How much is that cottage in the window???

Number of Cockroach Sightings: 1  (murdered by husband)

Number of Burekas Consumed:  3 (I didn’t buy them! I didn’t buy them! They were offered to me at a picnic!)

After a week of wandering around aimlessly looking at flats in the sweltering heat, only to find they had gone within 0.29 of a second of appearing on the internet, we finally gave in and went to visit a Tivuch (estate agent).  We had to go to that area anyhow so we thought – what the heck?  Maybe they will be worth their beans.  Maybe they wont screw us just because we are new olim.  And most importantly I was fed up of wandering the neighbourhood on foot so the thought of a nice air-conditioned car was very appealing.

The first agent showed us a brand new flat, very nice but once again a small kitchen with no room to swing a cat and a very stingy landlord who had left LARGE GAPING HOLES where the central air was supposed to go.  We weren’t impressed with that.  The price was for 3 bedrooms but unfortunately the 3rd one was the size of a broom cupboard (but with no sign of Gordon the Gopher).  I suppose it would have been ok for the two of us if we sold Jojo.  But he’s still only 18 months and we think he’s cute so not really an option.  We were going to give up when husband decided we should take a walk  and see if there were any more agents in the area. 

Good decision.  Well done husband.  You are now forgiven for burning the lentils.

We found another one round the corner owned by a little morrocan man who said yes, indeed he could show us a cottage (Note to readers; this is the Israeli equivalent to an english small semi-detached), and then spent half an hour on the phone to somebody else requiring directions who had obviously never driven in a town before and didn’t seem to know anything about parking.  Sigh.  Eventually he takes us to see it.  It was perfect.  Absolutely what we were looking for and had all but given up on.  It even had a kitchen you could actually cook in.  The landlady was very kind and told us that although officially it’s not available until the end of the month, she herself was living there and would try to evacuate earlier.  She even offered for us to store our shipment there and move in earlier as her guests :-).  We were very touched by her kindness. 

It seems, contrary to various warnings we have had, not everybody eats olim for breakfast, and some actually want to help. Our agent was planning on showing the cottage to another couple but when he saw the size of my ever growing belly he decided to show us the place first and told us we could come back to his office and sign immediately.  He saw we didn’t have much time and took pity on us.  True, we are paying him, but that does not detract from his kindness.  We celebrated with shwarmas from the local stand, which one of those generous places where they hand you a plastic box and let you pack in extra salad & pickles.  Mmmm.

MENTAL NOTE.  Must not have baby until September.

In other news my cousin was searching for info on “park hamishpacha karmiel” so he could come and meet us, and this blog came up as the number one link.  That was cool.  Perhaps I should add some more likely search terms to my spot.  How about KARMIEL, PORNOGRAPHY? Or KARMIEL CELEBRITY GOSSIP?? Or better yet, KARMIEL – CHEAP PLACE TO BUY HOUSE.

Oh, one more cool thing about our cottage. It fulfills my dream of owning a lovely lemon tree.  Will try very hard not to kill it.