After driving for less than two hours, we arrived in Karmiel.   As we drove though, we noticed how beautiful the area is, and then we got to our apartment and unloaded our boxes in front of the building.  We called the real estate agent to tell her we were there so she could bring us the key, and waited outside for her until we could go in.   Since it was the middle of a summer day and we’d hardly had anything to drink since we’d left the airplane about five hours before, we were parched, and when a woman from across the street came to welcome us and asked us if we wanted a drink, I was very grateful to accept.

We went into her home and she treated us like special guests, giving us water and bringing chairs and a table to her yard for everyone to relax.  But I told her I really couldn’t relax right then, since I had to get into our apartment and start unpacking.  She insisted on sending us home with two large cold bottles of mineral water, and told us if we needed anything to please let her know.

I got back outside a few minutes after the real estate agent arrived, who told me I needed to go with her immediately to the municipality and the gas and electric company, to transfer all of the accounts from the name of the renters to us.  The tenants didn’t want to give her the key to let us in until this was done, but they agreed to give it to her if we’d do it that day.   I told her I would go but wanted to at least run in and see what the apartment was like first!  So I quickly ran in (my first impression was that it looked small and dinky), and then off I went with her.

As we were driving, she realized we needed to get the contract from the office in order to do this, so we went to her office, and by the time we finished there, it was too late to go to any of the offices.  So she asked me to take care of it first thing the  next morning (Friday).  Honestly, I had a list of things that were critical for me to take care of right away so we’d be minimally prepared for Shabbos, which was by that point about 28 hours away, and this wasn’t on it, but you do what you need to do!

I went back home and then saw the furniture the tenants had left behind, in exchange for the money they were supposed to give us for paint.  What it looked like to me was that it was too difficult for them to get the things down from the upstairs bedrooms down the spiral staircase (which they had partially dissembled in order to get things out, so it was very shaky and scary to go up), so they saved themselves the bother and cost of moving those things and told us they were doing us a favor.  There were a couple of things they left that were useful – a clothing closet (in Israel there are no built in closets, so you have to buy and assemble freestanding units) and an oven, and I told her we’d accept that in trade for the outstanding money because I didn’t really feel like dealing with them, but to get the rest of the stuff out, which became a bit of a drawn out process and everything still isn’t out.

We turned on the water in the kitchen sink, only to learn that the tenants had taken the faucet they’d put in when they arrived, and left the old faucet there, unattached and with no piping to attach it to the water supply line!  We tried the water in the bathroom, but there was no water there, either.  So off we went to the neighbor across the street to refill the water bottles she had given us, which were empty by then, but she insisted on giving us new bottles of more water.  When she heard that we didn’t have any furniture or appliances except the stove the tenants left behind, she told us she was clearning a shelf in her fridge exclusively for our use, and gave dh a key so we could freely come and go as we needed!  (She also told us she had a guest room with a couple of beds and invited the girls to sleep there.)

Back at the apartment, dh discovered that the tenants had turned the water off when they left the day before.  Though our neighbor was very generous in helping us, I was so grateful when dh turned it on and we were able to have water – not having water would have been very challenging, even with her help.

While all of this was going on, most of the kids had crashed and slept for hours, despite my urging the older boys not to do that because it would make their jet lag much worse.  Oh, well.    After a simple dinner of the food left from what our friends had brought to the airport for us, in the early evening we took a walk.  We thought the kids would enjoy a beautiful local park, where Karmiel residents are allowed free entrance but everyone else has to pay.  We explained we had just moved there a few hours before from America, but were denied entrance since we didn’t yet had identity cards with out current address, so we continued to another small playground right across the street, which was fine.

While there I spoke to another mother who was there for a couple of minutes, who was visiting from Jerusalem.  She left a couple minutes later, but her son ran back to tell us that a few minutes away was a very nice park, so we headed in that direction and met them there again.  Her husband brought over a prickly pear fruit that he had picked right there at the park and gave some to my kids, warning them about the prickles.  Poor ds3 didn’t hear the warning, so he ran over to pick one for himself and ended up with prickles in his hand.  And since he had taken his sandals off when he got there, he managed to step on something pokey and so we made a quick exit to go home and help him.  But while we were leaving, this family from Jerusalem gave us their phone number and warmly invited us to stay with them anytime we wanted to come visit.  (Unfortunately, I put this scrap of paper on the table and it disappeared before I had a chance to copy the number into my planner.)

We went home, and after putting the kids to sleep (we brought sleeping bags and blankets, so we spread these on the floor), dd15, dd16 and I did a lot of unpacking (other people helped also, but the three of us did most of it since everyone else was sleeping) – my goal had been totally unpack before I went to sleep.  I didn’t quite manage this, but we did get most of it out of the way – all that was left was the boxes belonging to ds18 and ds12, which I waited for them to take care of the next day.

Avivah