Tel Aviv Diary April 8-12, 2019

Karen Alkalay-Gut

April 8-12, 2019

April 8, 2019

who is not holding their breath tonight?

I wasn't home when the supermarket delivered our order, but when i got there Ezi had arranged all the cleaning materials i'd ordered in rows all over the tables. It was a statement, "why are you overbuying?" I had two shopping bags in my hands, Dorin Frankfurt, so even though we didn't discuss it, i had to think about what I have been doing in the past few days. And I know the answer. whatever happens after the elections prices are going to go up. The lid has been kept on the groceries for Passover, but i'll bet everything changes by May.

i'm not the only crazy one in the group. there are others. one, for example, doesn't want to leave the country, as if he is hiding under his coverlet in times of war. another doesn't want to come back because it seems so unstable. so many of us are behaving irrationally.

but at least I've got a closet full of Dorin Frankfurt clothes I don't need. - yet.

but what am i worrying about? what is going to change?

April 9, 2019

41 boxes of paper ballots to choose from. the woman before me couldn't even find the ballot she wanted among all the little boxes. Some people couldn't figure out the letters either. But why should anything be clear and intelligent. the campaign certainly wasn't. I found myself being interviewed on television from Bangladesh saying some interesting things i should share with you (because i don't even know if they aired it). one thing was that no matter who wins the election the important thing is the coalition. If Bibi and Ganz, for example, decide they can finction together without all the little extremist parties, life might get a little more rational around here. If Ganz wins by a small margin and doesn't manage to get all the votes from the other parties to form a government, and Bibi wins by a small margin - our crazy extremists will make such conditions that we will wind up with the craziest government possible.

We crowded together in Dalia's apartment - about 30 people who have been meeting for election night for decades - and waited for the election predictions. As soon as they were announced we scattered, as if we don't want to know more. it will take time to sort out this mess.

in the mean time, you want want to distract yourself with this:

or, if you want a little serious politics, check out my intereview on Bangladesh channel 24 today

https://www.facebook.com/channel24bd/videos/646128079191068/?t=565

seriously edited but out of date anyway.

April 10, 2019

It's like Groundhog Day around here. Every election there's a different contender but every year Bibi wins.

Didn't turn on the radio, didn't read the paper, didn't talk to anyone. i took kids to the park, had lunch with a friend, enjoyed the sun, What i had said on that tv thing yesterday was that everything depends on the coalition, but the coalition looks even more terrifying than the i could have imagined yesterday.

April 11, 2019

"Small Country, Big Dreams"

I think we crashed into the moon just now.

Yup, we made it to the moon and we crashed. But the effort in itself it monumental - and the president decided to sing the national anthem, "The Hope" to comfort the disappointed scientists and engineers.

I think I'd rather talk about two things I saw at the zoo today. It was the first day of the Passover vacation and I raced the kiddies to the Safari in Ramat Gan. But when we got there we discovered that there were dozens of busses of children from religious Jewish schools and from Arab villages, and we were going to have a hard time getting through the crowds.

There were the elephants, looking so cute to the little children despite their size (and I had ptrpared the kids for this moment by showing them the original Dumbo movie the evening before) but then we noticed that what looked like a piece of paper under their feet was a white bird, and it was still alive. Carefully and deliberately, they trampled on it, and when it was unrecognizable they threw the pieces into the air. Soon we could see only scattered feathers. I hope the kids don't make any comparison with the spacecraft...

Then we visited the gorilla section, where i began to notice that some of them were wearing burlap sacks around their shoulders or even over their heads. at some point they would get tired of wearing them and sat on them, or held them very close. all around the gorilla space the women were wearing hijabs, or scarves to hide their hair. then there was me in my red floppy hat to block out the sun because i freckle.

April 12, 2019

Habima Square - lunch time - crowds coming out of the concert and crowds going into the theater. Crowds of children watching the little sail boats in the pool in front of the concert hall. We sit in the cafe and one after another beggars ask for handouts. None of them are ashamed. I on the other hand, am ashamed of eating a good breakfast while some people are hungry for food. our step-step daughter from Barcelona asks, "is there a soup kitchen in Tel Aviv? " and we don't know. "is there a shelter?" we don't know. "They know."

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