We were supposed to fly with our suitcases from New York to Zagreb on Tuesday and arrive on Wednesday.
We arrived two hours before the flight, checked in our baggage and headed toward the gate. Upon our arrival, we heard, "Passenger Karasik and passenger Andrusier, please come to the desk." "Wow," I thought smugly, "we have not even left the ground, and people are already looking for us!" Turns out that we were getting bumped, and would go on the next flight…24 hours later. "The good news," the uniformed Croat behind the counter beamed at me, "is that your bags will be in Croatia waiting for you."
When we finally arrived on Thursday, we enquired about our bags, only to discover that they were in Prague and would arrive that afternoon. Not too bad, except that we had 25 lbs of frozen meat, which we were planning on eating and serving to our Shabbat guests, packed in our suitcases. Mental images of our suitcase sitting on a hot tarmac under a merciless sun flitted through my mind.
With nowhere to go except forward, bolstered by promises that our bags would be flown to Dubrovnik and would be ready for pickup on Friday morning, we travelled from Zagreb to Dubrovnik without our bags, hoping that the weather would be kind to our hotdogs and chicken.
Friday came and went and still no sign of our bags. "Oh," we were assured, "it will be delivered to your hotel on Saturday."
Shabbat morning our phone was ringing non-stop, but we do not talk on the phone on the Shabbat, so we still had no idea where our stuff was.
On Sunday, we called and were told "your bags are here, but you cannot bring meat into the country. Come and get it if you want."
As soon as we came to the airport, we knew that our meat was toast. The entire airport reeked with the stench of rotting flesh. Unsure of how to dispose of the forbidden meat, the customs officials told us that we could take our meat "just this once."
Thanks!
So we paraded out of the airport with a reeking suitcase and dumped the meat in the nearest trashcan. Rafi's clothing stink like rotten flesh, but it is nice to have something to change into.
In other news, we are very busy here. It is high tourist season, and we meeting Jewish people from all over the globe. We are currently trying to get as many people as we can to celebrate Shabbat with us. We will not have any chicken to serve, but at least we will have a story to tell…
Lots to do and not much to eat,
Yisroel
