Arrival
Happy Yom Kippur from Israel! I have arrived during the holiday season, starting with New Year’s eve last Friday, now Yom Kippur. While some consider Yom Kippur the holiest day in the Jewish religion – a day of fasting and atonement – I see it as the official 24-hours of sustainable transportation. Starting from sundown today until sundown tomorrow, nobody drives. And, sure enough, as Danny predicted, there were long, long queues at all the bike stores today. People have a whole year to prepare and then wait until the last day along with everyone else to get their bikes sorted. I am learning that this is a somewhat typical middle-eastern “non” planning style.The Kids
So we are at home now with “the kids”. Did I really just write that? :> Yes, I guess I did. They are here today and tomorrow over Yom Kippur, which is a holiday from school and work. Literally everything shuts down. Even the television stations don’t broadcast. Typically we have the kids Monday and Thursday (afternoon and evenings) and every second weekend. The weekend here -- btw -- is Friday and Saturday.
“The kids” are great and have accepted me quite easily. Oren, Danny’s daughter, is turning ten in a week. She is quite wise and analytical for someone so small and even has her own blog. And, she is also a little girl with a big smile who wants McDonalds and ice-cream, collects Bratz dolls, loves animals and sucks her thumb in the backseat of the car when she is tired and overwhelmed. Itamar is six and very independent. Don’t try telling him what to do or offer to help him. He wants to do it on his own, his way, even if he struggles. He seems to have inherited this from his father. :> He is very active and also very sweet, although not as outwardly warm to me as Oren.
Since I arrived we have started to rollerblade together. There is a rollerblading rink and mini skate park where you can rent blades and zoom around to music. So, this has been fun to do together. Given the absence of cars, we tried blading on the roads in the village where we live this evening. The roads are rather bumpy though, so this was short-lived.
Village Life
We are living in a little agricultural village, Kfar Sirkin, a half-hour from Tel Aviv. It is surrounded by fruit orchards and good mountain biking trails. It has been so hot though (85-100 degrees Fahrenheit – 30-37 Celsius) that the best time for biking is at 7am or 5pm. I haven’t managed to wake up for any early AM bike rides yet but have gone biking a bit in the evenings. We just got our mountain bikes tuned up, so more to come!
The village has a community centre two minutes away by bike with an outdoor pool, small gym, tennis courts and sauna. I LOVE the pool and sauna (I got hooked on saunas in Sweden). The pool closes down in two weeks though but I’m trying to convince the guy who runs it to keep the sauna over the winter. The gym will stay open for sure. There is a larger gym that is maybe a 15-20 minute bike ride through the back roads. I may join this one as the pool stays open all year, has lots of classes, a better gym, and of course a sauna. Danny warms me though that when the winter comes heavy rains and mud might dissuade me from making the trek there. There is something to be said for a close commute. Apparently there are other classes in the village too but I haven’t found out about this yet. I haven’t had much chance to make friends here yet but have started to meet some friendly Russian immigrants in the sauna. And, my organic gardening mentor, Nadav, is waiting for me around the corner, when I am ready to get down in the dirt.
Dogs and Cat, Fleas and Rat!
For now, I have been dealing with the dirt in our house. Danny is renting a house in the village that is simple but comfortable. Our bedroom, the kids room, my new office / guest room, Danny’s office, kitchen, two bathrooms, living room and small porch off the back of our room. There is a big yard / field in the back with green and yellow parrots flying around in our pecan trees. We have spent the past two weeks settling in together as a couple, cleaning and moving things around. One week after arrival we caught what was either a very big mouse or a small rat. Now, some of you might know about my rodent phobia. When I was awoken to mice in my bedroom in the old orange house on Ontario St, I called Jen in the middle of the night to ask if I could stay over, after trying to sleep in the bathtub, and deciding that this was not even a safe option. So, needless to say, I have been a little “freaked” out. Before I moved here I told Danny that I was pretty laid back about cleaning and liked things tidy but lived in. Well, he is now convinced that I am completely compulsive, as I have been a bit manic about washing and sterilizing everything. We have now cemented in the holes where we think the intruders were coming in and hopefully there will be no more unwanted visitors. Danny had bought a kitten before I arrived to be the official mouser, but “Skittie”, while playful and delightful is not much bigger than the mouse/rat. So, fingers crossed for no more rodents.
So, the day after we get the holes plugged and the “shit” cleaned out of the closets, we get infested by fleas. Danny has two dogs that live under the porch who have attracted a lot of admirers. Danny went down to pesticide the area, which sent them “flea-ing” upstairs. This resulted in a sleepless night in bed picking off the little buggers … So, yes, I have felt rather traumatized this past week. Hopefully the worst is over and we can start focusing more on fun and less on home invasions. Paul was right in more ways than one when he said that I was more fearful of do”micile” than missiles!
On that note, the feeling here has been quite calm since I arrived. There is a sense that things will be peaceful for a while. How long this will last until the next eruption, nobody knows. But for now, my battles are being fought on the home front.
(Ok – strike this comment – I just read the news about Gaza this morning. That being said, while its a very sad situation and quite close to where we are living from a North American perspective, it is seemingly far away by Israeli standards).
Friends and Family
As we have been quite consumed in contending with pest-free survival, I still haven’t met a lot of people aside from Danny’s family and a few of his friends. Danny’s family is quite small, his older brother, Alon, his wife Rona, and twins (two sets!), his mom, Bianka, and his Aunt Janka, who is more like a grandma. The family is Polish by origin so we have perogies in common. I like his family very much and they have made me feel at home, right away.
Dependency
I think that one of my biggest challenges (other than the obvious) has been feeling so dependent on Danny. His country, language, car, house, kids, family, friends, etc, etc. Every time I need to do something I have to ask his help. This will all come over time, but it is difficult for me, and a lot to ask of him. So, I have to take steps to be more pro-active and also make some of my own friends. That being said, I do have to remind myself that it has just been 2.5 weeks since I arrived. Patience, grasshopper…
Hebrew
One of my priorities before I arrived was to begin learning Hebrew immediately so that I could transition into life here more quickly. So, with that in mind, I landed at the “Ulpan” (Hebrew language school), 36 hours after arrival. Classes start in September and I had already missed four classes so I thought I should go to check it out despite the fact that I was completely jet-lagged and could barely keep my eyes open (10 hour time difference from Vancouver). I’m thinking I’m pretty good at languages and I can catch up. Well, I get to the class and the teacher is speaking only in Hebrew. AND—writing on the board in squiggles from right to left. Not even printing the characters, which I might have had a chance of deciphering a few. But writing, in cursive style, completely unrecognizable lines and swirls. Two and a half hours of torture as I tried to stay awake and understand what the #$$%@% was going on. Finally everyone gets up and I think its time to leave. But no, they start touching various body parts and mumbling things I can’t understand. The only positive outcome was that I came away knowing “Touseek” – or “Ass” after I watched everyone touch their bums a few times!
In the end, not wanting to subject myself to additional, unneeded stress, my tutelage at the Ulpan was short-lived. For now, I am learning a little on my own with a book and picking up quite a bit being with Danny and the kids (who don’t speak much English). When I am ready, I will look into a tutor or possibly sign up for a class in January.
And, the good life…
And, along with the challenges, I also really like it here …
I love having so much fresh fruit and veggies grown locally. I have been making big bowls of fruit salad every morning with mango, passionfruit, guava, pomegranate, etc. Overall, I’m quite enamoured by the food here, especially the great ready-made homous, eggplant and chicken dishes that reheat very nicely in the microwave! I will start cooking eventually I’m sure, but I have enough on my plate (:>) for the time being… And, Danny’s quite a good cook, so that helps!
I also love the warm-weather lifestyle. The roads are lined with date palms and bright coloured flowers. I wear tank tops, skirts/shorts and flip-flops every day. The evenings are wonderfully balmy. The sea is only a half an hour drive away – sandy beaches, warm water and cool restaurants with comfy chairs and couches to relax in. You can feel like you are permanently on holiday.
Tel Aviv and nearby Hertziliya are both very hip with lots of interesting corners, shops, restaurants and live music. Jaffa, a historic Arab town next to Tel Aviv is also fun to explore. And, Jerusalem, is simply beyond words. It is truly a fascinating country. Soon we will go to the south of Israel for a weekend, on the border of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Cool, or what?
Danny
And, last but not least Danny has been great. He has been very caring, understanding and supportive in helping me get settled here. He is also a wonderful, father and son and very giving to those around him. Of course, getting used to living together has not been a complete breeze. We have had our moments, heightened by my rodent rampage. And, I have to admit that there is something about someone else’s dirt that is much grosser than your own. All in all, though, we are finding our way together and having some fun too.
So, on that note, I will go now to see what the rest of the household is up to -- Danny, kids, Dogs, Cat, Fleas, Rat....
posted by Heather Worosz @ 9:35 PM
1 comments
