Sunday, February 1, 2009

Back to How I Got Here

And so began our odyssey.

The following summer we spent five weeks in Israel. The first week we stayed in the home of one of Chaim's old friends from Canada, Dave. Naturally, we arrived in the middle of a heatwave. I seem to have a knack for that.

When we arrived on the outskirts of northern Netanya – in what can only be called "Cool Bachelor Beach Territory" – our bachelor friend Dave was out of the country.

And he hadn't been there in a few weeks so the house was food-free. Not that bachelors have that much food to begin with. I think they eat out a lot. So there wasn't a stitch of food – or water for that matter.All there was was the Russian cleaning lady doing heavens knows what. There was nothing to clean. No one had been there for weeks!!!

Chaim went to get some basics at the local mini-market (notice that mini-markets play a recurring theme in my experience here). After he left, I realized that I had made the wrong choice. I should have gone to the mini-market and left him home with three exhausted, dehydrated children. Chaim was gone for what seemed like hours – I'm sure it wasn't but it felt that way.

I am also sure that there was a little part of him that was debating the benefits of abandoning us versus returning with food and drink. But how far can a guy really get with no car and no money? It’s not like we were in the middle of some civilized place. We were in romanticized beach country where cool young professionals from Tel Aviv spend their weekends and older beachcomber and hippie types retire.

I guess Chaim did return eventually and I can only guess that we inhaled whatever food he bought. Blanking out the painful details has become a hallmark of my Israel experiences leading up to moving here. It's an excellent tactic and I highly recommend it.

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