We knew it will be a long journey just to get from Perth to Israel, but nothing prepared us for the chaos of COVID once we land. If we thought that things were dynamic in WA, now they are just unexpected in any way.
"We are still going, right?" Tom asked me after Mark McGowan (WA's prime minister) announced that WA is going back on their decision to open the borders in February 5th. The answer was too obvious. Yes. Of course we are going. We haven't seen our family in two years and we are not going to sit back and let this virus control us. Not anymore.
PCR test is pretty much a parent's worst nightmare. We had one two days before our flight and the thought of Ofir going through that again when we land, and again after 5 days of home quarantine was making me nervous. But after all, children in Israel have been living like this for a while, test after test after test...
We arrived at the most critical weeks of the Omicron virus spread in Israel, one by one our friends and family got their positive results and we had to "walk between the drops" not to catch it as well. It feels like a game of tag, but not as fun.
Plans were (and still are) being cancelled each and every day because someone was exposed or diagnosed. Ofir learned to say "I had a test today" with a big smile on her face, pushing away the fact that she has screamed for 10 minutes when they tried to put it in her nose.
It is not a fun reality to live in. It is actually a stressful ongoing situation that we in WA managed to avoid for quite a long time, and now I see why.
Even though the borders remain closed, COVID is starting to spread now within WA, therefore our return conditions as overseas travellers has been eased - very good news for us! To be honest it was my worst nightmare to be stuck in a hotel quarantine with a 2.5 year old, though I was willing to go through it for the sake of seeing our families.
With all the difficulties of these times, we are grateful that we have a chance to spend time with the people we love. Just seeing Ofir bonding with everyone in real life is just heart-melting.
Here's to good choices in life!
Maayan Rimmer,
maayana.photography@gmail.com