Family Weirdness

My family is weird. That is something long-established.

We were at the Cheesecake Factory and I was talking to my mom about a few weird things that some normal families do.

1. Parents not drinking coffee. As long as I can remember, the coffee ritual has been an important one in my family. When I was two I spilled hot espresso on my hand when I was sitting on my mom's lap. Back when I still woke up at seven, I would come downstairs and wait until my parents had finished with their coffee and only then would we eat. I had no idea it was even possible for adults not to drink coffee until I was maybe eleven.

2. Not taking leftovers home after eating out. I have eaten with a few families who do this and, while I'm not saying it's bad, it makes me ridiculously uncomfortable. My mom pointed out that most of those families are not descendants of Holocaust survivors or children of wars. It is worth mentioning that the amount we waste in our household is enormous compared with what my grandmother throws away in her house. It's a dismal thing to say, but it's true. War makes people think differently. My great aunt once told me that children of the war are not people who want much for themselves, they are people who want much for their children.

3. Not always having a parent home most of the time. My parents work in fields in which it is usually not terrible to call in sick or need to stay home with sick children, and often they are not far away. Each afternoon, there will always be a parent home - not always during the school day or evening, but they will always be able to transport us from place to place.

So there you have it, three things that I find strange about normal people coupled with analysis. Have a lovely normal (weird) life!

Neve Tzedek

Yesterday after school, my mom, my brother, and I took a bus to Neve Tzedek.

Neve Tzedek is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Tel Aviv. It's got a kind of small-town feel to it in a way, but the taller buildings are always looming in the background.

We went for lunch at a place called Suzanna, but it was a bit rushed because we had to get to a show (which admittedly was in the building across the street, but still). It was a dance performance called Oyster, which is still going after ten years and is celebrating its anniversary at the Suzanne Dellal Center, which is one of the celebrated dance theaters in the country.

Oyster is unconventional, to say the least. All the dancers wear wigs (I'm still wondering how they didn't fall off) and have their faces painted white. The show is presented kind of like a carnival sideshow event, with one short piece after another. One piece includes dancers with rods connecting their hands and feet, and another has an extra-tall man pushed around by a ballerina with a stool attached to her behind. There's one where a dancer is hanging from a pulley, and one with "armless" men. I thought it was amazing, the way that they folded themselves and fell and stretched. And I suppose the weirdness of it was what made it amazing. It makes you want to do something not-so-normal because you can.

After that we went for gelato and went home. I studied some French. It was brilliant.