Classic Israeli Moment (CIM) #2

While walking home from a morning session of Mommy & Me and impromptu play at the park in Vardiya (A dad was overlooking three of his kids and encouraged his son to play soccer with Declan), an elderly gentleman on a motorized wheelchair approaches us on the sidewalk. Daniel and I told Declan to make way for him to pass, but he stopped to make conversation.

Gentleman: How many children do you have?
Daniel: One [points to Declan]. Two [points to Petra].
Gentleman: Just two children?
Daniel: For now.
[I break into a cold sweat.]

Other moms I was hanging out with at the park between Shimshon and Yocheved Street assured me that I will once again get "baby fever" when Petra turns two. I decided not to share the fact that I have never ever felt baby fever.

The average number of children per family in a typical Israeli family used to be three. Now it is four.

Declan said "good bye" and "see you later" to the elderly gentleman in Hebrew, which made the man chuckle. I especially enjoy making old people happy, especially the ones in Taiwan and Israel. Their generation has ben through so much, it's pretty ridiculous. Whenever I see an elderly person in Taiwan or here clearly enjoying life, it always makes me pause to reflect on the resilience of the human spirit. Maybe I'm being too romantic to apply that in general to old people from countries with backgrounds of widespread war, but it's certainly true for both sets of my grandparents.

Following that, we continued walking down the sidewalk, stopping every now and then to share between the three of us one large watermelon popsicle. And we saw the same man again, this time cruising slowly down the middle of the road. Cars started building up behind him. He continued to "speed" along at a leisurely pace with the road open before him as more and more cars lagged in retinue. Israeli drivers are aggressive as a norm, but nobody honked.

Then, the elderly gentleman stopped in the middle of the road to make conversation with someone else by the sidewalk.

But, as we walked past and away from that particular street in that neighborhood, I still didn't hear anyone honk. Israelis can be pushy and aggressive, but they sure enjoy their children and respect their elders.