Today is moving day. The kids packed their stuff yesterday. Mike and I packed the rest today. I spent the morning leaving the old apartment more clean than when we moved in. Right now I'm in the new apartment waiting while Mike brings over our things from the old one.
The new apartment is large: 6 rooms, or 7, depending how you count them. That means a living/dining room, kitchen, and five other rooms. And we have three bathrooms. Three bedrooms on one side of the apartment; two on the other. We haven't figured out yet how to allocate space or where the kids will sleep. They want to use the small bedrooms for sleeping and the larger ones for office and playroom space. But the small bedrooms are the ones on the same side of the apartment as the master bedroom; I'd rather have the kids on the other side of the apartment. We shall see.
Its best feature is a huge patio (mirpeset), extending the width of the living room and three of the bedrooms. It is also better furnished than the other apartment: nicer furniture and more furniture, but as it turns out, not a lot more and not a lot nicer (but definitely more comfortable). The landlord says he'll take me to get more furniture on Friday. I hope he will. And it turns out that there are few sheets, and they don't fit the beds (deja vu), no pillows, no blankets, ... He sent a cleaner over, but the guy cleaned the floors only, and he mopped them but didn't sweep first. Two of the bathrooms smell. And the kitchen, while well-stocked, is not kosher. No trash cans, no potholders, no dish towels. The dishwasher, the previous tenants say, doesn't work well. It's not perfect .
I hope we made the right move. This apartment is more workable; we would never have been comfortable in the other place. The walls are painted, the rooms are large, there are lots of closets, cabinets, bookshelves, and drawers, it is bright and sunny, and it has modern appliances (including a large washing machine and a dryer). Looks like I need an invitation for Friday night dinner so that I can list everything wrong with the apartment and sit on the landlord to get it all done right away. In the meantime, I have a second apartment to clean now. Ugh!!! I was counting on today being the day that we would finally feel comfortable.
Had dinner last night with Cousin Ezzie (from Florida) and his daughter Debby, and her husband, Mordechai, from the occupied territories. All very friendly, very nice people; it was a nice get-together. My mother warned me not to talk politics (they are very right wing), so we didn't, and it was pleasant. The territories must be a difficult place to live -- Mordechai carries a gun, and Debby says that she can't get a job because the commute is too long for her to be away from their year-old baby.
In general, Israel doesn't seem to be a place that is hospitable for women to comfortably have careers, unless they can hire a full-time maid. Washing machines are small, about half the size of American ones, and they take up to two hours to run a load. They are a common European model that heats its own water and uses very little water. And dryers and dishwashers are rare. School lets out quite early in the afternoon. Refrigerators are small, requiring frequent trips to the grocery store. The list goes on. Like New York, it takes a lot of money to live comfortably in Israel.
So here I am writing this instead of cleaning out cupboards so that we can unpack. I just can't stand the thought of doing more work today. Hopefully, everyone will be able to find clothes to wear in the morning without unpacking everything tonight.
Mordechai brought a phone over. David (the landlord) brought over some sheets. He told me where to find pillows, and I found them. We have towels. So we can sleep. Still waiting for Mike and the kids to come back with the rest of our belongings so we can go out to eat (7:30 PM). Can't wait to sleep; didn't have my nap today.