The adventure begins...

יום שמשי לפני הרבה שנים (כך זה מרגיש אבל באמת היה לפני חודש), משפחת פוקס קמו, אכלו במהירות ארוחה מדהימה ששכינה יקירה הביאה להם, נסעו עם עוד שכינה מדהימה לשדה תעופה הכי שקטה אי פעם ונסעו לאנגליה. 

בשדה תעופה קבלו אותנו כמלכים, בחיים לא היה לנן מצב שארבע אנשי צוות עוזרו לנו לסדר את הכרטיסים שלנו, אבל כך זה בימי קורונה. לא רק זה אך גלינו שלנקוס את הקורסל שבועיים לפני הטיסה הוא דווקה יתרון, קבלנו הסעות לרחבי נתב"ג ושני אנשי צוות שדאגו ללוות אותנו ולסחוב את הציוד המעט שהיה לנו. 

חשבתי לכתוב את הבלוג בעברית - כל החברות ומשפחה שלי שדוברי אנגלית גם מבינים עברית וזה יכל להיות מקום טוב לשמר את העברית שלי. אבל..  כרגיל הכל מתערבב וזה יצא לי חצי חצי. 

Masks totally needed in Corona times, we were packed like sardines into the plane. Social distancing was left far behind on Earth. 

WE ARRIVED! 
to the sweetest little house in the sweetest little corner of Cambridge.

It may not look special but that tree behind the kids dates back to 1870 when the whole road was a fruit orchard. So we are reliably informed by our wonderful neighbours who soon become amongst our favourite people, looking out for us in every way possible. 
When we got out of the taxi the first night we immediately met two of our neighbours who have become a big part of our lives. Simon and Jaclyn, retired astronomers and again, wonderful people. And Avner and Galit - Israelis, what are the chances! They even have a daughter Hadas's age and a son who will be with Batya at school next year.

 דניאל מספר,

"איך שהגענו ובקושי הספקנו להכניס את המזוודות לבית, הבן אדם השני שפגשנו היה השכן הישראלי. אבנר הוא מתכנת חילוניא מתל אביב אבל כשהוא עלה לחדרו להניח תפילין ראה אותנו מהחלון והבחין בכיפה שעל ראשי. מיד ירד לקבל את פנינו בשלום ובחמימות".

Two weeks of isolation go by, a little painful but thank God we have this garden to cartwheel and play in.

Moments of sweetness mixed with.. well, other less photographic moments..

Sarah from Cambridge brought over a Meccano set for Zaki to play with, he fell in love...

 

The best challa I have ever tasted was a communal effort. My fantastic Ima organised a taxi to bring up all sorts of essentials to us including things I wouldn't have thought of but were vital like a bowl big enough to make challa in (the only place selling challa here is an hour's walk away on the other side of Cambridge). When I couldn't find yeast on the online shop, Su bought some and sent it up with Royal Mail. It arrived the next day!!! (:o). Friday afternoon, I found the kids unbidden organising the challa. Hadas of course had made the dough that morning. Friday night, we brought shabbat in relatively early, stretched out in the garden and had our shabbat meal there. Bliss. 

Escape!!! There was a long and heated debate about the correct time to leave Quarantine (the morning of the 14th day, does one wait till night? I'm sure being religious Jews has led us to expect regulations on finer details, more so than other people). In the end the children had the final say and declared they were going to the park for a picnic at 5pm. Hurrah!

Our local park, a hop, skip and a jump from our house.

As a family who like nothing better than foraging sweet food from nature, we arrived in England just at the right time, the place is dripping with apples, blackberries, sloes, all in public land and for the taking. In our garden there were even a few bowlfuls of redcurrents. 

Thank you Amanda and family! 

If it weren't for them we wouldn't have done the "tourist side" of Cambridge for months despite the fact that we live right in the centre of Cambridge. Amanda's father Jeffrey gave us the historical brief of the various colleges and sights. Although I heard only a little (being with the children..) it was enough to give context. 

 

Life goes on, quarantine over, we've unpacked and begun to settle in. There honestly arn't many stories yet. Maybe writing a blog will inspire us to have some :)

We're beginning to get organised for school, starting in 3 weeks! Batya now wears her school uniform almost all the time. 

Batya gets a haircut! She's been begging me for about two years to cut her hair "like Zaki's" - crew cut. I may still do it, but meanwhile, this was a compromise, came out quite nicely if I say so myself :) 

Exploring Cambridge and streching our legs. Having lived on a moshav for the last ten years the kids do not know how to walk. They simply arn't used to it. But with enough ice-cream bribes hopefully they'll get used to it. 

The kid's idea of the perfect day out: riding anywhere on the top of a double decker bus, all.. day.. long. 
Luckily thanks to Corona, the buses are pretty empty. 

Daniel gets the last word tonight, he has proudly come up with a new tongue twister: 

"The straw that broke the pack camel's back was the CamelBack back pack".