Lisa Biton made Aliyah from the San Francisco Bay Area in 2009. She met her husband, an Israeli, while studying abroad at Ben Gurion University. After living in California for two years they decided to make the move to Israel with their then 3 month old. Lisa and her family have been living in Kiryat Gat in southern Israel, and are both teachers – her husband at a local religious high school, and Lisa for an American online school and an American study abroad school.
6:30 – Wake up comes courtesy of my 6 year old, followed soon after by my 4 month old. I get them both fed and changed, then work on getting my 4 year old up and ready for school.
8:00 – My husband takes the girls to Gan (pre-school and kindergarten) and I settle in for a mix of work and taking care of my 4 month old. I have been blessed to work two jobs since making Aliyah, one from home and one for an American study abroad school. Currently I am working full-time at home, thanks to a very understanding company and Israel’s maternity leave laws.
14:00 – I make the 10 minute walk to pick the girls up from school. On the way we stop at one of the many local parks and hang out with our neighbors.
16:45 – Today the girls have ballet class, so I drop them off and run errands nearby. Since it is May, my husband is teaching long hours to get his students ready for the math Bagrut (standardized exams students take at the high school level).
20:30 – Once the kids are fed, clean and asleep I go out for a run through the neighborhood. Recently we have put together a group of Olim runners in the South, through NBN Go South – our first race was the Be’er Sheva Light Run, and our next will be here in Kiryat Gat the first week of June. I love having a group of people who support each other in so many ways
21:45 – My Partner-in-Torah calls for our weekly learning session. We started learning together 8 years ago and moved to Israel within 6 months of each other. Today we discuss Jewish views on raising children, and then our lives as immigrants.
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