Nuances

October 10, 2001-This & That

They have a peculiar way of using the word “scheme” here. They talk of government schemes to help pensioners get better dental care and mean it in a positive way. “Scheme” seems to be used as we use the word “plan.” But every time I hear it or read it I think of something devious.
There was nothing devious about the talk of the brothel that was just approved to open in the industrial estates. Prostitution is legal here. Brothels must be far from schools and houses of worship, so an industrial estate, or industrial park, as we call them, meets the requirements.

I think I’m ready for a social life of my own. I answered the phone just now and found myself talking on and on with the person at the other end just because it was a familiar voice. We’ve been very busy with the holidays so I haven’t noticed, but I think I need something to do besides email. Tomorrow I’m having lunch with a retired realtor. She’s also a Holocaust survivor. She wants to talk real estate and compare notes. Should be fun. I just called to book lunch next week with a woman who’s studying for conversion and hopes to return to Israel. She’s the one who was deported for being in the hostel that housed a millennium sect. Her last name is Christianson. When she becomes Jewish she wants to change it to Cohen. She said that name would be less conspicuous in Israel. Duh!

We’re watching the news about the anthrax found in Florida. I hope the U.S. looks to Israel and how they’ve been handling that kind of threat. We’re worried about you all, but Australia’s not immune. The American Express offices in Sydney were evacuated due to a bomb threat. They found the man they think torched the Mosque in Brisbane a few weeks ago. The Muslim community is rebuilding and is happy the police have a suspect.

October 11, 2001-Survivors & Surviving

This is not a joke: A stupid American walks into a grocery store in Australia and goes to a dairy case where there’s cottage cheese. She needs sour cream for a kugel (noodle pudding) she’s taking to Shabbat dinner the next night. Not seeing sour cream, she walks up to up to a stock clerk and says, “ I’m looking for sour cream. What would you call it?” The stock clerk says with a straight face, “Well, I’d call it sour cream if that’s what I was looking for.” The stupid American thanks him profusely and follows his directions to the other dairy case where the sour cream is sitting next to the yogurt. Feeling self-conscious about her poor grasp on this foreign language, she hesitantly sidles up to a different stocker and mutters, “Where would I find the serviettes?” He instantly points to the paper goods aisle and, voila, there are oodles of napkins on the shelves. The moral of this story: “She who has the guts to make a fool of herself walks out of the store with all her supplies.” So went my trip to the grocery store.

I had lunch today with Sue. She’s 73 years old and a retired realtor. As we settled into our seats at the Food Fantasy Buffet in Jupiter’s Casino across from our apartment, I asked her to tell me her story. I was unprepared for what happened next. She reached into her purse and pulled out a thin paperback book. She’d written it several years ago when her children insisted she write her memoirs. The story came to her in the form of poetry that she wrote in the voice of a child. We’ll bring a copy home for the Temple library in Akron. The book was self-published and she’s sold 250 of the 500 copies in print. The other day someone wanting to help her market it approached her. Who knows, she may be on the Today show soon.

Sue was celebrating her 9th birthday with her family in Vienna, Austria when Hitler invaded and her father was captured. She was very aware of what was going on around her. She made up her mind that the only safe place for her was England. At age 9, she convinced her mother to send her on a train alone, without a ticket, and without papers, to England where she had a great aunt. But they couldn’t reach the great aunt before Sue left. She traveled through The Netherlands and was put on a boat to England where she ended up in an internment camp. Many people wanted to take her into their homes, but she insisted she was waiting for her great aunt. The aunt finally came for her and took her home. She was quite elderly and after a year Sue felt she was too much of a burden for her aunt. At age 10, she wrote a letter to the Quakers whom she knew were helping the Jews. They placed her with a lovely family. Shortly after that, her mother wrote to tell her that her father had escaped and had made it to England. Well, that’s as far as I got in the book. I can tell you that they were all reunited and moved to Australia. She met and married a Zionist and moved to Israel where they lived for 40 years. She became a realtor and raised three sons there. One by one her sons began to explore her past, visited Australia, and fell in love with it. They’re all living here now. The front cover of the book has a picture of her when she was nine. The photo looks like a typical schoolgirl of the time and bears a strong resemblance to Anne Frank.

I’m reading Bryce Courtenay’s Australian Trilogy. The books can be gotten separately. The first one is The Potato Factory. It gives a very real and graphic picture of who the early Australian settlers were and how they arrived. I’m finding it fascinating. The second is Tommo and Hawk. The third is Solomon’s Song. It mentions that Australia is unique as a country of Europeans in that Jews were among the first settlers. They came as prisoners, like the rest. Or maybe they came for the weather. All of you who are sick of hearing about our good weather will be happy to know it’s raining. Of course, it’s nighttime, so it doesn’t matter.

Toby