December 9 （visa expires in 36 days）
“Keren! Come on! We’re eating.” Naama yelled for the tenth time.
“Just a sec!” came a voice from the shower.
“She’s been in there for two hours,” Naama said shrugging, emoji-like.
A few minutes later we heard Keren emerge from the bathroom.
“At last… wow,” Naama’s jaw dropped as Keren came into the room smiling shyly.
She was wearing an off-the-shoulder black dress with a neckline that Naama probably wouldn’t have signed off on.
Her hair was straightened and even I noticed something different about her makeup.
The zit she’d sported yesterday had disappeared completely.
I didn’t know makeup could do that. It would have helped me out a lot in tenth grade.
On the other hand, my dad would have walloped me when he realized I was wearing makeup.
“Hi, nice to meet you! Keren, right? I’m Daniel.” Obviously, Keren knew who he was, but Daniel greeted her formally to break the ice.
Turns out that makeup can hide blushes as well. “Hi, Daniel, nice to meet you!” Keren shook his hand. I decided not to give her a hard time for trembling slightly. I wondered how long she would go without washing that hand.
“Let’s sit,” Eli gestured towards the dining table.
It was Friday evening. I had invited Daniel to our Shabbat meal, in part to make Keren’s wish come true.
He was wearing a white button-down shirt and new-looking black pants.
I wondered if he’d bought them especially.
The table groaned with food: couscous, chicken, beef, several salads, pita and hummus.
“So Daniel,” Naama said as we all tucked in. “Tell us about your life before Keren started following you everywhere.”
“Mom!!”
“What? What did I say?”
Daniel chuckled. “The truth is I don’t tell my followers anything about my life before I started traveling. It feels like turning back the clock. Like that was someone else’s life.”
“Is that so?”
“I spent my whole life in the Brooklyn Jewish community. I went to school with the other Jewish boys. I went to college in New York. I was destined to follow in the footsteps of my two older brothers, both lawyers in some boring city in upstate New York. My life was nothing special and I didn’t want that to be the case forever. ”
Eli glanced at Daniel’s bare head: “Is that where your Hebrew is from? You used to be religious?”
“I was never really religious. I just did what I was told. I was a good boy.”
I snorted. “I find that hard to believe.”
Naama stepped in. “You still seem like a good boy,” she said. “If you didn’t, I would already have gotten into it with you because this guy,” she pointed at me, “deserves the very best.”
It was my turn to blush.
“I’ll do my best to live up to your standards.” He winked at me and nudged me with his leg under the table.
Eli took up the interrogation. “So tell us more. How did you make it to Thailand?”
“I wanted freedom, and I didn’t know how to find it until I overheard two Israelis in Starbucks one day.
I eavesdropped on their conversation about their travels.
It was fascinating. That’s where I first heard the term ‘digital nomad.’ I looked it up and got really excited.
It was like a lightbulb went on. Here was an opportunity I hadn’t known existed, a chance to get away from New York and the constraints of an office job.
I was so enthralled I got a bit impulsive. ”
“What did you do?”
“Well, it takes time to find remote work, but I couldn’t wait. I booked a one-way ticket to Mexico.”
“Your parents must have thought you’d gone crazy.” Seemed like Eli thought so too.
“We weren’t that close, and I didn’t want any drama, so I only told them on the day I left. I didn’t have a job; I wasn’t studying or in a relationship. I had no commitments. They were shocked but wished me a pleasant flight. I left and have never been back.”
Keren was open-mouthed. “You’re insane. My mother would handcuff me to a pole if I even thought of doing something like that.”
“I wouldn’t have thought of that… but thanks for the idea.”
I wondered if I should rescue Daniel from the interrogation but decided to focus on my couscous.
Eli wanted to know more. “And in Mexico you picked up followers easily?” He was making sure Daniel was not taking me for a ride. He was unconvinced that someone could make money from traveling.
“Not exactly, but I did have some luck. I met someone in Cancun who had millions of followers and she… um, sort of fell in love with me.”
Keren choked on her food.
“Wait, what? You had a girlfriend in Cancun?”
I was as uncomfortable as she was dramatic.
“No, no. And I didn’t take advantage of her.
I told her that wasn’t my thing, but she still seemed interested.
She interviewed me on a beach with no shirt on and posted it on Instagram.
A lot of people saw it and I got a lot of followers in a short time.
She’s the one who gave me the idea of making money from it.
I’ve been posting photos and videos from all over the world since then and getting more and more followers. ”
“Keren, you are not getting your phone out!”
Keren was clearly dying to find the shirtless interview, but telephones were banned at mealtimes.
Daniel looked at me. “Do you want to see the clip?”
“See you without your shirt on? I think I’ll leave that to your shallow followers,” I lied. I so badly wanted to see him shirtless. Who was I kidding? I wanted to see all of him.
“Did you just call me shallow?” Keren interjected.
“Well, why is it that you follow him?”
“You’re such a prejudiced dork! He posts the best pictures I’ve ever seen from places you would kill to go.”
“It’s not prejudice. It’s a legitimate opinion of all the YouTubers, influencers and the trash generation. Everything is shallow, superficial, focused on escaping depth because that requires effort and attention.”
“Kids, don’t argue in front of our guest,” Naama winked at Daniel and passed him the meatballs.
Eli steered the conversation back on track. “And this Instagram pays you per follower?”
“Most of my income comes from sponsors. Lately I’ve been posting weekly sponsored stories about travel gear.
That’s how I afford to travel. I get offers all the time, but I don’t really want to do any more paid posts at the moment.
I try to cover my expenses with minimal promotion of a brand that I support. ”
Keren made a gesture towards me that announced clearly: you are so dumb. I hoped Daniel wasn’t offended by my views. If he was, he didn’t let on.
Daniel made it through the interrogation like a boss and Keren managed not to faint. I thought it was a pretty successful Shabbat meal. Afterwards, I walked Daniel out and he asked if he could see my apartment.
“It’s a mess. Maybe another time.”
“I don’t care. I just want to see it.”
I tried to think of other excuses, but I’d eaten so much I was a little slow. So I opened the door.