VE Day (Victory and Vegetables) - R2BC

Potatoes, tomatoes, oranges and lemons! Thanks Esther!

The biggest Reason 2B Cheerful today is that it's VE Day - Victory in Europe. If VE had not been won our lives would have been very different. And as a Jew, I might not have even been born. I'm sorry that all the street parties and public celebrations in the UK were canceled, although rightly so. No nation does street parties like the British!

A few weeks ago I ordered a vegetable box delivery  from Kibbutz Alumim, where my friends live. It was fabulous and very reasonably priced. Since then they've been continuing the box deliveries but as a family of two, we really didn't need a whole box of vegetables every week. Yesterday there was a knock on the door and my friend Esther, who lives on the kibbutz, was standing there, in a mask,  with a box of fruit and veg.

They are discontinuing the service now that the schools are going back (the surplus was from the dormant school lunch contracts) but they had some produce left over in Jerusalem. Esther took a box, divided it up between some of her Jerusalem friends, and made personal deliveries. Thanks Esther! (Note to self: Don't think you can not clean the bathroom because no one is coming to visit.)

In other news. I really enjoyed the enormous storm we had on Wednesday. Sheets of rain, thunder and lightning and heavy winds into the night. It might have been the last big storm of the year and was certainly very unusual for May. But what is usual these days? (Update: I just looked at the weather app and scattered thunderstorms forecast for tomorrow. Here's hoping.)

Another of my daily app checks is the level of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee). It's only 11 cm below the upper red line. So exciting when you live in a desert.

Last but not least. Having put on loads of weight during the first six weeks of lockdown, I finally brought myself under control and went back to Intermittent Fasting. So fast so good.

Have a good week yourself and check out the linky on Becky's Lakes Single Mum for more cheerful blog posts.

Eight Lockdown Initiatives

Angie Bunny ready for Independence Day

We hear about the selfless work of those in caring professions and medical professions. We know the teachers are working hard, people in essential services have never stopped going into work, people are working from home, students are studying, and parents are providing non-stop support (and food) for their families.

What of those who found time on their hands at home during the lockdown? Many of us have watched far too much tv, eaten far too much, maybe cleaned our homes, maybe read a few books, indulged in loads of social media. However, I am impressed and inspired by others who have used the time to do something different.

Here are eight lockdown initiatives that have crossed my facebook feed.

Funky Face Masks by Yael Katz

1. Yael Katz is a kindergaten teacher in Jerusalem who right from the beginning was making crafting videos and storytime videos for young children. Then she started using her sewing skills to make fun and fancy face masks. People started donating material and so far she's made hundreds.


2. Charlotte got her paints out and is creating a set of portraits of each of her four children. It's a hobby but she's really good. And what a great gift to herself to keep forever.


3. Annabelle Landgarten is a professional story teller in Jerusalem. During lockdown she has been Telling Tales for adults on a weekly facebook video. There's one tonight, Wednesday 6th May, at 9pm Israel time (GMT+3) on Face Book Live. Check it out.

Lemon Macarons by Yael Stekel Gabbai
Sweet Art Creations

4. Yael Stekel Gabbai had a cake making business before Corona, Sweet Art Creations. She's used this time to perfect new skills and increase her repertoire. Yael has posted her new creations daily and her daughters have got into the act too. She'll be ready to hit the ground running with a family enterprise as soon as we're allowed out.

Scrubs for the NHS by Amanda Phillips

5. Zia Jaffe owns the famous Sefer VeSefel (Book and [Coffee] Cup) Secondhand book shop in Jerusalem. It's open again now but during the lockdown Zia made weekly book vlogs. She told us what she's reading, recommended books, chatted about the situation, and generally entertained in her engaging and witty way. Zia, Corona should end but the vlogs should continue - you're a natural.


6. My Sister-in-law Alyson is working through a new cookery book by her favourite chef, Rukmini Iyer. The book was a gift from my brother. More than one person has pointed out that it was more of a gift for himself in the grand scheme of things. Clever man. The photos look amazing. Add a blog and we could have the next Julie&Julia effect.


7. Amanda Phillips in London, is making scrubs for the NHS out of old sheets. I understand that NHS staff have been asked to source their own scrubs, which they have to change several times a day. So this is a big help for people on the front lines. I like Amanda's scrubs better than the usual plain colours.

NHS staff grateful for new scrubs
from Amanda Phillips

8. Deborah Nathan made Angie Bunny from the designs of Mo Malron ( @crochetobjet ) . Every day she adds a new outfit for Angie, including an Independence day outfit, exercise gear, 1970s retro style, pyjamas and lots more. It's a lot of fun and we all want an Angie Bunny now.

Angie 1970s retro style
made by Deborah Nathan

Back To School On Sunday?

School - so near and yet so far

There were news reports early in the week that Kindergarten to 3rd Grade, and 11th and 12th Grades, would return to school on Sunday, 3rd May.

Facebook was full of it of course. I'd say there was about a 50-50 split of parents who were for it and those who said it was too soon. And all the parents who were for it weren't 100% convinced either. As usual, those with children in that age bracket who needed to go back to work, didn't have a choice. Those with money (either savings or with desk jobs that can be done from home) to see them through another month were able to make their own decisions. Not to mention the gap in mental health between those with outside space and those without. Bottom line - we are not all in the same boat.

On Wednesday elementary schools were told to prepare for Sunday. Kindergartens are deleted from the equation - enforcing social distancing on 3 - 7s isn't practical. The final decision was made today, Friday, and we're still on. I don't believe this is the final decision but I've been wrong before.

Apparently (I didn't hear it myself but someone posted it on Facebook so believe it or not) they felt compelled to ease restrictions because they think that if they don't, there will be serious unrest and actions against the government. It's the economy stupid.

Other news reports say social distancing is falling apart in many places and the government has lost control over it. Lifting restriction on babysitters, how many families can share childcare, opening high street shops, and easing permitted travel distance, have all helped to erode any sense of logic. Although I am sticking to the rules, I can understand others who won't not go to the park with their kids when people can go to IKEA. (News flash - a corona positive man from Jerusalem spent an hour in IKEA in Rishon on Monday. So there you go.)

A poll found that the biggest hurdle to returning to work is the lack of childcare. The classes are being split into halves (no more than 15 children in a class) so there's only room for half a school to return. They assume that 4th - 6th Graders can be left alone, or with siblings, while the parents go to work. My 6th Grader can but I didn't leave her for more than a couple of hours when she was 9.

In my school the following measures are in place. 1st Graders will enter the school via the top gate, the others by the bottom gate. No parents are allowed on the premises. The class teacher will team up with a subject teacher and teach half the class at a time. No other teachers will be with each class. (The class teachers for 4th - 6th Grades will continue with distance learning.) Only one child per table. Playtimes will be staggered and masks worn during the breaks only. There was some more about the toilets and hand washing.

Many parents are scared and not sending their children. Some children live in families with at risk members. Some teachers live with at risk family members or are at risk themselves. So it's not compulsory. Teachers can opt to take sick leave although there is a certain amount of pressure not to.

My take is that it's a national experiment, with the children as the subjects. If it were known to be safe then everyone would go back. The economy has trumped health with the safety net of restricted school so that the hospitals will be able to handle a modest spike in corona cases.

As an overweight, older mother of an only child, single parent, with no immediate family in the country, this does not reassure me. I'm glad my 11 year old is in 6th Grade (and I am on unpaid leave from school) so I don't have to decide whether to allow her (or me) to be part of the experiment. But if I did have to decide... we have a balcony, I have enough money for another month in lockdown, and we are two people in a not tiny living space. I won't judge.

Israel Indepencence Day - R2BC

Here are my Reasons 2B Cheerful for this week. I missed last week as I had so many students' papers to grade. So even though very little has changed since two weeks ago, I don't want to miss another week. The Linky is with Becky on Lakes Single Mum (and I promise to go back and read all the posts from last week too.)

1
Independence Day
We're 72 years old! We celebrated on our balconies instead of in the national parks and on the beaches. The road outside my building has become the local synagogue as it was our neighbours who started the regular prayers.

On the eve of Independence Day a couple of guys came out with a harmonica, a guitar, and a microphone. We sang all the prayers together, then we sang some Israeli favourites, and we finished with Hatikva, the national anthem. It was much nicer than when we all troop up to the promenade for a rock concert and outrageously priced food and souvenirs.

We did miss the fireworks though.

2
Distance Learning
DD is really into her distance learning from school now that her friend's mum is there to help her. She's much more relaxed and she doesn't worry if she misses an assignment or two because she's getting most of it done. It's actually fantastic because she's occupied for the whole morning.

There's a lot of Zoom and video calling going on. Every so often she calls out from her bedroom: "Mummy! Don't come in, I'm in a meeting!"

3
The Wonders of Boredom
It took a whole month of nothing to do and nowhere to go but slowly slowly, DD has been tidying out her bedroom. Drawer by drawer, shelf by shelf. Every few days a couple of bags of clutter appear by the front door ready to be taken down to the bins.

And she's developed a love of the Windolene squirty bottle. So far the balcony doors, the kitchen window, her bedroom window and the mirrors in the bathroom have been cleaned.

I'm being as encouraging as I can whilst trying not to seem too happy about it or I know it will stop as suddenly as it started.

Have a good week y'all. Take care, stay safe and keep well.

Back On Distance Learning And Summer School,

Sunset over Jerusalem

Yesterday, after a major meltdown, I'd had it with distance learning. But DD is far more conscientious than I am about her school work and she wasn't happy about giving up. Thankfully another mother from our class came to our rescue. Her child, also an English speaker, wasn't into reading the long texts in Hebrew, so she has been reading them with him and she invited DD to join them via video call.

This morning they had sport, maths, Hebrew (in which she learned to work the system and managed to do the activity without reading the lesson), and History. So she joined her friend for History and it was fantastic. She finished it and I've not seen her that relaxed and happy since before the Pesach holidays. Even during the holiday she was anxious about going back to distance learning. I won't mention names but Friend's Mother, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

You'll notice that I'm using the phrase distance learning today, instead of home schooling. It was rightly pointed out to me that Home Schooling is a thing and this isn't it. I knew that but I used the phrase carelessly yesterday because it described our situation. However, we are not Home Schooling, we are School Schooling without the teachers present.

Which brings me to the enormous facebook fracas that erupted yesterday after a disastrous TV interview with Yaffa Ben-David, the head of one of the Teacher's Unions in Israel. She is probably the most hated woman in Israel atm and all because she didn't handle the interview well.

The problem is twofold:

1. Distance learning, 
We're trying to do distance learning so that the children keep up with some education and not feel so isolated. Also it's a good idea to have an outside adult in contact with every child under these lockdown conditions. Unfortunately, the teachers are learning to do this on the fly. Whilst there are a lot of instructional meetings via zoom and sharing of information and resources, it's all a bit hit and miss. It's being refined day by day and the teachers are putting in hours and hours of work to make it all happen, plan lessons, give individual feedback, be available and to trouble shoot.

It's a herculean task and they are doing it while trying to supervise their own children at home with different school schedules and often limited screen and internet access. Despite all this, there is a lot of frustration among parents who also need to work on the family computer and have a number of children who cannot work alone, and all need the computer or phone for a zoom lesson at the same time, etc...

For all these reasons the directive is that these online lessons are not compulsory and everyone should do as much as they can.

2. Summer School
In order to recover some of the economy, if we are out of isolation by the summer, we need the children to be in school so that parents can work. Some people are saying that the teachers are off school now so they should make up the hours in the summer. Excuse me? You may not like the distance learning but  the teachers are working very hard to make it happen and it is a lifeline for some families and children.

Ben-David argued that the teachers will not be working an extra 6 weeks with no pay. This created an uproar mainly with the response that the teachers are paid for 12 months a year but only work 10 months, so they need to forgo their ridiculous amount of holiday and do their bit to help to help the nation.

There are three points to make here.
A, the teachers are not paid for 12 months of the year. Many years ago their 10 months of salary was spread over 12 payments to help them budget better. Pay in July and August is for work done from September till June.

B, I don't think Ben-David could have argued anything else, she was just doing her job which is to protect the teachers.

C, No one has asked the teachers. Most of the jobs that teachers pick up over the summer break to make up the shortfall in their salaries, will not be available this year. If you asked the teachers to volunteer over the summer I suspect that most of them would say yes. What they object to is the assumption that they must pay back for the years of shirking over July and August. That they are paid anyway so they owe the country to work.

Teachers are willing to do their bit, as they have been doing and will continue to do through the many hours it takes to organize and execute distance learning. All they ask is some respect and acknowledgment. If you want them to volunteer over the summer to help the nation get back on its feet, call a spade a spade and ask them to volunteer. And don't forget to thank them afterwards.

I'm Done With Home-Schooling

This teacher is rubbish if you have a problem. 

Today, after the Pesach holiday, was the day I had to get back to my work, catch up with planning online lessons and grading incoming work. I have so much to do.

Home-schooling started up again today after the Pesach holidays. DD had to sign in at 09.00. The first two lessons were English and Maths. No problems there. Then came science.

It was a read, learn, quiz programme online. She figured out how to translate some to the information into English so we understood that the topic was mirrors, reflection, angles of reflection, etc... It's not rocket science, it's just 6th grade science and I understand all of it - in English.

The multiple choice questions were fine. If you get it wrong you just choose something else until the bell rings for a correct answer.

The questions that require a written answer were harder. First you have to understand the question. It all fell apart when I didn't understand one of the questions and DD couldn't explain it to me. The diagram looked fine to me but apparently there was something wrong with it and we had to correct it somehow, or choose another diagram - I couldn't see any other diagrams, or say what was wrong.

DD lost her temper with me and screamed at me that she's explaining but I'm not listening. I'm screaming back that I'm listening but not understanding. And shouting the same thing louder while waving her arms about at the computer isn't going to help me understand it any better. Eventually she clicked on enough points in the diagram to be rewarded with the bell.

I told her just to do what she can and don't worry about the rest. But she does worry because they have to send it in to be checked. I told her I couldn't help because she always ends up screaming at me. But then what am I going to do when she asks, "Mummy can you help me?" Of course I try to help and I end up being screamed at again.

There's approximately two minutes between the end of being screamed at and the next request for help. I cannot begin to concentrate on doing any of my own work. I feel a headache coming on and am close to tears. I feel emotionally battered.

Next question. It was a story about a village in Switzerland overshadowed by a mountain. We put the story through google translate and we had to write the solution. I told DD the solution in English. "OK, how do I write that in Hebrew?"
"I don't know, you can speak Hebrew."
I won't  repeat the whole exchange of words. I can't even call it a conversation as it quickly descended into me being screamed at - again.

I told her, again, that the only solution for us is to move to England for a few years so that I can help her with her school work. More screaming followed and now she's in her bedroom crying. I'm at the computer crying. And apparently there's History yet to do today.

DD asked me if she could not do sports. They are supposed to make a video of them doing some sort of exercise. At this moment I don't care. I'm going to watch some tv and eat, and eat some more probably.

I don't want to hear any more about home-schooling. I'm done with it.

I Can See The End - R2BC

Chocolate chip blondies from Esther next door. Thank you!

This week's Reasons 2B Cheerful comes to you from just over the peak. This is my own analysis from seeing the numbers, of which I had a morbid and slightly distasteful fascination, falling. Well not the totals obviously, but the daily casualties. There's talk on the news of easing restrictions around the world. (Except not the UK yet - sorry. You have another 3 weeks of lockdown apparently.) Instead of doom and gloom it's all about exit strategies. 

Before we go there, just to say that Becky is hosting the linky to other cheerful posts on her blog: Lakes Single Mum. 

1
We Have A Plan
In Israel the exit strategy, while not finalized or set to start on any given date, is in 4 phases. Back to school is only phase 3 and there will be at least two weeks between each phase. So Yippee! Another month at least at home. I'm loving being at home, personally.

But it's also good to know that we're nearing the end and that the millions of deaths didn't happen as predicted. Though I'm still sad for those who did lose their lives and for their families. And I know it's insensitive to say I'm loving being at home because I'm not a doctor or a nurse, or a carer, or hospital cleaner, working my guts out to help those in need. Sorry.

2
Passover Passed Over
Oh was there a holiday in all this? I must have missed it. I almost missed it but we did manage a family seder by zoom. Last night it was all over and I'm back to work on the computer. Slightly shocked and dazed by how much work (grading papers and planning online lessons) has accumulated, but bird by bird I'll get it done.

Bird by Bird? A book by Anne Lamott of the same name in which she writes: “Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he’d had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, ‘Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.’”

3
Gifts From Next Door
One day a couple of weeks ago, just as DD was about to go into a meltdown because we'd run out of snacks and it was Friday afternoon so no shops open until Sunday morning.... we got a shout out from our neighbour Esther to look outside the front door. There we found a bag of homemade chocolate chip cookies. Tasty and timely. Thank  you so much Esther. And for the bar of chocolate a couple of days later. And for the second bag of cookies. And for the Harry Potter Hagaddah (seder service book). We will love you forever.

Now if I could just figure out how to flatten MY curves......