Happy 2nd Aliyaersary!

With gratefulness to G’d we celebrate 2 years in Israel.

The best is yet to come…

Kids graduation photos

Just a quick post to share some photos and videos.

Last month we had both of the kid’s “graduation” parties.

Let me first share a video from Batya’s graduation that is very appropriate for today (9 of AV) followed by photos from the event:

Below some photos from Ilan’s graduation from Gan Trom Trom as well as links to videos (only for hardcore fans):

You can access the videos at the links below:

Ilan's Gan Arava Trom Trom Graduation # 1

 Ilan's Gan Arava Trom Trom Graduation # 2

Ilan's Gan Arava Trom Trom Graduation # 3

Ilan's Gan Arava Trom Trom Graduation # 4

Ilan's Gan Arava Trom Trom Graduation # 5

Ilan's Gan Arava Trom Trom Graduation # 6

And since we are already in the sharing photo mood, below some picture from a visit to Jerusalem as well as a company event where Batya decorated her own sodamaker machine and was among the top 10 designs.

Happy 2nd Birthday Blog! – Celebrating with an exciting announcement

This week this blog celebrated its 2nd Birthday. Thanks for your following (or not?).

I most admit this year was not as strong as the previous one, time and strengths to write are different now, but I’m still here…

So the blog has had 8,084 visits, from 74 countries, appeared on 270 searches. Can you guess what the top searches have been for my blog? “eggnog” “sachlav” and “rompope” (no kidding). Do you remember the memorable post: From Rompope to Eggnog to Sachlav?

Another popular Google search has been “Sabra Album” I guess thanks to these:

Sabra Album Take 1 , Take 2 , Take 3, Take 4, Take 5, Take 6 – Marketing Edition and Machane Yehuda Edition

Last year we celebrated here Happy Birthday Blog - 1 Year

And now for the exciting announcement (drum roll please…)

The “Next Family Visit” countdown clock will be reset to August 10 when we will be welcoming with so much excitement to my in-laws. We are so happy and proud of them. Congratulations suegros!!!

We are so happy to be able to re-unite little by little the family in our real home, we are happy to have parents and grandparents here in Israel for us and for the kids. What they don’t know is that even though we got here before they did, a strong reason why we are here is because of them and the education that they gave to their children.

We are looking forward to welcoming you at the Airport!!!!!

10 years of love!

Why not use last years video to celebrate?

Enjoy once again:

 

From Blogger Pictures

Feliz aniversario mi vida.

Te amo.

I know what you did last Sunday

Almost 2 years ago as we were just getting assimilated into the Israeli culture I posted about You know you are Israeli when:

Now we are still slowly but surely getting there.

The photo below will be recognized by anyone that was in Israel on Sunday 1 week ago.

From Blogger Pictures

You know you are Israeli when: You put your 3D glasses on to see the opening of Hisardut (the Israeli version of Survivor) in 3D.

Now below a photo that more of you will be familiar with:

From Blogger Pictures

Oh yes, the World cup is here and we certainly watched the opening game where Mexico shamefully tied against South Africa. You would be surprised to know that in addition to being the self proclaimed Chairman of the Mexican Steelers Fan Club in Israel (COMSFCI) I have now named myself also the Chairman of the Mexican World Cup Team Fan in Modiin – Buchman branch (COMWCTFMBB).

Finally, a photo of what my family is starting to look like after the last couple of pictures (just without the pets and the baby):

Until the next time…

Israeli pasta in Italy?

I know it has been a while, but I'm back.

The last month I made a couple of trips to Milan Italy for work. Apart from the success of the event and meetings we had there it brought also some unique experiences.

First I wanted to share the picture below. Can you tell from this picture which one is the famous designer and which one is the world renowned blogger?

 

Milan is a nice city, I got a chance to visit just a little. Italians were friendly and I think a couple of weeks more there and I could speak Italian. And the food... well that exactly the point I wanted to write about.

Have you ever felt as if you are being tested in terms of your loyalty, faith or something similar?

For those that don't know, pasta is my favorite food by far. However being out in an unknown city might be challenging for someone that keeps kosher. I was able to see it, smell it, even hear its sizzling as it past around the table on a pan held by the waiter, however, I just chewed my raw veggies. Man...that home made paste looked sooooo goooood.

I fortunately was able to visit a couple of Kosher restaurants in Milan: Pizza E Carmel (Pizzeria Carmel) - eat an OK pizza slice, some delicious ricotta raviolis and some fettuccini too, yes it was all for me. On another opportunity our host in Italy was kind enough to take some of us in my honor to another kosher place called Denzel where we ate some juicy hamburgers, it felt weird to be eating out in Italy hamburgers but it also felt good to eat some meat for a change.

As I learned from my first trip to Europe, it's necessary to come prepared and bring some food just in case, so I took with me some food this time just in case. It was kind of funny to bring packets of dried instant Israeli pasta (Osem bags) into Italy, don't you think?

All in all...it's good to be back home.

Israel turns 62!

A couple of weeks ago we celebrated Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israel’s independence day). 62 years ago we established our own country and today we have a lot to celebrate. Yom Ha’atzmaut brings a great sense of pride among all, and for some of us it even has religious significance.

How did we celebrate? We started the night before first with prayers and singing at our bet hakneset (synagogue), after that we went out together with thousands of Modiinians to the celebrations by the park with fireworks a concert and other great performances.

Speaking about concerts and as my loyal readers know about my passion for music, I must comment on the one we attended at this Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration in Modiin.

About a year ago I was introduced by an Israeli friend to a new singer (well new for me and actually very old for the rest). Zvika Pick, was huge in the 70’s here in Israel with his pop music, and he has gained popularity again after being part of Kochav Nolad (like American Idol, let’s call it Israeli Idol :)

For the last couple of weeks I have been putting some of his music which sticks to your brain without being able to get rid of it, so Batya and I were very familiar with his songs during the concert. It’s interesting to mention that even though I only have a greatest hits CD from Zvika Pick, he did not include any song that the CD did not have. I’m not sure what that tells you about the rest of his songs. Enjoy the Zvikavideo below from a piece of my favorite Zvikasongs, the video is not that good was is great is hearing us sing in the background, it’s Batya, Liora and me.

 

If you are interested in reading more about concert experiences in Israel you can take a look at:

The historical Paul McCartney in Tel-Aviv concert

The Woodstock Revival in Jerusalem

A Night at the Party – Mashina Unplugged !

D’s Salve a la Reina en Mexico (even though it was not in Israel)

From Toyota to Alan Parsons Project 

(by the way, in addition to the Alan Parsons Project concert I was able to go to for free, another good thing that the Toyota recall brought was a nice gift certificate sent by the car dealership which to be consistent, I spent on a couple of CD’s)

The day after we celebrated by going to a military airbase were we saw the airplane exposition. We have gone a long way in 62 years.

See some pictures below:

Shabbat Shalom and sorry for the slow blogging but the computer was down for repair for a week and then I was out of the country for some days (some posts about that trip soon perhaps?)…