We have spent the alst two days unwrapping. I am not making this up. We have unwrapped furniture, china, lamps, sheets, clothes, linens - you name it, it was wrapped in Baltimore and unwrapped in Modiin. We even had a little action figure who has become a family joke (don't ask), and he was double/triple/quadruple wrapped as well.
But "wrapping" just doesn't describe how this packing was done. If the ship our lift was on had been through a hurricane, earthquake, and volcano I am certain that everything would have arrived safely. We are stymied by how the packers labeled things - a box with three books and a tray was labeled "hallway accessories." And a box with candlesticks was labeled "china." I mean, candlesticks are the same in any culture, right? But it's the layers upon layers of paper that astound us - we have taken out about 15 bags of paper so far. Save what forests?
And although I know you are all relieved that we discovered what was in the sewing machine box, thus far we have not found our Shabbos dishes - not that we plan to spend Shabbos there yet.
You see, as of today we have no electricity and there are no...um...plumbing fixtures. Let's just leave it at that. We HOPE to get electricity tomorrow. Which would be good because, believe it or not it is freezing cold in that apartment.
I know, I know, it's Israel, how cold can it be? Well, try staying in an unheated apartment in Israel once the sun goes down and you'll find out. It's bone chilling. Probably because everything is constructed with concrete and stone. Now that is great in the summer when you want to preserve the cool inside, but terrible for winter if your heat is not working yet. Yesterday it took my hands and feet two hours to come back to normal temperature after a day of unpacking.
So we head over to our new place every morning with a gleam in our eyes and hope in our hearts, ready for a day of unpacking. We arrive around 9 and it feels just fine in there. "It's not cold," we say, "what were we thinking yesterday?" Then, after about 1 or 2 pm the you notice you keep rubbing your hands together and putting your hand over your nose to warm it up. Then you start dreaming of getting under about 15 blankets in your bed, then you realize you are shivering. Then it's time to go home.
But every day brings a new adventure. Today Bern went to the city office to show them our contract and our Teudat Oleh (new immigrant document) so that they charge us only ten gazillion and not a hundred gazillion shekel for our arnona (property tax) and - they were closed. Of course! It was after 1 pm. So he called me and asked me to write down the office hours as he read them to me so we'd have it for posterity.
So here's the schedule:
Wednesday - electricity
Thursday - plumbing
Friday - car shopping!
But "wrapping" just doesn't describe how this packing was done. If the ship our lift was on had been through a hurricane, earthquake, and volcano I am certain that everything would have arrived safely. We are stymied by how the packers labeled things - a box with three books and a tray was labeled "hallway accessories." And a box with candlesticks was labeled "china." I mean, candlesticks are the same in any culture, right? But it's the layers upon layers of paper that astound us - we have taken out about 15 bags of paper so far. Save what forests?
And although I know you are all relieved that we discovered what was in the sewing machine box, thus far we have not found our Shabbos dishes - not that we plan to spend Shabbos there yet.
You see, as of today we have no electricity and there are no...um...plumbing fixtures. Let's just leave it at that. We HOPE to get electricity tomorrow. Which would be good because, believe it or not it is freezing cold in that apartment.
I know, I know, it's Israel, how cold can it be? Well, try staying in an unheated apartment in Israel once the sun goes down and you'll find out. It's bone chilling. Probably because everything is constructed with concrete and stone. Now that is great in the summer when you want to preserve the cool inside, but terrible for winter if your heat is not working yet. Yesterday it took my hands and feet two hours to come back to normal temperature after a day of unpacking.
So we head over to our new place every morning with a gleam in our eyes and hope in our hearts, ready for a day of unpacking. We arrive around 9 and it feels just fine in there. "It's not cold," we say, "what were we thinking yesterday?" Then, after about 1 or 2 pm the you notice you keep rubbing your hands together and putting your hand over your nose to warm it up. Then you start dreaming of getting under about 15 blankets in your bed, then you realize you are shivering. Then it's time to go home.
But every day brings a new adventure. Today Bern went to the city office to show them our contract and our Teudat Oleh (new immigrant document) so that they charge us only ten gazillion and not a hundred gazillion shekel for our arnona (property tax) and - they were closed. Of course! It was after 1 pm. So he called me and asked me to write down the office hours as he read them to me so we'd have it for posterity.
So here's the schedule:
Wednesday - electricity
Thursday - plumbing
Friday - car shopping!
Ooh, car shopping. I haven't done that yet. I'm sure you will make it humorous :)
ReplyDelete