All you need is love…

I wrote before about arriving in Israel with just our clothes and not much else.  Well, just over three months later our things still have not arrived (although the ship should hopefully be docking in the next week or two).

Here are a few things I’ve learned over the last three months.

• We decided to buy a new washing machine in SA because it would be cheaper than buying one here. We should have just bought one here.  Dragging two or three huge bags of laundry to the laundromat once a week is a monumental pain. It would have been so much more convenient to buy one here and just do our own laundry.
• You don’t really need a microwave. I bought a kettle when we arrived (hello, coffee!) and a toaster but I knew our microwave was on its way so we didn’t buy a new one.  We have survived quite well without one.  Sure its a small pain to reheat leftovers in the oven but its not impossible.  Im not sure I want to even unpack it when it arrives.
• You CAN survive on minimal clothing.  Technically I have had all my clothes with me, we just didn’t have cupboards until a few weeks ago so I was living out of my suitcase with only a few pairs of jeans, a few jerseys and sweatshirts, 5 long sleeve under shirts, 7 short sleeved t-shirts, a skirt that I dug up from one of the unpacked suitcases when we needed to go to shul and my undies, bras and socks.  Since we got the cupboards I have unpacked most of my clothes and its like a whole new wardrobe.  It helps that its hotter here now so I get to wear more summer stuff too.

Have a gratuitous picture of my gorgeous family. Why, because they have made everything so worthwhile!

• You CAN survive with one pair of boots, a pair of takkies (sneakers) and a pair of flip flops.  Shoes are heavy and bulky and I decided to send the majority of them in the container.  I brought my red boots, my takkies and a pair of ‘fancy’ slops.  Gasp, horror, I managed to survive over 3 months with 3 pairs of shoes.  That being said, I really really want my shoes to arrive, I’m pretty sick of my takkies and now its too warm to wear boots, I want all my pretty summer sandals.
• Even if you have no carpets in your house, you still need a vacuum cleaner. Not all dust can be swept up and brooms cant reach everywhere.  Also, sand. My kids bring home the equivalent of half a sandpit every day.  Also, we live in a desert, sand blows in the windows and if you use the aircon it comes in through the vents. Sand gets EVERYWHERE!  I bought myself a vacuum cleaner on sale and its the best investment I could have made.
• Toys.  The kids got to bring a handful of toys on the plane and we have bought a few small things here and there but the majority of their toys are on the ship.  So far they have managed (especially when we limited their device time) and have made do with what they have or created their own toys out of paper, cardboard, sticky tape and coloured pencils.  They go to the park, they kick a ball, they make up games to play.  They haven’t even asked for any of the toys we packed in the container.

It really is amazing on how little you need and makes you exceptionally grateful for everything you do have!