Today was/is a family friend's birthday, and his wife so very kindly invited us to join the little birthday gathering she organized with two other friends from Tel Aviv plus one of the friend's brother who's visiting from the States. My little family shared a car ride with Kirsten and Or (the birthday man) to their church in Netanya in the morning. After a potluck lunch (for which I invented a baked lemon-marinated tilapia garnished with sauteed garlic, green onions, and different colored peppers I got from the shuk the day before), we rode the car together with them again to a man-made fishing lake called Dag Bakfar. There, we met up with Mark, Alex (the brother), and Rachel--who is about 34 weeks pregnant, and got to fishing.
We didn't end up catching anything, although we saw other people catch some big ones a couple of times. Someone gave Or a live fish, but he released it back into the lake as he wanted to catch one for himself. Declan spent the afternoon chucking pebbles into the lake as he stood next to me, effectively scaring away any fish that I might hope to catch. The fishing place closed around 6pm, and we wrapped up the day with a dinner together at this burger place that had some really fantastic burgers. Meat is so much more expensive here in Israel that Daniel and I have been eating mostly vegetables for the meals I make at home, so it was a real splurge to chow down on a thick lamb burger. I still need to be on a lookout for a birthday present for Or though, and hopefully one for Kirsten as well, as I think she mentioned her birthday (Oct 15?) in passing once during a story about her annual visa renewal process. Maybe presents from Italy?
Now I'm listening to Jason Mraz on grooveshark, because the burger place played old American pop hits that were a mixture of Daniel's and my favorites and made me nostalgic for music I used to listen to all the time.
But the funniest memory of the day, besides Declan sitting by Or along the lake and waiting together for a fish to bite, besides Declan clinging onto Mark's back during dinnertime and rocking to the music, besides Declan being the shortest little person racing along with three other bigger kids at church this morning, was how during lunchtime, I had offered Declan one last bite of mashed potato. He had just gotten off my lap and was about to run off to search for the 2.5 yo girl that he was holding hands with on and off. I held out the mash-ladened fork out to him. He said, "No!" once. I offered again. He said, "No!" again, this time taking a step towards me while shoving an open palm as if to push my fork away across the space between us. I offered one last time. This time, he suddenly stopped, smiled, and jogged back to stuff in his mouth the content on my fork before he raced off. Kirsten and Or said Declan's starting to act like a real Israeli already. Apparently, people here tend to say no to every question the first one or two times around, and it's important to persist. Something of a challenge for my live-and-let-live attitude, but I'm learning to be pushier since living in China...and being married to Daniel, who tends to have a more overpowering personality than I naturally do.
Just that, "no"...."no"...and then sudden change in demeanor. What a funny little guy. I hope and pray that my son and I will always have a good relationship with each other.
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