Expat Wish Lists

This week's X-pat Blog Hop from Tales from Windmill Fields came with very specific instructions. Two lists:

A. What they don't have in this country that I wish they did, and
B. What they do have that I wish they didn't.

A...
1. Proper department stores like John Lewis. The sort of place I enter in London and whisper under my breath, 'everything please.' Of course I can hardly afford to buy anything, but I love walking around, looking, and dreaming...

2. Hard cheeses that don't require taking out an extra mortgage. I once bought a small brick of real cheddar from a local deli. The sort of quantity that would cost about 3.50 in the UK (less in a supermarket with special offers). I paid my 60 shekels without thinking and then almost had a fit on the way home when I realised that I'd handed over more than 10 pounds! All the cheese here is expensive and the sort we call 'yellow cheese' that you slice into a sandwich or grill, is actually semi-hard - like a soft gouda. And even that costs more than 2 shekels a slice (about 35p) in the cheapest packets!

Impressive Eucalyptus

3. The English countryside. Remember learning about Mediterranean scrub in geography lessons? Well a whole country of Med scrub has it's charms with dusky olive trees on the rocky mountains, but it's just not green enough. And even though we have impressively tall Eucalyptus trees (imported from Australia in the 1900s to drain the swamps), I miss the giant oak trees, weeping willows, and cedars of Lebanon (ironically). The sort of trees that Jane Austen might have sat under (although probably not in Harrow) and Robin Hood could have hidden in (ditto about Harrow). Obvioulsy olive trees have their own romance and Jesus himself, Kings David and Solomon, and even the Queen of Sheba probably did sit under some of the olive trees in my neighbourhood. But we each have our own sense of romance...

4. Four distinct seasons. I miss the Autumn and Spring which last for about two weeks each here. Winter in Jerusalem is harsh, not because it's so cold outside, but the houses are not built to withstand the cold and are freezing inside. Also they are not set up for rain and there's not enough drainage. We need rain and we love it, especailly after a relentlessly hot and dry Summer, but it's hard to get around when the roads turn into rivers.

B...
1. The Hebrew language. I can speak it, though not particularly well, and this limits my life. I certainly cannot blog in it. All the promotions and freebies that my British blogger friends enjoy are not applicable to a resident blogging in a foreign language. And my local readership is limited to people who are comfortable reading in English. In 1990 English almost became the third official language in Israel. All phone options offered Hebrew, Arabic, or English, and English media was becoming more popular. Then the iron curtain was drawn and over a million Russians arrived. Now the third option is Russian and the media money goes to maintain whole TV channels in Russian.

2. Hostile neighbours. In many ways Israel is an island. I've heard that Lebanon and Northern Syria are greener but they are not places we can visit. Actually I would prefer to be able to jump on a train and go to Europe. And other disadvantages and dangers....

3. Bad press. I felt this especially when I was seen by an Arab doctor in an Israeli hospital and sharing a hospital room with an Arab lady in the next bed (we looked out for each other). Meanwhile I was reading about Israeli Apartheid in the foreign papers.

4. Lack of consumer choice. Even Trinny and Susannah when they came, said that Israeli women are not bad dressers but there is hardly anything to buy. Truthfully, there is loads to buy but very little choice. That's the difference between a population of 7 million and one of 90 million. Also with other goods, you buy what there is. Added to this, everything is twice as expensive.