Translated from Hebrew by Boaz Rahat 👑❤️
It’s a beautiful Saturday morning … we are moored in a bay. This is a rare occurrence for us in the Canary Islands. The sea is almost completely smooth and there is hardly any wind – two rare occurrences in an ocean. One of the things I really miss since leaving the Mediterranean Sea is days of being completely detached from civilization and quiet mooring with no neighbors.
Everything is quiet and tranquil here, but elsewhere a damned war is happing. We keep up-to-date through the news sites, at whatever dosage suits us. We are neither disconnected nor overdosed. It is especially due to the beauty and tranquility around us that it is difficult to understand the evil and futility of war. It used to be different, at least for part of the world, more and more people could enjoy freedom of choice and be part of a democratic community. It is sad and painful, each time anew, to see the folly of war. People who lose, at once, all they have. I think this about every national/nationalistic struggle anywhere in the world. Be the justification whatever, there is nothing that justifies destruction, loss and hearts bling to pain.
It is more than a month since I wrote, and there are extenuating circumstances, but I also need to confess. A lot of time has passed, including a visit of two weeks in Israel, a week in Spain with Ruth and Avi at their spectacular farm house, and it is now three weeks that we are back on Ester in Gran Canaria. Three weeks that were mostly full of activity’ without a time suitable for relaxed writing. These are the extenuating circumstances, and here comes the confession …
I am addicted again, and again there is someone to blame (that’s the point, isn’t it?). This time the addiction is a “positive addiction”, is such a thing exists … I am deep into learning Spanish with an app that knows exactly which buttons to push to make you addicted. For those who do not know, the app is Duolingo, and has a wide choice of courses for learning more and less useful languages. The truth be told, even Udi’s mother Ana is addicted. The app is great for training your memory and very enjoyable! I have been using it for 68 days in a row, I do not miss a single day (so as not to break the streak). I compete with people all over the world, so I can “be promoted” up a level every week. This is all thanks to or the fault of Udi … he has been learning Greek for two years running using the same app, and now learns Spanish too. Udi, after two years, is a little less into the competitive part, but I am definitely there. I find myself spending hours in this “positive addiction”, which provides a benefit. From day to day I understand more of the conversations around me and to me, and can, rarely, put together a short sentence. This is a constant time drain, but much easier than writing.
That’s how it works..
End of confession, and now to work …
Because of the passage of time and the waning memories, I will summarize the three weeks between mid-January and the beginning of February, to maintain continuity and so as not to miss bridging the gap … so I’ll make it short, and see if I succeed. Once I start it is difficult to stop …
The two weeks in Israel were due to a need to collect our Spanish visa to continue our never-ending struggle against the three month time limit which the European Union places on us as visitors. The positive angle of the limit, we have frequent visits to Israel which lessen homesickness. Luckily, again on the positive side of this unpleasant Covid reality, flights are so inexpensive that cost is no consideration. 50-60 Euros from the Canary Islands all the way home!
The visit to Israel was in the shadow of the Omicron wave, which taught everyone to be less anxious and more accepting of this plague. Again, a positive aspect is that this wave provided natural vaccination for many of the staunch anti-vaxxers. As far as we were concerned, we met far less people relative to previous home visits. We were exposed to verified carriers, and on the other hand we were careful not to meet people who were “just” sick until it turned out they it was not Corona. Another plus – we were lucky to receive real snow which kept us confined at home for three days of “snow holiday” with the family and spent our time mostly cooking, baking, playing board games, and spending real quality time together with the kids (never enough for us parents)’ and too few meeting with Grandma Ana and others.
Snow vacation at home
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| Roni & Gili at the kitchen with Udi |
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| Choros One of the calories gainer Prepared by Ronis’ magic hands Our genius grandchildren Kashem & Yafim |
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| Shay and Eliana’s cat “Yafim” on the left & “Chabi” our fat and lazy cat on the right |
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| Our beloved grandma Ana ❤ |
We took our leave of family again, and this is beginning to feel familiar.
Now that we had a Spanish visa, we travelled on to have it confirmed. We used this as another excuse to visit Valencia/Alicante region, to visit Ruth and Avi. They moved to their amazing house on their beautiful farm in the mountains (I wrote about them and our special connection with Ruth in one of the posts in August 2021, before we left for Gibraltar). Fortunately they agreed that we register in the small village near their farm, Beniali, as resident at their house. Aided by Ruth we arrived at the local “council house” armed with documents and forms. But … the mayor was very busy and would not be able to sign the forms during the coming month. We did not know if this is a joke at our expense of just a reason for one more visit. Given a choice between laughing and crying, we chose laughing. Our time is ours to spend, flights are almost less expensive than a bus from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv (15 Euros from Valencia to Gran Canaria) and car rental is 5 Euros a day! yes, 5 Euros, this is not a typo. Armed with a rental car, living in a new property in a stunning location, in the company of pampering people, gracious and beloved hosts, we set out to tour the surroundings. See some pictures from this wonderful visit.
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| In between Valencia and Alicante the tiny village Beniali Pictures from the home and the farm |
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| Those with a keen eye might be able to find Ruth & Avi’s house which beautifully blend in with the landscape |
Ruth requested a singalong of mostly Israeli oldies, And here we are together with the farms’ volunteers - an Israeli, an Argentinian and a Dutch. Sounds like the beginning of a joke A day walk from the farm and back Along the cliff above the Beniali valley To the beautiful arch  |
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| The village laundry |
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| The end of the hike beer tradition |
In short we did not suffer and were glad to have an excuse to come back after the major will find the time to sign our residency. Only then we can continue to the last step getting it, a visit to the local police station where our fingerprints will be taken and we’ll get a plastic residency card!
We were surprised to receive happy news on the last day before returning to Ester, which made the week starting the next day a happy and surprising experience.
More about that in the next post.
