After a whirlwind of preparation and packing up our house, a long, sleepless flight with three young children and a sheirut ride in which one of those said children threw up all over the back seat, we made it to Israel. I felt such an enormous sense of relief, it didn't occur to me how unprepared I was for our stay here. We got a fully furnished apartment, since we're only committed to staying here a year, so we have couches, beds, dressers, a couple sets of linens, an old, out of tune piano, a glass coffee table, a dining room table and chairs, and a kitchen with cabinets and basic appliances and some silverware. We felt blessed, and Dan asked me if there was a special blessing for arriving in the land of Israel. I didn't know of any- but if someone will correct me, all the better.
However, once we realized how hungry we all were and how bare the refrigerator was, I started feeling anxious and tense. Dan picked up a pizza, we all ate and then we all went to sleep. The baby and I awoke soon after that, and with Dan and the two big kids still asleep, my journey to the grocery store around the corner began. I felt cold, but not too cold, and so the trip would be fine to walk without a coat, which we had left in the states. I made my way around the store, filling the cart with lots of essential and non-essential foods, and consulting each package to discover some other Rabbanut-Kosher certification. I filled the cart and proceeded to check out, and fill out the form for delivery (we are around the corner, but I had the baby on my back and these were a lot of groceries.) I tried to check out and then discovered that my debit card and all my credit cards were not working, which was kind of predictable and sort of annoying, since I did not yet have a cell phone to work it out on the spot. I left the groceries, went back to the apartment (it had now begun to drizzle), and I began working on a Skype call on a computer whose battery would soon run out. We eventually got through to them, and we cleared up with them the security blocks on the debit card. I left the baby sleeping, and walked back to the store in the rain with my sweater on. I arrived as the delivery guy was filling his truck- it was almost full! I told him to wait, and that I wanted in on this delivery. The card was still being rejected, but the manager and supervisor worked out some other code that allowed them to take my money, and I left with my eggs.
The driver, however, had already left. They told me that he would go out again at 7. It was around 4:30 by then, but I figured we could wait until 7. I came home and Dan went out to get our cell phones Israeli sim cards. I waited with the children in the apartment for the delivery guy, checking the door from time to time, anxious to get everyone something to eat. I looked around the kitchen and found that we did not have a single pot or pan, save for a single Pyrex baking dish. I put some eggs in the pan with some leftover string cheese and cut up peppers from the flight, and put them in the oven. It was after eight, and I called the supermarket a couple of times, and no one answered. I took the eggs out, and Dan got back with one Israeli sim card on his phone, and news that my phone didn't use a sim card, so I wouldn't have a phone for a while. I walked back to the store in the rain, beginning to fume about them not delivering our groceries, and found a closed, dark store. I banged on the doors, hoping someone was still there, and saw no one. As I left the area, I saw the lights had gone on, so I went back around to get to the store, and I found once again that there was no one there. Each pound on the glass doors of the store made me feel more and more helpless and sad.
I left, feeling like I was being treated like a
fryer (the term Israeli use for a sucker), and walked into a burger joint nearby. On the verge of tears, I tell the guy behind the counter that we just arrived in Israel today, and that this grocery store wasn't bringing me my groceries- that we had NOTHING in our apartment. There was an Anglo family there, and they got super excited that I was there, and in the current political climate! They were working with a group of people who were picking up dinner for chayalim (soliders) in the neighborhood. They gave me their card, invited me for Shabbat, told me their daughter babysits- they were so kind, it broke me away from my craziness. The debit card did not work again, so I got out as much cash as I had, and I was short 60 nis. The guy behind the counter said, no problem- pay me next time. I was so relieved that I would have food to feed my family for dinner, but still anxious about the missing groceries.
When I called this morning, the manager apologized profusely, explaining that the delivery guy had tried to find us three times and failed, so she had put it all away. They didn't have a phone number for us, and I now had one to give her, so that worked out fine. I told her I wanted to go out, and so she said he'd come in an hour or two. Dan had picked up some cereal at the Makolet (bodega) and so we left it at that. I wandered around in the rain with an enormous double stroller with a rain cover that doesn't fit on it, wearing my sweater and the baby on my back, looking for a Super Pharm that was supposedly right nearby. We found a place selling sufganiyot on the way and the kids snacked while I finally found the place. Yakir was pretty cranky, tired and overwhelmed by the trip. We loaded up on shampoo, diapers, tissues, vitamins and ponytail holders and then went home (finally can call it that, since we are returning from the outside!) to wait for the grocery guy while I bathed the children.
After their bath Yakir fell asleep standing up, leaning his head on the bed, and we waited some more. I called the grocery store again, and she said, "oh, your home? I'll tell him to come over!" He had no trouble finding the apartment this time. Of course. So ended the saga of getting groceries from around the corner over the course of 20 hours. I learned a lot of things from this adventure: #1 Always bring a raincoat with you to Jerusalem in the winter. #2 Israelis are not all out to get you #3 My crazy comes out when I'm tired and I feel like I can't feed my family. I truly felt anger and frustration, when in fact, no one was messing with me at all. I felt powerless. People are trying as best they can to help me. I worried that this was just getting groceries- we haven't even made our appointment yet with Misrad Hapenim or tried to get health insurance! I anticipated a horrible series of bureaucracy driving me to hate this country as much as I once loved it. Now I feel like I just need to keep my cool and take things with a little perspective. Everything is going to turn out fine.
