23rd November 1986

Hello! I have the greatest news ever! My little sister Tali David was born at seven o clock yesterday evening. Which is good because she wasn't born on the Shabbat because the sun had set. I made Ziva go and check, I knew she would be horrified if Tali had broken the sacred laws of the Shabbat - even though we are not Orthodox. Personally, I don't think G-d would mind if Tali was born in the sunlight hours. A new life has been brought into His kingdom. I think He is pleased.

Tali is adorable. Aba wouldn't let Ziva and I see her for long because Ima was tired and needed to sleep. I even got a chance to hold her although I wasn't allowed to stand up and hold her which was annoying but I understand. Tali is so tiny. Her eyes have not opened yet but her face is so small and she has a lot of hair for a baby! Ima agrees but she says that David women always have lot's of hair. She does and so does Ziva. It's brown and long.

I had to go to school today. I didn't mind though because I like school. Does that make me strange? I like learning new things and learning why things are the way they are. It's nice to be able to make sense of some things at least. My friends were all asking about the baby. And so were their Ima's. Honestly, how one group of women can be so incredibly nosy is beyond me. They kept asking questions about 'is it a boy or girl?' 'how much does she weigh?' 'what is her name?' 'Have you been to temple yet?' 'would Rivka like it if I come around with a falafel?' Ima does not even like falafel. I, however, love the food so I said that Ima would be touched. She will be, she just will not eat the aforementioned touching beverage.

I am getting really confused as to what I should write in this diary. It is not a story. I know I have written that before but a story would be so much easier because it's hard to be imaginative about real life. Does that make sense? I suppose it doesn't matter if is does not make sense because I am the only one likely to read this and even then I do not think I will look back on it. It will be too embarrassing. I like writing stories. You can change the ending. That is my favourite thing about writing. I like being able to change things because some endings aren't always what you expect them to be. They are not all happy. I am not sure I would like them to be that way anyway.

Apparently, in the UK and US, they go to school Monday to Friday and then have Saturday and Sunday off. We go to school Monday through Thursday and then have Friday and Saturday off. I think it is because of the Shabbat because the US and UK are mostly Christian countries so their Holy day is a Sunday and I think it is against the law or something to go to school on the Holy day but do not hold me to that. I am not entirely sure although it would explain why we do not go to school during Pesach and so forth.

I am dreading Tali growing up. Imagine having two sisters in the house instead of one! Although I cannot really complain. I love Ziva dearly and to be fair she is quite boyish and does not chase me to play princesses with her. In fact, Ziva spits on princesses. Literally. My Aunt Nettie did not make the mistake of buying her a princess doll twice. We prefer cops and robbers. Now that, is a fun game. Aba always stops us though, he says that the cops do not always catch the robbers. But they must, they have to. If the cops don't always catch the robbers then what is there - a world full of crime? No, for this one, I believe Aba is wrong.

I think that is enough for today. My hand aches after the three hours of homework I did after school today and the hours of lessons.

Laila Tov.

Ari

….

24th November 1986

Shalom!

I realise that I've been writing in this diary very prim and proper. I blame it entirely on the English. I hate it! It's such a difficult language to learn and they all have words that mean the same thing! Every time I write this, all I want to do is form Hebrew letters. Of course I should be used to it by now, I know almost four languages fluently and apparently that's rare for a twelve year old. Of course not everyone's father is Eli David. I have been getting English lessons since I was four years old and I was brought up with Hebrew and Arabic. I have only recently began learning Russian, I think it's a beautiful language, it turns everything into poetry.

Of course not everyone thinks that way. Ima (Rivka) absolutely hates Russian. I don't actually know the reason but I think it has something to do with the fact that she had a very unfortunate encounter with a Russian a while back. I don't know and I certainly don't intend to ask. When Rivka gets mad, she scares me. Of course she scares everyone when she's angry, maybe even Aba. Maybe not. Every time she gets angry, Aba leaves the house. Sometimes I don't like Aba, he can be very scary and he is always very harsh.

I am sorry this entry is so short but I am so, very tired and it is still quite warm here, even though it is November. My hand aches from writing these strange letters but it is good practise.

Laila Tov

Ari


A/N - I've decided to have more than one entry in this 'diary' because it could get rather long otherwise. This is still quite short but I hope you don't mind. I mean to have this up yesterday and if everything goes good, i will update every Sunday. I have a lot going on at school at the moment so please, bare with me. Please review - they are 100% bio-degradable.

Disclaimer: If I owned NCIS then there would probably be a lot more Tiva, McAbby and the show would probably be a mess. You're all probably glad that I don't own NCIS.