God has blessed me with eight beautiful grandsons and one granddaughter. You may be able to deduce that the boys outnumber the girls.
After growing up with two sisters and having two daughters and one son, it took me a while to realize that my grandparenting life would have more to do with guns, trucks, and those sounds boys make when they are shooting something, than with Barbies and braids. Thank goodness Ariella the Granddaughter is quite girly and allows me to brush her hair and buy her girlie things.
Well, back to the male hordes. Boys love fighting. They just do. When our own son was little, we, as card-carrying Hippie Parents, made sure not to buy him guns because we were sure we knew the recipe for raising peace-loving men.
He proceeded to create a gun out of a piece of challah. And shoot his sisters with it. Huh.
My Israeli grandsons have taught me about the various TV shows that they absolutely adore and could watch nonstop for weeks on end. Nadav, the youngest, is still fascinated by Curious George, but he's the aberration.
The rest of them love things like Power Rangers - they watch this and then proceed to spend hours acting out the stories. It's great for imagination, and I love hearing the discussions about the tactics of said warriors. Production-wise, Power Rangers ranks up there with your backyard puppet show, but these guys do not seem to care.
Then there is my personal hero, Sportacus. Apparently this is a TV show which originates in Iceland and the story line involves the lead character who tries to get the kids in "Lazy Town" to eat vegetables and exercise, and has to continually fight Robbie Rotten, who wants them to eat candy all day and just be, well, lazy.
This guy is amazing. No, really! He does all kinds of gymnastics, and lives in a super cool spaceship that hovers above Lazy Town, and he is always saving people.
The reason I'm telling you all of this (I can see you shaking your head and asking what this has to do with aliyah, so just hold your pants on) is that all of these shows are of course dubbed into Hebrew. As a side note, the mouths of the (and I use this word loosely) actors never match the words that come out of them. And yet these kids do not even blink. Why? Because almost everything they watch is dubbed, so they're used to it. (Anyone else thinking right now about the SNL Japanese movie skit with John Belushi? I thought so).
Anyway, my point here is that I get to learn Hebrew by watching with them, combining my favorite activities - sitting with my grandkids and learning Hebrew! See, I have learned lots of Hebrew by watching kids' TV with them - because the child characters in the shows speak at a level only a few higher than the level I speak on!
My favorite moments involve me watching intently and then asking the six year old, "What does that mean?" and having him (politely and patiently) roll his eyes at me and say, "Bubby, didn't you go to Ulpan?" I'm sure he's thinking, "Look, I"m 6 and I understand this, and she's [not 6] and keeps asking questions. Sheesh."
So, thank you Sportacus for your contribution to my aliyah and I hope that one day I can take a ride in your spaceship. As long as my grandkids can come with me so they can translate.
Sportacus
After growing up with two sisters and having two daughters and one son, it took me a while to realize that my grandparenting life would have more to do with guns, trucks, and those sounds boys make when they are shooting something, than with Barbies and braids. Thank goodness Ariella the Granddaughter is quite girly and allows me to brush her hair and buy her girlie things.
Well, back to the male hordes. Boys love fighting. They just do. When our own son was little, we, as card-carrying Hippie Parents, made sure not to buy him guns because we were sure we knew the recipe for raising peace-loving men.
He proceeded to create a gun out of a piece of challah. And shoot his sisters with it. Huh.
My Israeli grandsons have taught me about the various TV shows that they absolutely adore and could watch nonstop for weeks on end. Nadav, the youngest, is still fascinated by Curious George, but he's the aberration.
The rest of them love things like Power Rangers - they watch this and then proceed to spend hours acting out the stories. It's great for imagination, and I love hearing the discussions about the tactics of said warriors. Production-wise, Power Rangers ranks up there with your backyard puppet show, but these guys do not seem to care.
Then there is my personal hero, Sportacus. Apparently this is a TV show which originates in Iceland and the story line involves the lead character who tries to get the kids in "Lazy Town" to eat vegetables and exercise, and has to continually fight Robbie Rotten, who wants them to eat candy all day and just be, well, lazy.This guy is amazing. No, really! He does all kinds of gymnastics, and lives in a super cool spaceship that hovers above Lazy Town, and he is always saving people.
The reason I'm telling you all of this (I can see you shaking your head and asking what this has to do with aliyah, so just hold your pants on) is that all of these shows are of course dubbed into Hebrew. As a side note, the mouths of the (and I use this word loosely) actors never match the words that come out of them. And yet these kids do not even blink. Why? Because almost everything they watch is dubbed, so they're used to it. (Anyone else thinking right now about the SNL Japanese movie skit with John Belushi? I thought so).
Anyway, my point here is that I get to learn Hebrew by watching with them, combining my favorite activities - sitting with my grandkids and learning Hebrew! See, I have learned lots of Hebrew by watching kids' TV with them - because the child characters in the shows speak at a level only a few higher than the level I speak on!
My favorite moments involve me watching intently and then asking the six year old, "What does that mean?" and having him (politely and patiently) roll his eyes at me and say, "Bubby, didn't you go to Ulpan?" I'm sure he's thinking, "Look, I"m 6 and I understand this, and she's [not 6] and keeps asking questions. Sheesh."
So, thank you Sportacus for your contribution to my aliyah and I hope that one day I can take a ride in your spaceship. As long as my grandkids can come with me so they can translate.
Sportacus
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