Portugal 2025
Monday, March 3, 2025
Our flight was scheduled for 13:40 pm so after getting the boys out and one work meeting, I went to Efrat to meet Shara Gilbert to complete the CrossFit Open workout. I had to miss class with Nechama but apparently, it was the last day to submit scores and that was the time Shara was available to judge, so that was that. It's not really part of the trip per se but then I picked up a CRS refill packet at the pharmacy and the southern exit gate to Efrat was closed, so I had to leave through the northern gate which was very slow since dozens of cars were trying to get to 60 through that one traffic light. I got home around 10:30 and Judah encouraged me to shower and we left around 11:00 for the airport. A bit stressful since there's some unpredictability around parking, shuttle timing, security etc. but all those elements worked out smoothly and with Judah's ElAl Gold status we got to the gate with plenty of time. ElAl had given us cards for free meals at some places in the food court since the King David lounge was closed for renovations but between places that didn't have a teudah and places that had long lines, we didn't end up getting anything with the cards and we hope that they will still be valid when we next have an opportunity to use them.
The flight was about 5.5 hours and Judah was able to sleep for a while. The woman who had been assigned the middle seat took the aisle so Judah and I could sit together. At some point mid-flight she and I got to talking. Her name is Marta Mahula, a Christian Arab who works as an EEG technician with two teenagers, she lives in a village near Akko. She's very lovely, traditional in many ways and the socializing was a nice way to pass the time since I didn't have Wifi, the movies weren't playing and I was tired of playing Sudoku.
Judah and I had some conflict around one of our current flash points and it was unpleasant. Noting here in case we want to come back to it later with Chevon: After looking around at options, Judah considered getting himself a cookie at a food truck with his gift card which they told us could be used for a sandwich and drink but not a salad. I favored saving the food court gift cards and not using one on a cookie at a place that didn't have a teudah but had that packaged cookie with a hechsher. We went to the gate with the cards unused. On the flight, J was napping when they handed out the meals. He had ordered a mehadrin meal, I had ordered the vegan option. I ate the vegan schwarma sandwich and then got a chicken sandwich when they came around with the regular meals. We laughed about that and he opened his "roast beef" sandwich which had lots of mustard and some pickle relish (which he doesn't like). He started wiping out the mustard and relish with one of the napkins they had given out. I started to suggest that he use a smaller napkin and we save the larger ones since they were nicer but he'd already started so I said never mind. He was upset by my expressing disappointment at his napkin-usage decision on the heels of expressing my opinion that we were better off saving the cards and not using one on a cookie. He experienced me as pushing my opinion and then refusing to take responsibility for my part in the ensuing upset, ignoring his pain and focusing only on his reactivity to my contribution. After several unsuccessful repair attempts, we got to a better place but this issue remains kind of unresolved.
After landing, Judah needed to deal with an upsetting decision from the Orayta rebbes about starting Purim Seudah at 12 instead of 11 or 11:30 after he had made tremendous efforts to arrange his flights to Zander's wedding such that he could be present at least for the beginning of Purim seudah. We found our way to passport control, baggage claim, waited a while for the KlassWagon shuttle and finally got to Oscar Concept apartments where we're staying.
The apartment is very nice and we're super happy and comfortable with it! After an exhuasting day of travel and not insignificant stress, we put down our bags and went to dinner at the one kosher restaurant in Lisbon, Genesis, located a short walk from our apartment. We ordered fries and falafel as appetizers, I had the kababs with rice and Judah had a burger. So delicious, we packed up the leftovers and headed home to have a little time and get sleep.
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