Tel Aviv Diary - August 23-27, 2013 - Karen Alkalay-Gut

August 23, 2013

By the time I got home last night it was too late to write. And it was a long day. But I'm not going to write now about the literary evening - which was fascinating. Or the night after at Pappa's which was even better. My day belonged to the Safari.

Okay, it was hot and by the time we got there it was mid-morning and getting hotter. The animals were dozing, and I was jealous. But it amazing anyway.

August 24, 2013

This is the time for juggling invitations for the holidays. Family is very complex here and demanding, and those who are outside the confines of family are in need of an escape. There are numerous dinner and lunch spots that need filling especially in this year's calendar that has early holidays and extra long weekends. Numerous insults and hurt feelings. Jane Austen should have been born here.

"Don't worry about the invitations," Rafi said to me today, "We'll be at war."

August 26, 2013

I thought I saved whatever it was I wrote. But no. So my tirade about the strange beginning of the school year is lost. But maybe it's because of the strange beginning of the school year that I'm so farblonget I didn't remember to save. Because we're starting early this year - tomorrow - so that we can have a week before the holidays begin and another vacation starts. The Hebrew calendar is early - so it is still hot, and still kvetching season.

The big problem is the combination of polio vaccine (life-saving or dangerous?), school (many teachers still don't know where they are teaching), and then the holiday guest juggling - all in the background of the big US British -> Syria punishment. The Syrian Optomologist is beginning to look like the dentist of "The Little Shop of Horrors" and has to be eaten by a giant plant from outer space, but will we be eaten in the process as well? What will it be? Polio, Gas, or Prayer? Oy, I am farmished. (mixed them up for a minute - dentists know about gas...)

My favorite dentist, in blessed memory, introduced me to gas - and I got to the point where I would enter the office and shout, "GAS" and he would laugh and say, "But it's only a check-up!" And I'd repeat "GAS!" and he would bring in the other hygienists and say, "Look at this woman - she is a professor!" That was enough for me to enjoy the entire experience - the humor of it. Gas was part of the joke that negated the need for gas.

August 27, 2013

The electricity went today - only an hour or so - but long enough for Ezi to test out the generator he bought last year. And while we were using the computer with the generator, I looked at the window in my study and thought, "Got to get that window sealed up in case of gas." All irrelevant and helpless gestures for an impossible scenario. Probably nothing will happen, but if it does, there's no way to prepare, or to protect ourselves properly.

So we go on as usual.

Except that after feeling really awful I left my girlfriends and went to the health clinic. Examination, X-rays, examination, antibiotics, and I was home. Still feel awful but tomorrow I go to a specialist who will probably add some cortisone after he looks up my nose. What makes me feel good about this is the speed of the service. It comforted me.

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