Morning and the Gatehouse

After I arrived in my Nof Yam apartment from the airport with all my things stacked in boxes, I sat on the couch staring into space, jetlagged out of my mind, and listened to the dripping of the kitchen faucet. It was about 10pm Israeli time. The night was unusually hot and muggy outside, even for Israel in the summer, and the street my building was on had flowers in bloom that produced a sweet pungent smell unlike anything I'd smelled before. These small differences -- temperature and smell and plane fatigue -- produce a kind of emotional loneliness because none of the familiar cues are there. I unpacked every box of my stuff that evening to produce a bit of that familiarity.

Early the next morning, I walked from my apartment to the north to take a look at an old fortress by the sea called Apollonia, directly off the main road. The fortress had been turned into a national park (complete with gatehouse and admission fee) and I walked up the gatehouse to ask the woman for a pass.

Me: "Shabbat Shalom. One, please."
Her: (heavy Israeli accent) "From where are you?"
M: "Excuse me?"
H: "From where are you?"
M: "Oh! Um . . . Seattle. United States."
H: "Seattle! Welcome to Israel! We have a brochure in English around here somewhere . . ." *starts rummaging on desk and pulling binders violently off a wall shelf* "Oh, if I can't find it, it will break my heart ... I really want you to know about this place in English..."
M: "That's alright; I read about it before.."
H: "Oh, but I want you to have it! Why don't you come sit inside? It's hot out there.."

So, I sat inside the booth chatting with this wonderfully friendly Israeli biology student for nearly three hours, eating mango and having a fantastic time while she sold passes to incoming cars. She works at the park one day a month to get some kind of government benefit. Among the things we talked about that I can remember:

- How she's 29, and is getting all kinds of pressure to marry her boyfriend of 12 years, but doesn't want to be "normalized" (that is, in the army for three years, in university for four years, then married and producing babies so her parents will be grandparents. All the people she knows that are normalized are miserable, she said)
-How to meditate on a crowded train to Tel Aviv in the morning
-How medication cured her brother's ADHD, but acupuncture did the same for her
-How movies with unresolved endings are the best, even if they're Iranian

And so on. She was incredibly engaging, and later told me she could get me some passes to live concerts they perform at the fortress at sunset on Fridays "Veeeery Romantic! Bring your friends!" and offered to set me up to meet some musician friends of hers.

I finally told her I had to walk home so I could eat something and take a nap, and she sent me on my way with a plum and an apple.