Our first week

So it's been almost a week since we arrived. Here's what we've been up to in the last week.
Thursday:
1. Woke up on deflated blow up mattress
2. Succeeded at opening a bank account
3. Paid for our health insurance at the post office ($9 for the whole family for the year)
4. Took our receipt to the insurance office to find out that the office was closed for summer hours, that is closed Mondays and Thursdays and wouldn't reopen until Sunday.
5. Forbade anyone in family from getting injured or sick in the meantime.
6. Ate lunch in the mall (actually pretty nice food choices) where Sidney discovered the joys of schnitzel, fries, and catsup
7. Played at the park directly across the street
8. Ate dinner at Yossi and Jen's (2nd night in a row)
9. Slept on blow up mattress

Friday:
1. Woke up on deflated blow up mattress, again
2. Borrowed mini-fridge from a nice family we had never met so that we can actually have food until our shipment arrives
3. Went to nearby shopping center to buy food to fill fridge
4. Ate lunch at Pinati where Sidney again had shnitzel, fries, and catsup--I had once thought that Sidney was an "undeclared fish eating vegetarian." Must have been wrong
5. Went to Friday night services at our local minyan where we were warmly and publicly welcomed
6. Ate a lovely dinner at Yossi and Jen's (3rd night in a row) along with their family and Hillary and Alex and family (friends from Chicago who also made aliyah on our same flight)
7. Got rid of defective blow up mattress and slept on white leather couches left by previous residents (don't worry; they will go when our stuff arrives)

Shabbat
1. Went to local shul (well at least Josh did) where the whole family was again welcomed
2. Ate lunch at Yossi and Jen's (4th day in a row for those keeping track at home)
3. Played all afternoon with their kids
4. Had dinner at Reuven and Shira's with their family and Hillary and Alex and family
5. Josh went to see "GI Joe" and Sarah passed out on the couch/bed

Sunday
1. Finally got our health insurance and let out a big sigh of relief
2. Went to meet with the local absorption counselor who is our major resource in the city. She was great.
3. Found out from her that because of a fight between two braches of the government some of our services are being held up...but once they make nice...
4. Ate lunch at the mall where Sidney had schnitzel, fries, and catsup (noticing a pattern? )
5. Played at the park

Monday
1. Got up early and drove to Haifa to sign for the release of our shipment.
2. Drove from Haifa to Jerusalem to the Nefesh b'Nefesh offices where we picked up our teudot zehut--Israel indentification cards, maybe closest to a social security card but also lists pertinent information like birthdate, parents' names, spouse and children's names and has a picture. Made me realize that in the U.S. we really had no way to prove that we were married (outside of carrying around our marraige certificate) or that our child was actually our child.
3. At Nefesh b'Nefesh also had the chance to check out cell phone plans--still haven't gotten them but progress
4. Played at the park
5. Ate pizza at the place next to the park and of course had a popsicle like every other good Israeli child

Tuesday
1. Got phone and internet connected
2. Picnicked in the park
3. Registered Sidney for school with the help of our absorption counselor--will find out in the next day or so which school, since it's municipal it should be the one closest to our house.
4. Found out that our shipment (i.e. all of the stuff that we haven't seen since Memorial Day Weekend) will be arriving tomorrow!!! Hurray! Can't wait to sleep in our own beds and cook our own food!
5. Ate dinner at the mall where Sidney again ordered (can you guess?) schnitzel, fries, and catsup but actually ate our beans and purple cabbage salad instead--that's my girl! And that's also why you have to love food in Israel...the sides are all fresh vegetable salads.