The Golan Home

It’s now six weeks after we moved in and we feel at home. Most of what needed to be done after the move-in was taken care of – at least the important stuff: electricity fixes, master bedroom closet put in place, garden done, gas supply installed, the fence erected and the all important Internet hook up problems resolved.

Not all was done, and the teams still come in to wrap things up, some of them major. We don’t have lights on the roof balcony, the entrance walkway needs to be finished and… the list goes on. We have enough weekend projects to last us a year.

On top of that, Gali is so due that every little move of this unborn girl is very visible on her mother’s belly. It is probably just a matter of days until the baby is born.

What a ride it was and continues to be. The lessons we learned were immense – about handling such a project, the pressures and, most important, the human interaction.

There are so many people to thank, above them all, our architect Shimon, who never failed us. He stood by us through all the hardships and supported the project and us in his always gentle manner. Without him the Promised Land would have been harder to achieve, and never look as good and close to our vision as it does today. Thank you Shimon!

This blog will continue to run. I’ll update it on occasion, maybe direct it to a different path. We have a growing family after all.

May the coming New (Jewish) Year be happy, supply a fertile ground for growth, be a time of new beginnings, safe, challenging and full of love.

These past few of weeks have been hectic, to a crazy degree. We have crews working on the house six days a week, usually a number of them at the same time. It seems like that is how it is supposed to be, but it wasn’t until now.

Our original move-in date of August 1 has past already. The new move-in date is August 15 – this Friday and it’s set in stone: our apartment is being packed, the movers were invited, and everything will be ready.

In the past four weeks we saw electricians, carpenters, A/C installers and ironsmiths work side by side one day, and tile setters, (different) carpenters, door installers and plumbers the next. Coordination, timelines, cajoling, even applied pressure became the central elements of our day, interwoven into our regular activities that kept on going as usual.

A square meter of missing tile or a worker who did not show up were part of the pressure applied on us.

In the midst of it all, Gali is already nine months pregnant and I, just a week before move-in day, flew out to Mumbai for work (I’m writing this post at Zurich Airport on my way back home).

We now have stairs, water, lights, windows and doors (not to be taken for granted!), banisters, even a deck, trees and grass.

In the remaining days the parquet floor will be installed, a last coat of paint will be applied, the front door will be fixed, last bathroom fixtures installed and the house will be cleaned.

Come Friday, we are in!

PS – To our reader Uri: turns out that transfers to India do need to go through border control in Vienna. I hope you got to your flight on time.

One year ago today we broke ground. I took Omri with me and we looked on as work on our house started:

This is what we have now:

What a long and winding road it is, and we still have another month ahead of us.

The hand prints are in the wall by the entrance, the Kill Bill II lights are set as well and we are getting ready to “close” the house, which means doors and windows are installed. That will happen in about a week.

After that we can start putting in the expansive stuff (otherwise known as the ’stealables’) in place: faucets, A/C, etc.

While Taufik the stucco guy is wrapping up, focusing on the parameter wall (he did a great job so far – mostly notably with the KB II lights), this week we went back into the house with the first layer of paint.

It looked like the painter used a spray gun. Is that possible?

Sniff, sniff. Can you smell the end? As Al Gore once said, “It ain’t over till the fat lady sings, but I believe she is already clearing her throat.” Amen to that!