By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson
ZIKHRON YA’AKOV, Israel — It’s over twenty years since my own children were teenagers, and it was with some trepidation that my husband and I agreed to leave our home and spend a week in Zikhron Ya’akov attending to our three grandsons while their parents took a well-deserved break abroad.
Like everywhere else in the civilised world, Israel has undergone many changes in the last two decades, and the sphere of gadgetry is no exception. The teenage ethos has also moved with the times, and seems to be preoccupied to a greater extent than ever with extra-mural activities.
So, armed with the various appurtenances that we thought would enable us to cushion ourselves against the loss of our home environment (laptops, books, mobile phones, painting things, exercise equipment, etc.), we embarked on the journey to another planet – the world of the teenager that lay just one and a half hour’s drive away.
Our daughter is a very hardworking young woman and had not had time to prepare food in advance. So the first task in hand was to roll up one’s sleeves and get into the kitchen – or order pizza. Naturally, the second option was the one that was preferred, and so it continued for most of the week. Nevertheless, in the course of the next few days I did more cooking than I seem to have done for years. Teenage boys are perpetually hungry, and don’t really seem to care much what they eat provided it’s there when they come home from school. They don’t really seem to mind too much who provides it, either.
We soon discovered that our main function while in Zikhron Ya’akov was to ferry the various youngsters to and from school (the youngest boy is only seven, and attends a school quite far away from home), as well as to and from their various after-school activities. There is a surfing club at the nearby kibbutz of Ma’agan Michael, and the two older ones, aged 16 and 12, are keen surfers. It did not matter that the weather was neither warm nor sunny. They donned their wet suits and off we all went, to seek out the highest wave and the whitest surf. The little one, for his part, would get into his football gear, the royal blue kit of Zikhron Ya’akov’s youth squad, and race around the football pitch as earnestly as any young Wayne Rooney.
Have I mentioned Skatepark? That’s another of Zikhron Ya’akov’s attractions. No matter what the time of day or night, or the state of the weather, the asphalted area that has been set aside for skateboarding, with its hills and ridges for the various acrobatics that youngsters like to perform, is floodlit after dark. Of course, it is situated on the other side of the town, so that the enthusiastic young skateboarder had to be taken there and collected subsequently, too.
But all those journeys gave me a chance to enjoy the sight of the Carmel Mountains to the east and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Not to mention the traffic roundabouts which were a gorgeous sight, with an abundance of wild cyclamen and poppies of all colours. The town is certainly well looked after, with greenery and plantings that would do credit to any town in western Europe.
When the week came to an end and the boys’ parents returned from their holiday, we packed up the things we had brought with us to work on and had barely touched. But it took some time until we got used to the idea of not having to look after teenagers any more.
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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson is a freelance writer and translator who lives in the Jerusalem suburb of Mevasseret Zion. She may be contacted at dorothea.shefer@sdjewishworld.com This article initially appeared in the AJR Journal, published by the Association of Jewish Refugees. You can read more on her blog: http://fromdorothea.wordpress.com