Chapter 88, (Rated R, Language)

     Aviva, Imre and I were at the edge of Netanya’s market. Imre was dealing with the wagon driver. The flat bed horse porters. They all spoke Hungarian, go figure…

After a long search we finally found a house that met our needs and price. It was in a section of Netanya called Vatikim, which means “seniors”. It was a neighborhood of small townhouses with older generation inhabitants. Each unit was sharing a wall with its neighbor, it had two bedrooms a kitchen and bathroom, and a quarter acre in the back. The Back yard had a little shed but Imre was planning to build a much bigger workshop. It looked like we needed four platforms. Imre managed to collect a lot of wood, metal sheets and posts to build a big shed in the backyard. We had to say goodbye to the neighbors in the south side of the town, some we will never forget.

 

    There were two women next door to Aviva’s house, one of them with a broken back. She had to walk on four in a shape of the letter “A” she slept sitting up. Her family made a special bed for her. The interesting part was that her best friend was walking with her in the street also bent over even if her back was fine. When the poor woman finally died in her specially made bed, I was shocked to see her best friend actually walking upright. 

 

    Both women lived literally next to Aviva; one on each side of her house. That morning Aviva and I woke up to the yells of the neighbor. She found her mom dead in her makeshift bed and yelled the typical North African Cry of mourning. “Wooo! Wooo!” By the time the movers arrived the crying subsided, and we started loading the furniture and the piles of wood Imre collected. The last thing we packed was not really packed but laid on Aviva’s lap was her puppy Bingo. I didn’t get to spend much time helping Aviva and her move. I had to get back to Yamit. 

 

    As usual, I got a ride to Tel-Aviv and at the noisy bus station where I got my two wimpy burgers. The bagels and the lemon pops peddler were also waiting there for me. Once we got to Han-Younes, again the kids were lining to throw rocks at us. I promised myself that next time I go home I will borrow a sling shot from my little brother Claude. And fire back at those kids. Unfortunately, it wasn’t going to happen. By the time I arrived at the camp, Becca handed me a piece of paper. “You have been transferred to the Airforce Academy.” It said, “report to the Micro Mechanic and instruments Department by Tuesday 10:00 AM.” 

 “Finally!” I said to Becca, “it took them some time. But the Academy? Really? What do I know about teaching?” 

 

    I hugged Becca goodbye, packed my gear and walked toward the gate. Looking at the miracle on both sides of the road where trees were watered with purified water that came all the way from the Mediterranean Sea. Some trees I planted on one of our afternoon activities.

 

    The first ride I caught was all the way to Ashdod and there I stopped to visit my Uncle Rone, Aunt Rachel and their kids Batyah and Ofer.

 “You will be an excellent teacher,” said Batyah. “Don’t forget how it took you 5 minutes to teach me how to tackle the problems in algebra. After that I never had any difficulty solving any of the problems.”

 

    I loved visiting them. Aunt Rachel made the best Chips and Schnitzels. Her salad was cut a little big and a bit salty like my grandmother’s, but it was fun sitting together with my cousins and then going dancing with Batyah at the folk-dance club. The next morning, I continued home and went to visit Aviva. She wasn’t in a good mood, her dog Bingo got ran over by a bus. Trying to console her I promised that we will get another pup soon. 

 

    The first thing I was told to do when I got to the academy was to read the books they were using and study the material. A week later I was sent to a teaching crash course. And was expected to start teaching right after. We were taught how to breath and how to talk and all kind of teaching technics, psychology and pedagogy. We were instructed to start preparing for the next faze which will happen withing 9 months. We had to create our own Test, plan, and instructions. I was to sit in a few classes and see how my pears teach, then do it along with my pears watching. It took a while for me to feel comfortable standing in front of people. But like a switch went on; “it’s like playing the guitar and singing in front of people I don’t know on the beach.

 

    The good thing about being back in the “country” was that I could be home more often and spend more time with Aviva. Imre didn’t believe in wasting anything. He never bought meat or eggs in the market. He had a friend in a one of the Moshavim around Netanya, Moshav Nordia was a farmers’ village, most of its inhabitants were from Hungary. Since Imre didn’t speak Hebrew well, it was easy for him to deal at Nordia with his friends. He would buy fresh eggs and old chicken that stopped laying eggs. He would let them roam at the back yard and feed them scrap. Whenever he needed to cook some meat, he would kill one of the chickens, gut them, chop the inners and feed it to the live chicken. He would use the legs for his Goulash. The Feet and breast bones for soup. He would collect the fat in Jars. But my favorite was what he made with the breast. Imre would cut the breast to thin slices and tenderize them with a wooden hammer, dip them in flour. He would beat some eggs and dip the floured breast in the eggs and then would cover them with breadcrumbs he crushed from old bread. Next, he would deep fry the chicken in the chicken fat, spread some salt and serve them.

 

    Imre was very creative in his small kitchen. From old grapes he would make very strong wine. I remember him preparing goulash, he even made the flat noodles from scratch.

 

    Going home daily from the north of Haifa wasn’t an easy task. I had to find a better way to travel instead of relying on the train schedule or the luck of hitch hiking. Every Wednesday outside the academy, private used car dealers would line up along the road leading to the base. I walked out of the gate and decided to stroll and look at the cars for sale.  A Sussita like Efrie’s was standing right in front of me. The price was within my reach, now that I was getting paid a nice military salary. I took the car for a test drive and paid the guy with a check and drove it home.

 

    I was lucky, used cars weren’t always a good idea to buy without a mechanic’s check. The Sussita drove smoothly and fast all the way home. Every day I drove back and forth to Haifa and back, but the Israeli gas price is very expensive I had to come up with another solution. Being one of the staff at the academy entitled me to a room. I decided to take the opportunity to take one. I would stay a few nights at the assign room and save some money on gas.

 

    On the first night I stayed there I remembered why it was a bad idea. First was the noise, the 10-cylinder crop duster plane early in the morning. It sounded as if it was flying right over my room. Then came the smell from the refineries.

    I had to come up with another solution. Our department was located at far side of the base. Way over the air strip next to the hangars. It was a newer building with sealed windows and thick walls. I was given a corner at the back of one of the classrooms with a desk and a chair to do my work, check the students’ homework and so on. I even brought an old typewriter that I picked up from my dad’s cousin. I started to work on my instruction manual, and test. 

 

    At the back of the room, we had a few metal cabinets for our supply right behind my desk. It gave me an idea; I switched the location of the desk with the cabinets. I created a wall to hide my desk behind them to give me some privacy. Since I had the key to room so I can work at any hour of the day or night I brought my matrass from my room, stood it against the back of the cabinets. At night I would lay it on the floor and had a place to sleep quietly and with much less smell. Showering was not a problem – I could always use the showers at the dorm and bathroom was just next door to my classroom. I managed to plan my evenings so I could join a folk-dance class at some evenings and some evening I’d spend writing my manual and some other I would drive home to spend some time with Aviva or my friends. Before you know it, my manual became a book with drawings and very detailed instructions on how to troubleshoot and repair the airplanes’ instruments.

 

    Just like the time when I was a cadet at the academy the same tests where given every Friday and the students who passed would get to go home for the weekend and those who didn’t, would stay the weekend to study.

 

    I was finally assigned a class to teach and was not going to let anyone in my class fail, as far as I could. Some students couldn’t be helped or didn’t want to pass on purpose because they wanted to move to another program. I offered my class every Thursday evening to stay with me after dinner to study for the exam. I didn’t know all the exams (They were all multi choice answers. We called them American Tests) And I knew that a lot of the questions had very tricky answers. Unfortunately, a lot of them were more questions that were testing your Hebrew more than testing your knowledge of the subject. I was determined to change that someday. Meanwhile I had to prepare the students for their test. So, I would spend the time practicing tests and scenarios of the troubleshooting exercises. Sure enough, most of the students passed with high scores. 

 

 “Sergeant Tibi,” one student approached me one Friday before leaving for home. “Can I have a word with you?”

“Shure, I promised you guys, I am here to help you with anything you need.” I said with a smile. He was one of the quite students in my class. “You did well in your test, Good work! How can I help you?”

 “Well, it is our last day with you, we are moving to the next course.”

 “Oh, yes, that’s right I hope you do just as well.”

 “Thanks! I just wanted to thank you. Before I met you, I didn’t think I was good at anything, I was lost, I didn’t want to live…” He took a deep breath, “and you changed it all.”

 “What do you mean? We never talked before; you were just one of my students sitting quietly in the back row.”

 “You see?” He continued, “you even remembered where I sat, I learned so much from you, I learned to like what you were teaching. I really hope to be able to use it for my advantage once I get my post. My parents practically gave up on any hope for future, but you gave me one. So, thank you! He leaned forward and was about to give me a hug, he hesitated, after all I was his superior. I spread my arms and gave him the hug and sent him on his way.

I never dreamt of having such effect on people, I drove home planning my future.

 

    After working as a teacher for a while at the academy, each teacher receives a new task; to be a head instructor of a class. The head instructor’s task was to make sure all the cadets are up and ready in the morning, to march with them everywhere before and after class, and deal with any personal problem each student might have. It was my turn to receive such a task. 

 

    “Captain Mordechai,” I said as I walked to the office of the head of our department. “I have a special request.”

 “What is it Tibi? You’ve been a nice addition to our crew, I will be happy to grant it.” He was smiling and it made me feel proud for the first time since I joined the military.

 “I heard that we will be receiving a new class of women joining our school for the first time.”

 “That is correct,” he said looking up from his paper directly at me.

 “I would like to be their head instructor.”

 “Are you serious? He looked at me as if I was made out of glass.

 “Yes, for some reason I feel I would be the best choice for that.”

 “This is the first women class ever in the history of the Airforce, we can’t allow any mess-ups.”

 “I know, Yet, what makes you sure that any other teacher would do a better job?”

 “Let me think about it.” He said with a smile, “take this next week off and when you return, I will let you know my decision. The girls aren’t joining us until then.”

 

    “What do you think?” I asked Aviva, “A group of girls technicians in the Airforce.”

 “I think it is about time.”

 “And me being their instructor?”

 “I think you are crazy!”

 “Are you jealous?”

 “Not at all, you silly!” She said with a smile. “Do you really want to deal with women? You are marvelous when I have my time of the month, but how would you feel with thirty other girls having their period?”

 “Hmm…”

 “And there are so many other problems that girls have.” She continued, “boys are easy; they might get physical once in a while but that’s about it. Boys are straight forward, unlike us women …”

 “Something to think about,” I said.

 “How do you like the color I picked for my room?” sked Aviva as she walked me to her house. It was light olive green and her father’s room was light chocolate brown. “Dad wanted me to ask you if you can drive him to his brother in Rishon LeTziyon. He has a lot more wood there and maybe you can bring it back with you in the Sussita or on top.

 “I don’t have a roof rack, but I guess I can make one out of wood. After all the car is made of fiberglass so we will have to spread the load evenly.” 

 “Will you be able to do it tomorrow?”

 “I guess, meanwhile, I almost forgot, look what I brought.” I pulled out of my car a small jar with Beta Siamese fish. I also had a book telling me all about those of fish. “I want to try to breed them.” 

 

    Siamese fish are territorials; you can’t have two of them together, not even a male and a female. In nature they are swamp dwellers, each one of them lives in a little puddle far away from his relatives. They are usually sold in separate jars and kept that way. A male Beta is very colorful with wavy long fins. If you introduce it to another, they will fight each other to death. When a male is ready to breed, he would build a nest of bubbles. That is when you know he is ready to meet his female partner. The uglier the better, this way he won’t confuse her with another male and kill her. Once the fish are introduced to each other they would start dancing close, almost wrapping each other. The female would lay her eggs and the male would fertilize them. Once that is done you have to separate them, or the male would kill the female. 

 

    It took me 3 tries to find the right female. She was a little bigger than her partner. I moved her to another aquarium right after their ritual. Now all I had to do was wait. When the little fish finally appeared, I was ecstatic.

   Look, Aviva, we have babies. When she turned to look, out of nowhere a neighboring cat ran into our yard jumped on the railing and from there onto the small aquarium nocking it down.

 “That’s it I am done with cats; we are getting a big dog.” I said as I was picking the male and putting him in another jar. The little babies were gone. 

 

   The next morning, after dropping Aviva at her military camp, Imre and I continued to Rishon LeTziyon to pick up his wood. I couldn’t believe how much he collected there, I am not sure how and where he got it from, but it was a lot. I filled the back of the car with short planks, but the long planks were longer than my car. I wasn’t ready for that. We loaded the top of the car on the makeshift roof rack. The pile was so high the car actually sank from the heavy weight. We tied it down with ropes making sure nothing is loose. I hung the emergency triangle in the back and a red rag in the front and we started driving slowly home. It didn’t take long before we were stopped by a policeman. 

 “You are violating so many traffics rules.”

 “I am sorry,” I said. “I am trying to help this old man.”

 “No excuses, here is your ticket, Be careful out there.”

 “Thanks again,” I said and drove on, thinking; “my very first ticket.”

 

    “On the border between Syria and Israel were two camps,” I started telling the class of misfit soldiers. “One Israeli camp and one Syrian.” 

 

    The soldiers in front of me were soldiers who were uneducated, juvenile delinquents, from foster homes or even from jails. The military had to find a job for them. This group was destined to be Warehouse Clerks. Each department or base had warehouses where the clerk would have a book with part numbers and location corresponding to the number. Most of the times they wouldn’t even know what that number means or what is the part for. My task for that week (before the class of girls arrive) was to teach them, and to give them some ideas about what they were about to work with.

 

    “As I was saying,” I continued “two camps facing each other on the border. Every morning an Israeli soldier would wake up walk closer to the border and yell: ‘Mohamad!’ On the other side Mohamad would answer: ‘What?’ 

 ‘Fuck you!’ the Israeli would answer. Now this would happen every day for almost two weeks; ‘Mohamad! What? Fuck you!’                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

 Mohamad was very upset he went to his officer and asked him for advice; ‘what should I do? Should I shoot him?

‘Are you crazy? Lost your mind? Do you want to start a war? Listen you stupid, what time does he call you?’

‘6:00 in the morning.’

‘So, wake up tomorrow at 5:00 and yell, Cohen! There are many Cohens in Israel. Once he answers, tell him fuck you and fuck your Mom.’

Poor Mohamad didn’t sleep all night, he waited for 5:00 AM to get at the nasty Israeli. Came 5:00 AM and Mohamad yelled, ‘Cohen!’ From the other side an Israeli soldier yelled half a sleep, ‘how is it?’ 

“It is me, Mohamad,’ answered the Arab soldier.

“Then fuck you and fuck your mother too!”

 

    My group of misfits were rolling on the floor when I said, “I am not finished, see this?” I sowed them a part of a camera lens. “This is so the pilot can see what he is shooting at and record it.” I had a folder with me with so many jokes, one for each part I was introducing to them. No other teacher wanted to teach this class, “wear a bulletproof jacket” my colleagues would worn me. There for I came prepared. No one will leave my class without learning something. I remember being on the other side, it wasn’t long ago. The class was such a success that Captain Mordechai decided to send only me to teach those classes.

 “Great job, the girls are yours, Sergeant first class Tibi!” 

 

 

***

 

Tuna Cubes

 

  Fresh tuna is a best served almost raw. I like to either grill it or to stir-fry it. Either way, I use the same spices.

 

Ingredients:

1 Fresh Tuna Stake

¼ Cup Soy Sauce

¼ Cup Balsamic Vinegar

1 tsp Salt

½ tsp Ginger Powder 

¼ tsp Garlic Powder 

½ tsp Paprika

¼ Cup Teriyaki Sauce

 

 

Preparation:

 - Marinate the tuna for 2 hours in soy sauce and vinegar. Spread heavy spices and sear for 45 second on each side. Cut to cubes and stir fry for one minute with teriyaki sauce.