I got about 7 hours of interrupted sleep last night, but for some reason I couldn't bring myself to get back to sleep after Pidgeon left for Tel Aviv early this morning.  That, and my upstairs neighbor is running around on my head in her high heels again. Lord, I can't wait until they pack up and go back to Florida where they're from. I'm hoping that's going to be happening sooner rather than later!

So, yesterday post-fast was an extremely productive day for us! We got up fairly early and, after a quick breakfast, hiked over to Derech Beit Lechem to the framers. I had our Ketubah with me and Pidgeon took our wedding photos. We had agreed that, since this year is our paper anniversary, that it was time to frame our Ketubah as a joint gift to each other. In all honesty, I was going to also surprise Pidgeon with a comic book too. But, I have no idea which kinds he would want, so I decided to just tell him that we weren't going to exchange presents this year. Besides, we have a lot of fun activities planned to celebrate all our milestones within the coming few days that I didn't think we needed to spend money we don't have on gifts we probably don't really need.

Anyway, we got to the frame store only to discover that he's on vacation until the 19th. That's what's so interesting about this Country. Now, after Tisha B'av, a ton of tourists are heading out way for 2-3 week vacations before schools start in the States and abroad. But, most of the natives, have been heading out of town on vacation too! So, this place is packed but it's mostly with people who aren't around here. What's frustrating is that we now have to call all our local shops to make sure they're still open over the next few days. I was shocked when I called the manicurist I haven't seen since January and she told me that she was on vacation for another week! Here I wanted to finally treat myself to a manicure/pedicure and she took is out on vacation. I guess it's the Lord's way of telling me to just suck it up for a bit longer - or take a page out of Pidgeon's Aunt's book and just do it myself.

Well, Pidgeon didn't want to wait until the framer got back on the 19th (which is, BTW, our anniversary) and so he called his Mom and she told us about Micha's frame store in Katamon. So, we got into the car and headed over there. Fortunately, he was in and not on vacation (although, he too is heading off on vacation in a week!) and we were able to get everything framed. But, somehow, Pidgeon and I got our wires crossed and each thought the other took the tube that contained our Ketubah.  We didn't realize, until 11:00 p.m. last night, that we had left it at the store! Unfortunately for us, the tube still contained our Tenaim that were signed by my cousin Daneel and Pidgeon's friend Yoni. Pidgeon has been calling the framer all morning to make sure he didn't throw it out and we're praying that it's still there. I'm going to be very upset if he tossed it!

But, we both spent the day blissfully unaware of this SNAFU and we continued after the framer to run some more errands.  We both managed to do a bit of work, relaxed in front of the TV, and just enjoyed each others company. It's nice that we are still doing that too!

So, next week P"G is chock full of celebrations for us! First, August 17th will mark my 2nd year anniversary since making Aliyah. I couldn't fall asleep last night, so I went back to my old blog to read what I was doing around this time two years ago. It's so fascinating what I did before moving to Tel Aviv! I can still remember how scared I felt as I read through my blog posts. Then, I decided to read up on what I did exactly this time last year, and boy was I in a whirlwind before the wedding! August 19th, P"G, is our one year wedding anniversary and this year both flew and took its time. I've enjoyed every bit of it!

In celebration, we are planning on a movie date at the Cinema City in Herzliya. That place is the closest thing this Country has to a Loews movie theatre and we are hoping to check out Batman. Since I don't see movies during the 3 weeks, we've been counting down until we could go see it. We're also going to spend some time in Ashkelon, just hanging out at the pool and relaxing. I'm hoping the weather won't be too hot this time! Worse comes to worse, we'll just stay in doors and enjoy the sunrise and sunset over the water from our air conditioned room!

Pidgeon was up extra early this morning as he has another 3-hour lesson in Tel Aviv. I decided to get up with him and get my day going early. We're trying out a new cleaning lady this afternoon since I practically threw my back out trying to sponga the floor the other day. I'm looking forward to her coming here, I could really use the cleaning help! The floor is just getting too much for me to handle these days. My Zaydie A"H was right too. When we lived together, he used to complain that I had hair all over the place. He would clean the apartment every Friday and then show me, if I got home in time from work, all the hair balls he found in my room, in the bathroom and even in the hallway! The man was pretty much bald, so there was no way I could deny that the hair all over the place was mine. And, well, I guess I'm shedding in this place too and it's pretty gross! 

Meanwhile, last night I had a dream that I was basically living in a bakery. It was such a nice dream, one of those sensory ones when I actually smelled the scent of cupcakes baking in the oven. I told Pidgeon about the wall of chocolate rugelach and he laughed at me. I blame him for my dream though; right before he went to sleep he told me that the news released some sort of study about calorie content of baked goods. He said the cheesecake and cream cakes were least caloric but brownie and dense cake type items were the biggest offenders. Well, no wonder I had a bakery dream! It was the last thing on my mind before I went to sleep! Of course, waking up with a brownie craving doesn't help my quest to keep my weight down.

Besides spending the morning writing, and the afternoon getting our new cleaning lady acclimated, I'm actually meeting with a lawyer from the AACI. I've been fighting with my health insurance company here (i.e. Kupat Cholim) about the fact that they basically stole 2970 shekel from me. When I moved here, I got a Teudat Zehut and declared Aliyah even though I didn't know it. When I went to sign up for health insurance, even though I had my Teudat Zehut, I got a foreign plan which was about 330 shekel a month. I pay less than 50 shekel a month now because every Israeli citizen is covered by the government for health insurance. When I realized I had made Aliyah and went to Bituach Leumi to sign up, they charge me back payments from when I had moved here. So basically, I paid double. I paid Bituach Leumi AND a foreign status at my Kupah. The Kupah, though, won't refund me my money even though their worker knew I was eligible for a lower rate plan and just took advantage of my ignorance. So, I decided to take this a step further and consult an attorney about my rights. 2970 shekel is a LOT of money for us, it was also a huge chunk of my Sal Klita money that went to pay health insurance for no reason. I'm hoping the attorney will be able to tell me if I've got a leg to stand on and whether or not it pays, for the amount of money I want back, to really hire someone to take this one step further.

Meanwhile, our friend Lana is moving back to the States tonight to start her internships at hospitals in New York. We're very sad to see her go, even though she will be back in January, and Pidgeon is going to drive over to say goodbye after his class ends. We're also going to be babysitting some of her stuff - namely an oil heater and her pillow and comforter - until she returns in January. I'm thrilled as I could use another comforter for when my parents P"G come in December. Last year, when they came, I only had one comforter and Pidgeon's single comforter to offer them. Somehow, my Mom got the short end of the stick and ended up with Pidgeon's single comforter and it just didn't work for her. I'm hoping Lana's will be exactly what I need for their 10 day visit! And, well, I'm just lazy and I love extra pillows. I already sleep with 4 and one more would just make my day. Pidgeon doesn't understand my love of the pillow, but I've managed to convince him to sleep on two these days and he's liking it. We'll see what happens when I've got another one to add to the bunch!

Finally, as soon as Pidgeon left the apartment this morning, the buzzer rang and I went to answer the intercom thinking Pidgeon wanted to tell me something. Some guy, claiming to be here to read the water meter, asked me to buzz him in. I refused. First of all, I wasn't dressed and I was not in any hurry to get dressed to accommodate him. Second, when I asked him how he usually read the meters before, he claimed it was his "first time" at our apartment and that someone always buzzes him in. I don't know who that someone was because I've never done it. So, I asked him very nicely to have someone over at his Company call me on the phone to verify that he is who he says he is. Well, I don't know if that just caused him to run away or if my neighbor just took the initiative and let him in. Either way, I don't care. I don't think it's unreasonable of me to ask that his Company verify his legitimacy before I buzz him into the building. When I was at my parents in the States, and the Con Edison man came to read the meters, he always showed me his badge and I always looked for his white truck before letting him in. 

I don't care where I'm living, or what the crime situation is like. Jerusalem could be crime free for all I care, I'm still going to use my good common sense and not buzz just anyone who comes calling. If that makes me paranoid, fine. I just think that makes me cautious.

Well, I'm off to get my day going. My stomach is growling so I think it's time to feed the beast within!

Yom Tov from Baka!