Jet Lag

You know your family's got jet lag when you're giving your kids Coke with their 10:30 AM breakfast.
You know they're jet-lagged when you have to hurry up and sneak into bed at 1:30AM, hoping to get to sleep before they wake up.
You know your kids are more jet-lagged than you are when you let them call your parents at 2AM, because you're ready to go to bed and they've woken up and are ready to talk.

Well, we've been in Israel 3 and 1/3 days and are feeling pretty settled in. Still a little groggy in the mornings, and actually I have fallen asleep every afternoon for a bit, even while watching the kids at the beach and the pool! (there was a lifeguard and I made sure little people were out of the water) We've been to the beach twice, the pool once, the grocery store twice, and fast food once. Perfect weather for eating on the balcony!

Since I don't know any Hebrew and can't read the script, I am enjoying relative ignorance and anonymity. My observations of cultural differences thus far (gathered at the beach and the little mall downstairs): more people here smoke, more people wear Crocs, a lot of people bring dogs to the beach, indignation is an acceptable form of communication, and it is also acceptable for men to go swimming in bikini brief underwear or boxers. They go swimming in Speedos and swim trunks, too, but the difference is pretty noticeable.

I know there's much more to see and learn about the culture, the city, and the people. The history and archeology are enormous. But for this week I am very content with anonymity and time with my kids. Our host family has many great photos of their adult children throughout the apartment. The last time I saw the youngest of these kids he was in elementary school, now he's just returned from eight months in Iraq with the Marines. So I've just been looking at my own children and wondering who they will grow up to be and how fast the time will go by...