Semester vacation, December 2021. My girlfriend and I found ourselves homeless in Tel Aviv, and with no real economic horizon to rent one regularly. The solution was clear, Sublet. The next question that arises is where to look? As someone who grew up in the licked suburbs, AKA – North Tel Aviv, I have always had a strong attraction to explore the far south. I was lucky and not long before the holiday in question I got to visit an apartment in an area I had never seen before, North Ajami.
For no apparent reason, the Ajami area fascinated me as a renovated three-room avenue in the heart of the city enchants a young couple expecting a child (or a dog, I do not judge). From the moment my foot got out of the hotel I had to take to get there, I fell in love. Maybe it’s the coexistence, maybe the proximity to the sea, maybe it’s the rawness of the place and maybe it’s the fact that as I got there, I came across a peacock wandering the street. Again, North Tel Aviv. The only time I’ve seen a peacock is in the NBC logo.
Pay attention to Tel Aviv: only one peacock is real (Photo: Shatterstock)
When we decided to look for Sublet, the direction was clear. So what if my job was 40 minutes away without traffic jams and the nearest bus stop is a podcast away? In sublet it is allowed to dream big. Because at the end of the day, it’s a flick. No matter how problematic the features are or how inconsistent the needs are with the data – everything is temporary and transient, allowing for pure and non-judgmental enjoyment. This is of course, compared to apartment searches, which can be compared to the search for a decent couple or father of children with a minimum. In this case any floor and peeling wall should be inspected or you may find yourself in an ugly divorce. That is, breach of contract.
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A post we published in the local Facebook group of the Ajami neighborhood brought a quick result – “We are flying tonight, can you come and see the apartment for another hour?”. Within half an hour we reached our destination. It was better than anything we could have imagined. Underneath the apartment we were greeted by a sumptuous Christmas parade with Santa Claus mounted on an ornate rickshaw and all the neighborhood children equipped with musical instruments and red tiaras. We went upstairs and in our hearts we knew Saul Wei Wall for Christmas is Light.
We were too shocked to take a picture. Thanks for the Santa gift! (Photo: Shatterstock)
If Sublet is a flick it could very well be that we have fallen for the margins of the apartments. With a direct view from the terrace to the sea, 5 minutes walk from the flea market, fine coffee under the house and a supermarket with prices that have not yet been affected by gentrification. With that the price of the sublet, was in accordance with the pleasures. That is, far beyond our budget. The lovely couple who planned to sublet the apartment was almost twice as old as us so they could afford the renovated apartment in the dream area. After a gentle flirtation around a shared love for their pots, we all felt that good. And as a peppery but poor businesswoman, I knew they had to close now at all costs, for another three hours they had to be at the airport, and so we closed on a price that was much lower than the value of the apartment.
The next day we entered the apartment. Everything was perfect except for one thing – the interior design. Between posters of an Indian guru / cult leader and magnets with self-help sentences on the fridge, we can say that we did not really feel at home. Two months is a long time, we told ourselves. And we decided to redesign everything, including a meter-by-meter picture we brought from home to hang in the living room. Their belongings of course, we stored safely and photographed all the corners so we knew exactly how to return.
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And so we found ourselves for two months living in the dream apartment far beyond the budget we had planned. We started the mornings with a pleasant walk to the sea through the harbor, stopping to chat with the fishermen. We continued shopping at the Jade and the nearby butcher shop, waving goodbye to the professionals as if we were a minimum in the Good Morning Baltimore number. From there we moved on to cooking in our sumptuous kitchen which features adult features like a ninja and a pasta machine. We ended the day at sunset in the park, playing with random dogs. The feeling was that we were living a life that was not ours, and they were just wonderful.
Playing with random dogs in the park at sunset (Photo: Ariel Arbel)
The days passed quickly and the sublet came to an end. We had to start leaving life in the dream apartment and return it to their original owners. But we were not ready to part without a last struggle. “Are you sure you do not want to stay abroad?” We asked politely, counting all the damn things that have happened in the country in the last two months. “Well, all right.” We surrendered. “But if you need someone to take care of your pots next time, you know where to look for us.” We put the things back in place, left a bottle of wine in the fridge, put a cute note on the table, the keys in their hiding place and left.
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We are back to our dull life. No sea view, no fishermen, no coexistence, no dogs at sunset. Suddenly we asked ourselves, why not take another Sublet? Accompanied by another life of others. This time in another neighborhood, perhaps in the Yemenite vineyard or in Shapira. While joining Facebook groups we got an angry phone call. ‘My crystals! You touched my crystals! You do not know not to do it? It hurts their energy. ‘ “Sorry, we really tried to put everything back in place.” Ashamed and defeated, the realization landed on us – we will never be able to feel at home, in a home that is not ours.
It turns out that it is not worth touching people with crystals (Photo: Shatterstock)