Week 14-13: Time is flying

Another month has passed. It’s already three months here - the entire winter of Israel. The weather here has changed constantly. The first month in a swimsuit during the summer of Costa Rica, the second month with 5 radiators on and a coat in the cold of Escobero, and the third month in the tropical spring of La Fe, our home by the lake - just 10 km from Escobero, and 500 meters lower which made the difference. It's almost always pleasant here, sometimes sunny, sometimes foggy, and every few days there’s a heavy rain for two hours. There aren’t really four seasons here, no daylight saving time or standard time, the sun always sets around 18:00. Around 20 degrees all year round and now is considered the rainy season expected to last until May. Colombians go to sleep early. By 20:00 most places are already closed, by 22:00 it’s quiet, everyone is asleep. When we just arrived it matched our jet lag perfectly. After years of not falling asleep before 1:00, suddenly at 21:00 I’m already tired and wake up naturally at 5:00. But the jet lag is behind us now, I can barely drag myself out of bed when the kids leave the house with Yoela at 6:30. In the last week, for the first time since we arrived, we started watching an episode before bed - the last season of “The Bear,” and bedtime is getting later.

I took a week off from the blog because we went on vacation, the first time in three months that I haven’t written on Friday, and it seems I’ve created quite a commitment to this blog. I’m busy during the week thinking about what to include, taking pictures for the blog (this week a sample of graffiti pictures from the endless drawings in every street corner), searching for a song for inspiration, planning my Fridays according to the writing schedule, and it was not easy to let go of this last week. I enjoy this commitment - also the feedback from the loyal audience... also recalling the experiences that would otherwise be lost in the fast flow of events and also, as Yaeli pointed out to me - therapy and emotional processing (just a bit odd that it's in front of an audience). So I need to catch up from the last two weeks: Yoela is back, a big relief for everyone, both operationally, but especially emotionally. We are all more relaxed and less tense when she is here, especially with all the abundance of tahini she showered us with. This week’s song is dedicated to her - A Person Inside Himself which I of course heard in the middle of a run: 'The song was written when I was in England...I didn’t speak English...I wrote in Hebrew on a night when I felt miserable and the loneliest I’ve ever been.' I have a lot to say about the song, but that’s for another time. For now, let’s settle for the winning line from it: You and you/How good that you came/Without you, the house is empty/And the night is cold

The kids are back to school routine, Mati is still down, but today they’re heading out for a two-week Passover break so he’ll get a little relief. Besides that, he started playing the saxophone at school, hopefully that will take off. Michael is still the happiest but is a bit sick right now and Ofri is, as usual, in full throttle... Over the weekend we went to a vacation town two hours from here, a cabin with a jacuzzi by the lake, a short boat ride and swim. During the boat ride, we passed by Pablo's estate, or what remained after 200 kg of explosives and a few good years of neglect (the house is still standing and so is the disco complex). I continued my carpentry course - I returned with trepidation to the crime scene working straight away on the finger cutter - to get right on the bike. My days are getting filled up and gradually a weekly schedule is forming - Tai Chi, running, carpentry, Spanish, math lessons for the kids, and still a lot of cooking, dishwashing, driving, and shopping (I returned the laundry to Yoela in good time). I invest a lot in food. The local food isn’t great, and obtaining ingredients for familiar food is a challenge, even for a vegetable salad you need to find a good place to buy normal tomatoes and cucumbers, but it’s definitely worth the effort: hummus, tahini, falafels (Ofri is the official roller with the golden hands), pita bread, laffa, pickles, shakshuka, sushi. Each meal, even if the preparation takes all day long, gives a feeling of home. And my Moroccan gardens are thriving... Besides that, a piano has been bought, or more accurately paid for, will it also arrive or is this a scam we’ll know later. And a whole range of other activities for the golden age are expected to kick off in the coming week (yoga, Yoela's vegetable garden, a Zoom course with Dub Alboim, and a family paper-mâché class).

Alongside all the positive activities that this surplus free time has brought with it, I also need to tell the truth: I’m Tomer, and I’m addicted. When we arrived in Costa Rica, I looked for a party to dance at, the chat recommended I search on Instagram. With slight apprehension, I entered Instagram. I have an account that has been dormant for 13 years, despite my strong aversion I revived it, and indeed I found a party in Costa Rica (which didn’t happen) and later in Medellín (which did happen). Then, I searched for Tai Chi lessons and was again directed to Instagram, and again the Insta account exists, later a basketball class for kids - exists! Yoga - exists! In short, it kept me busy. But from here and there I started scrolling - healthy recipes, how to properly cut a pineapple, calisthenics workouts (I started practicing handstands), correct breathing, Israeli politics, vegetable garden, meditation, philosophy, carpentry, Japanese pants and Barfoot shoes, drawing and painting, and the most ironic - videos about the harms of endless scrolling. I'm waiting for Yoela to intervene and delete the app for me, but for now, if you're looking for an original way to remove an avocado pit, you know who to turn to.

Passover has arrived, we are going to host two Israeli families from school at our home. My parents were supposed to come and do the Seder with us, but there are no flights (tiny ripples that have reached us from the madness going on there at home). This is only the second time to my best recollection that I’m celebrating Passover outside of Israel. The first time was also in South America, in Pucón with Shauli. But then we attended a huge Seder with all the Israelis, and this time I’m responsible for the Seder. For years I’ve wanted to change the Seder night - to write a family Haggadah relevant to us in some way. Without Elazar Ben Azariah and Rabban Gamliel, without fifty and two hundred plagues. But there’s a family tradition, I’m not in charge of the Seder and who has time anyway. So yeah, carpool, and what you wish for... I need to prepare a holiday meal and also upgrade the Haggadah (sorry, it’s not necessary, I want to). We'll see what comes out of all this. At least we’re exempt from the obsessive cleaning.

Running checklist:

First month - 57 km

Second month - 18 km

Third month - 71 km

There’s no doubt the lake is winning big

Happy Holidays, see you next week