Rustic Living. Cows, kids running free, mosquitoes and street BBQs.

Last shabbat I was just slicking on a dash of mascara before rushing off to shul [NB – this is considered High Maintenance where I live], when I noticed in the mirror 2 large white cows walking past my window. After doing a double take I ran to my window, and sure enough there they were. Very casual. Strolling down our street, turned right after our house. I don’t know where they ended up but Husband complained that he couldn’t sleep that night for all the loud mooing. Then the following day I almost hit one when I headed out to my dance class. Pleased I didn’t as they are enormous and I think I would have come out worse off.

I attended a mummy group recently [well really a parent group, its home schoolers so you see the odd dad] in the next yishuv. Here, home schooling generally encompasses green living and AP [attachment parenting]. Now I like to think of myself as pretty earthy with my ECing, cloth nappies, and the home-cooked chickpeas I brought along… but lets just say this was a whole new level! Honestly, like being on another planet when it came to parenting philosophies. I am thrilled to have met them all, but it has made me realise how affected I am by all the years of living in a city surrounded by popular culture…. I always avoided most popular tv shows, films and fashions but somehow these things seep in. Even in my gipsy top and ancient jeans I was complimented on My “Style”. Hilarious. One mum told me they all shop in the local second-hand shop. “Really? But this is secondhand too” I replied. I got a raised eyebrow. Clearly second-hand clothes in israel are a not up to quite the same standard.

In fact, I still haven’t figured out where fashionable Israeli’s shop. They must spend a bomb trying to keep up with western fashions. Prices for H&M, Topshop, NineWest etc are 35% to 40% inflated here, not to mention the fact that the average Israeli earns far less than the average westerner. Presumably all fashionable Israeli’s are either uber-riche, lucky enough to have relatives outside of Israel to send them gear or most likely bankrupting themselves for the sake of fashion. Yikes. Thankfully our yishuv embraces rustic living to the extent that its totally acceptable to attend evening socials/meetings in pyjamas, crocs, and clothes with non-deliberate holes. Fabulous. And my kids are by no means the only bare-footed semi-naked little people running around during the day. They fit right in.

We even joined the co-op. I volunteered to help with the packing materials. Picture a room filled to the brim with every imaginable kind of plastic packaging and you will be on the right track. The kids loved it. We got them to help arrange the containers according to use [flour, lentils, dried fruit etc]. Co-ops are basically the only affordable way to eat organic food in Israel. And you can’t beat the raisins.

Husband has found a new sport. Mosquito hunting. He bought an electric zapper bat and now spends dusk searching the house for mosquitoes with the kids trailing after him. Its feels sort of like Bedikat Hametz but with a more satisfying “buzz crackle and pop” sound every so often. Sometimes I found Jojo walking round with his own mosquito bat. He takes it very seriously.

I noticed that during the Jubilee celebrations back in the old country, street parties were having a revival. It seems in Israel, they never went out of fashion. We were invited to the Annual Yom Haatzmaut Streetm BBQ – great fun – which involved huge amounts of animal sacrifice, artfully prepared and cooked by Israeli men with reassuringly burly stomachs. Somebody even made real lamb kebab. Delicious. [Lamb is so rare these days, even the shwarma stands mostly sell turkey meat flavoured with lamb fat]. There was even a quiz at the end… of course in true Israeli fashion the food didnt get going til around 9:30pm. We were told to “bring our kids along”
“Don’t be daft – We’re British!” I answered. Our kids have a bedtime. We took the dog though. She thought all her christmases had come at once. People throwing burgers and sinta [sirloin] steaks at her left right and center. She deserved it tho, seeing as we are practically vegetarian most of the week the poor mutt hadnt seen meat in weeks.

Speaking of dogs, you may remember that I wrote [extensively] on feline activity in Karmiel. I have long suspected that cats secretly ruled Karmiel, and we were just guests in their territory.

Well, it seems Eshchar is run by dogs.

I am not kidding, they are everywhere. When the muezzin does his call to prayer, they all chime in, howling in unison. They have regular conversations which remind me of The Starlight Barking. The sirens they had here for Yom Hazikaron and Yom Hashoah were impossible to take seriously, with all the dramatic howling.

Incidentally, both my children can do a near-perfect imitation of the call to prayer. Its second nature to them, possibly because it is now extremely loud since they have started using loud speakers. When questioned by Israeli’s as to why they need to do it so loud, the response was “this is the way we have done it for thousands of years.” I had no idea they had loud speakers thousands of years ago.

In other news, aside from our dog, our house and garden has become something of a zoo. At last count we are currently housing a small dog, 2 hamsters, a family of cats [very loud, like to pee on our garden furniture] living round the back, a tortoise that has taken up residence on our front path [the kids like to pick it up and feed it whatever veg I can muster up from the fridge] and as I am writing this Husband has discovered an enormous hedgehog just outside our house. The dog is waving her tail excitedly, I doubt she realises the issues involved in dining on hedgehog – I have just been informed it ran away, seems they move faster than you would think.

Does anyone remember Hedgehog crisps? God they were good.