Sorry...

Haven't updated in a while. Oops.

Let's see...what's been going on since my aliyahniversary? Not much. But I'm going to update anyway.

To celebrate my aliyaniversary, I had the gingerbread party. This is what the house looked like before it was eaten: --scratch that, Blogger is not a fan of uploading my pictures now-- So...the house was decorated with cranberries, Fruit by the Foot, gumdrops, tea biscuits ("biskveetim"), pull 'n' peel, jelly beans, marshmallows, chocolate, toffees...lots of candy. All held in place by royal icing which we used as glue. A few people came, decorated people, ate the house...yum. Next year- maybe going back to basics. Hopefully more people will come (as a side note, "hopefully" means "in a hopeful manner." That would mean that my sentence actually reads, "In a hopeful manner, more people will come." Which is not what I mean at all; I mean, "I hope that more people will come." And I know that I am using the word incorrectly. Moving on) and it will be more fun.

In terms of work- my third school is getting better, now that I'm getting more into it. I might stay there another year, because it's...it takes time to get into things. And it seems that now, that I'm doing more and actually doing OT instead of trying to set up a schedule and getting frustrated, I'm actually treating. The downside is that this population is VERY tough. I thought it was a school for learning disabilities, and it is (at least technically) classified as such, but the population is also very significantly behavioral/emotional problems. Yay! I don't even get mainstream Israeli culture, let alone culture with problems! My second school is...tough. I had a session that the principal sat in on. I thought she was coming to see a different session-- and she came late and didn't come to that one. She saw a session that was VERY tough for me-- one of the classes that I work in is mostly communication and developmental delays-- and I have two very involved children in that class, and she happened to have seen one of the tough ones for me. We talked about the observation after, and she said some things from an OT perspective as well that I actually thought about as I was treating, but there was also some pressure that I felt because...well, it was an observation and the principal is not only my principal but she is an OT as well so she looks at things from an OT perspective also. But she also came to another session-- at the discussion she asked me if I had other groups today, and what time? So she came to another group- a movement/organization and social skills group, which she came to and it was REALLY good. She felt that the game they played at the end was a little low for them, but she also did acknowledge and understand why I chose the game, despite it being a little low for them (just-right challenge anybody?). She also saw me in a very good session- a population that I'm more comfortable with, better with. I did a little EI and worked with some kids who had communication problems, but this is very different in terms of setting and HOW involved the kids are. These kids are more involved than ones I've worked with before, and I'm having difficulty communicating with them. I know that I need guidance and instruction in this area. But now she also sees that I'm not incompetent and I know what I'm doing-- she saw the technical-- she really saw it in the first session, and that was how she described the session: technical--, but this time she also saw the "art" part of my practice in addition to the "science." Anyway, so that school is more of a challenge than it was originally. My first school is fine. The other OT that I see and I get along, and we're actually going to be going ahead with a splinting project and make the kids splints. And about half the kids there need them. Yay for splinting practice! Oh! And so far I've gotten two pay stubs. Not that they were necessarily correct or anything, but it's a start. And I signed up for the keren hishtalmut (every 6-8 years I get a sabbatical to go study) before December 31, so this year WILL count, which is good.

Social Life- Need to work on that more. I am going to audition for a play tomorrow (I think), so we'll see what happens with that. English, obviously.
Yesterday was Shirah's wedding. Shirah and I sat next to each other on the plane here and were in ulpan together. Last night was her wedding which was kind of a mini Ulpan reunion. She was a beautiful kallah, and the wedding was-- someone described it as feeling like a bat mitzvah, and I understand that. There was a...fun-ness and so much joy. Shirah's parents and other family was there by Skype, since they weren't able to come in. It was a lot of friends from Shirah's side, and, at least for me, this was totally, totally about making Shirah (and Moshe) happy-- being משמח חתן וכלה. And this was what this wedding felt like.
I also realized I need to wander around my neighborhood and make friends here. I'm staying in my apartment this Shabbos, and I'm eating by Yehuda and Elkie and Aryeh and Elinor for dinner and lunch.
Oh, my roommate got engaged. Mazal tov!

What else? That's about it.

I do apologize for the lack of entries lately. It seems that the busier I am, the less time I have to blog and the more my handwritten journal gets written in, simply because I take it with me and write waiting for the bus or in meetings when I need to have my hands busy or just am waiting for something somewhere. I will try to blog at least once a week.

Another blog I would like to draw your attention to: my friend and fellow olah, Ophra, has a beautiful blog where she writes about...well...pretty much everything. And her poetry is so expressive ::hearts:: She writes here: A Labyrinth