Daddy day camp with lots of Silvia photos!

Tuesday of this past week was Silvia's last day of pre-school. The school has summer vacation until September 1st, and so Daddy Day Camp is in session.

Miriam's daycare was supposed to continue throughout August, as the director of the program told us, but we found out that the day care is actually closed, but now it's a "Kaitannah" or summer program that we have to pay extra for. The director had actually billed us for the month of regular day car for August without telling us that we would ALSO have to pay an extra fee for the summer program that began August 9th. In other words, pay for 31 days of August PLUS 20 days of summer camp. She asked us for it the August payment two days before the Kaitannah started, and then we were complete caught off guard about also paying for the Kaitannah. Needless to say we were really pissed. When I tried to talk to her about, she kept saying that it was in the contract we signed (which it sort of was, but a friend, who is a lawyer, looked at it and told us that the contract is very unclear). She was completely unwilling to negotiate, and now we are left with a bitter taste in our mouth and zero trust in what she tells us. We are debating on whether or not to look for a new day care, but most of them are full at this point. It's also right next door, so the location is hard to beat. But we've sucked up our pride (and outrage) and paid the extra fee, so Miriam is daycare for the month.

All of this means that Silvia and are I are having a lot of fun together and are able to do things that are appropriate for her without having to figure out a way to involve Miriam. We started last week with some art projects:





On Thursday of last week we went to a local fair that was set up in a nearby park. I use the term fair loosely. It is called a gymboree here and it consists of inflatable moon bounces of varying types and a few ancient kiddie amusement rides. While we were waiting in line, we ran into a friend of hers from pre-school and we were able to pal around the rest of the day. It took her a little while to figure out how to bounce, but once she did, I could barely get her off of them. (unfortunately for y'all, I forgot to bring my camera.)

We went on two rides, an old airplane ride where the kids went around and the cars went up and down, and a train ride. I realized that in the states, this park would have been shut down in about five minutes for safety violations, but here, no one seemed to care. The airplane ride lifted the kids about ten feet in the air and the only thing holding them in was a rope tied across their waists. When the ride finished, I went to get Silvia and she had already undone the rope!

One of the nicest moments was when we left the airplane ride, we went to stand in the shade by a train ride that was turned off. The kids, of course, started to climb on the train and so I grabbed the side of the train and realized I could move it myself. I said "All aboard" and with the help of one of the other parents we started moving the train around the track. We were having a great time, and then we realized that other parents had started to line up with their kids. We called out "last stop!", got everyone off the train, and right as we were leaving, one of the employees (a teenager) came over and told us we needed to leave this ride alone.

Silvia had a great time, and there is another "gymboree" on the roof of the local mall next week, so we may go to that as well.

Today we took a field trip to the old city. On the way there, we stopped in the center of town for lunch and accidentally found the united buddy bears exhibit. It's kind of like the Cows on Parade in Houston and Boston (you can email Susie for a photo of their cow), but all of the bears were done from artists of different countries. It was very cool. Silvia picked out her favorite bears:






After the bears, we split some humus for lunch and then went to the old city in search of a camel. We had a great time exploring the Arab shuk and looking at all the interesting textiles and gifts. Silvia especially liked the carpet shop that had carpets on the walls and ceiling. "they are very silly" she said.

We wandered around and ended up leaving the Tourist shuk and going into the Arab shuk where people who live there actually buy things. It was interesting the be in this very crowded market where all the stores are tiny shoeboxes and all the streets are ancient stones, but in many of the stores there were glassed in display windows. They sold everything from women's clothes to stereo equipment, and I even passed one Internet cafe. I almost wanted to take a picture, but knew I was one of the few tourist there and didn't want to emphasize the point.

And for all of you who are worried about safety: Don't. I passed quite a number of border police who would have stopped me if things were dangerous, and I felt quite safe among the hoards of shoppers. I ended up leaving the old city via the Damascus gate, which I wasn't planning, but again, most people ignored me, and the few who noticed me, wanted to sell me things.

Another interesting observation was that the tourist shuk was mostly deserted while the Arab shuk was bustling. Guess the drop in tourism is hitting them hard as well. Don't people realize that war is bad for business? Unless, of course, you are a former CEO of Haliburton with lost of stock options.

Tomorrow we are headed to the science museum here. Tuesday we are going to the sifting project that I wrote about earlier, and Wednesday or Thursday I am hoping to go to the zoo or the children's wing at the Israel Museum. I'm thinking I might get a membership to some of the museums and go two or three times during her break. I think the repetition will serve her better than too many new things. When her little testing demon hasn't taken over, Silvia is a delight to be with, and we are enjoying the time we have together.