Week 4: The Story That Wasn't

Another week has passed. More sea, pool, surfing, lounging, diarrhea, and vomiting on repeat. Just a regular week. During last week's family meeting, I announced that starting this week, we would begin studying. Every day a math worksheet, three times a week a Zoom Spanish lesson with Melissa from Bogotá, and once a week a writing assignment. Other than that, they are reading endlessly in every spare moment, so from that angle, we're sorted. For some reason, this draconian guideline passed easily without resistance. Mati tried to defend himself weakly - 'But we're on vacation,' I mumbled something about how we are transitioning into a routine and an hour a day of learning wouldn't disrupt anyone's surfing, pool, or lounging, and it worked. Fractions, equations, lessons with the lovely Melissa, and even a new journal that Michael started. The only problem is that I have to do everything - write the exercise pages, sit with Michael during lessons because he is completely lost with the English and computer skills he got in camp, and also check and correct the texts. I thought this would bring order, no more assignments... Memories from the COVID period..

I decided to go for a long and relaxing run. I looked for a calm playlist to slow my pace. I went with Eran Tzur - a terrible mistake. Running in the sun at 30 degrees while the playlist chose all of Eran Tzur's raunchy songs in a row. You can't stop; if you stop, you can't return to run in this heat. Toto is already half fainted. We must reach at least the stream so that Toto can cool off. After forty minutes, finally, a good song came on:

Let's break out in song
We won't touch the message
The truth is forbidden
So said the teacher

Let's just try once more

Not to unleash the rage

Let's hide just like that

And see what comes out

And let's postpone the day

Let's look into our eyes

And absorb, we won't stop

Young and naive

Forever

And we'll float on the water

Sad but still
Young and naive

Meanwhile

Let's lock ourselves in our room

And tell ourselves

This is what we have, this is what we brought

We won't go to the edge

Let's make the impression

That despite the difficulty

We have no interest in happiness

And see what comes out

A few minutes later, we reached the stream and stopped to lounge. Toto in the water and I got the perfect song to lower my heart rate - Nights of Full Moon in this version.

After the injury from last week prevented me from surfing, this week I was determined. The wound still hurts, reopened again and bled for the third time due to a small hit I took from the refrigerator. But I decided to try anyway. I forced Yoela to come with me, and we went to a lesson with Pablo. It was an amazing experience. After half an hour, my back started to hurt, and Mati, who volunteered to watch Ofri, happily switched with me. It's funny to look at my surfing pictures compared to the kids' pictures - so much less style. Victory of youth. Yoela, on the other hand, is shining.

Yesterday we moved to a small cabin, five minutes walking from a semi-private beach, in the middle of a nature reserve. Apparently five minutes in a straight line from the city we were in until yesterday, but there's a stream that separates us from the city, and the drive out of the reserve takes forty minutes. They say there's a boat-taxi for a dollar per person; we haven't tried it yet, and it sounds a bit strange - nothing here costs a dollar. Even the tip for the fictional guard on the car is 6 dollars (at every corner there’s such a guard in a shiny suit, acting like he’s directing you to parking with tons of self-importance). In any case, we rented 2 surfboards for the weekend and don’t intend to leave here in the coming days.

On Sunday, Yoela is going on a tour in Colombia - two weeks of meetings in Bogotá, Cali, and Cartagena. So just before, she freed up time for a guest column.

Sugar and this - check. (By the way, just for the sake of accuracy, the liter of cola I used to drink in the country was replaced by a liter of beer a day)

See you next week

The story that wasn't / Yoela

"Honey, I found us a party" "Wow! How did you manage?" "It wasn't easy, but I had a lot of determination. I even signed up for Instagram for this. Juggle rave. Sounds worth it… let's put Ofri to sleep and leave them alone, it will be alright" I swallowed my saliva... all kinds of horror scenarios passed, but I let them go. "One thing I didn’t say, it’s an hour and a half drive from here" The eyes widened, the stomach turned. Enough, it will be fine. A couple's adventure ahead. The kids are grown, they’ll manage. "One forty-five to be exact" ... "It’s better to buy tickets in advance. So we don't do the whole journey and get stuck" "Right, here's the site for purchasing, it’s 10 dollars, just need to fill in details and order." While the order is being processed, the time allocated for the session runs out and everything resets. "Maybe we should listen to the DJs' playlists? Ensure this deal is worth it?" "Yes, good idea. Need some quality control on the party..." We listened to a few tracks; surprisingly nice. Doesn’t seem like there’s a reason to cancel. What, are we really going? We didn’t rest after lunch; it was a tough day with a double booking event for the week on Airbnb that is non-cancellable (!) and the mood is down... To lift the mood, I pushed to go to the beach, even though I knew it was the opposite of what we should do to get to the party. The waves, the sand, and the sunset did their magic. We continued to a nice dinner at a cute brewery. We returned back plump and half-drunk. At 21:00, the kids and I were bathed, Ofri was asleep. "Why haven’t you showered yet?" "Here it is now. Why the pajamas?" I immediately understood the blatant hint. "No pajamas. Are we going?" "Not clear. It seems to not make sense" After 5 minutes of shower, a quick peek into the living room. A sprawled and sleeping body. Of course, what was I expecting. Anger filled me, how much effort I put into finding this party, how much determination I had that we would go. I lay down with my phone and let frustration wash over me until I fell asleep. "Mom, are you going to the party?" "I don’t know; I’ll talk to dad shortly." "Dad, are we going to the party" "I don’t know; I’ll talk to mom shortly" "Mom, dad is sleeping" ""Dad, mom is asleep" / Come on, honey, we’re going out. No way we’re missing this. There’s coffee to go, pants, and we’re off. The entire way, an endless conversation about the next step from here, when the visa, when the apartment, what our evening will be, when the kids will start school. It felt like half the time. We arrived at a small colorful beach town, slowing the car and opening the windows to let the bass in the background wash over us. "Here, honey, we can park here" "Let’s go in" A strange mix of Americans and locals, half of them dressed for a graduation party, the other half almost naked. "It’s silly we’re not dressed for the event; it's just in our heads, everyone here is a stranger" "I wonder what they charge here?" "Coke probably, available..." Holding hands and crossing the back edge of the area. The music is great, the most jungle it can be. We take a small drink and start to dance.. very quickly we feel part of this jungle. There aren’t many people, but we really don’t care, how fun! A round beat, full of animals and layers. "When you called" "What happened?" "Ofri threw up in our bed" "Damn" "He says he already fell asleep again but asks us to come back because he doesn't know how to clean the bed and it stinks" "Well, let him roll to the other side and take off the sheet and the protector" "And then he will pee on the mattress without a protector?" "Come on, let them manage a little longer" "We’ll get back in two hours even if we leave now" "Come on, in two hours it won’t be relevant anymore" We pushed another track and a half, and the conscience weighed. "Another message from Mati, he has a huge spider in the room" "Alright fine. Let’s go" Unlike, the return journey felt like to Eilat.... each one nodding in turn. Must not fall asleep! We stop for cola, pee, gas. At 4 in the morning we arrived home. Broken but satisfied. We take off the sheets in the room smelling of vomit and pee, open the couch in the living room. A kiss, a smile "How fun that we went! I didn't believe it would happen"