Life in Israel

As always, I find myself in a bliss wishing that the outside world wouldn’t remind me of its existence.

However it has just been that special holiday when one thinks of others and I was very surprised to find that I missed the chaos and tension of the Xmas I so much love to hate. I missed the arguments with Dragon mum and the last minute Xmas shopping whilst the rest of Sweden watches cartoons on television. I missed starving all day and longing for the traditional Polish thirteen dishes for dinner even though it would mean killing that beautiful big fish we’d had swimming around in our bathtub the last few days. I missed getting horribly tangled up in tinsel whilst dressing the tree and I missed cursing my sister under my breath cause she gets away with not dressing it cause of her allergy. I missed opening presents and feigning happy surprise at the check I get from Dad and the pink underwear I get from Mum every year. And I missed apologising by phone to faraway friends and family because I am so bad at keeping in touch.

But life here in Israel is wonderful. The days start with being woken by the phone at 7.30 – it’s the smiling neighbour Iris, who takes me out walking for an hour. When I get back I put the boiler on for hot water and then snuggle up next to the loved one in bed. At elevenish I get up for a hot shower, grilled pita bread and coffee. I usually sit in the sun on the two tiny steps in front of the door of the little bungalow where we live with my breakfast watching the grove of silvery olive trees in front of the house and behind it the soft hills dotted with eucalyptus trees, here, there and everywhere a movement will reveal a white cow grazing.

Sitting there I hear Thai pop music, the houses on both sides of the bungalow belong to Thai immigrant workers and a few times a day ten of them crowded on a tractor drive by. They seem very sad, my Drummer Boy told me they stay in Israel for at least 4 years, the entire first year only pays for the working permit.

Some days Drummer Boy works from 6 in the morning but when he doesn’t I wake him a couple of hours after I get up. During the day not much happens, I study and listen to music being made on the keyboard and every couple of hours Iris’s husband Eyal comes by to play with the beloved. Eyal works at the school which is just across the road from us and whenever he has a break he will come over for a chat, coffee or just to jam. The best moments are when the two of them go crazy in the music room of the school, Drummer Boy on percussions and Eyal on piano. I could listen to them for ever, they are the best jamming sessions I’ve ever heard.

Then day unfortuanatly has to end and even though they end late for me it usually is even later for the loved one who can play till five in the morning. This is my life. This is bliss.