Pesach Shopping in Wellington


Well, Pesach shopping can be a nightmare in any city, but here’s a peek into what it looks like here in Wellington. 


We’re told that the kosher store (a delightful windowless room in the shul’s basement) will be selling pesach items on the Sunday before first seder, for two hours. Well - that’s great! Here are my questions so far:

  • What will be available?
  • What are the prices?
  • Will it be mobbed with people?
  • Will there be Yehuda matzah? Like, seriously… Yehuda? Because that’s what I need. I don’t want Aviv.
  • Will there be any wine? Last time there was no wine.
  • Can I come early?
  • Is there a chance some items won’t be available?

When I asked these in the shape of a perplexed face I was met with a super polite, kind and cheerful response: It’s going to be so organized, don’t worry at all!


So, I arrive at 12pm on the dot on Sunday, being told at the kiddish announcements the day before to not arrive earlier than 12. It’s mobbed. Should have got there early. Where did all these people come from? Why don’t they help make a minyan?


Good news, they’ve expanded the store outside of their little room, it’s now spread out on tables in the dark garage. There’s four sections:


  1. The pantry items
  2. The cold items
  3. The $1 a box for last year’s matzah section
  4. The stock from the last two years (marked down). 
Excellent. 


I should pause now to say how much I love Pesach. Like, I love it all - especially the sight each year of the ketchup with giant lettering: No High Fructose Corn Syrup! And the glee from finding a Philadelphia Cream Cheese with KOSHER FOR PASSOVER  actually printed on the box in blue lettering. Jews are so powerful.


The community members and teens who are there to staff the day are so kind and helpful. Running around, and calling each other for help, greeting people, finding boxes to take things home in - it’s heimish to the max, and it’s brilliant.


But it’s also chaos. 


There’s no ketchup. No cream cheese. No tomato sauce for your pizza. And no Yehuda matzah. 


There is frozen 8oz blocks of cheese at $20 each, expired white wine vinegar at a discount (got one!) and a bottle of cottonseed oil for $75. Yep, that’s right.


There’s one type of chips bag at $14 each. I bought 6.

There’s a giant block of cooking chocolate. Don’t even want to know how much that was.

There’s mini cans of tomato paste for $10.50. Nope.

There’s expired cans of olives. Sold!

There’s mini bottles of prepared horseradish. Derr.


Honestly, it was a balagan. And I forgot to buy a 48 hr candle, sort of hoping I could buy a Jesus candle at the corner store, but realized there are NO JESUS CANDLES ANYWHERE IN THIS COUNTRY. But, despite the craziness, the community is so warm. I’ve been texting the shop lady daily about where on earth to buy this or that, and she is so quick to help and explain. 


In some ways, as I stood in a second long line to pay (the first line was checking out items), holding my receipt, which was a scrap piece of paper with a handwritten total of my purchase… I smiled. This is a beautiful community - that just gets it done. Not fancy. But it gets it done. And I’m filled with love for these people and this community.


A teenager takes me through a series of locked gates and box-filled hallways to a room where I can pick up my free shmurah matzah. Sweet - thanks kid.


Note: I left all the prices in this blog post in New Zealand dollars for dramatization (have you met me?), which is valued at a bit less than half of USD. Prices are still whack - but hey, we're in southern hemisphere paradise.


Chag sameach all!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

We got here.

Image
Well, we got here! The flights weren't amazing, not to mention the months of preparation and anxiety before we even took off. Of course when we got to the airport 4 of our 8 bags were wildly overweight so we did that thing where you expose your underpants to the entire Air New Zealand staff trying to re distribute all of our stuff. Lili is a kind of packing rockstar - she has a spreadsheet with the contents of each piece of luggage (which because of the weight debacle wasn’t so accurate in the end) - we were truly prepared, physically.  Emotionally is a different story. Every member of our family has taken turns having major melt down tantrums. Key detail is taking turns . It’s been less than a week but the constant emotional rollercoaster has made it feel a whole lot longer. Wellington is small but has a lot of character. Our rental home is gorgeous and quirky. Its beautiful windows look out to vast forests, but down the road you have all the shops (including a video store! VHS!)....
Read more

No offensive words on your shirt, and wear shoes.

Image
Natan: Okay! Thank you for joining us today for this interview. I understand that you attend Wellington High School now, how has that been for you? Ayala: Fine. N: Hmm. Tell me three things that are completely different about this school to your previous school? A: There's a lot more kids. There's a concert band. I walk there. N: I love how succinct you are in your answers. Excellent. Next question! What are three things about your new school that are the same? A: Well, one, the class size is the same. I see the same people all day which is a good thing. Two, we are learning the same thing in science - chemical reactions. And number three, I have a sort of advisory class called Rōpū , which is in Māori - the language of the indigenous people.  N: What does  Rōpū  mean? A: I don't know.  N: Okay great.  A: 🙄 N: Okay. In the Commonwealth, schools typically have uniforms. What's it like for your school? A: We don't have one. The dress code is: No offensive ...
Read more

The Reason We're Here

Image
With Lili's advisor (sweet guy with beard) and a Victoria University colleague (lady) at the Fulbright Welcome Reception It's all very lovely to move to New Zealand, start new schools, figure out the supermarket and make new friends... but let's not forget the reason we're here. Our darling wife and mom received an amazing award - The Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching Research - of which only a handful of people were awarded this year, and only one person from that group sent to New Zealand - Lili!  While I'm being quite reductive here, Lili's research explores the strategies and impact of teaching literacy in vulnerable populations here in New Zealand - a country that has a very unique relationship with its vulnerable indigenous community, due to the historic signing of the Waitangi Treaty in 1804, which created a strong partnership between the British Crown and the Maori's of New Zealand. It's actually fascinating. Recently I accompanied Lili t...
Read more