Illness, begone!

There, hopefully that will help vanquish the nasty illness we've got. Robert had it first, for about 3 days. On Monday Liel got it. She was feverish, listless, and just wanted me to spend the day laying in bed with her (which I pretty much did). She didn't want to drink, and was very difficult to get water into. She threw up once, on her blanket, which necessitated an immediate emergency washing, since we're a bit short on blankets.

By Monday night I was sick too. Fever, body aches, chills. Tuesday morning Zion was sick, and the three of us spent the entire day in my bed watching movies and sleeping. We've now watched all the kids' movies we brought with us- hopefully we won't need another marathon viewing for a while! Robert managed to get down to the cell phone store and give them an Indian sized passport pic for his SIM card application (turns out our US sized ones aren't OK), and to stop at the store and buy us a rice cooker, and a couple of Hanukkah gifts for the kids. I still need to get an Indian sized passport photo taken and delivered, once I'm well enough to make it down there.

The kids were really too sick for Hanukkah last night, but they insisted that we bring the menorahs into the bedroom, since they were both too weak to walk to the living room. They seemed pleased with their gifts (an erector set and an Angry Birds board game), in so far as kids that sick can muster much enthusiasm.

Zion threw up last night too, also on his blanket. As I attempted to sweep the second blanket he was using out of the range of fire I managed to actually drag it through the existing vomit- turns out I'm even more graceful when sick. At that point 2 of our 4 blankets were dirty, so more emergency blanket washing took place, though Robert got the honors this time. Poor guy. Sick wife, sick kids, errands, and now washing puke from blankets in a bucket in the bathroom! He also ran to the desk to ask if we could get another blanket. They said they'd look, and sent up sheets. So the kids and I slept in our bed with the one big blanket, and Robert slept in Liel's bed under a pile of sheets.

A couple of times in the night Zion had horrible wracking coughs. In the early morning, during one such episode, he threw up again (only since he hadn't eaten anything it was just bile, poor boy). Then this morning he had another. After this third incident it occurred to me that all three times he threw up he'd just been given a chloroseptic cough drop, since he was telling us how much the coughing hurt his throat. My working hypothesis is now that Zion is allergic to something in those drops. Since then he's had water and a couple of small bananas and had no tummy troubles.

We had 3 visits today too- or rather, Robert did, while the kids and I hid out in my room and yes, watched movies. Two were from the IT department, trying to figure out what's wrong with our ethernet, and then fix it (they believe the wiring is faulty, I think, and are planning to come back tomorrow), and one from the man in Robert's department who has been helping him get settled on campus. He's taken Robert to get pictures taken (hence Robert having an Indian sized passport photo), to get a campus ID, helped him gather documents, and took him to the FRRO on Monday too (that trip, incidentally, was successful! Took pretty much all day, but we'd been told it can require multiple trips, so no complaints). Anyway, we've been trying to find someone we can hire to do our laundry and some light cleaning, and he brought over a potential candidate, who we (Robert really, as I was watching Kung Fu Panda) hired. Her first day is Friday!

Side note: I think the Angry Birds game might be a bootleg. I can't find anything quite like it for sale (there are board games, but not one like this) and the English is totally charming.

"Where are our eggs?", lament the birds. "They must be stolen by that green pigs!"

"We are so happy that we had stolen their eggs!", gloat the pigs.

"Why angry birds so angry?" asks the unseen narrator.

Pretty rad.

Jews on the move

A new packing dilemma has presented itself: which of our religious objects should we bring with us to Bangalore?

We'll be in India for Hanukkah, Purim, Pesach, and of course Shabbos. Many Shabboses. Hanukkah we've settled- the kids each have a hanukkiah with their name on it, and we're bringing both of those. I even bought candles for them in advance (normally we buy our Hanukkah candles about 3 days before the holiday begins)! They're already packed, wrapped up in some cloth diapers I'm bringing for a woman I met on Rav who wants to cloth diaper her baby.

Pesach is also (sadly) a no brainer, as we simply do not have the luggage space to bring our gorgeous seder plate, matzo box etc. I love them so much, and will miss seeing them at the holiday this year. And there's nothing particular we need to bring for Purim, so that's easy too.

The hard part is Shabbos. We love Shabbos, and love the beautiful objects that we use to celebrate the day.

Our candlesticks

Our kiddush cup

This beautiful incense burner that my grandmother bought us in Budapest (it is an antique and likely belonged to a family who fled Hungary during the Shoah. We treasure it.). It's this cool art-deco-y kind of thing, made of silver, shaped like a flower.

A flower with a star of David on the top.

I'm told that we will be able to find candles and candlesticks quite easily, so I think we will buy those there. I'm too nervous to bring our incense burner; it will stay at home. So I suppose we will have room for the kiddush cup, though I expect wine might be hard to come by!

We're bringing a mezuzah, too, of course. The one we have on our front door has been at the front door of every house that Robert and I have lived in together, and I was very tempted to take it (and put up another in its place while we're gone). However, I believe we're going to take this one instead. It was made by a friend of mine, and I think it will be joyful to see it on the doorpost of our home in Bangalore.

We use these objects on a regular basis to constantly construct our identity, examine our choices, and reinforce our values. It's hard to think of leaving any of them behind, but I'm looking forward to using some of them (and finding others) to create a Jewish home for our family in a new world, just as Jews have always done. And at the same time I am incredibly grateful that we are making this move because we want to, and not because we fear for our lives, as so many Jews (including my own family) have been forced to do. Still, it is the transportable nature of our rituals, our beliefs, and our selves that has allowed us survive and thrive in communities around the world. When we became Jews on the move, we also became the People of the Book.