since we got here.
So far it's been good, in general, though I wouldn't say easy. The travails of Iyyar's gan were utterly eclipsed by what happened with the school we had planned for Barak; after a week of finalizing his acceptance (interviews and visits and endless phone calls), we discovered that a) the school was moving to the absolute opposite end of the city, b) we were going to be required to pay ourselves for the required Hebrew help, at astronomical cost, and c) there was no hasaa (schoolbus). Well, technically there is a hasaa, but it stops at the top of those 182 steps I might have mentioned before, and they would not move the stop. And it costs more than tuition. And I would have had to take a bus just to get to the stop and back. And there was no viable way to get to the school itself by public transportation--it's over an hour each way and the buses are a huge pain.
So we had to find him another school, and I really don't want to get into the details here but last Sunday we (Barak, Marika and I) literally spent seven hours, beginning at 7 am, literally wandering the streets of Jerusalem looking for a school for him. Many tears later, we found one, a good school not too far from us as the crow flies but two buses (short trips, at least) away. The teachers and principal and office staff all seem lovely, there are no other English speakers in his class (a plus so far as I am concerned) and there are only 25 kids in his class, which is incredible around here. I found another parent who was willing to drive him in the morning, but as of now I have to go get him on four buses total every afternoon. This month they're still on short days (till 2) which means I can go get him while my husband is on lunch break, but after the chagim I'm going to have a problem. Hopefully I'll have it dealt with by then.
Iyyar and Avtalyon start school on Wednesday, and I think things will be easier for everyone once we're all in a schedule. Of course, only one week of schedule before it's all disrupted by a thousand chagim, but! at least only one of them is going to be three days this year. That is something I am really looking forward to, right there.
6 comments:
It ain't easy! I hope the schools work out. When we made aliya, we only had one child age 1.5, and that still was traumatic (lots of tears by both she and I) before we for settled after Succot. I'm sure you will meet someone who can help you, or maybe even a taxi would be cheaper.
Yikes! But glad you found schools for them both. Isaac started TC3 last Thursday and will be living at home. By his choice! Surprise!
And thanks for the 100 things update,too!
I'm glad Deborah pointed out the updates, but you might have to re-examine number 23, given where you now live. :-)
Good luck with all the school related stuff - my oldest started school (age 4) with mid-week yom tovim and far too much inconsistency.
He may not remember (8th grade), but I certainly do. Enjoy all those Fridays :-)
Do olim get discounts on cars? :) You sure sound like you could use one!
Post a Comment