Thursday and Friday

So Thursday was a weird day. Sammy and his strange illnesses.

In the morning we had some meeting with a lady from the Misrad Haklita. We had to give her our bank info so we could get our money money money from our Sal Klita. Absorption basket - woowoo. She scolded me though because I didn't bring the right paperwork. As if I am supposed to remember things that were told to me in the fog of the first few days of Aliyah. I need a checklist!
In the end, Shauli charmed her and I think she liked us. Not that it got us an extra money but hey, better to have people like you then not like you. Especially when they are government officials.
Then we ran a couple errands in the Mercaz - like stopping by the post office, the Hacol B$ store which is really Everything for 5 NIS store. But that isn't the exchange rate anymore. It should be Everything for 3.5 NIS. Oh well. We bought some random junk - like a prize for Jonah, "ritual" washing cup, pens, calculator that for some reason the + button is also the = button and the = button is nothing. Weird... But I liked the variety. :)
We were hungry (even though it was only about 11am) so we stopped at the shwarma place for lunch. This is the 2nd time we ate there and it's quite good. Also, he gives us free falafel balls and fries for Sammy.
Then Avi gave us a ride back to our house because Sammy had to get to sleep and I wanted to get some work done. Sammy fell asleep and slept for 4 hours!! I think Shu also fell asleep. And I worked. But when Sammy woke up, he was covered in SPOTS!!!! And I believe his fever had come back (although it seemed to have broken the night before). He was SO ill and the dots were so scary looking. They were all over his body and even in his ears!!! I called Maccabi and was told there were no more appointments available but I should call the actual branch and see what they could do for me. So I called them at 4 and they said there wasn't room but they would talk to the doctor when he gets in and see what he says. They called back after a half hour and said the doc said bring him in. So we walked to Maccabi and the truth is, the rash was already fading. He was still pretty miserable but didn't look quite as spotty as before and so I walked a little faster to make sure to get there in time for them to see!! Isn't that typical? Your kid is sick sick sick and you finally get an appointment and by the time you make it to the doc, he's happy as can be.
I walked inside and the lady at the desk took one look at him and said (in Hebrew), Oy, what a sick kid. Poor kid. So I was like, ok, I KNEW he looked sick! :)
We headed back to the doc and one person was in line. She asked what time our appointment was and we said we didn't have one. So she nervously kept one eye on the doctor's door and one on us the whole time. When the door opened and someone else left, she hurried in there so quickly - she didn't even want the doc to see us! She was very concerned we would take her spot. :) But the doc came out and told us to come in when he was done with the lady. It was a little bit of a wait - she was with 2 kids so I wasn't sure if they both had appointments or what. And no one else showed up!
Then it was our turn and we went in and yoohoo - he spoke English. PHEW! Not quite as fluent as the doctor from Monday but enough that we could easily communicate. Sammy took one look at the room when we entered and started crying. He is not such a fan of docs! I gave his history and the doc checked him out. He looked at all the spots on the different parts of Sammy's body and pressed on them. He said a viral rash will disappear but a bacterial one won't. They disappeared so that's good! However, there is nothing we can do to help him get better. Just a lot of patience. AHHH. I hate when Sammy is sick. He is so different. :(
We came back and Shu had bought and made some awesome frozen pizza. I love this country. Have I mentioned that? Probably not because I have been writing more about the trials and tribulations. But in any case -I LOVE this country! Perhaps when I am caught up with my daily posts, I can write about all the things I love here. It's a nice list.
Back to kid #1 (cuz he's older and came first). He has been having some rough rough days going to Gan. He basically dreads it all morning and whines about not wanting to go and cries when we leave him. It's all very sad. But what can we do?? At the end of the day he says he has a good time but it starts all over the next day.
We've been discussing it a lot. All the changes and how things are REALLY hard in the beginning. But different isn't always bad. And we talk about the good things about living in Israel. He has a lot of reasons he doesn't want to go to Gan but I think they are either just excuses or things he has overheard us say. So he knows just how to get our sympathy!
Friday morning started out as usual. Jonah complaining for the hour prior to Gan that he doesn't want to go - no matter what we bribe him with. We walked to Gan where I agreed to stay for a few minutes. He was playing by himself at the puzzle table and I was just standing behind him. A friend came and dropped her daughter off so we were just chatting. The Ganenet came over and got Jonah involved in some game with a few other kids. He looked SOOO happy and included and he was talking (in English). Half of me wanted to sneak out and the other half knew I should say goodbye. But I really didn't want the waterworks to start. The teacher glanced back and I kind of pantomimed, should I say goodbye or just leave? She said say goodbye and just leave. I was just going to finish up my conversation and just go but the teacher must have said something to Jonah because he waved and said Bye to me!! He gave me such a brave, hesitant smile and I was SOOOOO proud of him. Honestly, my heart was ready to burst! It was great.
So I left and I think I mostly spent the day working. We cleaned up the apartment (as much as we could without a broom and many cleaning supplies.......)
And got ready for Shabbat.

I'll fill you in on that another time. Stay tuned for "Friday Night - the crazy screaming zombie child"