No place like home?

It's great to be in Trinidad - so far less than 24 hours here and really enjoying Kayleigh and Lucas and watching them play with our wonderful kids. The cousins are getting on famously so far bli ayin hara.

The trip was everything you can imagine a 32 hour trip with a 6 and 3 year old would be. The kids were troupers, but it was very tough on them being so tired - we left Israel at 1 am.

Some highlights: the intensive security check on through passengers from Israel in Paris eventually brought us to a Trinidadian American Airlines clerk who whisked us ahead onto the plane after our 45 minute interrogation and wait - it seems all Israelis got the treatment though they were also harassing a couple with adopted kids from Denmark - seems to me the Americans could get a little better at figuring out who might be a danger.

The playmobile magnetic airport toy we bought for the kids in Orly Airport triggered a handsearch of our hand luggage in Miami - the staff insisting we had an electronic device but not even cracking a smile when they discovered what it really was.

Gabi commented in Miami airport that we were now probably the only Hebrew speakers around, about two minutes before we found ourselves eavesdropping on the sabras at the next table :-) My assertion to the children, "this is America, the rule is children have to stay right next to their mothers" provoked smiles from a fellow traveler to Trinidad.

Highly enjoyable was the very straight looking executive type guy on the Paris-Miami flight who kindly came over to ask me to "keep my son's voice down" - I looked at him baffled for some seconds as he repeated the request before responding, "I'm doing the best I can but he controls his own voice"! (Thought that would be obvious.)

The plane was full of about 35 Nepalese refugees being flown to and resettled in Dallas Texas. If anyone knows anything about this - speak up! They had flown from Nepal to Bangladesh to Paris to Miami and were going on to Dallas. I wish them the best.

Sasha thinks he's in a toystore at his cousins' house - he's trying to play with each toy at least once. Tomorrow we have an afternoon party with Santa followed by a Hanukkah party across town with Trinidad's small Jewish group. I thought it suitable to warn Gabi that she might be encouraged to sit on Santa's lap and that it would be her choice but not to expect him to bring her gifts since we are not Christian. Tried to answer her questions with assertions about the importance of giving, but she wanted to know the bottom line - do we believe in Santa. I checked with Alen, who says we do not, but we forbade Gabi to dispel anyone else's belief. We'll see.

Nothing like a little culture shock to make me realize how Israeli I've become - only Israeli songs came to mind to sing as I was trying to comfort crying, exhausted Gabi whose ears hurt when we were landing.

And then the excitement of seeing Vlad, Johnny and Edward who all arrived to meet us. Now a blessed, loud hot rain is falling - this place feels to be the ecological opposite of the land we've left.

Happy Chanukah Everyone!