Lip gloss, Pyromania and Emergency rooms

On our journey to absorption, adjustment, integration, whichever term fits we can now add another experience:  Home birthday party.  Wow, was that an experience.  Now is as good a time as any to recall the backyard obstacle course I built two years ago for N & L's birthday parties.  I love making creative home parties and I think our kids and their friends have generally rather enjoyed themselves.  A dear friend, B, once told me that she just loved watching Michael and me in party action.  Well, dear readers, ulpan doesn't really give you the vocab necessary to reign in thirteen 8-year olds.  It was a rather rowdy group and there were several little future criminals, lawyers in the group.  We had a lip gloss making dance party.  When it was time to break into small groups so that the girls could choreograph their performances the arguments began.  One group absolutely could not agree and when Michael went in to broker a peace deal so to speak, another girl came complaining to me "zeh lo fair, zeh lo fair" (does that really need translation?)  Apparently it offended her sense of fairness that an adult was helping another group and might give them an extra advantage in the final dance-off.  Or she didn't like the color of her lip gloss.  Beats me because she was talking so fast I didn't stand a chance.  The important part is that L had a great time and (I think) so did the rest of her class.  It has been rather remarkable to watch the transition as L has gone from new kid who doesn't speak the language to accepted girl with friends who speaks enough to participate.

Sunday Michael leaves for France for work.  Great timing for him as the kids don't have school on Sunday or Monday and apparently it will become bonfire city (countrywide) on Sunday night to celebrate Lag B'Omer  (Jewish holiday).  It's also great timing since the weather is projected to be over 90 degrees, perfect for dozens and dozens of gigantic bonfires consuming branches, discarded doors, and pretty much anything made out of wood that hasn't been nailed down.

Hopefully the hot day/cool night pattern will stick, because everyone is super excited.  The kids have been collecting wood with their friends for about two months for the huge group bonfires.  Will keep you posted.  N has an all day olympiad to participate in on Monday so I will get some downtime with just the girls.

Update on my medical licensing.  I received my license before Pesach which means I can now practice medicine in Israel.  This is great.  Now, in order to receive specialty recognition I need to work for 3 months in an emergency department (much less than what physicians from outside of North America need to do, and of note, foreign docs who want to get licensed in U.S. have to redo their entire training).  I met yesterday with the director of Shaarei Tzedek, which houses the busiest ED in Jerusalem.  Looks like a great place to do my histaklut as soon as I can find 3 months in a row which will likely be next Fall.  In the meantime I am hoping to start working at an urgi-care this summer, so that I can LEARN HEBREW and start to get the sense of how medicine is practiced here.