Evacuation Diary: Operation Sheild and Arrow Day 5

You talk about hectic? Life as a live-in granny, during evacuation far from home, with three kids under the age of 8 and Mommy having to work, is hectic. I could barely keep up with myself, let alone with the needs of the kids.

We took a break from the group on Day 5, staying 5 minutes away from Nahariya, on Kibbutz Evron, at the house of my son-in-law’s friend. Since his friend is abroad, we were offered his house for now.  It was such a relief to escape the intensity of the small cramped rooms and the constant need to keep up the pace of such a large group of people, in foreign surroundings. I am used to green, open spaces, where – even if there is noise, it gets dissipated in the seemingly boundless Negev desert. In an infrequently touristed hotel in Nahariya, clearly past its heydays, the rooms were too small and cramped for our large brood, their room wall-to-wall bed, to sleep 5. Ok – what can you expect when you have been evacuated from a war zone. The hallways were noisy with voices and kids running and outside the city streets were bustling. While I deeply appreciate the fact that the hotel opened its doors to us, I was so relieved to be given another option, literally a few minutes drive away. 

Among activities that the kibbutz group in Nahariya were offered, was the use of Kibbutz Evron’s country club. This meant that my granddaughters were able to play in the pool for a few hours, together with their friends, also on this evacuation. Later that evening, my daughter, in charge of the evacuated kibbutz activities, had meetings with her committee and organized a communal viewing of the Eurovision in one of the hotel’s halls. 

To occupy my granddaughters early last evening, I played interviewer and recorded  their impressions of this whole situation. 

What could be more oxymoronic than watching the Eurovision contest and rooting for Noa Kirel’s “Unicorn” song representing Israel, while, at the same time, a cease-fire has been announced and you see the alerts flashing on the screen showing the barrage crescendo battering your region, your home, your community. As it turned out, the last rockets fired were at Nirim and Ein Hashlosha- an unwelcome custom, it seems, in the tradition of the ending of Operation Protective Edge back in 2014. At least this time no one was killed. 

This morning I awoke to see that the ceasefire has held. That means lots of work ahead. It will be a very long day – beginning with cleaning the house we’ve been staying in and then the long drive back home. Stay tuned for the “Homecoming” blogpost tomorrow.