Celebrating a Year.

In a year of ups and downs it's been a roller coaster of a month, even by our standards. I posted my last blog the day after we heard the sirens. What I didn't mention was that same evening Malcolm developed a kidney stone and I ended up having to call an ambulance for him. After two nights in hospital he was discharged, has made a good recovery and been given the all clear. Two weeks later Gila was in hospital with appendicitis! She had surgery and is also making a good recovery. As this was not the first time I have been through this experience with both of them, albeit each time for a different reason, we are able to make comparisons between the UK and Israel hospital experience

Similarities

• No spaces in the car park - although its less of an issue in Israel because people abandon their cars wherever they feel like it!

• When you ask for more medication they say they'll bring it and then an hour later they come back and say 'haven't you had it yet?'

Differences

• There are no helpful big red signs to A & E. In fact there were no signs to the Emergency Department (ED) at all. I guess its a useful deterrent. We once tried to take one of the boys to the ED at the Laniado hospital, in Netanya, as they had hurt their foot whilst we were on holiday. We gave up because we couldn't find it!

• In Israel even during Covid family members are allowed in – several family members!

• Russian nurses - the most effective pain relief for Malcolm was an injection into his backside. The Russian nurse marched in and stabbed him with the syringe, without any warning, saying 'It hurts, but this the method'

• No one here talks in hushed voices because other people are sick.

• The ambulance comes in 5 minutes but they don’t bother to strap you in or slow down over the speed humps. Malcolm nearly bounced off the stretcher.

• The view from Malcolm's window was very different from Barnett General with a carob tree outside his window.

• Fantastic information at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem for relatives of the person having surgery.

Meanwhile, despite the tense situation, life for most of us carries on as normal, and normal for me at the moment is new hobbies. I may not be remembering this correctly, perhaps one of my Putney High Girls can confirm, but I have a recollection from my school days that a few girls did pottery. I really wanted to do it, but I was not one of the arty girl so had to live with Latin - which I actually really enjoyed. Fast forward several decades and a casual remark by a realtor in Netanya re-awakened that memory and I decided that once we were settled in the house I would look for pottery lessons. Seven months later I found a lady on a moshav in the North of Netanya with a studio and various kilns. She usually teaches one to one, but agreed to teach three of us. It's been great fun learning - and very messy. The first thing we learnt was how to wedge - prepare our clay, and then we were let loose on the wheel. Those of you who watch the Great Pottery Throw Down will appreciate Samuel's comment on seeing my first attempt at five cylinders. 'Great consistency Mum!'

The following week I did actually produce a cylinder, but then had too much fun making a little pot to try another cylinder. I hadn't realised how many stages there are in making and decorating pottery and in particular how much you can still do to your piece after it has started to dry, but before it is fired. I have enjoyed carving and altering my pot as much as I have throwing it on the wheel. I still can't get my head round the process of painting and glazing pots as not only are the colours you use completely different from how they will look after firing, but the firing process itself produces effects that are out of your control. I have had to take pictures of each stage as I paint and glaze so that when my pieces are fired I will be able to remember what I did to achieve the finished effect. Our fabulous teacher, Debra, is very patient and explains every stage of the process to us, multiple times if necessary. There is no curriculum, her teaching is very organic and the two and a half hours just fly by.

I had assumed that pots were put in the kiln on a regular basis, but after 6 weeks of classes we hadn't yet glazed our pots. Last week Debra announced that she wouldn't be able to teach us as she was preparing to fire. She created a WhatsApp group so that all her potters could watch the process and progress of preparing and firing the kiln. It took several days and was a revelation.

As much as I enjoy turning my little cylinders into pots and bowls I have realised, especially after seeing the other things in Debra's kiln, that I would eventually like to produce big jugs and bowls so I am going to have to go back to the drawing board and concentrate on getting the cylinders right.

I have also made a lot of progress on my mosaic. My only constraint is that it is in a very sunny spot so I can only really work on it in the early morning and late afternoon - I know - it's a first world problem. Elisheva took me to a mosaic tile shop in Hod Hasharon which was amazing and so hard to know what, and how much, to buy. I tried to control myself on the basis that I could always come back for more.

Another high point of the month was watching the Champions League Final on the beach at Hertzlia with Alexander, our friends the Bentleys - and the Israeli Chelsea Supporters Club. The result topped off a great evening.

But the highlight of the month came right at the end. A few weeks ago the government finally made the long awaited announcement that immediate family of Olim (immigrants), would be allowed into Israel if they were double vaccinated. Proof would be required of their vaccination as well as copies of birth certificates, marriage certificates, signed declarations and proof of insurance covering Covid. After a stressful few weeks trying to get their "permission to fly" documents through the Consul in London, we went to the visa offices in Netanya and received the papers within 24 hours!

And so we were able to celebrate - with our family - the first anniversary of our Aliyah. When it's been such a difficult year for so many people it seems almost inappropriate to say we've had a fantastic year, but we have. The down side of making Aliyah in a pandemic has been the separation from our family and friends, but the up side is, as we were not able to travel back to the UK every few weeks as we had planned, we have been able to really settle into our new life here, making friends with people also separated from their families. The Anglo community in Poleg and Ir Yamim is very welcoming and there is a strong feeling of camaraderie, as whether from the UK, South Africa, America or elsewhere most people have some family in Israel, but many family members, including their children abroad. Everyone has at some point made the momentous decision to uproot their life and move to Israel and however long they have been in Israel they are excited each time someone makes Aliyah. This enforced stay in one place, due to the pandemic, means that people have made even more effort than usual to meet people locally and roughly half the new friends we have made have made Aliyah within the last year.

For me personally this year has been a revelation. I had been suffering severely from depression and anxiety for several years. Previously a voracious reader I hadn't read a book for five years and struggled even to read a magazine - newspapers were just too depressing. The simplest of social arrangements with even our closest friends were awful for me as I was struck dumb, poor Malcolm trying to make conversation for two people and it couldn't have been much fun for our friends either, although they never stopped inviting us. Every day was filled with dread and dark thoughts, I couldn't look forward.

Although prior to Covid I had been improving it was a painfully slow and gradual process, but when Covid struck and Malcolm and I were both ill, with Malcolm ending up in hospital, it set me back a long way. I cried every night at the thought of going to Israel and leaving my boys.

And then we made Aliyah.

We'll never know what made the difference, but whether it was the sunshine, the natural passage of time or the dramatic effect of a radical change in our life, at a stage when we would have expected to be pottering along indefinitely doing the same old thing, who knows?

I feel like I have been given a new lease of life. Meeting new people should have filled me with dread, but it has been such a positive experience, I have found it energising and we have made some lovely friends. I can picture the look of shock and delight on Malcolm's face, the first time here, that I interrupted him and took over the conversation. A year on I sometimes catch him gazing at me in wonder when I am in full flow. Some of our new friends must think he's a bit weird!

I read Hilary Mantel's Mirrors and Light in that first quarantine and haven't stopped reading since. I feel like I have years worth of reading to catch up on.

I had forgotten what it felt like to feel happy, to be able to look forward to things, to enjoy peoples company, but also to enjoy just being with Malcolm. Not only had I forgotten what it felt like, but I had lost all hope that I would feel these things again. I had forgotten what it felt like to look around you and find joy in a blue sky or a beautiful flower. I had forgotten the buzz you get from trying something new. We took a huge risk going when I was still so unwell, but boy has it paid off. It feels like a miracle.

What an amazing year!!