We are now in the midst of the non-holy days of Passover. And of course, the kids are not in school and they need to be entertained. Notice that I said "need". I would prefer not to entertain them and they would prefer not to be entertained, but without some strictly imposed entertainment there is a very good chance that someone here would kill someone else here.
The majority of our friends leave town at the first sign of any holiday. I think that that is primarily because we don't have non-working, non-school day Sundays in Israel and people are desperate to do anything but go to work, school or synagogue -- which pretty much wraps up how we spend most of our time. And Passover in Ra'anana is commemorated annually with a mass exodus to rival the departure from Egypt. The only difference is that everyone has hotel reservations and activity schedules.
Last year we went away during Passover and were reminded why we don't do so regularly. First of all there is my cheap gene; I hate paying three times the standard price simply because it is Passover. The food is worse and everyone and their dog is crowding all the places I would otherwise like to go. Second, I do not like packing, unpacking, repacking and inevitably finding out that I don't have something I want or need. The bottom line is that older I get, the less I like to leave home. Chaim thinks it's an illness; I think that, on the contrary, it demonstrates my satisfaction with the simple pleasures in life, such as all my shoes and clothes in one place, a choice of books to read, and a backyard patio that I like.
However, even though we stayed home that doesn't mean that we "stayed home". Otherwise my kids would have watched television and played computer games even more than they already did. Yael is now in the middle of her seventh viewing in four days of West Side Story. If I hear "I Want To Live In America" one more time I am going to scream or just pack and move there.
This brings me to how we ended up on The Burma Road earlier today. It seemed like such a good idea. So much of Israel's ancient and modern history occurred near or along this road that I felt we should take a little jaunt there.
For those of you who don't know, The Burma Road, which is named after the road that the was built between Burma and China in the 1930s and played a big role during World War II, played one of the most vital roles in Israel's War of Independence in 1948. It was also the site of the battle between David and Goliath, Joshua and the Amorites, and the ever-friendly Christian Crusaders and the even-less-friendly Moslem locals.
Now if that is not a slice of history, I don't know what is. That said, when we arrived where the newspaper suggested that we start our hike, we were struck by the fact that it is just a dirt road. Chaim was muttering that the entire way there because he has biked that route so many times. Not to be deterred from force-entertaining my children, I insisted that we go there regardless of the dullness factor.
Okay, before this drags on, let's just say I was wrong. The road is dull and while it is easy to walk, no one wants to walk it because it is dull. And even if someone wants to walk it, that someone's mother-in-law might not be able to walk it even though it is listed as a family-friendly walk. And then if someone decides to move to another point on the road and start again, there is a very good chance that someone's husband will make an illegal U-Turn and get a 500 shekel ticket. And at that point, everyone will agree that they should have stayed home, watched television and played computer games all day.
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