Divine Intervention - sometimes

the Jewish holiday of Tu B'shvat came and went yesterday. It's the new year for trees here and the time of the year when the almond trees blossom, heralding Spring, although the rainy season will continue until April. It's customary to buy dried fruit and nuts. I couldn't afford a fucking raisin this year so I was a bit pissed off at God for blocking our $ channel.

After going to a Parents/Teachers meeting, where I heard decent things about my daughter, I found a credit slip from an upscale linen-houseware-clothing store from July. In this country, when you return something, you never get a cash refund, even if you've paid with cash. You get credit. 50% of the time, people lose the credit slips, but I have a file with them and never lose them and use them at times when I need to most - like when I can't afford raisins, but want to go on a shopping spree because it's so depressing. I was on my way out of the school to walk to this mall, to buy whatever it was that caught my eye for nearly $50.

A man calls out to me to tell me he's lost and can I help him. He was South African from the accent. I turn around to see this skinny young man, walking with a toilet plunger and cables. I was intrigued. You see alot of stuff here in Jerusalem, but this was interesting. "Would you believe in South Africa I had a huge plumbing business, and look at me now." Of course, we both bitched about living here on the way to the schwarma joint where he was going, which was on the way to where I was going. He said he tells people he "committed" aliyah (which is the term used for people who move here from other countries). I told him when people ask me why I've moved here, I tell them it's like the movie Close Encounters. You have this urge to be here, you MUST be here, but you don't know exactly why and don't have any peace until you move. If he's a plumber, maybe he knows Hubby, and turns out he did vaguely. "tell him to give me a call, I've got a job for him to look at" I promptly called him up to tell him. How on earth did I meet this plumber, was his next question. "Divine Providence" was what I answered. Maybe next week, I will be able to afford a pack of raisins after all. And by the way, after cruising the Kitan store, I ended up buying two sets of flatware which was sorely lacking in our house. Plus I had enough credit to buy myself a coffee mug for work. My own. My very own....