Arad- The City by the Sea

After six long weeks of travel, last Thursday we were finally able to move into our house in Arad. The six of us that are supposed to be living in Kiryat Malachi have been indefinitely relocated to Arad. Four of us stayed in Jerusalem for a night for a conference with Zara and Adam going bravely ahead to move into our home first. Six long weeks of army bases, Egged buses, living off of eggs and sweet tea were about to end. Until Zara got a phone call saying our house in Arad had termites. They were not allowed to enter the house until Friday afternoon after the house had been fumigated. However, when all of us finally moved into the house, it still had not been fumigated. We have a couch we've nicknamed the termite couch which is now being kept on the porch to protect the house. We're not really sure how this helps, especially since its the whole house and not just the couch that has termites. Israeli logic is a magical thing. The date of fumigation is still TBA.

Arad is a fairly small city right near the Dead Sea. It is home to many Ethiopian immigrants and a large community of refugees from Darfur. According to wikipedia, it is also a hotspot for asthmatics worldwide because of the dry, clean air. The whole city is surrounded by desert. It's beautiful and very peaceful. From our back porch, we can see desert and across the dead sea to Jordan.

Our house is a very special place. It was donated by Robert and Dora to the city after they died for writers to live in so that they can be inspired by the beauty. We know that it was donated by Robert and Dora because they left us mugs with their names on them. Much of the stuff here still belongs to Robert and Dora- there kids should be here any day to pick it up.

The house came furnished- but I'm using that term loosely. There are chairs, but the backs fall off when you lean against them. There is a stove and an oven in our kitchen with decor from the 70's, however they don't work. The pipes are too old and it leaks gas. We have an electric kettle so we can at least have hot water. Unfortunately every time we plug it in, a fuse blows. We also have a washing machine. Unfortunately when we tried to use it, it leaked water all over our bathroom. There is also 1.5 bathrooms. However, to use the toilets, you need to turn the water on and off each time. It seems when they installed the shower, they forgot to put in a curtain. To shower, we need to sit down in the bath tub and just wash yourself off. And you need to do it quickly because we run out of hot water very fast and who knows when the power will blow.

For the six of us living here, we have 2 bedrooms and only 2 beds. In one room, Rachael and I share a bed and Justine sleeps on a mat on the floor. In the other room, Sarah and Zara sleep on the bed with Adam on a mat. Both rooms are quite crowded. To leave the room, I need to climb diagonally across the bed and then step over Justine without falling on any of the suitcases surrounding her. It's quite an adventure to go to the bathroom at night. The beds themselves are also a little unique. Rachael and I both roll off the edges of ours at night. In the other bed, whenever one of them get up, the other goes flying.

Yesterday, we found a lizard in one bedroom. It was climbing on Sarah's pillow. They were not able to catch it the first time, but it appeared later, about to crawl down Sarah's shirt. They were able to catch it and put it outside this time. We were all ready to move out after that, until we found out this morning they're lucky.

I know it may sound like I'm complaining about all this, but I'm actually not. Every time something happens, we all just burst out laughing. Despite all of the things that have happened to us in this town, we all much prefer to be here in our group of six than to be in another group. We get along really well. And the city of Arad has been amazing. Ofra, the federation coordinator, is the most organized and efficient person I've met in Israel. We'll all be sad to leave her when we go back to Kiryat Malachi. And we are all very excited for our volunteer positions that we have set up with her. I'm going to be working in an elementary school, in a center for toddlers with emotional and behavioral problems, and in an afterschool center for Ethiopian teenagers. We're all excited to finally begin.