shabbat shalom, Christmas Day 25.12.09

Fri, December 25, 2009 9:07:34 AM
From: Linda Whittaker ~ Email: olsvig2000@yahoo.com

Uff, what a Christmas. I woke this morning expecting to go to church for a Christmas Day service. Instead I saw two of my cats seriously ill. One had serious congestion with blood coming out his nose. The other, my blind kitten, had diarrhea, swollen eyes, and was obviously in pain. Christmas service was scratched, and instead I needed my vet.

9 am, no vet at the clinic so I called his home. He was in Haifa, taking the day off. %@$#. Called another vet I knew and he was out of the country. Double %@$#. Then I tried the young vets who had trained with my vet, and they were in the clinic, so over we went to Hebron Road. They were really good and spent an hour and a half working over my two cats.

The first one was easy. Just a virus and the antibiotic I already gave him was the right one. Just keep on going.

The kitten was the problem. He probably has lost his remaining eye, but the swelling was really hurting him, so we gave him painkillers. Then stuff to reduce the swelling. Then antibiotic for the eye, antibiotic for the diarrhea, and a general antibiotic to catch whatever was missed by the first two. Then special food to stop diarrhea. He also had a worm infestation, so he was dewormed as well. I came out of there with a whole bagful of medications, as pills, ointments and injections. She reduced cost as much as possible, only 500 ILS, which comes out to about 150 usd, I think, and a half cost office visit.

Went home, got cats settled. They already have perked up a bit and are eating. But we sure have a medical therapy program for the next ten days. Forget about eye surgery on the kitten to close the perforated cornea. Can't do it on an infected eye, and so we will just have to wait and see what is left when the infection is gone. Poor guy. Anyway, he's also deaf, so he's going to be confined to the house all his life. He can do that blind also, but it's a pity not to have some compensation for his deafness, however poor.

My Christmas celebrations consisted of inviting a neighbor for dinner last night, and opening a gift from my sister and a gift from work. That was nice. And today, lunch with another friend. No tree or carols, but I have some candles to light at home that give a festive air. And I have two cats who got proper medical care. It's a fair trade.

This last week was slightly weird. I'm pushing forward a couple projects and got work done on both of them. But on Tuesday afternoon, I had enough, and declared the start of my Christmas vacation, clocked out at noon, and went running on shopping errands. Wednesday, more errands and a day at the spa, badly needed.

Thursday, Christmas Eve, I had to go to the military base down the road to renew the work permit for my cleaning lady. That is always a bizarre experience. The base is totally barren, all concrete and barbed wire, stark and forbidding, where Arab workers line up to get permissions, or their contractors handle it. This base is also the local police station and handles all conflicts in this part of the West Bank, so you can imagine it is a little intimidating. The permits office has a small potted Aracarea tree outside, and that is just about the only sign of cheerful green life in the whole base, as far as I can see. Ye gods, I would hate to be arrested and brought over there for questioning. Gulp. So I got the permit and cleared out as quickly as possible.

On the way home, I stopped in the town of Efrat (Bethlehem Efrata of the Bible). This is a small town in Gush Etzion settled mostly by American immigrants, largely Modern Orthodox, and many of them followers of Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, who is a decent chap. So Efrat is rather liberal by West Bank standrds, and very very American. I wanted to move my health fund records over to Efrat since my family doctor has relocated there from Jerusalem, and I like my doctor. So I'm following him to the clinic in this little burg. I had to to some paperwork and go over to the pharmacy to fill a couple prescriptions. English spoken everywhere. The clinic people were Americans, the pharmacy staff were Americans, and the customers were Americans too. I have never heard that much American English flying around in one place in Israel. It was a little disorienting. On the other hand, it sure made it easier to communicate. With my medical care centered there, I guess I will see more of this odd little town about which I have been rather curious for a long time. They seem like nice people. It sure is an Anglo colony, though!

Despite living on the West Bank for fifteen years, I really haven't had all that much contact with West Bank settlers, unless you count the people of my own village. Mostly I jump to Jerusalem and live my daily life there, leaving in the morning and coming home at night. I know more Arabs than settlers, probably. Perhaps Efrat gives me the opportunity to get some better understanding of West Bank Israelis from the inside, in a non-threatening, non-political setting. Maybe it is time for me to see and understand that side of the coin also. As a resident of Har Gilo for fifteen years, they will accept me as one of themselves, and I will be able to experience what most outsiders don't get to see. Continuing education....

My real Christmas celebration will be next week, when I throw a party at the office to cover all the holidays: Christmas, Hanukkah and Russian New Year (which is celebrated a lot like Western Christmas, complete with decorated tree and Santa). I've got six boxes of stuff stashed in the lab (stollen, fruitcake, candies, decorations, a little plastic tree, candles, etc.) which come out on 29 January for what is becoming an annual tradition. People enjoy it and would be disappointed if I didn't do this; it gives them a little taste of what they see others celebrating, just a touch of the forbidden, and really rather innocent with good food and no preaching. After all, no Jew living in Jerusalem can ignore Christmas, but most sure try!!!

Guess that's all for now. May your celebrations be peaceful and joyful, whatever you are celebrating now.

shabbat shalom,
Linda
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