Our first house swap! WOW!
Nero Pizza
Ta nor waterfall
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Nimrod's Fortress
Like
anything first time, you never know what you’re getting into, if I did, I’m not
sure I would have gone ahead. The
Cleaning, and cleaning and more cleaning….more psychological I grant you, and
before you know it you have to clean their place too!
Hindsight, I
think I was in psychological denial days before the trip, though hubby was
DIYing all over the house, ‘fixing’ like an otter his dam. Let’s face it someone had too, gate-guards
for their 2 year old and our ‘blooming’ crawling creature. Then there was the roof garden that has never
looked so clean and proper, even the plants looked expectant.
I promptly
fell sick with bad tummy bug and thought may have to cancel….
But on the day, two families promptly scheduled and synchronized our watches and of we swapped!
But on the day, two families promptly scheduled and synchronized our watches and of we swapped!
First, it
was WEIRD not to leave the house in an utter flurried mess. My pre-sick plan of leaving a basket of
homemade goodies went out and tummy bug came in. Then guilt settled in as we walked into an
immaculate house loaded with lychees, which we scoffed and grapes draping like
the hanging gardens of Babylon in the fridge. Do people really stock so much food in their
fridge?? We left ours bare, thinking 'Great lots of space! Surely they would ‘prefer’ to experience the local fresh produce market and choose
their own ‘poison’
The thought
“Did we do bad? “ hijacked our oafish minds.
Their walls
were full of family photos, even their
kids each had folders labeled “years from
x to x” all four of them! Stacked
orderly and alphabetically. Ouch, we
were not in Kansas anymore…
This is what
I will affectionately term the 'house swap psychological thrashing', you ‘enjoy’ your new place but have a
tingling, nagging compulsion to compare every damn thing.
Staying in becomes an adventure.
Staying in becomes an adventure.
Gazing at their order, clearly, they must
think us pigs. Or….” I wonder if
they are having such a good time as us?” “ Are they enjoying the roof-top view
as we are their garden…”damn.
Forgot,
actually didn’t know that we’re supposed to inform our neighbors, till on
our return they told us they were locked
out and knocked on our door in the middle of the night, to find not only
burglars but burglars in pajamas! **
Sleeping in
other peoples’ bed was not so traumatic
as it may seem to some people. Funny
thing was I forgo the amazing starry night of the countryside and retired to bed early. I woke up first and wondered around like Goldilocks looking how the three bears fared. The house has 5 bedrooms, baby and me were in the master bedroom. Hubby in teenage boy room, middle son sprawled out on the
sofa and own teenage son in teeny tiny bed of a 2 year old!....go figure…
It is a rare 'treat', to say the least, 'experience' a direct plunge into some elses ‘shoes’,
live their life, cook in their kitchen,
unravel their eating habits which I guarantee you will be very different to you
and yours. Comparisons, comparisons…part
and parcel of the House-Swap-Package.
As the
holiday unfolded we realised the “To-Do” list exchanged was totally
inappropriate, we basically gave them “Tel Aviv-on-a-Shoe-String” they gave us "Best-Restaurant-Guide-of-the-North"…needless to say we missed the kibbutz’s cafeteria.
