Hot Showers

Taking a shower in Israel is much different than showering in the US and Canada. I'm not sure what it's like in other parts of the world. During the winter months, it becomes a challenge. We have solar heaters and if it is sunny then there is hot water most of the day. Except in our little place which is stuck between two taller apartment buildings and, therefore, very little sun gets to our solar heater. When there's no sun, we have to use this electrical switch, see? And the longer you run it, the more hot water you have and the higher your electrical bill will be.

Nothing was funnier than when we first arrived in Israel nearly 10 years ago. We were so tired travelling with 5 little brats and Hubby wanted to take a shower before conking out and ran out of the shower totally in agony because there was no hot water. Who knew from switches these. In civil countries like Canada, you turn on the hot water tap and you get hot water. Steaming water. But in this quasi-third-world country, there's no such thing as automatic hot water. But we were brand new immigrants. Ignorant immigrants. Green. Fresh off the boat. Fresh off El Al. He went to bed totally depressed. I stayed up to greet the assortment of people coming into our place to introduce themselves to us "newbies." One asked where my husband was. I told her he got upset because there's no hot water in our apartment, and how does one get hot water fixed here. This lovely lady walked over to the wall next to the bathroom, where there was a big red switch, and flicked it on. "There. In two hours, you'll have enough hot water for your whole family."

So this morning I woke up around 6:30 am - put the switch on for 15 minutes and got about 5 minutes of hot water. I'm in the shower, racing for time. Totally not relaxing. I'm about finishing washing my hair when I feel the hot water slowly ebbing, turning to lukewarm. I hurry and put hair masque on. I know I can't leave it for the full 3 minutes that it's supposed to stay on your hair. There's not enough hot water left. So I count to 60 and wash it off, while the water is turning too cool to handle. This is totally, totally primitive.