Emails between Mother and I
Hi Mamaschka! No, I don’t have internet here – I have to pay $5 for 1mb of data, which is not a lot of data for all of the problems I have to solve online.
My post office box has been rejecting mail, so I wonder if I will ever get that check from the government. I tried to call and sat on the phone, wasting my precious data on hold for an hour with no results. And my bank decided to change their system, so now I have to waste an hour trying to figure it out and probably another hour trying to understand how to sign up for Zelle so Papa can send me money. Wow. I guess I am in the mood for complaining! I’m sure things are not so bad.
Ugh. My roommate is so nice and American, but she smells. She has a fire constitution, so it is to be expected, but it is too cold to open the window all the time. And maybe i stink, too – i’ve only taken one shower since i’ve been here. I don’t know how cold it has to be for the heater to work, maybe 55 or 60 degrees? But i can’t change the temperature, so i am snuggled into my nice warm bed now. I have 3 blankets, so i sleep well.
I share my room with Jessica, the only other American, there is one Austrian girl, the owners (Peter and Alma) are from South Africa (but they are white), and everyone else is Israeli. There are 22 of us.
Why so many Israelis? Ah! Because this lodge offers 3 free nights of accommodation to Israelis (in normal life…in this lockdown, i think it is free for everyone for the month? Nobody has mentioned money at all. Except the showers cost $2 and the wifi is $5 and laundry is $2).
Anyway, you might ask – why are they so generous to Israelis? Ah ha! So they can preach to them about Jesus!!
Surprise! This place is run by some ministry that loves Israel and Jesus and wants them to be together forever for the glory of their God (of Avraham, Yitzhak ve Jaacov).
Well, you remember congregation – they are the same type of people. Very nice, and very small-minded. Everything goes according to the bible. Except Shabbat. They still want us to do chores on Shabbat.
I am not ok with that, so I skipped it yesterday. We are allowed to take walks around this beautiful countryside, so i took an extra long one and came back an hour after chore-time. I haven’t gotten in trouble for it, so i haven’t had to fight for my Saturday yet. Maybe it will happen next week. I’ve been fired a couple of times because i didn’t want to work on Shabbat, so I’m not afraid of it happening again. There is a camper van up in the northern part of the island that i can rent for $200 a week if i need it.
They have forbidden me from teaching yoga. I was asked to teach (I didn’t advertise!), and the Austrian girl, (Christine) who is very Christian and young and brainwashed, got scared.
She talked to me and another girl about it, and thought that maybe evil influences could sneak in while the door was open. I didn’t really understand what she meant by that – i guess if you do anything that is outside of the bible, you are susceptible to evil influences? Well, it’s a good thing that murder and war and rape are already in the bible! We wouldn’t want too much evil sneaking in!
Anyway, Christine tattled to the owners, and about an hour after my class, Alma told me that i wasn’t allowed to teach. It’s not in line with their mission. And, if you meditate, demons will surely enter you. That’s what she said! It sounds like something a child would say.
Of course, she is so small-minded that she would never try it for herself, and see that maybe it’s nice to be calm and have less pain. And maybe there are no demons. Are there even demons in the bible? I don’t remember any stories with demons, but then again, i am an infidel myself. An infidel who believes very strongly in keeping Shabbat.
None of the Israelis are religious, so i may be the only one that keeps Passover here. It is so ironic! Me, the religious one? One girl, Davina, asked me to do a guided meditation today, so we snuck off the property to meditate. It was lovely! And we didn’t get caught, so maybe we can do it regularly.
There are some very cool people here – Davina works in wildlife conservation, and her boyfriend, Nathan, spends his free time carving wooden spoons. There is an Israeli family with 3 kids, ages 7 – 13… the Dad is an ex-chef and the Mom is a therapist.
My roommate works with disabled kids, and i think there might be hope for her. She is strong in their faith, but she has a nose ring and a tattoo and we talked about astrology, so she is more open-minded. I’m sure i’ll get to know the others better – they’re all so young!
Well, I am fine. This is a good place in general. Maybe I’m supposed to work through some karma here.
I wish I was alone. I wish I was back in the United States. I should have tried harder to return.
This is a magnificently beautiful place. There are huge, dramatic mountains and a river that is crystal clear and tinted turquoise – impossibly beautiful! We can go on walks, and there are 5 trails in the area.
I guess I have everything i need. I just can’t stand being locked down with 22 people.
How are you? Are you bored yet? I hope you’re doing well!
Much love, X
On Fri, Mar 27, 2020, 6:29 PM Mama wrote:
How do you do? How are things shaping up, going on? I am so glad you are there and not here. It is a disaster here and they say it is just the beginning of it. The census job I was talking about: the census is post- pointed to September. People losing jobs by millions every day.
Just hope, they will send you the stimulus check or put it on your account as they do to every American citizen. It is $ 1200, not bad. You was a good citizen – you have filed your taxes on time. Unlike me, today, in order that they would have my right address.
I am so glad you are there! One dude on the internet said: according to the Chinese philosophy there are meridians in general. the 40th meridian is called meridian of death: it goes through the Wohon, China, Itali, New York, Washington, DC, LA, CA… I do not sure how much I should believe him, but it made me glad that you are not here mingling with the stupid crowd here.
And I hope you are not mingling with the stupid crowd there! You have stopped to relate to me. Maybe you doing something you do not want me to know?! Or, you are in such a hell that you do not have any internet connection? I hope you are staying warm and cozy, healthy and safe. Let me know how do you do, if you can.
love, Mother