Yet again this Saturday we travelled to Tel Aviv, this time to visit cousins of my mother in law who live in Ramat Gan.
My husband’s parents and grandmother have been living with one cousin for several days so that was our first stop. Last time we met this cousin was about ten years ago.
This cousin has a beautiful house with a small pond and water feature in the back garden. There were lilies and goldfish in pool with a swing that swung out over the pool.
Her husband also has a passion for wool carpets and although I don’t understand much about carpets I could see they were fine examples. One in particular would have looked stunning in my sitting room!
We sat on the patio. The tinkling of the water was relaxing but it began to feel strange not to hear the constant ‘boom-boom’, as if without the sound as a reference point I had become detached from reality and felt slightly lost, disoriented.
My mother in law described how she had finally had enough when the sirens sounded eleven times in one day. Living on the 3rd floor she had run up and down three flights of stars each time in order to reach the communal shelter under the building.
Our cousin reminds us that her sister has plenty of spare room and would love for us to stay, even though I have never met her.
My children amused themselves on the swing and our cousin’s husband taught them to ‘tickle’ the goldfish and we immediately make friends with their lovely old dog.
There are two older boys in the family, one in the army and the second about to join. There is also a younger son about the same age as my son. They make great playmates though unfortunately my daughter feels a little left out and bored. I begin to feel a little guilty and consider that maybe if we stayed in Tel Aviv she would have a better social life. On the other hand most of our relatives children are older boys so wouldn’t be much of a solution.
After a while another cousin arrived with her boyfriend and they took us all out for a meal.
We followed them in the car and after much twisting and turning we realised that we were in Yafo.
The parking was horrendous so the boys dropped us off in front of the restaurant and joined us a few minutes later.
The restaurant is quite well known – Big Itzik – so our curiosity was piqued. The problem with all the popular restaurants is that they are.... popular. And therefore crowded.
The table were jammed in so close we had to breath in to squeeze past and that became problematic as my mother in law and her mother sat down and got up trying to decide where to sit.
The children had to use the bathroom and by the time we returned everything was settled. Once we were seated the table was wide and spacious and the chairs are large and comfortable. Most importantly the food was delicious.
We dropped Grandma back at the house for a siesta and decided to go to Arena, a shopping mall in Hertzelia Marina.
We had heard a lot about Arena but it was just an ordinary mall. Quite nice but nothing special. However we did meet some family from Acco who were also escaping from the sirens and one of the people who works with my father in law and had disappeared without a trace after the first bombing.
We continued from Arena to the cousin’s apartment. It is not small by Israel standards but not enormous. I really liked the way it was arranged. The sitting room is a big square with room for three sofas and a large central space for the children to play in. Best of all was the kitchen. Nothing fancy, a normal modern kitchen but with a wood table big enough to a comfortable eight, and a TV on the wall.
The son was at home and our cousin invited her daughter with her husband and children. We have already met both the son and the daughter and we get along very well.
After catching up on news in the sitting room we all sat round the kitchen table. The TV was turned on for the news while in one corner there is a huddle discussing ‘the situation’, in a another huddle we discussed ‘life' meanwhile the children sat at the table eating some supper. It was friendly and enjoyable. The kind of informal family meal I love.
It began to get late so we took some photos and gradually moved towards the cars.
Back at the first cousin’s house we checked on Grandma, heard what everyone had been up to and then freshened up before the drive home. My father-in-law had to return to Acco for work but my mother-in law and her mother decided to stay on.
Even though we set out much late we yet again got snarled up in traffic on the coast road, which made my husband extremely tired. We got home in the early hours of morning to the familiar boom-boom.
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