Just 'cuz. (I'm about to make a short story long, so if you're really, really busy you may want to click away. Better yet turn off your computer or you'll never get anything done. Trust me, I know. But I digress.)
Anyhoo, I made my way to Mega today, to do my Big Weekly Supermarket Shopping. This was unusual for two reasons:
1. I normally do my Big Weekly Supermarket Shopping on Wednesdays, but this week did it on Tuesday because I want to take the kids to the beach tomorrow.
2. I normally do my Big Weekly Supermarket Shopping at Supersol, not Mega. But Mega is having their "bulim" (stamps) thingie. Where, if you collect enough stamps you get to buy something for a really good price. Tali asked me to shop there until I collect 60 bulim so she could buy a fairly decent digital camera for 249 shekel. That means I have to spend 6,000 shekel on groceries in about a month. Not likely, but a girl can hope. (If anyone out there has spare bulim, I'll take 'em).
But now I'm really digressing.
At the supermarket, I see a young guy (under 30?) talking to his wife on his cell phone (how did men ever manage the supermarket before cell phones?). "....Listen, honey", he was saying "I got regular carrots, they don't have baby carrots here..." He's new, I thought to myself.
As luck and an empty supermarket would have it, I was behind him in line. He seemed a little--inexperienced, shall we say?--at the cashier.
"Are you new here?", I asked him.
"Yes." He answered.
"Welcome!", I beamed at him. "When did you get here?"
"Today", he said. "We just arrived on the Nefesh B'Nefesh flight this morning."
I swear to G-d, tears welled up in my eyes. They are welling up now, as I type.
I told him that we came almost two years ago.
"Why did you choose Modiin?", he asked.
"Because of its central location and we had a couple of friends here and we wanted to move to a place where the prices of homes would skyrocket as soon as we got here and we would totally miss the boat on buying something. But we're very happy here."
"It's an adjustment, isn't it?"
I thought about my own Nefesh B'Nefesh flight, about the highs, the tears, the kids.
"It is an adjustment. But it's good."
"No baby carrots here in Israel."
I smiled, and agreed. "True. No baby carrots." (Hah! Wait 'til you try to push the shopping cart.)
Welcome to Israel, my friend. May the lack of baby carrots be the most difficult adjustment of your Aliyah.
And welcome to the other 229 olim (new immigrants) who joined him on this summer's first charter flight from the United States. I wish for you all an easy and successful Aliyah.
I better go now; I'm getting all choked up again.
(Now do you see why today was a great day?)
9 comments:
Fine story Baila.
I totally got chills.
And am reminded that I meant to send canned pumpkin in our lift, which got packed yesterday. (I already knew about the baby carrots :)
Also, props to this family for moving into their home right away! We're going my in-laws for a week or so in order to deal with all the other craziness (TZ, Ashdod, rental car, key to the apt, etc.)
Aw, now I'm all choked up.
If you get me that guy's address, I'll send him a whole case of baby carrots!
Great story. I, for one, am very impressed that on his first day in Israel, he's buying carrots, and not Milki's, Bamba, Bisli, chocolate with pop rocks embedded etc.
OneTredEma; you can get Libby's canned pumpkin here and if you can't find it, pieces of fresh pumpkin are usually available. Good luck w/ your move!
Wait a minute... I'm having trouble writing, because tears are welling up in my eyes...
Thank you, ID.
OTE, Rachel took the words out of my mouth. You can get the canned pumpkins (but its more costly than in the states).
Super,
I don't know why I got all choked up when he said he just got here. Why is this so touching to us? And, I think he should get used to life here without the baby carrots. So, no address.
Rachel,
There was some Milky in his cart. And eggs and bread and milk (not in a bag). And some fruits. What can I say, I have an eye for detail (and I'm the stalker-type).
Ruti,
I knew you would identify with this!
Beautiful!
BTW, just for the record, one can get *frozen* baby carrots here. And they have a great name: גזר גמדי - literally, "dwarf carrots"...
:-)
What a sweet story! And hey- don't you feel like a veteran now? :-)
BTW, fresh pumpkin is really good- just bake it in the oven til it gets soft and then mash it up and use in any recipe that calls for canned pumpkin.
I admit I don't see the big deal with baby carrots. They're cute and all, but why not just cut up some carrots into small pieces? I guess I don't get it because I'm not much of a raw carrot eater. :-)
Post a Comment