Sara's Aliyah

Someone Else's Words

2010-09-01T19:54:00.000+03:00

Here is a link to my friend Yoni's blog post about his reflections on last night's terror attack that happened very near where he lives and learns. It is very touching, and it very clearly reflects how I feel in a very eloquent way.

I am still having some trouble with my arm from the tennis elbow. Sorry I am not writing more.

Mid-Dig update

2010-07-18T12:13:00.000+03:00

I'm procrastinating getting my bag packed for my third week of digging and figured I might as well write an update :)
This week I am going to be participating in the Archaeological Sciences Field School through the Weitzmann Institute and I am very excited!
On a less exciting note, I was diagnosed last week with Tennis Elbow (an inflammation in the tendons around my elbow-tendinitis like) . It's not that bad other than the fact that its really painful and will take some serious physical therapy to make it better. It also means that I won't be doing the last week of digging that I had planned because it is simply not worth injuring myself any more. It also means that I'll be spending much less time in front of the computer because it just hurts too much.

Have a great week everyone!

Ps. I was walking around today running errands...and its BOILING outside with plenty of humidity...and there was a girl wearing a jean jacket. I almost passed out just looking at her. People are nuts.

National Community Service Award

2010-07-09T19:00:00.000+03:00

This past week I received a scholarship and award in recognition of the community service I did this year at Beit Noam. The community service was under the auspices of the Office of Immigrant Absorption and the Student Authority. The government provides an academic scholarship to all new immigrants, and in return asks for 120 hours of volunteer service. I, along with 49 other immigrants, was chosen from among over 1,000 students who participated in this program to receive the award. On Tuesday there was a ceremony. At first I wasn't really sure how I felt about the whole thing and I wasn't really sure what it all meant. I was pleasantly surprised to realize that it is a big deal. I didn't realize how few people were chosen to be recognized for their work. In addition, I didn't realize how emotional and proud I would feel being there with my immigrant peers, all of us working hard toward successful absorption here, and all of us giving so much to the country we want so badly to be a part of. I was the only American chosen, and that made me very proud on the one hand. On the other it made me a bit sad to see that there were many countries well represented (including Ethiopia and many South America countries) and that no other Americans participated in the program to a level that deserved national recognition. I wish I would hear of more Americans like me enjoy their community service and feel that it really changed them, like mine changed me.

David, Aunt Marilyn, and Cousin Lia came with me to the ceremony. It was really nice to be able to share with them, and I know I made them very proud. It is such a great feeling to be recognized for something that I loved anyway. I took a few pictures, but haven't had the chance to upload them to the computer yet. Hopefully some time in the next month in between the digs and tests I'll put some up.

Digging Week One

2010-07-09T18:51:00.000+03:00

I just got back home from my first week of digs for the summer. I was at Tel E'ton and had a great time. It was the last week of the digging season for this Tel, and even though it's usually a really stressful time I really enjoyed myself. The whole waking up at 4am and then working a more than full day in the sun on little sleep and sometimes only marginal food thing is pretty tough, but considering I'll be spending a total of four weeks on digs in various capacities I tried to make sure I mostly enjoyed. It was physically challenging and I decided to treat the work like a free gym membership for the month. Hopefully by the end of this month I'll be in amazing shape!
This was a really great week. The atmosphere was fun and really enjoyable despite the hard work.
Next week I move to Tel Safi which is a whole different type of beast. It should also be a great experience... Hopefully I'll have the energy next week to give another update!
Shabbat Shalom

Gone Digging

2010-07-04T11:50:00.000+03:00

Ok. In a few minutes I'm off to dig for ancient things for the next month! I'll be spending one week at Tel Eiton, where I dug last year, and 3 weeks at Tel Es Safi (Gath). One of the weeks at Safi I'll be participating in a Weitzmann Institute Archaeological Field School and I'm really excited. I took a course this year on Archaeological Sciences and this is the optional field experience continuation of the class. We get to do fun things in the lab and help the archaeologists answer burning questions about the chemical makeup of finds in real time out in the field. We can even determine at what temperature pottery was originally fired in about 5 minutes!!
For more information on the projects, check out the Safi blog : gath.wordpress.com
i'm not sure that Tel Eiton has a blog yet (at least not in english) but you can find information on the Bar Ilan website : lisa.biu.ac.il

Happy 4th of July and Happy Summer!

PARIS

2010-06-30T17:40:00.000+03:00

Two weeks ago David and I took a very very much needed vacation to Paris. It was our first real vacation since we got married (sorry mom and dad, coming to visit you is nice, but its not vacation!) and we were very excited. We went for 5 days and had an amazing time.
The weather was a bit chilly, but we got to see all of the sites and really enjoyed being together.
I am now in finals mode- I just got out of my third in the last week. It has been really really intense and highlighted how important the time with David was.
Next week I start an entire month of archaeological digs. That should also be intense, but hopefully a lot of fun and educational too!
Here are some pictures from our trip:

O How I Hate Beni Brak

2010-05-20T10:20:00.000+03:00

This is the first time since I've been in Israel that my experience GETTING TO a bureaucratic office has been more unpleasant than my time spent in said office.

This morning I walked to the Interior Ministry Branch in Beni Brak to get my first Israeli Passport (I had a legal travel document that was only valid in Israel.) All told, it took me only an hour, but the walk through Bnei Brak is just so unpleasant.

I can't stand Charedim and am completely disgusted by their way of life. The streets are filled with garbage and it reeks everywhere. I almost got hit by cars at least 5 times because they all drive as if they don't value human life. And to top it all off, they are rude. When I crossed the bridge over the highway that separates Givat Shmuel from Beni Brak I took a huge deep breath of the "clean" air and felt so relieved to be home!

On the other hand, my experience at the Interior Ministry was really really refreshing (ironic as that is). I didn't even have time to fill out the passport request form when it was my turn at the counter. The lady was really really nice and helpful and I was finished within 7 minutes. Unlike in the American system, I will have my passport within a week (probably sooner). Definitely a mixed up way to start the day!

יום שחרור ירושלים (Jerusalem Liberation Day)

2010-05-12T18:36:00.000+03:00

Today is Yom Yerushalayim- the day that commemorates Israel recapturing Jerusalem during the Six Day War in 1967. In past years I went to Jerusalem to attend parties and celebrations in the streets and to walk to the Kotel with thousands of others dancing through the blocked off streets towards the Old City. This year I stayed home in Givat Shmuel, but it was still very special.

Last night (the Jewish date starts the night before, so it was also Jerusalem Day last night) David and I went to a wedding. One of David's friends from the army got married. During the part of the ceremony where the groom breaks the glass in commemoration of the destruction of the temple I was particularly touched: Here we were commemorating Jerusalem's destruction and ON the day that Jerusalem was liberated, a new couple is being joined into the community of Israel. It was truly beautiful and a nice way to commemorate the day.

Today was the Brit Milah for my friend Shira's baby. She is my first really really close friend to have a baby so it was especially exciting for me. In addition to being nice to be there with her and her husband, they made it extra special with the name they chose for their son. They called him Yishai, in Hebrew ישי. In addition to being a nice name, the letters form an acronym that stands for יום שחרור ירושלים which literally means Jerusalem Liberation Day (today). It was so beautiful how they were able to add such meaning to their son's name.

Israel as an Outsider

2010-05-12T18:24:00.000+03:00

Last week I was a counselor on Ramaz's 8th Grade Israel Trip. (Ramaz is a religious day-school from Manhattan). I spent a week traveling with the kids and their teachers ALL OVER Israel. It was an incredibly exciting, exhausting, fun, crazy, hard, and interesting week. I think the most interesting part, for me at least, was getting to experience Israel once again through the eyes of outsiders.

My favorite parts of the trip were the bus rides. I would sit with the kids and just look out the window with them and gush about how much I loved the country. It made me feel so good to explain to them about the places we were going and the things they saw and to give it a personal touch.

It was pretty weird to be with a bus full of people who viewed Israel as a place where they frequently vacation, but not as home. I wonder what kind of connection they feel they have to this place. I tried to get a sense while they were here, but I'm still not sure. I don't know what its like anymore to not feel that everything I see is "mine", I wonder if they feel a similar sense of possession even if they don't live here...

These kids were 8th graders and the focus of the trip was "fun connection to Israel" rather than an educational tour, so I wondered how much they really took away from the trip. When, during the summary activity the night before they left, one of the kids said that even though he had been here many times before he had never realized just how beautiful Israel is. Even if he took nothing else from the trip, other than a great time with his friends. I feel like something has been accomplished: another person in this world recognizes Israel's beauty. If even one of those kids moves here one day, or dedicates their life to the support and betterment of the State of Israel then my time with them has been a success.

Great Summaries of My Opinion

2010-04-20T09:06:00.000+03:00

Here are a couple of links to articles that have come out in the last 24 hours that express better than I could how I feel about the situation here:
Jpost
Wall Street Journal

Happy Independence Day!

Memorial Day 2010

2010-04-20T09:03:00.000+03:00

Last year I had a very intense and emotional Memorial Day. I spent the day driving all over to be at as many places as possible in an attempt to try and experience what veteran Israelis go through on Memorial Day. This year, my friend and I, probably unconsciously, took a totally different approach.

Instead of being in the southern plains and jerusalem area, we went straight to Tel Aviv. We had both really wanted to experience Memorial Day in the big city. In the end, it turned into a walking memorial to our past heroes than a day spent crying over our current losses.

We started in Yaffo. We walked around the old port area just to walk. It used to be the gates to Israel. All new immigrants and pretty much all of the maritime trade passed through the port. Until the Arabs, in 1920 decided that they'd had enough of the Jews and shut down the port. Thanks to them Tel Aviv and Haifa ports were built/flourished, and the flow of Jews to Israel wasn't too badly affected.

From Yaffo we took a walk along the beach to the Etzel Musuem. The Etzel was a national milita that broke from the more mainstream Hagana. They were the ones to capture Yaffo during the War of Independence and the museum stands in the remains of an old arab house that they used as their base during the assault. It was a fierce battle, but also one of the most successful during the War.

From there we headed by bus to the old Trumpeldor Cemetery. We were sitting on the bus about to pull out of the terminal when the siren went off. We almost couldn't hear it because of all of the engines. As always the siren pierced my heart and it took a few minutes after the world started moving again to calm down.

The Trumpelor Cemetery was opened in 1902 when a wave of cholera spread through Yaffo. In an attempt to stop the plague, it was ordered that bodies were not allowed to be buried inside the city. A plot of land in the middle of sand dunes was chosen for the Jewish cemetery. It stood alone until Tel Aviv was founded over 20 years later. During the Arab riots of 1920/1921 the Jews killed were buried in this cemetery.

The cemetery currently holds 5,000 graves and is maxed out. It is the final resting place for many of Israel's famous leaders, including: President Moshe Sharet, Eliyahu Golumb- founder of the Hagana, Dov Hoz- head of the Histadrut, H.N Bialyk- the author and poet, Chaim Arlozorov, Zeev Jabotinsky, the Chissin Family- founders of most of the early settlements in the holy land, most of the founders of Tel Aviv, and many many others. It is a fascinating cemetery that only in the past few years has undergone renovation and restoration.

When we got there, we walked in to a tiny ceremony with no more than 20 people. It was organized by the Organization of Former Hagana Members and there was a small presence from the army and the police. They explained the history of the cemetery and of many of the people buried there, especially the victims of the arab riots. The most striking thing was that as everyone was leaving, we heard the older people grumbling that within a few years there would be no ceremony there because there would be no one left to do it. The common thread between this year and last year's Memorial Day was that then we had also been to a ceremony in danger of "extinction". My friend and I decided that we believe it's more important to make an effort to be at these ceremonies: to learn from what these people have to say and to show them our support in their mourning and that we care about our past and the sacrifices made so long ago. Everyone goes to the main military ceremonies, but do people even know that these smaller ones take place? I learned so much during that half an hour, it would be a shame to miss out on similar opportunities.

From there we went to Independence Hall and the Hagana Museum. Surprisingly, I had never been to either and we felt it was apropos to the day to head there of all places (it was the real date of Independence Day, but because of Shabbat everything was pushed over by one day). The entire day highlighted for me how amazing of an accomplishment creating the state was, and how all of the sacrifices were worth it despite the pain. Without our brave soldiers and civilians, we could never even have come close to building what we have today. With that said, we also must strive to live up to the example of our forefathers and let nothing get in the way of building and maintaining our home. May G-d give us the strength and foresight to do so.

The Real Heroes

2010-04-18T12:50:00.000+03:00

On Erev Memorial Day:
I wrote about this family in my Memorial Day post last year. Their grandmother and uncle are from houston and the kids used to hang out with us during the summers. They are Israel's Real Heroes:
read the Jpost article: here

Wedding Season

2010-03-28T14:59:00.000+03:00

I thought I'd post some pictures from the weddings we've been to lately... I don't have from each one because I forgot my camera a few times :)

Where Can I Get Some?

2010-03-28T14:25:00.000+03:00

This past Friday, two soldiers were killed during an operation in Gaza. One of them, Eliraz Peretz, was a father of four. While it is always hard to hear about a father being killed or dying for any reason and leaving behind him four young children, this situation is even harder to understand. Eliraz had already lost an older brother in battle as well as his father a few years later. His family had been kicked out from Sinai as part of the peace agreement with Egypt and then later his family was kicked out of Gush Katif for reasons that still don't make any sense to me. He adopted the family of his friend Roi Klein who was killed 4 years ago during the Second Lebanon War. His house in Eli (West Bank) {Where David studied before enlisting in the army} is currently under demolition orders.

I have been sitting on the couch reading news story after news story detailing the eulogies delivered at his funeral that was this morning (and sobbing uncontrollably) and about his family. The thing that strikes me the most: their strength. The message his mother, a widow who already had to burry one son , wanted the world to hear was one of strength and continuation and bravery and love of life. I am sitting here and I can't stop thinking to myself: Where can I get some? some of that strength? some of that deep sense of belief if our purpose and mission here? some of the courage to allow her other children to be in combat units even after losing her first? some of that power that allows her to put the Jewish People above herself no matter the cost?

David pointed out to me that I have already made a huge sacrifice for the sake of the Land of Israel and the Jewish People- I moved here. I left my family and a cushie American life and moved here to be where I felt I belonged. Well, thats all well and good and everything, but I can't help feeling like I haven't done anything. I am afraid that were I to be put to the test, I wouldn't have the strength and courage and fortitude that the Peretz family has. I can't help feeling that I was prepared to go only half-way. I get scared whenever there is unrest. I worry whenever there are serious terrorist threats. Will I be able to continue life normally if a Third Intefada does break out? I guess the only answer is that time will tell and that I will continue to pray that I never have to be tested the way this family has been tested.

It hurts so badly to see what these people have to go through and to glimpse their unbreakable strength at a time when so much of the outside world as well as large portions of Israeli society hate them.

May we all be blessed with a safe and peaceful Passover. May we continue to come ever closer to the days when neighbor will not lift up sword against neighbor, nor will they learn war anymore. May we merit in our days to see a united Jewish People not ripped apart by internal hatred so that we can stand a chance against our enemies who wish to destroy us.

I Lived Through My Presentation

2010-03-10T13:36:00.000+02:00

Yesterday I had to give a presentation to my seminar class on Second Temple Period burial practices. It was an hour and a half and included a power point presentation that I had to write in Hebrew. The longest I had ever had to speak in front of people in Hebrew before this was 7 minutes in my ulpan class when I first made Aliyah.

Not only did I survive, but everyone said it was really interesting and that my Hebrew was really good. I only lost my train of thought once (and subsequently couldn't get it back EVEN in English...). I haven't slept well for 2 weeks because I was freaking out...but at the end of the day I survived it.

I feel like I have crossed a huge threshold in my "absorption" to Israeli society. I can now even give presentations in Hebrew. Wow. Now I just have to start working on the one that is due in June :)

I'm Famous!!

2010-02-26T00:05:00.000+02:00

I just realized that there are actually people out there who do (or at least did) read my blog! I am so excited about it, and I'm not even sure why...

How did I find this out?

So... I was watching Band of Brothers with David, which is an amazing series that HBO put out about American troops in WWII, and it made me think about my grandfathers, both of whom served in the war. After watching the last episode, in which the real troops that the characters represented were interviewed, I wanted to find out more about where my grandfathers served. Unfortunately, unlike my generation who live our entire lives on the internet, it is not so easy to find out about their army services through google (and if it is, it just means I'm not very internet adept.) From there I started googling myself using my various name combinations, and lo and behold, someone else quoted me on their blog and even posted a link!! The best part about it was that it made me want to go back to my blog and read what I had written almost 2 years ago (no, I can't believe that time has flown by so quickly!)

It was pretty apropos that the post that was quoted I had written on a fast day, and today was a fast day. In my old post, I had a lot to say and a lot of emotions having just moved to Israel and all. Now I feel that a lot of that is missing. I have settled down to a "normal" life routine and things don't seem to excite me and amaze me so much anymore like they used to. I wonder if in all of my attempts to create a normal life for myself I have let some of the power of making aliyah disappear. Re-reading my post also made me realize how wonderful of an outlet this blog has been, and now hopefully I'll really start writing again at least semi-regularly.

For now, Purim is this weekend and today was Taanit Esther. It was pretty uneventful... I went to the library and rushed to finish a project that I had ignored until the very last minute. The amazing thing though is that I am right now in the most intense wedding season of my life. I have already been to 4 weddings since the start of the year and I have 3 more coming up in rapid succession, and David just found out that another of his friends just got engaged. While it is a bit overwhelming, exhausting, and frankly quite expensive to have so many friends get married in such a short span of time it really is a truly wonderful thing. I would rather be exhausted from happy occasions than from sad ones! May we all be blessed to join together only for Smachot!

Happy Purim!

Back and Better than Ever!

2010-02-09T14:15:00.000+02:00

After a Very long break, I'm back! I had sort of gotten out of the blogging rhythm and felt like I didn't have much to say, but after such a long time there is plenty to update :)
I am currently in my second year studying Archaeology at Bar Ilan. I LOVE it. It's fun and interesting and I'm having a great time.

There are a few changes though this year. I'm volunteering and working.

I just started working as a research assistant in one of the Archaeology labs (read: data entry.) It's a pretty lame job, but I'm thrilled. My first real job in Israel and it's in my field! This is the time to make the connections that will hopefully help me throughout my entire professional life. This was one of the main arguments I made to my parents when I told them I wanted to study in Israel, and see, its true!

As part of being an immigrant, I get a scholarship for school from the Government. In order to get the entire value to which I am entitled, I have to do a certain amount of community service. To fulfill the requirements I have started working at a place called Beit Noam (Noam's House). Beit Noam is a day center for adults (21 and up) with serious physical and mental handicaps. It is a place that provides physical therapy, hydrotherapy, reflexology, communication therapy, an opportunity for the capable participants to work and make money, programming to inspire creativity, and an opportunity to give parents a break from dealing with their grown children during the day. In addition, Beit Noam has a series of apartments that are fully staffed so that participants can live independently. It is an inspiring place and I love working there.

I come in twice a week and have 3 participants who I work with one on one for an hour at a time. They are all of varying levels of disability and have different levels of communication. I have only been working there for 3 months, but I already feel a strong connection to them. When their faces light up when I walk into the room I get moved to tears, and when their classmates recognize me from the other side of the room and ask how I'm doing I get goosebumps. It is such an incredible place, I feel like I am being sucked into this special little world where, as their motto goes, "Everyone feels equal." I would attach a link, but I don't think they have a website. Hopefully I'll post pictures soon.

David is doing well and working hard. I am still just as proud of him as always.

Hopefully I'll start updating more regularly now, even though I'm not sure if anyone still reads this thing!

It’s Definitely Summer, but It Ain’t No Summer Vacation 18/8/09

2009-08-18T17:11:00.001+03:00

I have been in an extended finals period since June 28^th. I have reached a point where I can no longer look at anything that has to do with school or my paper that I’m supposed to be writing or the three finals that I still have to take. It’s almost like a sick joke that Israel plays on its college students: we have “vacation” from the end of June until the end of October, but we are theoretically taking finals until mid-September. Its nuts. I mean I would rather spread out my 13 finals than take them all at once, but still, this is quite ridiculous.

Ok done complaining.

This summer I have had the opportunity to experience some pretty cool things through the framework of my studies. I spent 2 weeks on the archaeological dig at Tel E’ton

, about 10 Kilometers from Lachish. The dig was amazing. It was incredibly hard work: wake up at 4am, dig from 5am-1pm all hard physical labor, but I learned a lot and had a really amazing experience. One of the best experiences was one morning on the way to the dig I went with my friend in his car instead of taking the bus. He had the radio on to one of the national stations and just before the clock struck 5am they broadcast the Shema and then a Chapter of the Mishna (Oral Law) to start the day off with some Jewish learning. I had no idea that anything like that existed. My friend explained that at 5am on this channel and 6am on another they broadcast this every morning to mark the start of their new day (even though they broadcast continuously throughout the night). I was in shock. I was so pleased and impressed that the

country started its day with the Shema and some Jewish learning. There are so many times when the arguments about the character of this country and the fights between the secular Jews and religious Jews are unbearable, but this simple act that took less than 30 seconds helped make it clear that I live in the Jewish Homeland. It was inspiring and uplifting, and made me feel blessed that I was up at 5am to experience it.

This past week I also got to experience my First Anniversary. It is unbelievable that a year has gone by so quickly. It seems like it was only a few months ago that we got married! This has been a wonderful year for us where we have built our home and strengthened our relationship. To celebrate we stuffed our faces at the all-you-can-eat Brazilian Buffet at Papagaio (thanks mom and dad), we spent Friday playing on the beach and going sailing, and to top it all off we had a lovely, relaxing Shabbat together at home. It’s been really nice to be able to look back over the last year with such fond memories, and we look forward to many many many more happy years together!

I’m still here 5/7/09

2009-07-05T18:57:00.002+03:00

I just wanted to drop a quick line and confirm my existence! I am currently in my second week of finals (that will last until September- woo hoo) and it’s a bit intense. I can’t believe that I have finished my coursework for my first year of University in Israel. Time has flown by so quickly. This year has been so wonderful. I have learned an amazing amount about Israel, her history, archaeology, and culture. It has been fascinating and I

can’t wait to start learning again next year! I am also a little sad though. This year was so much fun and I made such a amazing friends, but I know that next year won’t be the same. One of my closest friends is getting married and moving to Haifa, another of my closest friends is moving to the school of Social Work, and my department is splitting up between those who wish to concentrate on Archaeology and those who wish to focus of Geographical History. We have had so much this year and really built an amazing “Chevre”. We even had a picnic on the last day of classes because we like spending time together so much. I feel so blessed to have found such an amazing family in school, and I can’t wait to spend more time with them over the next few years! The summer is going to be hectic for me- I have 13 tests and a paper as well as 2 weeks of an academic archaeological dig so hopefully I’ll be able to check in every once in a while! Happy Summer everyone!

The Life of an Army Wife 17/5/09

2009-05-17T08:49:00.000+03:00

I am very proud of David and the work he does in the army. He works very hard in a very important job, and I know that he is actively contributing to the security of this country. Unfortunately this all comes at the expense of his time with me. After about 3 and a half years together I am more than used to getting by on my own and filling my time without him, but I always have a guilty feeling in the pit of my stomach when I’m having fun without him. Usually, When David is away and I’m having fun he’s doing something physically and mentally tasking and not fun at all. A perfect example is our pre-wedding menu-tasting: David was on a field exercise eating kosher spam and barely sleeping while I got to have a fabulous gourmet meal with family and friends in anticipation of the wedding. I don’t think David has ever gotten over that disappointment and is still waiting for us to be invited to another wedding at the same hall so he can finally taste the food. We have finally reached a new stage in our “he leaves me home alone” relationship: I am starting to take longer trips for school and during the summer I will be gone for two weeks straight for an archaeological dig. And I’m torn. After all of this time that he’s had to leave me for really important things I feel even more guilty for leaving him and extending the stretches of time that we won’t be able to be together. I guess I have to get used to it if I want to be a tour guide and be bouncing around the country all the time! All of this is practice for the real world, because as I try to keep reminding myself, its not only the army that separates us, its life and we have to get used to being together while being apart. It sounds ironic that this would be an issue for us after all of the time I spent in the states while we were together, but its so different now that we’re married and have gotten used to seeing each other all the time!!

A Proper Memorial Day 7/5/09 (Warning, It’s Long)

2009-05-07T19:48:00.000+03:00

Last Week was Israeli Memorial Day and Independace Day. The experience here in Israel is very different from that in America, and this year my experience was truly special. Unfortunately David was on duty the entire time so I made plans with friends to take the car and have a real Memorial Day. I went with my friends Merav and Shira who are both tour guides, know every inch of this country by heart, and love to find special things. I was their chauffer and they were my guides on what has so far been the most moving and meaningful Memorial Day I have ever experienced. We had to have David on base by 7am so we got a really early start. Our first destination was a place called “Givat Tom ve’Tomer” (Tom and Tomer Hill). It is a personal memorial on the outskirts of Kibbutz Negba to the 73 soldiers who were killed in the “Helicopter Tragedy” February 4, 1997. Two transport helicopters collided in mid-air and everyone aboard was killed. The father of one of the soldiers, a resident of the Kibbutz, had a very hard time recovering from the loss of his son. He decided to build a personal memorial and garden in memory of his son and of the other fallen soldiers. The site is barely a hill, but you can see it from far away because the electric pole that runs through is painted like a sky with 73 doves on it in memory of each of the soldiers. We were there by 7:30 just as the caretaker was setting up for the day- they already had tens of groups planning to come. He explained that the father had recently had a stroke and that he takes care of the garden for him. He asked us to help him clean off the signs as we were walking through if we didn’t mind. Obviously we didn’t. The garden was small but beautiful and so unbelievably peaceful. He purposely planted only plants that are indigenous to Israel because, as he wrote on one of the plaques in the garden, that this was the greenery that the soldiers walked through and served in and experienced during their service and it was a tribute to them. All throughout the garden are places to stop and sit and reflect as well as large stone memorials bearing the names of all of the fallen, where they were from, where they served, and whatever other little anecdotes their families wished to have added. All throughout the garden are newspaper clippings and letters from the families about their loved ones. It is a small and nondescript place, but it is filled with so much love and pain and memory that it was tangible. Places like this exist all over the country and it was nice to get to see one for myself. I had a very strange feeling while walking through the garden. I felt as if I were an outsider encroaching on other peoples lives and other peoples pain. My friends were very emotional thinking about all of their friends and loved ones who have fallen- and the number is unfortunately not small, and all I could think about was an additional facet to the sacrifice that I made when I decided to move here. My children will know this pain. They will be surrounded with it their entire lives and I have brought it upon them. My friends thought that this was a very interesting observation and I think started to understand a bit more what exactly is entailed in making Aliyah.
Our next stop was to a nearby hill that was capture by Battalion 53 of the Givati Bridage in the War of Independence. This Battalion doesn’t exist anymore, but many of its soldiers are still alive. Every year they have a ceremony on that hill (where there is also a memorial). Shira found the place a year and a half ago. She is from that area and had always passed by without ever stopping in to check it out. One day she went with friends just before Memorial Day and there was an old man there who was missing a hand and was setting things up. They started talking to him and it turns out that he was one of the soldiers in the Battalion (he lost his hand in the war… he was a sapper who had laid all of the mines in the whole area) and was in charge of the ceremony every year. The girls stayed there for a few hours listening to his story and they promised to come back for the ceremony. Shira couldn’t make it because her grandmother had passed away and she needed to be with her family so it was especially important for her to go this year. She had stayed in touch with him and he even sent her books that were written about the Battalion. His biggest fear is that once the remaining members of the Battalion pass away there will be no one to conduct the ceremony in honor of their fallen heroes from the War of Independence. When we got there he immediately recognized her and it was clear just how happy he was that we had come and that Shira had remembered. The ceremony was simple and sweet and showed that these men were true heroes. The man honored to light the memorial flame was in a wheelchair and needed 3 people to help him make it to the platform but he wanted to walk and nothing was going to stop him. This man had commanded a convoy that came under attack and then was abandoned by other forces when the convoy got stuck in the mud. He commanded his troops for almost 8 hours stuck inside their armored vehicles under constant enemy fire without food or water until help could reach them. He kept them all alive. The Battalion Commander, who is 94 and still completely lucid, also spoke. Even at 94 it was clear that this man was a wonderful leader and a powerful influence on people. He said that 61 years after the war he still feels the need to apologize to the families who’s sons and brothers and fathers he wasn’t able to keep safe. This man helped start the Nachal Brigade as well as was a founding member of a few of Israel’s cities. It was truly an honor to be part of such a special and rare and almost extinct ceremony.
Next we went to the military cemetery in Kiryat Anavim in the Jerusalem hills (actually it’s the town directly down the mountain from where I got married) where the fallen from the Palmach’s “Har’el Brigade” are buried. The ceremony itself was the usual standard government ceremony with yet another 2 minute siren (see my last post about the sirens). It was special because a distant relative of Merav’s was killed in the Battle for the Castel and her family came to visit his grave. The other reason coming to this specific ceremony is special is because all of the former Palmachniks who are still alive come to honor their friends. When the ceremony is over they stay and talk. They talk about their war experiences and their friends to anyone who is willing to listen. We stayed for two hours after the ceremony to listen to them talk. These men standing and sitting before us are the people who liberated Jerusalem and broke the siege. It was amazing to get to sit and listen to the people that I’ve been learning about in school talk about one of the most interesting and exciting times in Israel’s short history. I felt truly honored to be in their presence and still can’t believe that I was so lucky to be able to be there and here the stories first hand.
Since we were so close to my cousin’s house we popped in for a visit and then we had a picnic in nearby Yad Hashmona (a town that was founded in memory of Holocaust victims) in an area looking over the mountains. Shira and Merav had brought a guitar with them and had downloaded the chords and lyrics for every Memorial Day song that exists. All day during the drives they were playing and singing. During our picnic we just sat for hours singing songs and enjoying the wonderful country that we are so lucky to have.
For the transition ceremony between Memorial Day and Independence Day I went to Efrat with David’s family because they always have a really sweet and nice ceremony. During the ceremony they have people they wish to honor light torches “for the Glory of the State of Israel”. The first family honored to light a torch was the Goodman Family. Many of you will know them through their Houston branch. Their son Yoesf was killed in a parachuting accident in February 2006. The family currently has 3 other sons serving in the army. All of them are in combat positions and two are in the very same unit that Yosef served in. When Ann and Goodman (the mother) walked onto the stage with her sons all in uniform and their father Mordechai I already started to tear up. Ann walked up the microphone and said with pride in her voice that they were lighting the torch in honor of the soldiers and all of the defense forces with pride and love and understanding of personal sacrifice. I totally lost it. Standing in front of me were the true heroes of this country. Instead of being angry about the loss of their son and demanding that their others not go to the army or serve in only non-combat positions, they understand Zionism and love for this country and they sent their other sons to battle anyway. These are the people on whose backs and hearts this country has been built and is continuing to be supported. Without people like the Goodmans who are filled with the utmost sense of purpose and dedication we would be nowhere. I am proud to know a family like that and hope that one day I will be able to be even a fraction as strong as they are.

Heart Piercing Unity 21/4/09

2009-04-21T10:16:00.001+03:00

Today is Yom Hashoah Ve’Hagevura (Holocaust Remembrance Day). The way Israel marks today as well as Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers (next week) is by the sounding of an air raid siren simultaneously across the whole country. Everything and Everyone stops and stands at attention during the siren in a moment of non-silence. The sound of the siren fills you in a similar way that I feel the shofar does. When you stand at attention and let the sound pierce your heart and mind it forces you to take a deep breath and really think about things. It is not a sound that one can ignore. This morning I had the privilege of being at home during the siren where I have a view of part of the Bar Ilan campus as well as Highway 4 which is one of Israel’s main North/South routes. I was almost afraid that people wouldn’t stop and respect the siren on the highway, but my worry was proven unfounded. Huge semi-trailers grounded to a halt, people got out of their cars, and people everywhere just stood at attention. Only in Israel could the entire country bind together for an entire minute and a half of complete unity and complete understanding of why there is a need to take time to remember in the first place. Being able to experience that unity so strikingly brings me to tears every time. I don’t think I would be willing to give up this remarkable place for anything.

Becoming a Soldier While Staying Human 28/1/09

2009-01-31T22:48:00.002+02:00

Last night David and I had the incredible pleasure of standing in for Yoni’s parents at his unit’s Parent’s Night. Yoni is a lone soldier and one of our best friends. We have in many ways “adopted” him and are always thrilled to be able to be there for him in any way we can while he goes through so much and his family is so far away. Aside from the great experience of simply being there for Yoni, last night was a very inspiring evening and really got me thinking.

Yoni is a squad commander (I think that’s the translation…basically it’s the lowest level commander that belongs to each unit.) He has a small group of soldiers under his personal command and he is their link to the officers, the person with whom they come into contact the most, and the first person they go to with their problems. It was so nice to get to see him with his soldiers and to meet his officers and all of the people he spends all day every day with.

The evening started out with food (more munchies than dinner but whatever) and schmoozing. Then the commanding officer gave a nice speech and handed out certifications of recognition to soldiers and commanders who are excelling. After commending the soldiers, the commanding officer honored a few parents who have gone above and beyond to make sure that everything the unit needs is taken care of. They planned a Chanukkah Party for the unit and spoiled them like crazy apparently.

The end of the evening was a concert. One of the soldiers mothers used to be in a famous old school Israeli band (Gevatron) and organized to have a famous Mizrachi (the nasal whiney music that sounds like its in Arabic) singer come and perform for the soldiers and their families. The soldiers pretty quickly jumped out of their seats and went down to dance. It was so fun and funny watching them dance together. These awkward boys who have been in the army only 6 months were jumping around and having fun together, and their parents got to see it. The evening made me do a lot of thinking…

I have always wondered how Israeli society can exist as such a militarily centered society and still be so normal. (Israel has plenty of other problems, but I don’t think they come from the army exclusively.)The goal of basic and advanced training is to take boys and break them so they can be reshaped into men, into soldiers. I have many friends who are soldiers and it has always fascinated me how they seem to snap into and out of their army personas. David is not a combat soldier and while he has a bit of the same schizophrenia like personality change his are less extreme. Last night I got an interesting glimpse into the world that produces killing machines (for all intents and purposes) that can still go home to their families on the weekends and be the same person they were when they left. Watching the boys, and they are very very much still children, letting loose and dancing and smiling and having fun made me want to cry. Watching them dance with their units and officers and grow close to them was heartwarming. I couldn’t help but think that in the next war these boys would be fighting alongside these friends and putting their lives on the line for each other and for all of the rest of us. The importance of the trust and love and bonds between these boys as they grow into men was not lost on me. I don’t think it was lost on the parents present either.

Brothers in Arms I think is a great term to describe the phenomenon. The soldiers can stay human because the bonds built between them and their comrades are human. Together with their officers they are building a supportive family. They are working very hard to train for a very hard job that is for the benefit of us all. They can stay human because their task is a just task. Protecting the Jewish Nation is one of the most just tasks any Jew can take on. They go into battle with their heads held high because they know they are protecting themselves, their brothers, and all of their loved ones back at home. The path is not an easy one, and each one of those soldiers would rather be traveling the world or starting college. They understand the need for them and the importance of their mission. They have volunteered to be where they are because as long as we live in a place that needs protecting there will be people volunteering to protect us.

I don’t know how I’m going to feel as the years go by and my children enter the army. I maintain no illusions that by the time I have children and they are old enough to go into the army there will be no need for an army. Israel will always have to fight for its existence. It is depressing, but it is what I believe. At least right now I feel good knowing that the army they will be going into will at least try to build them into better and stronger people who understand the importance of their mission and who can hold their heads high while accomplishing it.

I Have Friends In Hebrew!!! 28/1/09

2009-01-31T22:46:00.000+02:00

I have reached one of the most important milestones that a new immigrant to any place can reach. I have friends in Hebrew. They are real friends and not just people that I smile at during class while I sit alone too afraid and uncomfortably to really talk to. We hang out outside of class. We talk on the phone. We share things. We are real friends- and our only common language is not my mother tongue. It is relatively easy to reach a level of fluency where casual conversation with random people is possible or where grocery shopping isn’t a nightmare or where the bus drivers know what you are asking them. The next big step is being able to understand most of what you see or hear or read. That comes with a bit more effort and makes life so much easier. But to bridge the final gap that is more mental and cultural than anything else is where the real challenge lies.

Bar Ilan has a very large Anglo population. If I wanted, I could make a group of English speaking friends and only speak Hebrew in my actual classes. I speak English at home with David so there was no opportunity for me to practice before school started. Fortunately, I am in a department with no other native English speakers. There are some who were born here whose parents are American and who speak English fluently but they are Israeli’s and I didn’t realize they spoke English until months into the program. I entered a situation where it was either speak Hebrew or be lonely. I decided to just suck it up and speak Hebrew. It is such an amazing feeling when I realize that I spend entire days conversing and learning in the language that I have spent so much time and effort trying to learn. (Tip for potential Olim, Uplan is not a burden, it is the key to successful and easy absorption and it is a mistake to put it off.) I feel like I have really achieved something and I am so excited. My friends didn’t blink twice when they heard my accent or my sometimes halted speech. They just continued to talk to me as if nothing was strange. They correct me now and again for my benefit, but for the most part we have a completely normal relationship. It just makes me so happy and proud of myself. I no longer feel even a little bit left out of the world that I live in and now I really truly feel at home.

The only downside is that I am starting to lose my English. A friend told me that he heard that you can’t really learn a new language completely until you forget your mother tongue. Only then can you start to re-learn both languages at a truly fluent level. Well, I am at the stage of forgetting. Sometimes I can only think of a word in Hebrew and forget the English completely. The worst is when I know what I want to say but I can’t think of the exact word in either language. Then I feel completely lost. I am trying to keep up my reading in English but it only helps a little. David is useless in this matter because his English is much worse than mine and it is steadily declining the more he is in the army and has no opportunity to use English ever. Today I was giving a presentation on a paper I had written in Hebrew, but to be cute I wanted to say part of it in English since I had written about the US. In the middle I couldn’t think of a term and switched automatically back into Hebrew. It was really scary. I know that its just part of the normal process, but I hope that along with my gains in my new language my losses from my old won’t be too great.

New Year

2009-01-04T15:27:00.001+02:00

**Disclaimer: I’m in bed sick with a sinus infection gone bad. I apologize in advance if some of the things I write don’t make complete sense. My brain is functioning on cold meds… but I couldn’t sit here anymore and not write anything.**

I just want to start out by stressing that David and I are both safe and sound. He is very busy in the army, but due to the nature of his job he is not and will not be fighting in any front lines. His unit is working in shifts so he is even able to come home relatively often to catch up on sleep and see me. We live in a city near Tel Aviv that is (for now at least) out of the range of the rockets coming in from Gaza.

It’s been a strange and surreal week and transition into the new year. It is surreal mostly because I am so far away from it all. I live too far away from Gaza to hear anything but the occasional jet flying overhead from one of the air force bases in the area. For all intents and purposes my life is going on completely normally. The main connection that I have to the war is the radio. They are announcing whenever there are sirens sounding in communities in the south. My only real picture of what it is like there is to read the news and to listen to the frequency of the sirens. It was the same way during the Second Lebanon War. I was in Jerusalem, and if I hadn’t been an informed citizen or hadn’t had a cousin fighting up there I would have had no idea that a war was on.

I’m not really sure what it is really that I am feeling or what it is that I mean to say. I pray and I hope with all of my being that this government doesn’t make the same mistakes it made two years ago. I hope we finish this fight and leave when we are ready and have fully achieved our goals to bring real security to the South. Last time, the government agreed on a cease-fire that brought us nothing because Hezbollah is still rearming and gathering strength on our Northern Border and UNIFIL is doing nothing to stop them. I hope that our soldiers are not going in and risking their lives for nothing. I am very scared for them. At this point in my life almost all of my friends are in the army. Most of them I know are not in Gaza itself, but there are many that I am not sure where they are or what they are doing. The scariest thing, I think is not knowing. I’ve been sitting at home (sick) for the last almost week and have been doing nothing but scouring the news for more and more information. Especially now that the ground incursion has started I listen to the news with bated breath and am relieved every time there is no report of new injuries.

It’s scary and upsetting the thought that we’re at war, but if we really can bring real quiet and security to the entire Southern part of the country then it is all worth it. We deserve the same right to self-defense that every other sovereign nation in the world deserves. I am proud that we are exercising it and pray the world will allow us to defend ourselves. The New Year passed here with little to no notice. Hopefully it will bring with it a new reality. Hopefully Israel can reassert its deterrence capability. Hopefully we can rid our borders of terrorists who’s goal is to destroy us.

Bureaucracy Rant 14/12/08

2008-12-14T16:49:00.000+02:00

I’m sure I wrote a similar post over a year ago…but here we go again: the bureaucratic process in this country is absolutely unbelievable and only minimally tolerable. Since the wedding I have been dealing with government agencies non-stop. I had really thought that I was at the end of it all once I had finished dealing with all of the pre-wedding mess! As it turns out, all of the agencies with whom I had been previously dealing (Absorption Ministry, Student Authority, Interior Ministry, Housing Ministry) decided that once I got married I magically became a new entity and had to restart most of the processes I thought I had finished over a year ago. What have I been doing over the past while? First step was to get from the Religious Council in Efrat (where we registered the wedding info) our marriage document, which proves our marriage and affords me legal name change capabilities. I took that document to the Interior Ministry to get a new Identity Card and update my name in my “Passport” (I still travel on a temporary travel document—which they keep offering to renew for free…). Once things get updated in the Interior Ministry’s computer that’s when things start going wrong. I went to the Student Authority to register for this school year’s financial assistance (aka full tuition for all Immigrants). I brought all of the documents that I thought I would need. Everything was going great until she realized that I was newly married. I was told that I could not file for the money until I was updated in the system of the Absorption Ministry (the parent office), turned in an updated bank account statement that proves that my husband and I share a bank account (what if I wanted a separate account?!?), and filled out a direct WITHDRAWL form with the university. So off I went to take care of this long list of things.

It turned out that I had to move my bank from Jerusalem to Givat Shmuel because in Israel, unless you are at your branch, the only transaction you can do is withdraw or deposit money. They can’t even look up your account info. SO it took a few weeks for the papers to transfer and for David to be able to sign on it. Then I was able to get my new statement and the direct withdrawal form. In the meantime, David and I bought a car (she’s SO pretty). In order to reap the Immigrant Benefits I had to send literally every piece of Israeli (and some American) documentation to the Tax Authority. The process was supposed to take a few days but ended up taking weeks. One of the documents was my Immigrant Document—which it a MUST for the Absorption Ministry. While the Tax Authority was taking its time, my appointment with the Absorption Ministry came around. I didn’t have my document back so I called 4 days before to confirm that I could still come. The woman on the phone said that as long as I had my I.D card I would be fine. So I schlepped into Petach Tikvah and waited my turn. When the woman I sat with realized that I didn’t have my Immigrant Document as well she started yelling at me for wasting everyone’s time by coming without that vital packet of information (which could be looked up using my ID number, but they are stupid at government offices, what can ya do?) I started yelling back that I had called specifically to make sure I could still come and after arguing with me for 5 minutes the woman asked me what day I had called. Turns out that the woman who was on duty that day was new and didn’t know better. Awesome right? So I made a new appointment, which didn’t come out until the next month, and decided to wait for my money. [By the way, that same afternoon I got a call from the dealership telling me that the Tax Authority had just delivered my papers.]

A month later with all of my papers in hand I showed up at the Absorption Ministry again. This time I sat with a different woman. She was really dumb and could hardly read and typed so slowly it killed me. I was there for over 45 minutes to change my name, address, and bank account number. Literally. And she was the typical Russian worker who only kind of speaks Hebrew and spends most of your time with them schmoozing (yelling) in Russian to the other Russian ladies. It also means that if you are a Russian Immigrant you get much better treatment… So she is going on with my changes and when I tell her that I also need to hand in bank account update info (as per the request of the Student Authority) she told me that she doesn’t deal with anything to do with money and that I’ll have to make another appointment with someone else to update that information. I started arguing. As soon as I mentioned that it was for the Student Authority she said immediately “Oh, it’s for them? Sure I can take care of it for you.” Obviously. 45 Minutes later I was on my way. Ready to go to the Student Authority (almost) and ready to deal with my stopped rent subsidy. I am entitled to some form of rent assistance for 5 years. This is another one of those things that magically stops when you get married.

A few weeks ago David and I went to yet another office to file for our rent money. That really wasn’t so bad to be honest. I had already been through so many places in the last month that I had my file perfectly filled with all of the things I knew I would need. We just have to go back every year to sign again and show them our contract or else they stop payments. It seems that the government stops payments at any given opportunity, that way if people don’t notice that they aren’t getting money anymore the government saves. Gotta love fuzzy math!

Last week I collected the last remaining pieces of paper that I needed from the university and prepared myself to go to the Student Authority. I took a 10:10 bus from home into Tel Aviv. When I got there, I took a number when I came through security. By the time I made it to the floor of the offices there was hardly any space to move. The place was PACKED with students trying to secure their money. The number was to the first counter where the woman asked what you needed and then put you on a list to see various counselors based on your needs. When I got there, there were 25 people in front of me. It took almost an hour to be called to this first desk. When I did it took about 3 seconds and I was on a waiting list. About 20 minutes later it dawned on me that my name on my ID card and the name on my file was different. I asked the woman about it and she went to look for the file. After over 30 minutes of looking she couldn’t find it. She sent me to look in various stacks and boxes (g-d forbid anything be digital or in a filing cabinet). I couldn’t find it and started to get REALLY REALLY worried. In these agencies, the paper file is everything and they can’t function without it. Eventually they had their schlepper girl look for it and loe and behold it was in the place where it should have been in the first place. That minor heart attack aside, all I had to do was wait another hour and a half. FINALLY my turn came. It turns out that I hadn’t updated them since I dropped my minor, but since I hadn’t brought new documentation with me, and since I was taking the same number of class hours I just signed the form to get my money and left. Turns out I have to mail them (aka go back or they will never get it) each receipt to prove that the university actually took the money from my account that the government put in. Also I am signing that I understand that the gov. will deposit the money as they have it: aka, I have to pay and they will try to reimburse me. I was there for just over 3 hours.

Since the bus to get there comes once an hour I had to wait 40 minutes for the next bus. I spent about 20 in a mall because it was raining, and I spent the last 20 waiting at the stop because I wasn’t sure when the bus actually came and I REALLY did not want to miss it! By the time I got home I was exhausted and hungry, but I wasn’t done. I had to call my cellphone company to try to cancel an external service that I didn’t know I had that I really didn’t want. It took 4 phone calls to cancel the damn thing and in the end it took 3 seconds. Our Internet is also not working properly but I just don’t have the energy to deal with them right now, today. Instead I am letting out all of my frustration here.

Don’t get me wrong though. I might be complaining, but that doesn’t mean I regret for a second being here. This is just proof to my belief that if someone moves here because of any other reason other than that this is the only place in the world they want to be, they won’t be happy. As annoyed as I am this second, I still know that I made the right decision to move here. I love this place and some bureaucracy can’t make me hate it. But I would like to share some wisdom: patience, patience, and always bring every bit of documentation you can with you!!!

I Love My Daddy

2008-12-04T17:24:00.000+02:00

My Dad was just here for a week to spend time with us and to be here for the Yoni Schiff’s Bar Mitzvah. It was wonderful to have him here for MANY reasons. First of all, it was a fantastic feeling that I have seen my dad on 3 separate occasions over the last 6 months. That’s more time than we’ve been able to spend together in the last few years. It was a really nice feeling knowing that I didn’t have to miss him so much because I would see him again so soon. Now I’m much more sad that he’s not around because with my school schedule and my parent’s busy lives (not to mention Seth who is probably busier than all of us combined) I’m not sure when our next reunion will be. It’s a hard thing saying goodbye to my parents each time. I don’t think it is something I will ever get used to.

It was great having my dad stay with us because it was the perfect opportunity for him to get an insight into our lives on a daily basis. It is really important for me that my parents understand what my life is like so we can all relate to each other. I am SO glad we got a 2-bedroom apartment so we are open to opportunities like this to have my parents as guests. It meant so much to me for him to spend some time with us that wasn’t centered around any specific event (except for the weekend.)

Another great thing about my dad being here, was that when he left, I didn’t feel like he was abandoning me or that I was being ripped from him (whether by my own choice or not is not the point), which I felt the last few times I parted with my parents. Instead I felt like I was in the right place. I had my schoolwork to attend to and my house to run and take care of. I felt that I was/am in my right place and it was totally normal for my dad to drop in and then leave. I’m not saying it was easy to say goodbye… but at the same time I can’t stop being excited about the life that I am building here and now and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. I think that was something that was important for me to feel and important for my dad to see and experience. If I had to leave them at least it was to a place where I am truly happy. I love the home that David and I are building together and there is nowhere else in the world I would rather be and no one with whom I would rather build it. As much as this is something I have always known, until my dad left I hadn’t felt it so strong or clearly before. I am no longer a child who has left home alone. I am married woman who has moved on to my own home in the normal order of life. I am happy and I am flourishing and I am thrilled that my dad could be here to see it.

School is going GREAT! I absolutely love it and we’re already 5 weeks in! I chuckle to myself every time I think about the fact that I am getting a college degree for learning about Israel. I feel like its everything I ever wanted to know about Israel and Jewish history and more! I just wanted to gush… it is a wonderful feeling to also be settled in my studies especially since it has taken me so long to get here. I feel like I am finally on the right track and it simply feels great. I can’t wait to learn more and solidify my place for myself here even more. (AND my Hebrew is getting amazing!!!!!!!)

I am Officially a University Student

2008-11-12T19:04:00.000+02:00

Last week I (finally) started my studies at Bar Ilan University. I am studying Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology with a specialization in Archaeology. I will be learing a lot of Israeli History all the way through pre-history as well as the accompanying archaeology. I am SO excited. This is a subject that interests me deeply. When I was trying to figure out what in the world I wanted to study, I asked Seth for his advice. His answer (as most of his answers to my ridiculous questions) was: Just study something you like. I didn’t know what I liked. His answer was: Don’t you like Israel? Didn’t you move there because you love it so much? Maybe you should study that. Pretty miraculously a few days later I was talking to a friend who told me about the cool program at Bar Ilan. We went to check it out and within weeks I was registered. Parallel to the degree I am going to start learning to be a tour guide and will get an official Tour Guiding license from the government. Hopefully, after I graduate, and even while I’m still in school, I’ll be able to lead tours and get to spend the rest of my time hiking and visiting and seeing Israel all the time. It’s like a dream come true. I’ve always wanted to know all about all of the places I’ve ever been, and this past week I finally started my journey to that knowledge.

It is an amazing feeling being back on a college campus. I didn’t realize how much I missed the atmosphere until this week. There is something stimulating about being surrounded by hundreds of people who are all in the same general place in life as you and who are all striving toward a similar goal: The BA. The campus exudes a buzz and it is fun to just walk around or sit on the grass and watch people go by. It’s just a good feeling…especially since I have spent the last few months without anything “real” to do AND my computer was broken for most of the time! It’s nice to have a reason to get out of bed in the morning and now I have something to do in the evenings when I get home. I think it will also ease a bit of tension in mine and David’s relationship since I am no longer so dependant on him for my entertainment and companionship.

As much as I have been enjoying the beginning of school it is still very overwhelming. I am taking 13 classes for a total of 20 hours of class a week, and they are all in Hebrew. My Hebrew is at a high enough level that I can get by with no problem, but it is a daunting task to sit for 10 hours a day and listen to lectures in Hebrew. Some professors don’t speak loudly or clearly enough and I have a hard time. Fortunately the department I am in has a very open, uncompetitive atmosphere and everyone shares their notes with everyone else. I am sure that in the classes I am having a harder time in I will be able to get enough notes together to really understand. It’s a bit scarry and thrilling at the same time. I am really really going to college in Hebrew. I really can’t wait for things to continue and to really get into a routine, and I am just so happy to finally be a student again and on my way toward something big that will open up my future!

I'm Back!

2008-10-30T15:12:00.002+02:00

I'm Back! Sorry for the long hiatus, but since we've been back from the states (about a month and a half) my computer has been broken and I have been pretty much out of my usual communication circles. A lot has happened during the time that I was computerless so I figured I'd give a quick update.

Our trip to Houston after the wedding was great. It was so nice to be home and get to spend some more quality time with my family. Then of course Ike came along and messed up our plans a bit. We "survived" Hurricane Ike with fortunately very little damage. My parents didn't have electricity for 2 weeks but fortunately we were able to stay with friends during most of that time. David and I didn't get to take care of everything we had hoped to because most of the stores and offices we needed were closed due to the storm until after we left. It was hard and not so fun to not have electricity and to spend my last week at home in someone else's home but at the same time I'm glad we were there. I would have felt so guilty not being with my family while they prepared the house for the worst and then cleaned up after... not to mention how scared I would have been for their safety not knowing exactly what was happening to them! I'm also glad David got to experience it so that maybe he can begin to understand what it's like, and what it was like in Allison- a storm/flood that still haunts me.

Since we've been back our time has been taken up mostly by the holidays. We spent most of the time with David's family. They are moving soon and I know it was important for David to celebrate the big ones one last time in the same place he has lived almost his entire life. Now I'm just waiting for school to start. I got the word about five minutes ago that the potential strike isn't happening and that school will start as scheduled!! YAYAYA!!! Since the chagim I have been taking care of things at home, practicing being a dutiful housewife (which is sometimes fun but mostly lonely), and doing a LOT of reading. I'm also knitting a blanket and cooking a bunch. Bottom line- I can't wait for school to start!!

I hope all is going well with all of you. Hopefully I can get back to a more routine posting schedule now that my computer is back!!!

We FINALLY Got Married!!!!

2008-09-01T10:00:00.002+03:00

David and I finally got married on Thursday August 14, 2008. After waiting what seemed like FOREVER and planning and organizing and anticipating it actually really happened. And it was a lot of fun. The entire evening seemed to go by in a blur. I remember things clearly but I felt like I was floating through it all. I think I finally snapped out of it at the end of the night and felt like “Woah. Is it over already?” I hardly tasted (or even saw for that matter) the food, but I heard it was yummy. I only noticed the flowers because the videographer’s sound guy was trying to put the microphone near the chuppah and one of the arrangements fell as I was on my way to David. Fortunately my reaction was to chuckle instead of getting upset. The Chuppah itself passed so quickly and felt like it wasn’t even happening. David kept smiling at me so I kept smiling at him and all I wanted to do was talk to him (which I did as much as I could). When it was all over and we were being danced to the Yichud room I felt like I was experiencing an outer body experience. I didn’t really feel like I was walking away from my chuppah…I was just floating and hoping that none of our friends would accidentally dance backward into a wall or a door or something.

In the Yichud room, away from all of the music and people, I finally came back to myself. I cried with relief and happiness. After almost 3 years together of a ridiculous relationship that still now we ask ourselves if we were out of our minds to try to make it work we FINALLY REALLY ACTUALLY got married. It was such a wonderful feeling when it hit me that my “struggle” to really get to spend the rest of my life with him was over. I had him. He was mine and I was his and we could really start OUR life together. It’s almost making me cry as I write this thinking about how good it all feels.

The dancing was wonderful. I only remember the fact that I danced so hard I could barely breathe most of the night. Fortunately I had good friends to bring me lots of water and a chair to sit on when I thought I was going to fall over. I didn’t dance with David as much as I had anticipated but it’s ok, I was so caught up in what was going on and whirling around me that I almost didn’t notice.

I also have wonderful, amazing friends. I had a complete entire table of friends that I had grown up with in the states who came to Israel to be at my wedding. Aside from the fact that it was wonderful to see them all again and together, it made me feel so loved that they all made the effort to be with me. It made the night so much more special. I had friends prepare a song for us and perform it in front of everyone. They are both in the army and it must have taken a lot of effort to find time to rehearse and plan. David’s friends performed “The Dance” that started as a wedding tradition for his high school class, then his yeshiva class, and then David introduced it to his unit. There were guys from all three places in David’s life dancing their hearts out for us. It was amazing.

The night was magical. I can’t describe it any other way. Nothing seemed to go wrong and at the end I was married so nothing else mattered.

To top it all off, we had a Shabbat Sheva Brachot with all of our family at the hotel right after the wedding. That was really the cherry on top. To see all sides of our families spending a Shabbat together and really getting to know each other and sit and chat was really beautiful. Even though it was two completely different families coming together probably for this weekend only, the harmony and happiness was tangible. We are so lucky to be blessed with such loving families and really enjoyed all of our time with them.

I am going to post some pictures but they are NOT the official photographer’s because I don’t have them yet. Hope this will give a taste of what it was like. There are also a ton on facebook and a few snapfish albums. Email me if you want more!

Hativka Still Makes Me Cry 22/7/08

2008-07-22T16:30:00.002+03:00

This has been a huge week. And it is still only Tuesday. The week started out with the fast of the 17th of Tamuz where we begin the mourning period leading up to the 9th of Av. The 17th of Tamuz mourns the processes that was set in motion and brought about the destruction of the Temple and the theft of the holy vessels. It is supposed to be a very sad day even though I unfortunately have a hard time truly connecting to it. I fasted nonetheless and spending a day not eating or drinking is enough to make anyone start thinking. And with last weeks return home of 2 of our missing soldiers, there was plenty to think about. I am very torn about how I feel about the seemingly outrageous price that we paid to get back 2 badly preserved bodies while at the same time being proud that Israel is a place that will try to get its soldiers home no matter what. Daniel Gordis has a very moving piece that looks at the prisoner swap in a very positive light.

Yesterday I went to my new apartment to check on our new paint job. It is so exciting to have a place of my own where I can do whatever I want with and really make my true home. The wedding is in 3 weeks and 2 days and it makes me so excited to be working on building our home together.

From the apartment I went to meet up with my cousins, the Metzgers, to drive all the way down to Mitzpe Ramon (most of the way down to Eilat) for Lia’s graduation from Officers School. The ceremony itself was pretty standard and no that exciting, but getting to watch almost 400 young Israelis, most of them younger than me, becoming officers was a great experience. Unfortunately this country is a place where the military is a necessity and war is always on the horizon. With the reports of increasing draft dodging, knowing that there are still hundreds of soldiers who feel it is necessary to serve our country on a higher level is reassuring. The thing that touched me the most about the tekes was how emotional I still am during the singing of Hatikva, Israel’s national anthem. It has been over a year and I still tear up if not cry full out whenever the anthem is sung. The feeling was even more powerful standing in a stadium of hundreds of new officers and thousands of proud parents, siblings, and friends who all are proud to be part of this place. Sometimes I feel a bit like a cheese-ball for being so emotional, but I keep reminding myself that the very existence of this country is a miracle and it is a miracle to be part of it.

This morning I woke up bright and early at 5:15 to head to the airport to help welcome my friend Arielle’s flight. She is moving here by herself, going to the Israeli version of the seminary program I attended, and then going into the army as part of their program. I think she is even braver than I am and feel really proud to be her friend. This was my first time to a Nefesh B Nefesh welcoming ceremony since my own and it was wonderful to be there as a ‘veteran’. They had something really neat set up for the flight: in addition to broadcasting the whole thing live on the internet for the benefit of family and friends all over the world, they had the feed up on the screens in the reception hall so we could watch everyone disembarking. Arielle was one of the first off the plane so I rushed to the entrance to be able to meet her bus. When she came out I ran and gave her a huge hug and we both started sobbing. There are few people who can truly understand what it feels like to leave everything you know and love to come to a difficult place out of love and staunch ideology. It is comforting to be able to share my life experiences with such people. There are pictures of us on the arutz 7 website (link) I am the one who is hugging someone and I’m wearing a bright yellow shirt with white polka dots. We danced with some of her other friends and then went back inside for the rest of the “fesitivities”.

The main attraction though was an 88 year old woman who was making Aliyah. She is a Holocaust survivor who attempted to move to Israel once before the Holocaust and then again on the Exodus. She didn’t make it either time and today she finally realized her dream of becoming an Israeli citizen. She was ceremoniously awarded her Immigrant Document to a standing ovation from a crowd of over 700 people. It was very moving and absolutely fantastic to get to be part of her finally realizing her dream.

When we stood to sing Hativka Arielle barely made it through the first 3 words before she started sobbing and I was crying silently beside her. Twice in two days I felt the powerful emotions that drew me here much stronger than usual. I was proud to be here and I shared in her joy and disbelief that she is finally an Israeli after so much time planning and waiting and wishing. This is not an easy place to be but I still believe that it is the only place to be.

Unfortunately, this afternoon there was yet more reason for crying. Our dream as expressed in the anthem “To be a free nation in our own land, the land of Zion and Jerusalem” was once again threatened. A copycat terrorist took a bulldozer from his place of work and went on another rampage in downtown Jerusalem, this time much closer to my home. Fortunatley no one was killed this time and only 1 person is considered to have been “seriously” injured. The terrorist, an Israeli ID carrying East Jerusalem resident, was killed. The second terror attack in 3 weeks of this kind makes me sad and upset and a little bit scared. I also feel frusteration and despair. On the one hand we want to make the Palestinians life as easy as possible, but on the other hand there are people who really do want to kill us. How do we survive with our lives and our hearts intact? Is there a solution? Will there ever be one that will work that doesn’t include a devastating war and the decimation of an entire people (please G-d that it won’t be us who is decimated once again)?

I have Tikva , hope, that one day things here will be peaceful, but for now I try my best to keep my head up high and not to loose hope.

I Live in a Beautiful Country 7/7/08

2008-07-07T22:16:00.000+03:00

Last week I had the distinct pleasure of riding the train all the way from Jerusalem up to Haifa. As I was sitting in the train car and looking out of the window I couldn’t stop feeling overwhelmed by the breathtaking beauty. I was further overwhelmed by the drastic landscape changes that occurred approximately every 20 minutes. It is truly amazing to me that in this tiny little strip of land in the middle of a vast desert we have almost every single type of topography and climate region (obviously of the warm ones!) If you ever get a change to ride the train I highly recommend it: it offers a view of Israel unparalleled to any other I have seen and everyone can enjoy because no one has to drive! (Oh gosh I am such a commercial!!)

This past month has been pretty intense and jam-packed. I am officially finished with school and included in that is an exemption from ever taking a Hebrew Language course again. To attest to the success of my program I am currently in the middle of a popular Modern Hebrew book and I am understanding and enjoying almost as much as I would a book written in English. I am finding that my Hebrew has really made the progress that I was looking for and that overall this has been an incredibly successful year.

Wedding planning is going fantastically. I have had a few stress-induced breakdowns but for the most part things are going well. My goal is to take care of as many things as far in advance as possible so that when the wedding actually arrives I can be relaxed and just focus on being happy and excited. So far so good. I have been running around like a maniac for the last week and a half and my to-do list is rapidly shrinking!! Unfortunately it means that I am not having the super relaxing summer I was hoping for, but at least I am being productive!!

This Wednesday marks my 1 year anniversary of making Aliyah. Can you believe it? I can’t. This year I feel that I have more or less integrated myself into society (I can yell at obnoxious public workers at the post office etc. with the best of them!) and I really truly feel at home here. My Hebrew is improving all the time and now I just have to work on getting down the whole male/female concept and be able to properly integrate it into my speaking. I now have my very own Israeli drivers license and am learning to adapt my driving to this jungle of horrible horrible drivers.

David and I have officially taken possession of our apartment and will spend the next 5 weeks until we move in getting it ready for us to live in. It is a huge step to finally have a home of my own in addition to the whole getting married thing. I am getting super excited for the wedding! It is only 5 weeks away and I am already starting to go out of my mind with excitement and impatience. I just want to be married already! David is very busy in the army which is both good and bad, it shields him from a lot of the unnecessary wedding stuff and makes me more independent, but it also means he is left out of a lot of the decision making process. I guess that is what life is like when you are in the army—no matter what else you have going on in your life, some things are just more important. Fortunately he loves his unit and he loves his job. This will make the next almost 5 years easier if not absolutely pleasant.

This past year has also brought with it some less pleasant things. Two major terror attacks in Jerusalem have not been easy. I was not here during the Intefada and while “seasoned” and “hardened” veterans might react differently to the bad news I still take it to heart and very hard for a long time. I think the government is making more mistakes in dealing with our situation than should be tolerated and I pray that the government will fall soon and can be replaced with a more morally responsible and effective one. Despite it all I have no desire to leave and I have not for one minute regretted my decision to live here. Every day I feel more and more that Israel is my home. I love living here, and even after a year I still look out my window most mornings and the thought goes through my mind of “wow, I live here!”

Tomorrow a good friend of mine is going home so she can come back at the end of the month on a Nefesh B’ Nefesh aliyah flight. It is amazing seeing her and talking things over with her and reliving where I was a year ago. I have grown so much this year and feel that I have really starting truly growing into myself. I look forward to seeing where the next year will take me, but I will always know that this has been one of the best years of my life.

One Crazy Week

2008-06-09T21:16:00.001+03:00

For some reason this past week has just been insane!!!! I didn’t get to sleep before midnight any night of the week and I was doing fun and exciting things every day. It was GREAT and so much fun!

It all started out that on Shabbat my fan and bug zapper got turned off with our new Shabbat Clock that cuts the electricity to part of the house on hours when we don’t need to save electricity. I was too hot and didn’t sleep at all during the night and I also didn’t get a nap because it was so damn hot! I don’t know how it happened but I didn’t go to bed until midnight on sat. night either.

Sunday I woke up early to go to the licensing office to pick up my drivers license!! Went to school and then came home and attempted to nap. I was so tired that it just didn’t really work. That evening was Student Day (and also the start of Jerusalem Day) which is a huge concert and party downtown. For 30 NIS we get entrance to the concert and then at 2 am most venues in town were holding activities ( old Israeli songs and beer, Jazz, poetry readings, dance clubs, etc) for free with a wristband and serious discounts on drinks. I went with Becca, Aaron, and our friend Arielle. It was amazing. Complete with Bungee Jumping. Unfortunately I was SO tired that I couldn’t take it. I sat down in the nargila tent and almost fell asleep during the Hadag Nachash concert. From there I went home and attempted to sleep. I had to do my usual facebook and jpost routine before bed and didn’t get to sleep till around 2- stupid I know.

Monday was Yom Yerushaliyim!! I was so exhausted from the day before that I didn’t get up till around noon. I had some breakfast and then took a 2-hour nap. I wrote an essay I needed for Hebrew class and then Arielle and I went to get something to eat. I stupidly had a HUGE ice coffee not realizing how late in the day it was and forgetting to take into account that the caffeine really affects me. We then headed to town for the huge parade and “flag dancing”. It is a huge parade through the entire city and into the old city to celebrate the reunification of Jerusalem in ’67. Thousands and Thousands of people march through the streets singing and dancing and it is one of the most beautiful and inspirational things I have ever seen. We stood on one place for an hour and watched the sea of people go by and it was still continuing by the time we headed to the old city. We went to the Kotel and danced there for about an hour. It was super amazing. Thousands of people cramped together singing and dancing and celebrating. It made me feel so idealistic and proud to be here. One very obvious thing that was quite distressing was that the only sector of the country represented was the national religious community. The Charedim are anti- anything Israel related and the non-religious don’t care that much and don’t see the reunification and the opening of the Kotel as a miracle and an important event in Jewish and Israeli history. It made me really sad. Am I part of a tiny piece of the county that is the only piece that still cares about anything anymore? That still sees this place as a miracle? That wakes up in the morning feeling lucky and wonderful to be here? The answer for the most part is sadly yes. The trends are scary: the Arabs hate us, the Charedim think we are defying g-d’s will my existing, and the non-religious could care less that we exist and if they could get visas many would go elsewhere.

Tuesday I had a dress fitting in Efrat and then I went back to school and had a field trip (and it was SO hot) and then I went back to Efrat for a Kallah Class. It was my most calm day but I still didn’t get to bed till after midnight.

Wednesday was also relaxed but that evening Becca and I went to a wedding and I was already so wiped out from the rest of the week! But the really exciting thing was that my cousins lent me their car so I could drive to the wedding which was on a kibbutz far from easy transportation. It was so cool to be driving! The wedding was beautiful and I’m so happy I got to go!!

Thursday was a usual day- David came home! We went out for dinner and to the Israeli Book Week. (A celebration of Hebrew books- all books are on extreme discount and there is a huge field set up with thousands of books being sold fair style—it’s so cool!) At the Fair we bough David a set of Gemara as a wedding present. Then we hung out with some friends and then went to sleep after midnight. I am pooped but it was a great week!!

Bureaucracy is Expensive

2008-06-09T21:09:00.000+03:00

I feel like I have been up to my neck in bureaucracy over the past few weeks and I would like to share a bit of the experience. In order to have a legal Jewish wedding in this country every couple must register with the religious authorities. The process is pretty complicated and rather expensive and if you aren’t at least somewhat religious and understanding of the necessity of a central rabbinic authority, it can be an absolute nightmare. Each member of the couple must bring witnesses attesting to their status as an unmarried single (if you have been previously married you must provide a divorce certificate or a death certificate etc). Then each must bring their parents ketubah (as proof of Jewishness), a kosher certificate from their wedding hall, a certificate that their rabbi is allowed to perform the wedding according to the religious authority’s standards, a certificate that the woman has completed a course in the laws of marital purity, and a hefty chunk of money. Fortunately we are student/soldier so we get a significant discount…but still. They definitely don’t make it easy even to REGISTER to get married here. We are also fortunate that David lives in Efrat and they have their own branch of the religious authority here AND that the Rabbi who is marrying us happens to be the head of it! We can register everything for the wedding here in Efrat, but I had to bring my single certificate from my place of residence (aka Jerusalem).

Unfortunately for me the process in Jerusalem is a bit nightmarish. I tried to go a few months ago to the Rabbinate to get my certificate and after an hour and a half of waiting and being shuttled around from desk to desk I was informed that I couldn’t get it anyway because it only lasts 3 months and it would be expired before the wedding came around and I’d have to do it again anyway!!! I was so flustered and stressed when I left there that I ended up going on a shopping spree to calm myself down! The Rabbinate building is dark and cramped and everyone is angry about something and it was just a really unpleasant atmosphere. It is also very unsettling that some unsympathetic religious guy can potentially control my future!

Last week I decided to try to register at my other option, another branch of similar something (I’m not really sure how it really works anyway). I brought my witnesses with me (Noam and Becca’s boyfriend Aaron) so that we could get it done on the spot and everything would be great. We got to the office and immediately were sent to talk to the head of the place because something in the paperwork I had didn’t look right. Turns out the letter that my Rabbi from home had written attesting to my Jewishness couldn’t be accepted because he didn’t show up in their computer system as a real Rabbi. He refused to register me until we could prove that he really was a Rabbi. Our options were to let him fax it to another office and we could have waited a week OR we could schlep to the other side of town and go to that office ourselves. Obviously we decided to take it in our own hands and not rely on him to fax it or do anything to help me. We rode to the other side of town and waited for 45 minutes in the lobby of the Chief Rabbi’s (both of them) Office for a really nice pregnant woman (the only person who smiled at me throughout this whole process) to have one of the Rabbis check up on the status of my Rabbi in the states. It was really strange that the Sefardi and Ashkenazi Rabbis had two different sides of the building and there was no connection between the two other than through the lobby… as if this place didn’t have enough problems!! Fortunately they were able to verify his status and wrote me a letter to give to the other authority so I could get my certificate. We then raced back to the other office and I was able to fill everything out. My witnesses testified and all is good. I almost had at least 3 nervous breakdowns that day but all in all I survived!

My other bureaucratic messiness was getting my drivers license!!! I had to take 1 lesson and 1 test if all went well, but first I had to do a whole bunch of stuff: get a special form from only 1 place in the whole city, get an eye test, get a doctor to sign it (almost 100 NIS), go to the licensing office to have them sign it, find a teacher, take the lesson, have him sign me up for the test, take the test, go back to the licensing office to pick up my license, and THEN go to the bank to pay for it so it would be valid. It took me about 5 months in total to get everything done. Obviously I didn’t do it all at once, but still!! After just about 1000 NIS I am now a licensed driver in Israel and SOO glad it’s all over.

All in all it wasn’t so bad to deal with the bureaucracy, but as I was talking with a girl who was on my aliyah flight we made an interesting observation: this is not an easy place to live. If you really want to be here because it’s where you believe you’re meant to be then yea the bureaucracy junk is annoying but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter that much. If you don’t want to be here more than anything, I can guarantee that within a few years you will have returned to where you came from because it’s just not worth the headache if being here isn’t worth it. For me, being here is worth every second and every penny.

Yom HaAtzmaut 2008

2008-05-21T10:13:00.003+03:00

According to the Jewish Calendar, a new day starts at sunset of the old day. Memorial Day and Independence Day are one day apart and the remembering transitions directly into celebration in a way that is befitting to a place like this where sadness and fear are almost always mixed with happiness and love of life. Efrat has a really lovely local tekes (ceremony) to mark the end of Memorial Day and the start of Independence Day. The entire town (or small city really) shows up to the largest park and plops down on blankets on a slope to watch the festivities. They have sad songs and speeches for the end of Yom HaZikaron and once Yom HaAtzmaut starts the flag is raised from half-mast and the celebrating begins. They start with a torch lighting ceremony and they have everything from a live band to the youngest jazz class in the area performing. In the end to top it all off they have one of the nicest and largest fireworks displays in the area. I bumped into some other new-immigrant friends and had a blast singing and dancing and jumping up and down with them celebrating our first Independence Day as citizens. It was really fun and really special.

Later that night I went into Jerusalem with a bunch of friends. Center of Town was packed with things to do and people doing them. We went straight to the square in front of the municipal building for Israeli Folk Dancing! The square was PACKED with thousands of people dancing in hundreds of circles dances that have been around since before the state was established. It was so much fun. It was really unbelievable. It was the perfect thing to do. Because folk dancing is “not cool” all of the gross “cool kids” (read arsim = those kids who wear really tight jeans and have spiked hair and who have listen to music on their cell phones on buses and who have no respect for themselves or anyone else) were at other parties and the dance floor was open for chill people who just wanted to come and dance and be happy. It was an awesome mixing of peoples (again the Charedim were completely absent) from religious to non, old and young. The dancing went until almost 4am!!!! It was also the most ‘kosher’ mixed dancing I have ever seen. The religious girls and religious guys danced in separate circles and the people who wanted to dance together did so and there was no issue from anyone. People were just happy and dancing and singing and it was fantastic. I didn’t know more than half of the dances but just being carried along in huge circles of dancing singing happy people made me so happy. I want to go there every year to celebrate because I feel like it epitomizes everything I love about Israeli society and what it is that we are doing here- making a home for all Jews and truly appreciating what we have as well as being connected to our past. It was awesome!

David pulled the unfortunate duty of being on call during the holiday weekend. In order to fulfill the local commandment of “Thou Shall Barbeque on Independence Day” and get to be with David as well we piled into cars and drove to his base. We figured that either the nature reserve next door or the beach down the road would be perfect places for our “Al Ha Aish” (On the fire) but when we arrived we noticed that everyone else (literally) was following the same commandment!! There was absolutely no room anywhere. At first I freaked out because I really wanted this BBQ, but then we remembered that right next to the gate of David’s base is an area of picnic tables for when families come to visit their soldiers. We drove in there and had a lovely picnic and even got to take David home with us!!

Another fun aspect of the day was sitting and talking with David’s grandfather. His grandfather made Aliyah just over a month ago. He is 85 and it is not his first time living here. Before the state was founded he was here as a journalist and served in the Hagana. Listening to him retell his stories on Independence Day, which he personally helped come about, was really amazing. All in all it was an amazing holiday week and I hope that it will continue to be as meaningful and exciting in the coming years.

Yom HaZikaron 2008

2008-05-11T14:21:00.000+03:00

This year was my first year for the Memorial Day/Independence Day circuit as a citizen. I have been here before on these, two of the most awesome (in both meanings of the word) days of the year to be an Israeli. In Israel, Memorial Day and Independence Day are the complete opposite of what they are in America. There is no such thing as celebrating with shopping or football games. This two day period is for family time, reflecting, remembering, mourning, and then celebrating like there will be no tomorrow! Everything shuts down and everyone celebrates (Memorial Day is a half workday unless you request to get off).

This year I wanted to take advantage of everything and really experience it all. Memorial Day is marked here with a siren that sounds throughout the ENTIRE country. When the siren sounds everything stops and everyone stands at attention. Traffic stops and people get out of their cars to stand together with the rest of the nation for a minute of true silence and reflection. This year I had been at an engagement party in the early evening but wanted to be in a public place to be able to properly observe the moment of silence and to be outside with the rest of everyone while it happened. I went down to Emek Refaim (the main street by my house) and sat on a bench for 10 minutes watching the people go by until the siren went off. The sound is piercing and in the complete silence all around you it’s as if you can feel the sound of the siren reverberating through your body. It is haunting. It feels like something is entering your soul—standing there with everyone else doing nothing but thinking about the fact that it is Memorial Day is an incredible thing. That feeling is one of the reasons I want to live here. That feeling means that I am part of something greater than I am, that is worth dying for. And those who have made the ultimate sacrifice so that I may live safely and free in my homeland are worth remembering.

Later that evening I went with my friend Noam, who is currently serving in a combat unit, to the neighborhood ceremony. Every area has their own little ceremony to commemorate those who fell from their communities. It was small and personal and really nice. I haven’t lived here long enough to recognize most of the names of those who had fallen in battle or who had been killed in terror attacks, but Noam who has lived here his whole life knew of many of them. It was a somber evening and very much befitting the occasion.

The next morning I went with my friend Arielle and David’s brother Ari to the National War Cemetery at Har Hertzl. On Memorial Day morning there is a major ceremony presided over by the Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, but more importantly it is a time to go visit graves of soldier who you knew or didn’t know or maybe those who’s stories you heard once or those who have no one left to visit them at all. This was the first time that I had a specific grave that I wanted to visit. Over a year ago, a soldier was killed in some sort of parachuting accident during advanced training. The details have never been released… He used to come spend almost every summer in Houston visiting his grandmother and uncle so we were very friendly. He also grew up with David in Efrat. I was in Austin for the funeral and when they had a memorial service for him I was in the country but sick and couldn’t go. It was important for me to be able to at least visit his grave once. The other thing about going to Har Hertzl on Yom HaZikaron is that it’s packed. More packed than the most popular concert. It is packed with people from all walks of society. Another aspect of Israel that I love so much is that everyone fights together and unfortunately everyone dies together, but at the end of the day all differences are put aside and religious and non-religious people hug each other and cry and share memories because we are all one people. (I purposely didn’t say anything about the Charedim…don’t get me started)

We found the grave but it was already surrounded by his former unit and other friends and family members who came to pay their respects. Because we were relatively late, we couldn’t get too close and instead ended up next to a grave farther along the row. The grave happened to be of a soldier, named Roi Klein, who had been a student (a few years older and already married with children) at David’s Yeshiva. His story is that during the Second Lebanon War he was up in Lebanon as an officer with his troops when a grenade was thrown to where they were all clustered. Rather than run and take the chance that only most of his unit would be either killed or seriously injured, he jumped on the grenade. His last words were the Shema as he absorbed the blast and saved the lives of every single one of his soldiers. His sacrifice is of the highest level and I felt honored to be able to pay my respects to such a wonderful man on such an important day.

Another siren sounds on the morning of Memorial Day to mark the beginning of the official ceremony. The siren had the same affect of me in the morning except I was a bit too squished to feel too much emotion. The ceremony was broadcast over speakers throughout the cemetery and was pretty routine. At the end though, with the singing of the national anthem, the Hatikvah (the hope), I began to lose it. Standing there in the packed cemetery amidst all of the families of fallen soldier, current soldiers, and regular citizens coming to pay respects with everyone singing at the top of their lungs about the hope to “be a free nation in our land, the land of Zion and Jerusalem” and knowing that it is coming true. Because of the graves we were standing next to we have a country to sing about and to be proud of and to live in. It was truly an amazing thing. I could hardly get the words out I was crying so hard because I was sad because I was happy to be here because I am scared that with the way things are going things might not continue to be so great. I was crying because I had the opportunity to stand among my brethren and say to the world that we are here and we are alive and we are strong and we aren’t going anywhere. It’s days like that that tell me that I made the right decision and that this is where I belong.

The next punch came when the crowd around me started to spontaneously sing “Ani Maamin” which basically states our believe that one day the messiah will come and that no matter how bad things get we will not lose hope and faith. This is when I REALLY started to lose it. Seeing the parents of so many soldiers sing this song with strong voices made me feel week. I wish I could posses the strength that these people have in their pinkie finger. They have lost children and siblings and parents and friends and still nothing can shake their hope and their faith and their strength. I feel a sense of unbelievable empowerment just being in the same space as these wonderful people.

I don’t know what was happening in the other areas of the cemetery (which is HUGE) but I was in the most recently filled area with victims of the last war and other tragedies since. There has been a movement within the National Religious sector to emphasize the importance of army service and not just as the bare minimum but as a serious “donation” to the country and to society. The yeshiva where David studied encourages its students to sign on optional time in the army and to join combat units as well as “less prestigious” units to try to raise the overall level in the entire army by being good people and a good example. This 20-something year old movement has really born fruit. There are religious officers and soldiers all over the army and not-so-slowly climbing the ranks (in officers school about 1/3 of the cadets are religious even though they represent less than 10% of the population). This was clearly evident by the overwhelming number of religious Jews standing by the graves of their loved ones. The area of the cemetery was filled with a majority of national religious fallen soldiers and it was truly heartwarming to see what an influence and a difference this movement is having on the army and the rest of the country.

Little Observations, Pesach, and My Birthday 5/5/08

2008-05-05T22:17:00.002+03:00

So I always promise myself that whenever I think of something to update I will actually do it—turns out I’m a much better procrastinator than I had imagined. (Obviously I am writing right now so that I will have a legitimate excuse not to do my homework)

It has been a big last month! I turned 21 and had one of the most amazing birthdays ever. David took 2 days vacation off of the army and we went up north to the Golan. I had never really spent any time up there and it was wonderful for me to get to familiarize myself with a new part of my country. I was also just so happy to get to spend so much consecutive uninterrupted time with David (when it wasn’t Shabbat). Tons of things didn’t go as planned (the visibility was terrible so all of the views of the kinneret were blurry, we didn’t end up camping on the beach, we didn’t cook out rather we “cooked out” in his cousins backyard, we didn’t sleep well so we didn’t hike well and didn’t make it to the pools we wanted to get to) but it was all great to me because all I wanted was the time away together. It was absolutely perfect.

From then I was on vacation for Pesach for just over 2 weeks! It was wonderful. I did a lot of relaxing and a lot of cleaning and I spent the Chag with David’s family which was really nice. It was my first Pesach away from my parents but fortunately the people who led Seder did it similarly enough to the way we have always done it that I felt at home. Plus I was with David which always makes me happy. It was also wonderful to know that I was doing the Seder and that I wouldn’t have to do it again the next night. Being Israeli is awesome!

During Chol Hamoed I was VERY busy! David and I went to visit the Herodion (sight of one of Herod’s fortresses/palaces) which I’ve been wanting to get to for a long time!

The next day I went to visit my cousins in Neve Ilan and that evening David’s family was having a reunion so I went to that which was really pleasant and a lot of fun! The next day was when the real fun started! My friend Shevy had gotten tickets to one of the concerts at the Ahava festival at the dead sea (Ehud Banai and Maschina) hoping that she could find someone to go with her! It was awesome. We decided to save money and hitchhike the whole way. The concert didn’t start until 10pm but we left Jerusalem around 6ish. We got great rides from really nice people all along the way. The concert was FANTASTIC and I had so much fun but it was during a heat wave and even at 2am when the concert was ending it was at least 90 degrees!!! We made it back to my place by 3:30 but for some reason I didn’t sleep so well ☹

The next day I went up to David’s base (which is much more of a schlep than I could have ever imagined) to visit him and play at the beach right next door. It took me so long to get there that we only had about an hour there before we had to run to go to some engagement parties. We went to tel aviv for one of his best friends’ from yeshiva’s engagement and then we rushed down to beer sheva to my cousin eliana’s engagement party (well the tail end at least). It was a very family oriented week and a great opportunity for both David and I to meet each other’s extended families!

The next day David went up to Yeshiva for a visit and Elana came over to play with me! She is here for the semester studying in Haifa and it was the first time we got to see each other!! She looks fabulous and is having a great time.

Chag was nice and then Sunday was back to school (bummer).

Ok jumping forward. Remember those orange trees that were on the street that I talked about so proudly a few months ago? Well in order to accommodate the new light rail system it looks like they are all going to be taken down. It makes me really sad and sort of goes along with how my optimism for the future of this country under its current leadership is significantly dropping. I still wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but it is incredibly frustrating.

Last week my friend Yoni turned 20. He is a Lone Soldier (aka he is serving in the army but has no immediate family here) I’ve kind of adopted him. He does his laundry by us and we are very strong emotional supports for each other (and David is a great army resource!) To celebrate his birthday he wanted to have a Seudah Shlishit (afternoon Shabbat meal) at his apartment. Because his place is too small we had to eat outside (his street is closed to motor traffic and is really pleasant) we were a nice sized group of 20ish people sitting outside and singing and enjoying Shabbat and it was really a beautiful experience. Here we were in the heart of downtown Jerusalem sitting in the street singing as Shabbat was ending. Even if yoni and his friends weren’t all musical it would have been a special experience. David was even convinced that some tourists were going to stop and take pictures. Once Shabbat ended the guys decided to daven Maariv together. Since there was clearly no room inside they just started the service right where they were in the middle of the street. It was a beautiful thing to see 15 guys praying together in the middle of the street in the middle of the city. These kinds of things give me the chills and make me so happy that I live here. It was just so natural (but there was a tourist who took pictures) and felt so right that it’s the kind of thing that can only happen in Israel and especially in Jerusalem.

Now I’m just attempting to stay motivated in school… I’m so close to the end and my grades don’t count for next year!! This week is Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day) and Yom Haatzmaut (Independence day) and I am really excited. I’m hoping to make it to Har Hertzel to the National War Cemetery on Memorial Day and then I think im going to visit David on the beach by his base and have a bbq!!

BIG Changes

2008-04-03T16:10:00.000+03:00

I made Aliyah under the (incredibly wrong) impression that once I made this major life change everything else would seem like a piece of cake. Surprisingly and thankfully I have found the first almost full year (wow) to be smooth and calm and I really feel that I slipped into my life here with no adjustment problems. I moved into an area that I know very well and surrounded by friends whom I’ve known for a long time. During this year of Ulpan, my Hebrew has improved by leaps and bounds and I no longer feel bound by any form of language barrier. I have learned how to navigate the bureaucratic system with few traumatic stories, and above all else I really truly feel at home here.

The question next becomes “Which here do I identify as my home?” Jerusalem in particular or greater Israel in general? Unfortunately for me I have not explored as much of greater Israel as I would have liked by this point. That’s why I am freaking out about the major changes that are about to take place in my life. David and I are planning to move to Givat Shmuel (a city near Tel Aviv) so that I can study at Bar Ilan University and he can be close to his base and come home every day. Literally everything will change aside from the fact that I will still be in the same country.

I am getting married, I am moving to a new city, and I am starting at yet another new university. That is a lot to take in all at once and I am just blown away by how stressed I am about the changes. I really truly believed that I couldn’t possibly ever worry about changes in my life again. I guess I am starting to realize that monumental change in monumental change no matter how much change has come before it and as people we tend to cling to what we know and shy away from the trauma of getting to know something new.

Fortunately, along with my trepidation I am super excited. I CAN NOT WAIT to be married to David. The long engagement thing is really convenient in that we have plenty of time to plan and are giving our friends and family time to make travel arrangements. The long engagement also gives us time to adjust to the idea of being married for real, but at the end of the day 10 months feels like way too long. We are both so ready to start our lives together: we want to start building our own routine independent of anyone else, we want to set up our house, and most importantly we just want to be able to be together for real, for good. It will be great also to live in Givat Shmuel. Because of its proximity to the campus it is a haven for young people and as Bar Ilan is a relatively religious place there are a TON of young married couples who will be in the same situation as we are for us to socialize with. The base is also only 20 minutes away as opposed to an hour and a half from Jerusalem which will make our first few years together more pleasant because he won’t be commuting so much. I also can’t wait to start school. I have been waiting for years to finally decide what it is that I will study and just the knowledge that I have made the decision and been accepted to the program I want is a fantastic feeling! I will be getting a degree in Israel Studies and Archaeology as well as the government’s tour guide certification. I am so excited. I find the subject fascinating (obviously) and am so so so excited to learn. All of these changes are wonderful and thank G-d they are all happening and things are finally coming together for me, even if I have done things a bit out of order!!

p.s. I am also turning 21 in 11 days!! Crazy right?

Hiatus/Happy Purim! 20/3/08

2008-03-20T10:28:00.000+02:00

Sorry for the hiatus…. there have been a ton of goings on here (mostly negative) and sometimes I get so frustrated and upset and depressed that I don’t have the energy to express my thoughts clearly on paper. I still have a hard time expressing how I feel, but there are some who do a much better job than I do. If you have never read anything by Daniel Gordis then you should. On his website, Danielgordis.org, are posted his “dispatches” where he writes beautifully about Israel etc. His latest post is incredibly powerful and really speaks to how I feel the situation is here. Check it out. His latest book is also one of the major things that gave me the continued strength to make aliyah and know that I was making the right decision.

On other notes things are going well. Wedding planning is kicking into a different gear. The invitations are almost finished (the design not the printing) and David and I have started to actively look for a place to live! AH scary! Ha-ha. I am planning to go to Bar Ilan next year to study “Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology” and I am SOOOOOOOOOOO excited! Bar Ilan is significantly closer to David’s base and since he will be commuting every day it will mean a huge increase in our quality of life. I am working on getting around to going to register with the Rabbinate to get married. It sounds like such an unpleasant process that I’m really not looking forward to it! Also. I’m sick (again) this week and know that I don’t have the energy to deal with them right now!!!! It is such a shame that the Rabbinate is part of almost every major religious lifecycle event and yet it is often upsetting and difficult to work with them. Why should all of our happy occasions be marred by a trip to see the mean Rabbis who control everything?

For Purim this year I am taking the easy way out: I’m dressing up as a soldier from David’s unit. Not only do I get to wear a uniform (which makes costume choosing so easy) but I get to wear his flight suit which is like a big people version of foot-less footie-pajamas and I can’t wait. Purim will be a bit calm this year because im still in bed and getting over a violent cold ☹.

Hope everyone has a fun and meaningful Purim and is having an easy fast!

I never posted snow pictures....

2008-02-27T10:07:00.003+02:00

Wedding Week 27/2/08

2008-02-27T10:03:00.001+02:00

Two weeks ago my mom was here for a WHOPPING 6 days to help with wedding planning stuff. It was amazing and crazy and overwhelming and exhausting but somehow we actually accomplished everything we had set out to do. Aside from the fact that I can focus on school knowing that a significant portion of the big decisions have been made, the experience of spending the entire week with my mom and future mother in law was wonderful. I am so lucky that they like each other and get along!!! It was adorable to watch the two of them walk into every meeting with their various folders and just take care of everything right away. I was blown away and I loved it. It was also really nice getting to spend some extra time with my mom! I love being here but I miss my family every day and its nice to get to see at least one of my family members. Ok that’s about it, I mostly wanted to gush about the amazing week with my mommy ☺ hope everyone is having a good one!

Im Yesh Gan Eden 31/1/08

2008-01-31T19:51:00.001+02:00

I finished reading the book Im Yesh Gan Eden (Beaufort in English) and I can’t stop thinking about it. The book (now made into a movie, that I haven’t seen yet, that has been nominated for an Oscar) is about the First Lebanon War and Israel’s disengagement from their “security zone” whose purpose was to protect the cities and towns in the North from attack by Hezbollah. The book follows the military service of the last unit to pull out of one of the main fortresses in the Israeli defensive line. It is the first full book I have read in Hebrew and it was amazing. I read it in less than 2 weeks and couldn’t put it down or stop thinking about it. Aside from being written very well and in a captivating and absorbing style, the story that follows the lives and deaths of a dozen or so soldiers raises serious questions that I think will haunt me for a long time.

The first part of the book describes their first round of service in the Beaufort fortress in Southern Lebanon. It is a tough life but the soldiers persevere and work hard to succeed because they know that the security of the Northern half of the county rests with them. By the time they start their second “tour” at the fortress, the government has already decided to withdraw all troops from Lebanon. The soldiers return to even harsher conditions but without the conviction that what they are doing has any purpose. They are continually discouraged as their comrades die and they no longer are able to convince themselves that they are fighting for a cause. Why die here now when in 4 months we are going to retreat? The book also describes the general public’s reaction to the whole affair. They lose patience and put pressure on the soldiers and make their missions even more difficult. They are dieing and the people they are trying to protect aren’t even proud of them.

The most chilling part of the book is the end. The narrator in a bout of nostalgia wishes he could return to the area of the fort but rather than a military outpost he will find an internationally acclaimed resort. He knows this will never be the case and says that the next time he will return it will be in another war. Hezbollah will kidnap soldiers and start firing rockets on the North. The Air Force will think they can win the war alone but in the end it is the ground troops who will reenter Lebanon and fight house to house to protect the country. The book was published a year before the Second Lebanon War broke out and that is exactly what happened.

I can’t stop thinking about now how awful it all is. I can’t stop thinking about the number of soldiers who lost their lives well after the government gave up on the mission and decided to withdraw. I can’t stop thinking about how we keep handing land over to the enemy on a silver platter without any consideration to our strategic defense. I can’t help thinking that I live in a place with an irresponsible government who care more about the politics than about the results of their decisions. I can’t stop thinking about people who are of the delusional opinion that there really is a peace process and that there is a rational partner to peace. Why don’t people see that we have an enemy and the only way to protect ourselves is to fight fire with fire? Why does my home have such a terrible identity crisis that its citizens can’t band together to fight for a common goal and understand the importance of this land as a Jewish land?

I feel heavy and upset and deflated. I am here because I am idealistic. I believe that the Jews need to be together in the Jewish homeland. I believe that there is no other place for me in the world. But at the same time, I sometimes feel that the problems here run so deep that we will never be able to fix them. Sometimes I just want to cry for all of the people who have died seemingly for nothing. It makes me want to scream that slick and evil politicians like Olmert are still in office and refuse to take responsibility for their actions administering a war that couldn’t be won under the conditions the army was given. As much as I love being here sometimes it hurts me physically. Where will we be in 20 years? Will there even still be an Israel? I pray that there will be and that one day we will have leaders who will be willing and able to make the tough decisions that will truly solidify our nationhood. Until then I don’t know. I simply don’t know and it makes me want to cry.

SNOW!!!

2008-01-30T07:22:00.001+02:00

ITS SNOWING!!! real honest to goodness, big flake, swirling, magical, beautiful snow!!! It's amazing to see. I'll post some pictures eventually...now I'm going back to bed....no final today!

SNOW?!? 12/28/07

2008-01-28T18:04:00.000+02:00

Snow is all people are talking about. The Weather Report says that it is supposed to snow in some form and combination of heaviness from Tuesday night until Thursday morning. The question on everyone’s mind is: Is it really going to snow? Every year the forecasters predict snow in the hopes that the entire city will shut down and everyone will get a day (or few) to just play and relax and drink hot chocolate (mmmmm shoko). Houston is clearly a place that doesn’t get much snow so under any normal circumstances I should be SUPER excited at the prospect of a few snow days. But I’m not. I’m supposed to have a final on Wednesday and if it is cancelled due to snow I’ll have to take in on Friday. That is a really upsetting thought! The other downside is that David would be stuck in the army. What fun is a snow day if you can’t curl up next to the heater with the one you love?

Just wait though, once the snow falls I’ll be outside making snowballs like any good kid should. And once it does I know I’ll be glad it did. Snow in Jerusalem is supposedly one of the more beautiful things to behold and it would be a nice thing to add to my “first year in Israel” experiences list! Happy snow days everyone. Hope you are all bundled up and warm wherever you may be, snow or not.

The Strike is over (and selfishly I wish it wasn’t) 1/22/08

2008-01-22T19:11:00.000+02:00

The Senior Lecturer’s Strike, which lasted for 90 days finally ended this Sunday and classes in the University have gone back to normal (almost). The repercussions on the students are insane (ex: I order to fill in all of the material for an entire year in essentially 1 semester, studies are going to run straight through all vacations, excluding religious holidays. The next expected vacation is exactly a year from now. Sick. ) It’s a whole big balagan (i.e. mess) and as angry and annoyed as everyone is they are just happy to finally be learning.

On the selfish side, I along with my fellow Overseas School students have had the entire campus almost completely to ourselves. It doesn’t really make a difference once we get to our classes in our own building, but it makes a HUGE difference in the commute to school as well as waiting for services once we get to school. The bus rides this week have been absolutely unbelievable. I was on my way back to school on Sunday and the bus was much fuller than usual. As we got closer and closer to campus the bus became PACKED beyond packed. (luckily I get on far enough away from campus to get a seat) I would have sworn over my first 3 children that the driver wouldn’t possibly stop at any more stops (Its common practice for drivers to bypass stops when they are just too full to take on more passengers) but he did. And he continued to. It was slightly amusing and a bit worrying to watch students force themselves through the back door into the already tippy-toes room only bus. It took the driver a few tries each stop to close the doors because somebody’s limbs or bags were stuck outside!! I was afraid the bus would weigh too much and the bus would break down and then NONE of us would get to school….but then again I’m a worrier by nature.

The second problem that this creates is once we reach school. At Hebrew U, everyone wishing to enter the campus has to pass through security: first an ID check and then a bag check/metal detector. While there is a strike the whole process takes no more than 2 minutes. When the entire university shows up for class at the exact same times it can take 10 minutes! It’s freezing outside in the bus tunnel and the security personnel who are terse on a good day are downright pissed that they have to actually work so hard. It’s not the end of the world but it’s a pretty shitty was to start your day: being yelled at by disgruntled kids my age who hate their jobs.

The next big shock came when I reached the campus. It was full. I mean really full. People were sitting on the grass and someone was smoking every 3 steps and there were just a lot of people. I’d been used to the University being a depressing ghost town. I couldn’t wait for the strike to be over and the place to come alive again…now I just feel like an outsider like a quasi-student since my Hebrew isn’t perfect and I’m not really in university anyway.

On a more positive note and to help explain my prolonged (again) absence I recently finished writing an 8 PAGE PAPER IN HEBREW. Yes, you read correctly. 8 pages. In Hebrew. To top off the whole experience and to make all of the late nights and nervous breakdowns worth it I got a 100. Clearly they weren’t dissecting our use of grammar and word choice rather our ability to do a research paper…but still. It was in Hebrew. I succeeded. As far an I’m concerned this year is a success. Even if I fail every other class (which would be really hard considering my high school classes were much harder than this) I wouldn’t care because I have proven to myself that not only can I survive in Hebrew but I can succeed as well.

Also, completely unrelated, my cousin Alan was here on birthright the last few weeks so not only did I get to see him but he also got to meet David! It was really exciting for my since very few of my family members have had the opportunity to meet him yet. It’s also very exciting for me that my family is coming to spend time here….hopefully they’ll all come to visit more often ☺!!!

Next up is finals which start this Friday. I have a week and a half and only 4 finals spread out which will be really nice and relaxing ☺. Mom comes on February 8 to help with a blitzkrieg 6-day wedding planning extravaganza. I can’t wait to see her and it will be nice to get started on a lot of the things that I still need to work out before the wedding! Other than that I am on a 3-week vacation where I plan to attempt to get an Israeli drivers license and maybe do some hiking! Hope all is well with all of you. Happy Tu B’Shvat!

Rainbows, Rain, and Oranges 12/19/07

2007-12-19T17:55:00.000+02:00

This morning I woke up and as usual looked outside my window for the usual “Omigod I Live in Jerusalem” routine. It looked pretty yucky and cold outside so I continued on my routine as usual. To my surprise and wonder there was a RAINBOW outside my window! Today is fast day and I felt really uplifted that even though it’s the day we commemorate the beginning of the siege on Jerusalem the universal sign of G-d’s mercy and forgiveness was shining in the sky. I even took a picture ☺
Then on my way out the door I had to run back upstairs to grab an umbrella because it was seriously raining!!! We have been in desperate need for rain this year (what’s new???) and considering its December already and we’ve had only 2 real rains…it’s amazing that we got some this morning. After the big flood in 2001 I have been relatively traumatized by rain so its pretty nice to enjoy it for once.
THEN on the way to school I was sitting on the bus (which was nice and warm while it was cold and rainy outside) I noticed for the first time that in one of the concrete and planter barrier things in the middle of one of the main roads on the way to campus (like on braeswood) there were Orange Trees! Since now is orange season the trees were covered in tiny orange balls and it was really something beautiful. Only in Israel do they plant fruit trees as decoration in the middle of a busy thoroughfare!
While I was thinking about all of this on the bus a thought popped into my head: Wow you are naïve. I live in one of the (if not the ) most contested cities in the world, people are being killed in my country every day, and if no one dies then there is SOMETHING controversial in the news… and im sitting on the bus getting excited about rainbows and orange trees. And then I started to think that those are exactly the types of thoughts I should be having. If I can’t remove my mind from all of the negative things that go on here and focus on the beautiful and wonderfulness of everyday things then I have wasted my time moving here. I didn’t move here to sit around and be depressed and scared. I moved here to be with the Jews in the Jewish homeland and to help build the future of the Jewish people. That is a beautiful thing worth taking a minute to smile about.

A Zionist Dreidel 12/4/06

2007-12-04T22:48:00.001+02:00

Happy Chanukkah! So my first night of Chanukkah as an Israeli citizen started out pretty depressingly. On my way home from school I only saw 5 menorahs displayed in windows and since my roommate is sick there wasn’t much cheer in my apartment. Even though I think I’m also starting to come down with beginning of winter crud I knew I couldn’t have an unpleasant first Chanukkah. Fortunately my friend Talia is also under the weather and is home from the army. I went to her house to get some real Chanukkah feeling. Man am I glad I did! Aside from having a great evening with a wonderful friend I left with my first Zionist Dreidel. One that has a peh instead of a shin. I haven’t stopped playing with it since I saw it and Talia’s mom let me keep it as a present ☺. Thank goodness for those who know how to save Chanukkah from lonely despair by emphasizing the little yet important things!

Greece with the Fam 11/18-23/07

2007-12-03T21:48:00.001+02:00

mom had a convention, seth turned 17, and daddy and i did a ton of sightseeing! it was a fantastic week to spend with the family...a special bonus time to be together just the 4 of us before the wedding!!!

When School Strikes Go Crazy 12/3/07

2007-12-03T20:55:00.000+02:00

The entire Israeli education system from grades 8 and up has been on strike for at least 40 days. The high school teachers and the university professors are striking for different reasons that are completely unrelated but who cares: no one is learning and everyone is unhappy. Fortunately or not, depending on your point of view, my program has gone on unhindered by any strike attempt and we have had class every day of the semester. The university students are really really fed up with the strike. They don’t agree with how the professors are administering their strike and as long as there continues to be a crisis with the high school teachers nothing will be done about the universities. The students are essentially paying for a semester in which they are only partially learning (most students have about 25% of their classes and most in the sciences are being taught by their TAs and are responsible for the information exactly as if they were truly being taught by their professors) or not learning at all. This is quite painful especially after shutting down the system for 6 weeks last year over the cost of universities.

Today the student union, the representative voice of the students, at Hebrew University decided to COUTNERSTRIKE in protest of the professor’s strike. One of their main complaints is that the professors aren’t doing enough to garner public interest in their plight or to force the government into negotiations to bring the strike to a close. They are simply staying home, doing their research, and waiting for the government to come to them. The situation is finally reaching a crisis point where closing the semester officially is increasingly becoming the only option. This is a disaster for everyone especially for students who have made plans and worked out their lives to fit their academic schedules. So today the student union locked down the campus. Literally locked down with chains and everything. I obviously had class today because my program is part of an external school that just happens to be housed on the campus. My school along with the Betzalel art school was in session. There was one gate all the way in the back of campus open. I got a ride with a friend’s father and it was really interesting driving up to campus. There were massive signs everywhere that the campus was closed and please find other alternatives for the day. Huge signs begging for the return of studies and fair education for all covered the outer walls of the campus. It made me fell really guilty to be entering the school instead of standing with the student body (which I will hopefully be a part of next year.)

Once I got into my building it felt as if nothing different was happening, but all the same, I wish things weren’t so volatile here. I don’t understand the concept of striking to get your way. In America the electric company doesn’t just decide to stop working in order to get better wages or working conditions. Things don’t instantaneously shut down because a certain piece of the population is unhappy. It’s hard to make plans for the future when a degree might take 4 years instead of 3 because of factors completely out of my control. If only we had a competent government who could help solve the problems rather than ignoring them. The entire future of this country, which is heavily dependant on its brain trust, is at risk. Nothing is being done and it is infuriating. I wonder if next week there will be a counterstrike to the counterstrike. It would be quite entertaining. Thankfully for now I still live within the insulated overseas student’s bubble. For now.

Oh Me Oh My I am a Lazy Bum: My trip home 11/6/07

2007-11-06T11:19:00.000+02:00

I can’t believe I ACTUALLY let the entire month of October pass by without writing a single word. Ok enough being annoyed at myself let start with the update:

My trip home with David was AMAZING!!! When we got home from the airport I couldn’t get over the fact that he was actually standing in my house. He was in my living room and in my kitchen and playing with Ginger!! It took about an hour at least for me to internalize that after almost 2 years of waiting for him to come to Houston it was actually happening! Succot started that night so we didn’t have too much down time before showering and heading off to shul. I’m not sure I even took a nap! It was a whole additional round of disbelieving and being happy seeing David in my shul. Obviously the men had a wonderful time picking him apart…I wonder how much opportunity David had to daven the entire Chag—my dad’s friends could win schmoozing championships, if such a ridiculous thing were to be held. The first days of Chag were really nice. We got to spend a lot of quality time with my family and we had plenty of meals with people in the community! Nathan came home to meet David so I actually got to see him for the first time since I got on the plane to make aliyah. Elana also came in that weekend and with Yael home already it was really nice to hang out with David with my friends from forever ago. Hopefully it was nice for them to get an opportunity to meet him finally!
Then after Chag we officially got engaged!!! We had already picked out the date and it was just a matter of telling people. We went out for coffee with the gang and broke the news. Then we came home and spent over an hour making phone calls. It was pretty awesome. It’s funny because I didn’t then and still don’t feel any different. I am super incredibly happy but I don’t feel any different. I am still just as happy when I am with David and I still relate to everyone in my life the same (I just spend more time watching my finger sparkle). I had for some reason thought that being engaged would feel different. Fortunately it doesn’t because I don’t think I could handle 10 months of something other than my life!

Once word got out we got super super busy. We went to pick out stuff for our registry. I think I went into Crate and Barrel a total of 5 times while I was home. On the plus side, David had an opinion about almost everything. It was really nice walking around stores hearing his opinion and coming to compromise on the things we wanted to buy. I think I would have gone crazy if I had to pick out dishes by myself! It’s also really cute to know that he cares and really reassuring to know that we can survive the registry process completely unscathed.

The night before David left we had a L’Chaim, engagement party thingy at the house. It was really really nice. NuNu had flown in the week before to meet David and Grandma and Zaidy flew in and surprised us with a visit for the party! It was so wonderful to have all of my grandparents in the same place and with David and for such a happy occasion. I am very fortunate to have them!! I am also very fortunate to have Uncle Paul and Aunt Lauren! They always think of the coolest ways to give presents. Basically they went out and bought David a complete selection of hiking boots for him to try on in the house and choose one to take home! There wasn’t enough not-Chag time for David to get to a store so they brought the store to him. Seeing the look on David’s face was priceless. I don’t think he is over the shock yet! As he put it, in Israel, once you narrow down the selection to your price range, style/ type needed, and then size you are left with 1 maybe 2 options!!! David left early the next morning to get back to the army. ☹.

I spent the next 10 days hanging out with NuNu and shopping. I did so much shopping. It was great. I probably went to Target 8 or 9 times. I needed to get my fill for the next year or so!! I also went up to Tulsa to visit Grandma and Zaidy. I had already planned to visit them before they came to surprise me so this was an extra bonus. We had a lovely dinner with some of their closest friends and I got some alone time to spend with them and with mommy who was there anyway for a business trip. We spent the entire plane ride on wedding planning stuff. There is so much to think about!!

I think that’s about it on the highlights of my trip. It was wonderful. I got to spend time with the family and community and I’m engaged!

Back to America So Soon 26/9/07

2007-09-27T01:43:00.000+02:00

I am sitting in the Newark airport waiting for my flight to Houston. David is davening shacharit in the corner, and im playing on my computer and working on a kippa for Zaidy. We’re on our way to Houston for Succot- David was able to get permission to leave the country during his break for the holidays. This is his first trip to see my family in Houston at our home. It’s his first time going to my shul and meeting my friends and close families. It is going to be a really hectic and exciting chag—I have been waiting for this trip since we started dating. I have spent enough time at his house and with his family that I really feel at home there—I know where all the dishes are, I do my own laundry (mostly), I even know where the clean sheets are to make the bed for myself when I come over…. But David has never even SEEN my house. It is something that has always nagged at me our entire relationship and now at long last that missing link will be filled in.

Besides for my excitement about coming home with David, this trip is bringing out lots of feelings I had never really thought about. First and probably the most stark, was how happy I have been this entire journey so far. I can’t remember the last time I left Israel that I wasn’t depressed and literally sobbing as the plane took off. This time I couldn’t stop smiling because I know that not only am I coming back very soon but that I am going to do something really happy that I’ve been looking forward to for years. Another thing that was a huge difference was when the lady sitting next to us asked where we were from I could also answer that I’m from Israel. Yes my roots are in Houston, but Israel is my home now and it felt great to be able to say it like that. Something else cute, I haven’t been a citizen long enough to get an Israeli passport, and not even the special travel certificate that I need until I have been a citizen long enough…I had a one time use only exit letter that allowed me to use my American passport even though its illegal to leave on a foreign passport- because of some details with the dates it expires before I get home and I was worried that I would have a problem reentering the country. The customs official’s response made me feel so great “ Of course you will be able to get it, this is your home now and you will always be able to come home.” I could have kissed her.
Some of the other interesting feelings come from being back so soon. I have been away for less than 3 months. I have been away for much more significant lengths of time before so I am not really homesick. On the other hand, it was so hard to leave the first time that I am a bit worried that it will be hard to leave again. I love my family and it is hard for me to be away from them regardless of how strongly I feel about living in Israel. I don’t think it will be a problem, but it made me think a lot about how hard it will be to leave them again.
It’s time to board. Hopefully I will be unlazy enough to update more often about my trip home. Chag Sameach and Shana Tova to everyone.

Enough is Enough: Procrastination OVER

2007-09-19T19:37:00.000+02:00

I am lazy and terrible and I’m sorry. I have been able to come up with 800,001 excuses not to write anything, but now that I am sitting alone in my apartment for the 4th evening in a row I have run out. It’s not as pathetic as it sounds…Becca is in America to be with her family for the Chagim and Shira works the night shift and is never home at night. I do have friends I could call to hang out with but I am just tired. I have laundry going and I will probably clean the floors tonight. Exciting life huh? Actually things are very exciting…

In one week from today I will be home with family. David and I are going to be in Houston over Succot. He was able to get time off from the army ☺! It is his first trip to Houston and I can’t wait. On Monday my Grandma and Zaidy got in. I have seen them every day so far and it is really wonderful to get to spend time with them. They came into Jerusalem today to see my apartment and we went out to dinner with David’s parents.

I am also almost finished with Ulpan. I took my last real test today. I’m not really sure why I have class tomorrow but whatever. I have my two final tests on Sunday and Monday and then I’m finished!! I have really loved Ulpan but I am SO ready for it to be over!!

A few weeks ago I went down to Beer Sheva for my cousin’s Bar Mitzvah. I think they are my second cousins… but whatever the connection I had a wonderful time. It was really nice to get to reconnect with a whole separate branch of my family that also lives in Israel. I have two families of cousins down there. There is one girl just a year under me, one a year older than Seth, two Bar Mitzvah age (boy and girl…they’re first cousins) and then two younger ones. I just had a really nice time schmoozing and catching up. Hopefully I will get to see them all a lot more often!!

About a month ago Becca fell and twisted her ankle. She walked around on it for a few weeks but it didn’t get better. Eventually it got worse so she was on crutches. I helped take care of her for the few weeks before she went home and I have to say that I think it was a really great taste of what being a mommy is going to be like. (She’s ok now don’t worry) It was very interesting to have to put myself and my needs aside for a little while to make sure that she had everything she needed. I also had to be sensitive yet stern to make sure that she was taking care of herself. I had to get her ice packs and help her pack to come home. It really wasn’t such a big deal, I was very very happy to help and even happier to know that we have each other to take be there. I know that she would do just as good of a job taking care of me and it makes me feel better to know that even though I don’t have my mommy so close I have a good friend who can try to help make things better like my mommy would.

An update on my friend Yoni who is the soldier here on his own: He had his swearing in ceremony a couple of weeks ago. As one of his “mommies” I made a point to be there. It was really lovely and I’m so happy we could be there for him. It was also on the anniversary of Becca’s Aliyah. Crazy. We had a little party/ watch a movie at our place…its so nice to have a place ☺

My Aunt and Uncle just finished renovating their kitchen. It's amazing and beautiful and I wanted to put a picture up here just so that I can brag on their behalf :)

PS I keep forgetting to shout out to dror and sandy who schlepped all the way over to my side of town to see me! Thanks guys!

Food for my thoughts

2007-08-31T15:26:00.000+03:00

A few days ago I received an email from a good friend who asked a very interesting question (thank you Debbie). She wanted to know what things about moving here were harder than I had imagined they would be and which things were easier. I think it’s a really interesting question and I’ll try to answer it. Hopefully I do a thorough job.

On the positive Side- Many things have been a lot easier or a lot more natural than I had anticipated. Take my relationship with David for example. Most of our relationship has been (very very unfortunately) long distance. I was really worried that when I got here and we would start to spend significant amounts of time together and really start to build a routine together that there might be problems. Maybe we wouldn’t fit together as well as we had though? Maybe we’d find each other just plain annoying? Questions like that plagued me for the weeks leading up to my aliyah. Thank G-d we have been very fortunate. Being so close to him has been even better than I could have possibly imagined. He gets a long great with my friends and I with his, we enjoy spending as much time together as possible (obviously or we would have broken up by now), and we are simply just very happy to be together. It makes me very happy that things are working out so well ☺

Another thing that is better than I could ever have imagined is my apartment situation. Rebecca and I get along so well that I am having withdrawals from her and we are only going to be apart for a total of 3 days. She went to Beer Sheva for Shabbat ☹. We do pretty much everything together. After I come home from ulpan we play before I start my homework. She has been on break between finishing her Sheirut Leumi (National Service in place of the army) and starting a job and school. We make dinner together every night and have even started making art projects to decorate our depressingly white walls. Unfortunately we hardly see our third roommate Shira because she works a night shift for an American company, but when she is around we all get along great. Physically the apartment is coming together really well. We hung up our first piece of homemade artwork and Rebecca’s geometric wall is AMAZING (see picture). My room is being painted next once I get over my laziness over clearing out most of my furniture… We have a cool chandelier thing, two couches, and we even have curtains that we have to figure out how to hang. Basically it’s so cool and really exciting to have a place of my own with people that I like and an eclectic fun decorating style.

Ulpan fits into both categories. It is a ton more fun than I could have ever ever guessed. My class is so diverse that it is always interesting to talk to my classmates. We also get along great and always have a good time with each other. Our teachers are also some of the best teachers I’ve ever had for anything. They really help promote a good classroom atmosphere and really bend over backward to make sure we are doing well. They make class so fun that sometimes we forget that we are really learning (until the test comes around obviously!) Hopefully I will leave the ulpan with some good new friends.

On the negative side ulpan is much harder for me than I had anticipated. My Hebrew is very good from the point of view that I can get along in life and converse about many topics fairly fluently, but from the proper speech and grammar point of view I am very weak. I am managing though. I had to give a presentation the other day which was pretty fun. I had to translate a song from English to Hebrew, present it to the class, and explain why I chose it all in Hebrew. The teacher commented that I am very comfortable in front of an audience (as if that should come as a shock to anyone) and that my speaking Hebrew is very good. YAY!

Social things are also a bit harder than I had hoped. I knew things wouldn’t be easy with the majority of my friends in the army. Unfortunately the problems go a bit deeper than that. I am at a point where about half of my friends live here on their own and the others still live with their parents. As much as I love all of them there is now a certain disconnect between those of us who are on our own and those who still live at home. It has nothing to do with how I feel about the others as people or how I see them as my friends, but there are just certain things that I am dealing with and going through that they cannot understand now matter how much they would like to. It is the kind of thing that you can’t really explain to someone who still lives at home. You have to truly be on your own and completely responsible for your self to know what its like. Forget things as simple as having to remember to wash your clothes and buy food and make food, but things like learning how to pay bills, opening bank accounts, buying internet and insurance are all things that weigh on my mind at all times that my other friends don’t ever have to think about. Hopefully some day relatively soon we can close the divide. But for now, while they are in the army, they should be home with their parents and have someone to wash their clothes and make them yummy food when they come home. On the plus side it has created quite a nice community and family feeling for those of us who are living here basically without family. I have cousins who I am very close to but they don’t live around the corner and aren’t popping in and out of my every day life. Those of us loners have really started to help take care of each other. It has made us really close and I don’t know what I would do without them. They are truly the best support system. Even David can’t understand some of the things I am going through so it’s nice to have friends who can. (this is my friend Yoni who moved here by himself a few months before me and is now in the army. I can't imagine how much harder life is for him than it is for me. Becca and I have kind of adopted him-- we do his laundry!! These are pictures from his first official army photoshoot)

I hope that helps answer the question. I am with David again for Shabbat ☺. We don’t have big plans, but I am hoping to get a lot of rest because I have an eye infection and it has unfortunately kept me up a few nights wanting to scratch my eyes out. I have seen a doctor and have medicine but it takes a while to really get rid of the infection. My medical experiences here so far are a whole separate topic, maybe for next time. I hope all is well with everyone. All my love. Shabbat Shalom.

Sorry I Dissapeared!!

2007-08-16T15:42:00.000+03:00

Sorry for not writing in so long things have just been so crazy busy in my life that I really haven’t had the time to sit still for long enough to put everything I want to say down into words. So what have I been doing these past few weeks that has kept me so busy? I moved into my apartment and started ulpan. Moving in has been a much more stressful and time-consuming process than I had previously imagined. Pretty much every day I have had to go to some store or another to buy something, or spend hours trying to organize all of my stuff in a new and unfamiliar room. My roommate’s parents own the apartment and they were here for the first 10 days helping us get things purchased and organized. We didn’t have a fridge, oven, or washing machine until about a week after moving in. Our first grocery store run was a huge excitement! We actually had something to eat!!

At the same time I started ulpan. My first night in the apartment directly preceded my first day of class. I am in level 4 out of 6 and I love it. I was very overwhelmed at the beginning. There is a huge emphasis on Hebrew grammar, and as I have no real prior grammar training everything that is supposed to be “review” at my level is brand new material for me. They give us a ton of homework and because I’ve been so busy trying to get the rest of my life together I haven’t been able to focus on my work properly. Other than that I LOVE my class. My class is taught by 2 teachers who switch off at least once every day. One focuses on grammar and the other on vocab but they are pretty interchangeable. They are both super super nice. One of the teachers is really amazingly dynamic and we don’t sit in her class for more than 5 minutes without cracking up laughing. Yesterday we played a game to demonstrate a new rule she was teaching us and is was so much fun I almost forgot I was in school. Another really fun, amazing thing about my class is how incredible diverse we are and how well we all get along. My class consists of 3 Americans (including myself), 1 Brit, 1 Russian, 1 Columbian, 3 French, 3 Arabs, 3 Germans, 1 Swiss, and even 1 Japanese woman. It is so much fun to talk to them and listen to all of their stories. For example, one of the German students is 27 and doing post- Theological school studies in Israel. When he was 19 he decided to do National Service instead of serving in the German army. He knew he wanted to go out of Germany and I still don’t quite understand what made him pick Israel. Whatever it was, he caught the Israel bug. He went back to Germany to finish his studies and then decided to do some postmasters additional studies and couldn’t stay away from Israel. I am so fascinated that a non-Jew, especially a German, can feel similarly strong feelings of love for Israel that I do and can share the feeling of having to be here despite everything. There are a lot of recent immigrants in my class- it makes for a nice environment and a support system in addition to the friends I already have. I will post more anecdotes when I have more time.

Back to the apartment: Yesterday I built my first pieces of furniture all by myself! I now have a desk and a real chair at which to do my homework! I also bought a rug and now my room is finally starting to come together. I also bought paint to add some color to my room. Israeli apartments tend to be so absolutely white that it’s painful. Right now I am sitting in my roommate’s room while she and a friend are taping geometric shapes onto her wall. I can’t wait to start painting then in!

This Shabbat I am spending at home with my two roommates and we’re doing a roomie Shabbat. My third roommate Shira works the night shift at an American company so I hardly see her and we’d all really like to spend some time together.
That is about it for the major stuff for now. Other than that I’m still trying to have fun. I went to a concert last night with Becca at the Internal Arts and Crafts Fair in the middle of Jerusalem. It was really really really fun and it was amazing that we were sitting there in an archaeological park with the walls of the Old City on the right and our neighborhood behind. I love this city and I still can’t believe I am lucky enough to live here!

Thursday 7/26

2007-07-27T15:41:00.000+03:00

After visiting the apartment, Becca and I realized that we needed to clean it out a bit before we started getting furniture. Since there was a general labor strike and she works for the Israel Museum she had the say off again! She bought a bunch of cleaning supplies and we got to work. She was on floor duty while did a bunch of other stuff. I cleaned all of the dust out of my closet, cleaned the bathrooms which were pretty ok to begin with, and washed all of the windows as much as I could. I’m really excited to live there! It was really really hot but we’ll have fans so it will make it ok. I also really like Becca. I won’t elaborate in case she ever reads this…I think that would be really awkward, but I am really excited to live with her. We plan to paint and decorate in a few weeks after her job is over and before she starts school. It’s going to be fun.
I had to ditch her a bit early so I could get to Hebrew University to take part 2 of the ulpan entrance exam. I hate having to go the university. It takes almost an hour to get there, It is such a complicated campus I always gets lost, and I have to visit 3 or 4 offices before I can get in touch with anyone who can actually remotely help me. The ulpan test itself was fine; I had to write a simple essay, but when I tried to hand it in they drove me crazy. The lady in the Hebrew department I found said that I wasn’t in the computer and didn’t even need to take it at all. Fortunately I finally got someone who knew what they were talking about and I WAS in the computer (after 20 minutes of freaking out) and I DID need to take the test and things were ok. But still it was annoying and very typical of Israeli institutions. No one has an idea what’s going on but they all pretend they do and it usually means a few unnecessary heart attacks before the truth can be dug up. Oiy is all I have to say really.
After that lovely afternoon I went back to Aaron’s to wash up and rest. My cousin Ben Feltoon was on his way in from Haifa to hang out with me for the evening. We met up on Emek Refaim and went out to dinner. It was so great to catch up with him! I hadn’t seen him since our last family reunion and that was around 3ish years ago (I think. It was a long time.) He seems to be doing really well. He wants to be in the FBI and was telling me all about the training and stuff he wants to do. Pretty cool stuff. It was his first time in Jerusalem and I really wanted to show him around properly. I don’t think there are many things in the world as beautiful as the old city at night. We walked from my area (its about a 25 minute walk and the fastest way to get there) up to the old city. At about the halfway point the old city comes into view with the walls lit up and it is absolutely breathtaking. There’s this really cool footpath up to the Zion Gate and while you walk up it gives a sense of what I must have been like when all of the Jews would go up to the temple and climb up the mountain. I showed him around the Jewish Quarter and then we walked down to the Kotel itself. It was much more crowded than I had expected but was nonetheless beautiful. We simply sat in the plaza and chatted and looked at the wall. David had gotten out unexpectedly from the army and we were waiting for him to meet us there. There was some kind of Bar Mitzvah or something going on and there was a parade behind a huge Sefaradi Torah. David met us and davened Maariv.
Ben’s tour the next day wasn’t going to be taking him to Ben Yehudah so we decided to walk there too. We went out of the old city through the Yaffo Gate after snakeing through the Armenian Quarter and the beginning of the Muslim Quarter. In town David bought dinner and we just walked up and down checking out the street performers and tourist shops. It is really nice to see the downtown area so packed and lively. 3 years ago, as the Intefada was just ending, people were out and about but not in these numbers. I had never seen that area so packed as I have so far this summer. I’m so glad to see that people are finally comfortable enough again to be anywhere and everywhere all the time without fear.
It was starting to get late so we headed back to Emek Refaim where we were staying at David’s parents apartment. The walk took us down Keren HaYesod and through a whole separate area of Jerusalem than we’d taken Ben to before. We spent just over 3 hours walking and we saw a ton. I love Jerusalem. Back at the apartment we were all exhausted. We watched a few episodes of the Office and then crashed.

Wednesday 7/25

2007-07-27T15:06:00.000+03:00

I got up pretty early to have breakfast with Dr. Liebowitz and his wife!!! It was so exciting. They are adorable and interesting and I really enjoy talking about various things with them. They are here because Dr. Liebowitz is doing research on some things he is writing and he also went back to the archaeological dig he’s been working on for years to check up on it. Sadly I can’t remember the name of the sight ☹. After breakfast I met up with Becca and we got ourselves ready to go to the beach! I had promised myself that at some point before ulpan/school started I was going to get at least one day where I had nothing to do but sit on the beach and enjoy the day. We bussed into Tel Aviv and plopped ourselves down. After about an hour, Ana came to join us when she got off from work. We just sat around and swam a little. There was a maddening amount of trash in the water and then I saw a jellyfish and decided to stay out and not get stung! Becca had to head back to Jerusalem while Ana and I spent another good hour lying around. She was reading Harry Potter and I was just being and tanning. After we’d had enough, Ana and I went back to her house in Yaffo to cool down and shower off. We rested for a few hours. I decided to experiment with nail polish and made a huge mess of myself and had to keep re-doing everything. It was fun which is all that matters I guess. She was going out to dinner with friends relatively late and I decided that I wanted to get back home so that I could be productive on Thursday. We had a snack of crackers with some great spreads and then headed into town. I went home through the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station. I hate that place. It’s so massive and doesn’t make any sense. The station in Jerusalem is at least one long corridor; this place is 7 floors with terrible signage and mean information people. On my way back to Aaron’s house I stopped at Ariel’s to pick up some papers I had left there and to meet some of her extended family who is all in town for the Bar Mitzvah. She was really upset because her boyfriend, who happens to also be very close to her little brother, wasn’t going to be able to get out of the army to be with them. It was really sad. Her family was really nice. I give the Arnovitz’s a lot of credit though because it can’t be easy to plan and get ready for Bar Mitzvah stuff while trying to entertain and spend time with large amounts of close family who they haven’t seen in a while!

Tuesday 7/24

2007-07-27T14:38:00.002+03:00

I spent the whole rest of Tisha B'Av reading or sleeping. It helped the fast pass easier. Aaron, his brother, and I went to Burger's Bar to break the fast. It was delicious. I just wish they would put on as much sauce as they used to 3 years ago...Aaron was antsy so we went downtown. We grabbed a table outside at a bar and hung out with Becca (my new roommate) and just schmoozed. On our way home we went to go see some of Aaron's other friends and I happened to see one of my friends from my aliyah flight, Rachel on the other side of the street (Ben Yehudah). I ran over to say hi and I told her that my friend Shira Gross was going to be working in the same place as her next year! It's a small world that two friends of mine from completely random places are going to be madrichot in the same brand new seminary!
On the way home I decided that I wanted to see my new apartment!! It is SO COOL!! It is actually a standard Israeli apartment but the location is even better than I had originally thought and its ours! There is a ton of room and a ton of potential. It was almost 2am and it was really hard to keep from shrieking with excitement. I took plenty of pictures :). I can't wait to move in!!

Monday 7/23

2007-07-27T14:38:00.001+03:00

Even though we could do stuff on Erev Tisha B'Av, no one really wanted to because we all wanted to stay cool and start hydrating to prepare for the fast that was starting at night. I had a really interesting conversation with Aaron about Israeli and world politics. He has spent years debating on international teams and had some really interesting things to say. We met up with our friend Yoni for lunch. I was craving pineapple pizza and coincidentally so was Yoni so that worked out well. Then I called the people at Hebrew U to make sure there wasn't anything I had to do before registration. Glad I called because I needed to come in to take part II of the ulpan test and because I had the wrong date for registration! I also found out that I was placed in level 4 based on the first part of the test which is exactly where I wanted to be. We went back to Aaron's and watched "Shooter" while seriously hydrating and resting. We then had dinner with his parents and brother. By the end I had eaten and drunk so much I literally felt like I was going to explode. It was not so pleasant. I was waiting to go to shul when I realized that the only shoes I had with me were leather and it is prohibited to wear leather shoes on Tisha B'Av so I ran to my friend Ariel's house to steal a pair of flip flops from her. It's so great that we're the same size and I can just run into her house and grab stuff whenever I need. I also got to see her little siblings who were back from camp who I'm slightly obsessed with :). I went to shul to hear Eicha and then went home with Aaron's family.
Tisha B'Av is also give or take the anniversary of the disengagement from Gaza. On TV there was a really interesting documentary which followed the leader of the Yehudah, Shomron, and Gaza municipal council, a secular Jew who lived in Gaza and who's daughter had been killed by terrorists 3 years before on her way home, and the commander in charge of organizing all of the troops who would actually carry out the disengagement orders. I had just come back from my year in Israel when the disengagement happened and I had partially disengaged myself from Israel and didn't really get what was going on. It was very emotional from many sides and I'm happy I finally got to see something like this. One of the things I didn't realize was that about 50% of the residents of Gaza were secular Jews who had been asked by the government to move there 20 ish years ago and just didn't want to be kicked out of their homes. I don't know if the documentary is available in English, but if it is I recommend it. It was called "the War for Home" or something along those lines. The other interesting things is that the guy put in command was someone who really understood most of the people being moved and was very sensitive to them. His family members were all very involved in anti-disengagement efforts to the point that he bumped into his niece at a protest. I think that one of the main reasons things went so smoothly and non-violently was because he was sensitive and really tried to be as noncombative as possible. A really stirring scene was when the soldiers came to the non-religious guys house to hand him the evacuation order he got very angry and started yelling at them to go away and that they were no longer his army. The commanding officer happened to be a friend of his. Later that night he was walking around his town and he saw a soldier in uniform crying. The boy could have been not much older than 18, and at the sight of the soldier so overcome with emotion about what he was commanded to do the man immediately had a change of heart. He started hugging all of the soldiers and telling THEM that everything was going to be ok. In the end he organized a meeting with the other citizens of the town. They agreed to leave peacefully but asked the army to let them stay as long as possible. They made a deal with the army and that's what happened. I was crying the whole time. I am still angry that a lot of those people still do not have permanent places to live (as the government had promised they would have) or land to replace their farmland. A group of farmers started a hunger strike just before Tisha B'Av at the Knesset to try to pressure the government to live up to its promises. I hope they don't starve to death waiting.

Sunday 7/22

2007-07-27T14:37:00.001+03:00

I woke up at 9 am and the first thing I did was grab my Harry Potter. I planted myself on the couch and didn't move except to eat once, bathroom, and pack a bag. I finished around 7:45. It was amazing. That's all I will say. Exhausted from my reading marathon I went into Jerusalem and met up with my friend Aaron and his parents for dinner. I was going to be staying with him for the week so I had a huge bag. I felt really cool walking into the restaurant, but oh well, it's Israel. Our friend Yoni came over after dinner and we watched Harry Potter 4 (we were all in the mood) because the movie we had rented didn't work. I fell asleep in the middle.

Shabbat 7/21

2007-07-27T14:36:00.000+03:00

The main eventful thing this Shabbat was a surprise I got in shul. I was sitting with David's mom and it was abnormally packed with a ton of girls. We were trying to figure out who they were when I heard someone whisper-shout my name. I turned and saw that my friend Shira Gross, a good friend from high school who I hadn't seen in probably 2 years, was standing there!! Turns out she was a madricha on the program that all of the girls were with. It was the camp moshava summer in Israel program and they were all Seth's age...weird. It was SOOOOO exciting to see her and so incredibly random. They were staying at a town across the street and had come over specifically to daven at this shul. Of all the places in the country she happened to be sitting 5 seats away from me!! After shul I introduced her to Craig, David, and Ari. We were going to go home and then I found out that Rav Brown was supposed to speak to the girls and I just HAD to say hi to him so we waited and schmoozed and caught up until he came. I only saw him for a second but it made me really happy. It was incredibly hot that day and after lunch I was just too hot to nap. I read for a while instead and then David's friends came back. We all hung out for a few hours, ate seudah shlishit, and then Shabbat was over. I watched some TV with David's family while his mom took Craig and Ana back to Jerusalem and picked up HARRY POTTER!! I was so excited when she came home that I started reading out lout to David so that I could be reading without completely ignoring him. We read out loud to each other until the end of Chapter 3 but it got really tiring and David had to get up at 5 something to get back to base so we decided to call it a night.

Friday 7/20

2007-07-27T14:26:00.000+03:00

David and I got up early. We had a tight schedule so that we could go on a tiyul (hike) and still make it back in time to get ready for Shabbat without having to rush. David picked a route in an area we'd been to before that was relatively easy. Due to the heat he knew that it would feel exerting enough that I wouldn't feel like we wasted the day just walking. At first we started in the wrong place. David wasn't paying as close attention to the map as he should have been (I hope he's reading this hehehe) and we ended up in the place we'd been to a few years ago. Eventually we found the right spot and started walking. Most of the trail was on a rudimentary road which at first annoyed me but once I started getting hot I was fine with it! The trail was 8 kilometers and was supposed to take us in a circle around a mountain called Har Eitan. Along the way we were going to take a detour to a well in the side of the mountain to have a picnic lunch. David has a really cool book (along with almost every other true Israeli) that details where all of the water sources (wells, springs, etc) are and how to get there. Unfortunately the book's instructions were a little off and we ended up going off the trail into the forest. After climbing around for 20 minutes with no sign of the trail we REALLY wanted we decided to break for lunch. After lunch we climbed back up to the trail and found what we were looking for just 5 minutes up the road. I was really pissed needless to say. I was even angrier when we went down to the well to find that there was no place to sit as if in a cave (which the book made it seem like there was). So we just left and continued on the hike. Toward the end it was just really really hot and David had to keep rooting me on to keep me from trying to hitch a ride with all of the picnickers we had started to see who had driven into the national park. It was also really nice to get to go hiking with him. It gives us a chance to do stuff on our own and be in foreign situations to see how we will react to them and to each other. He also looked really cute :). At the end we treated ourselves to much deserved ice creams to cool us down before heading back home.
David and I decided to open our own taxi service! My friend Craig and his cousins Ana were both coming to stay for Shabbat so we set up a rendezvous point and waited to give them a lift to Efrat from Jerusalem. David had another friend who was also staying in Efrat for Shabbat so we drove him too. It was a very quintessential Israel experience to be hanging out giving everyone rides. We all hung out at David’s and got ready for Shabbat. Shul and dinner were uneventful. It was really nice to have Craig and Ana over though. Afterward our friend Shevy came over as well as the other friend we had given a ride to and the guy he was staying with. We all sat around schmoozing until everyone, especially David, started falling asleep midsentence and then we decided it was time for bed.

Thursday 7/19

2007-07-27T14:13:00.002+03:00

Bright and early we loaded into the car to drive Lia to town to Ammunition Hill to meet the buses taking all of the new draftees to the Bakum (the processing base) to turn them into soldiers. The whole thing was not as big of a deal as I had anticipated but that’s probably because Lia is going into the Education Corps and was probably going to come home on Friday after moving her stuff into her new base. When the girls got there they were supposed to sign in with their ID numbers and their Draft Notices to get assigned to buses. Lia was waiting for some friends so they would be able to go together so we hung out inside the lobby of the Ammunition Hill museum watching everyone say goodbye to their friends and families. Everyone in the room seemed to be reacting differently. A lot of the girls (including Lia) were walking around nonchalantly chatting with friends as if they were waiting for the bus to take them to camp or something. She didn't even really want us to come because she didn't think it was a big deal. There were others that looked like they were going to throw up, and some were even crying. It's funny; barely 2 weeks after making aliyah I felt like I was watching the group of people go through security at the airport. Bottom line is that whether it’s going into the army or moving halfway across the world change is scary. I am really proud of Lia for taking it so well, she seems to adapt really well to new things. Because we are in Israel things couldn't be completely as you'd expect. There was a whole group of kids going in together and the people from their youth group came and brought drums and randomly every few minutes they'd break out the drums and start cheering. When their friends were called to load the buses they started singing some song and carried their friends on their shoulders to the doors. It made the whole thing really festive! The other interesting thing is that once the drums started everyone in the room started to involuntarily dance along...it was hilarious!!! Once Lia was gone I went with Noa to the bus station so she could get back to the Moshav to work and I could get to David's house. We had breakfast in the station and then went our separate ways. I took the wrong bus. It theoretically is the right bus, but it takes an extra 45 minutes than the other buses. I always confuse which bus lines I should take and often end up on the extra long one. I got to David's house eventually and crashed for a few hours. I hung out with Ari for a while and worked on my blog until David came home :). We went into town to have dinner. I'd been craving sushi and earlier in the week I'd passed a new restaurant that said it was also a sushi bar. We went to try it out and it was surprisingly good. It was a little pricey so it’s not something I would do on a regular basis. Bottom line though the food was good and it was a really nice date. It's good to be able to go out on official dates whenever possible. It adds a real sparkle to the week and gives us something to DO rather than just hanging out in his house. We went home early and started watching Disk 2 of movie 1 of the Lord of the Rings. It was awesome.

Wednesday 7/18

2007-07-27T14:13:00.001+03:00

The main reason I had to sleep in Jerusalem Tuesday night was so that I could get to my Misrad HaKlita (Absorption Ministry) meeting without having to wake up ridiculously early. The Misrad HaKlita is one of the useless government agencies that is supposed to help make absorption into Israeli society easier. Their main purpose is financial: they give us money just for moving, rent subsidies, and tax breaks for years. Otherwise they fail miserably in their other attempts to make adjusting to life easier. Because I'm still the epitome of the wandering Jew I had a big bag with me that I was schlepping around the country. I was hoping to meet up with Marilyn and Lia after my meeting but my bag was just too heavy. My meeting went fine. I gave the lady the information from my bank account so they could begin automatic transfers of my absorption money and rent subsidy. She started to tell me about how to get my drivers license transferred to an Israeli one and then just gave up and told me that it was a complicated process and that I would figure it out- classic. My other problem with her is that she was also very clearly an immigrant and her Hebrew was so thickly accented with something else that it made her almost impossible to understand. It was an awesome experience. Then I schlepped about 10 minutes up the road to wait for the bus to take me back to the Moshav to wait for Marilyn and Lia to get back. My cousin Asher had gotten sick so my Marilyn and Jack took him to the doctor. While they were gone I hung out with Lia and Noa while Lia packed her things for the army. Her draft was in the morning and she had a bunch of organizing and stuff to take care of. We ordered pizza for dinner and we are truly piglets as we ate almost the entire whole pizza. It was delicious. We went to sleep early because we were all waking up at 6 something-ish to take Lia to the buses that will take her to the army

Tuesday 7/17

2007-07-27T14:10:00.000+03:00

Most of the beginning of Tuesday was typical Metzger time: hanging out on the couch reading, lounging, and schmoozing with whichever of my cousins happen to be around. I hung out with Aunt Marilyn and Asher until Lia woke up. When she finally did (not that I blame her for sleeping late, she hadn't slept for real in days) we made food. And it was so yummy. Lia always makes the best omelets. I made a super good salad and she made me eggs. It was fun to stand around chopping vegetables while she cooked. I really enjoy spending time with people in the kitchen because not only do you get to spend time with them but you get a tasty reward at the end! I am a spaz to the end and while we were cleaning up I managed to break a glass. Not only did I break it, I caused it to explode all over half of the downstairs. There was literally glass everywhere. I felt really bad but it was an old glass and Marilyn promised she was already planning on cleaning the floors...
Asher has been getting into playing memory lately so we played a few rounds with Lia, who although she's much better than me wimped out saying that she was terrible. Noa came home just in time and was a great replacement. She loves playing games it's really fun.
After a few more hours of cousin time I headed into Jerusalem to have dinner with my new roommates. I was going to be meeting the third roommate for the first time. I got a ride with Saralyn's daughter to a spot where I could pick up a bus directly to Jerusalem instead of having to spend half an hour winding through a religious community and an Arab village. It was really convenient!! On the bus David called with some news. He was getting out of the army for the night and was going to have to sleep in Tel Aviv but I could come see him if I wanted to. Obviously I was willing to JUMP at any opportunity to spend time with him. I tried to call off the dinner but when I realized that Shira was traveling from far away just to come meet me I realized that it was too mean. Instead I changed the location to be closer to the central bus station so I could hop on one to Tel Aviv as soon as dinner was over. I lasted for about an hour before I couldn't stand not being with David anymore so I left. Shira seems really nice and I think the three of us are going to get along really well. I feel REALLY bad that I was so flaky and distracted, but opportunities like this were one of the biggest perks of moving here right now and I wasn't going to miss my chance. I sped to the bus station and was able to shove on a bus that was running late. I met David at the train/bus depot in Tel Aviv. It was really great to see him on a Tuesday. We had no idea where we were so we went to our friend Talia’s apartment to see her and use that as a base. For some reason I really really had an urge to go to the beach. Fortunately Talia lives 2 seconds from it. We walked down and David and I just sat watching the water and the people playing volleyball (the courts were full even at 9 something at night!!!). It was really romantic and fun to get to be with him so unexpectedly in a different and spontaneous place.
Now comes one of those "only in Israel does this ever happen" stores (that happen here ALL the time). I get a call while on the beach from a number I don't recognize. Turns out it's my friend Jessica who had been on birthright and extended her stay. She was also in Tel Aviv at the moment at a hotel on the beach. Turns out I was sitting directly in front of her hotel. What were the chances? There are about 20 hotels spread out along the length of Tel Aviv's beaches!! She came down to see me and meet David and she brought with her as a surprise Debbie, another friend from high school who was with her on the trip and who I hadn't seen in years. It was so fun to see them! It was even better to hear about what a wonderful time they had had on birthright and how much it really made them feel connected to Israel and love being here. It warms my heart to hear stories about how people come to love a place that I love so much. It was also really nice that they got to meet David after hearing me talk about him for so long!
David then found out that his ride back to base in the morning from Tel Aviv was cancelled but that they guy who usually drives in from his neighborhood in Efrat (South of Jerusalem) who didn't think he would be driving now was. We left the beach to go back to Jerusalem where I needed to sleep anyway. We got to sit together on the bus which is always fun. I think that traveling with a person helps bring out not only their negative traits (stress etc) but also their real personalities and bus rides are the closest thing David and I have to traveling together for now. We made it back just in time for David to catch the last bus to Efrat. We said goodbye and I caught the last bus toward the other side of town to Ariel's house where I was staying for the night. I hated saying goodbye to him again but it was very reassuring to know that I got an extra present to see him in the middle of the week and to know that he would be home Thursday evening anyway.

Monday 7/16

2007-07-27T14:08:00.000+03:00

(This was such a productive day!!) I woke up really early to meet Yael to walk to the shul for the bris of Myles and Rocky Brody's baby. We got a little lost but still made it in time :). Tova Rhein (from Lindenbaum) was also there because Rocky is a former student and staff member so it was nice to see her again as well. The bris was pretty standard as far as those go, and there was a nice breakfast afterward. I sat with Yael and her sister and brother-in-law which was nice. I had seen them a few weeks ago because they were visiting Houston with their baby who is ADORABLE! Super fortunately for me, Ahron, her brother-in-law worked in the building next door to the Nefesh B Nefesh office which is exactly where I needed to be next. It was the day of Teudat Zehut (Identity Card) pick up!! I got there almost 45 minutes early but I didn't have to take the buses which would have taken me well over an hour through morning rush hour. The actual picking up my Teudat Zehut was kind of anti-climactic. I was the first one on line and I got my card along with my temporary travel documents. I realized about 3 seconds after I got it that I had given them the wrong address and that I had no idea what my real address was. Fortunately it's not something that is so crucial or anything! I'll get it changed eventually...but considering I'm still not 100% sure what the address is there's no point waiting around the interior ministry yet. They probably aren't open anyway because of all of the general labor strikes that have been going on lately. Not that I was aware of them personally, but I was warned. The nice thing about going back to the NBN office was getting to see some of my friends from the flight. It was really fun to see everyone a week later...we still couldn't believe that we'd actually just made aliyah. I also signed up for the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel which is supposed to be helpful. It was pay for 1 year get the next free so I figured why not. From the NBN office I went with my friend Rachel to the cellcom store to help her buy a phone. It was such an amazing experience. Rachel's Hebrew is good for most things but the woman we were dealing with didn't really know English and Rachel's vocab didn't really cover cell phone issues yet so I acted as interpreter! It was so exciting and made me feel really triumphant!! Granted it helped that I had been in the same store the week before with David to help me translate so I already had some of the lingo down but still it boosted my confidence.
On the way back to Ariel's house I decided to stop in at the bank to see if I could open an account now that I had my Teudat Zehut. Banks in Israel have strange hours with very long lunch breaks that break up their days. Somehow I was able to slip in just before they closed the doors for lunch so the lady was willing to see me. She was super busy and hadn't eaten yet (it was around 1:30 pm) so she opened my account at lightning speed. I was in and out of her cubicle in under 20 minutes including taking time to call the owner of a wallet, ID card, and Immigrant booklet that was left at her desk!!! It was another triumphant experience for me. I was able to get all set up for a bank account in record time and while doing everything in Hebrew. I'm pretty sure that I didn't screw up completely...she said that they open these new immigrant accounts all the time...sooo yea.
Then it was back to Ariel's to hang out with her before she had to leave to go back to the army. After she left I ate and then put together part of the hospitality baskets for her brother's bar mitzvah. I put dried fruit and nuts and stuff into little baggies and then tied them with ribbon. It took me just over an hour and wasn't really a big deal but I could tell that it was a huge help to her mom and it was an opportunity to finally do something to pay them back for their hospitality!!
Later that day I went to meet Aunt Marilyn and Noa for dinner. We ate at the restaurant in the Chan Theater because we were going to go watch a show that Marilyn's best friend Saralyn was in. Dinner was yummy!! The performance was also good. It was various monologues and dialogues, but the best part was that it was all in Hebrew and I was able to follow pretty much the entire time. It was a very good Hebrew day for me.
We got home and about 10 minutes later I left with Lia and one of her friends to go to Nataf, another town about 10 minutes away. It is really pretty out there. I sat with Lia and her friends and listened to all of their stories about their respective trips to Sinai. They were all going in to the army at the end of the week so they had taken pre-army trips. I came to the Metzger’s to spend time with Lia before her enlistment. On the way home Lia let me drive since my license is valid here with my immigrant’s visa. It was really exciting. I love driving:)

Sunday 7/15

2007-07-27T14:01:00.000+03:00

David went back to the army as usual. He always comes in and wakes me up to say goodbye. It is really great to be here on a permanent basis; it makes Sunday mornings infinitely more bearable. David and I can be around each other like normal human beings without having to be sick with dread and worry that the number of precious minutes we have together is steadily dwindling. It is really quite liberating!
I woke up whenever and called my friend Ariel. I have been borrowing her clothes pretty much every time I've been in Israel over the past 2 + years and now was finally my chance to lend some of my clothes back to her!! My suitcases were also a complete mess with clothing strewn all over David's basement.... I couldn't find anything. Ariel came all the way out to Efrat to help me sift through my clothes, find where everything is, borrow some, and help me put everything back together so the basement will be semi-clean-ish for the coming week while I won't be there. It's always fun to have someone to sit and catch up with while having to sit and organize the majority of your material possessions. We finished up surprisingly fast and then just started schmoozing. Ariel had to head back into town to do some shopping with her mom for bar mitzvah stuff. I hung out at David's house and worked on my blog and waited for a ride into town with his parents. ]
I went straight to Ariel's and took a nap. Daddy called a little before she came home. It was ok because she needed to work on more bar mitzvah stuff with her mom and sister. Then mommy came on the line. We hadn't really spoken for real since my aliyah and now was our chance. Ariel has these great amazing hammock chairs in her back yard and the weather was fabulous so I went out back and spoke to her for about an hour. It's really hard for me to be away from my parents but at least with technology I can speak to them almost whenever I want.
I had to get off the phone so I could head to town where I was meeting Craig for dinner. We went to cafe Rimon and sat outside. The weather was really just so spectacular! It was warm yet there was a refreshing breeze and as the sun started setting it became almost chilly. I hadn't seen Craig since the airport so it was nice to spend some serious time with him. Obviously we were in Israel because my friend Monica walked in for dinner just when we were getting ready to leave!
Craig had already met some of my friends at the airport so we went to go meet them. We went to Emek Refaim (the main drag in my new area) where Craig had never been before to meet up with Dana and Yael who are on the same summer program together. As an extra little surprise Elisa Abramowitz was also there! I hadn't seen her in a few years and she was visiting her parents who made aliyah a few years ago.
After sitting with them for a while I headed back to Ariel's. I found Ariel and Rebecca (my future roommate) on the couch watching one of the most awful chick flicks I'd ever seen. At least they were making fun of it also because I was starting to get a little scared! We didn't stay up too late because I had to get up at 7ish to go to a bris.

Shabbat 7/14

2007-07-19T18:03:00.000+03:00

Shabbat day was fantastically uneventful. We went to shul, came home, and had lunch. After lunch the entire house went to sleep (I think) I know I got a good almost 4 hour nap in which felt amazing. Another one of David’s childhood friends, Yechiel, (who is also a tank driver by training) came over to visit. We sat on the mirpeset (balcony) and schmoozed. It was nice to catch up. We ate seudah shlishit and then Shabbat was over. Afterward we decided to be lazy. David packed his bag to go back to the army. Ari and I went through my itunes library (yay for me he was impressed…or at least not disappointed). Shevy came over for a bit to pick something up. Nothing exciting. David and I bought the Lord of the Rings special extended edition box set for each other so we decided to watch it. Yes we’re nerds but who cares? I love those movies and am really excited to own them. Besides, it’s mine and David’s first shared purchase ☺. We made it through the first disk of the first movie and then we HAD to sleep. David was waking up to go back to the army at 5 and while I could stay in bed all day he really needed his energy.

Friday 7/13

2007-07-19T17:34:00.001+03:00

I refused to have another sleepless night so I took two Tylenol PMs Thursday night. It was fabulous. I didn’t get out of bed until around 1ish. I know that drug induced sleep isn’t the best thing in the world but I’d been sleep deprived long enough to need it badly. In the “morning” David and I went into Jerusalem to meet up with Ariel, Naom (her boyfriend) and Aaron who were all home from the army for brunch. We ended up at the same bagel place that David and I went to on Wednesday and I ordered exactly the same thing. I just can’t help myself. Brunch was great. There was a little too much army talk for my liking, but when 4 out of 5 of the people at the table are in the army it’s a bit difficult to talk about anything else. This is another situation where I love watching David interact with the people I love. This group of my friends has since become David’s friends too, but I still love seeing him get along with and enjoy being in the company of my good friends. Everything just seemed so natural having him around. After being away from him for so long I often worried that it would be too weird to actually spend time with him. Fortunately I’m finding the exact opposite.
After brunch we had to head home if we wanted to accomplish anything before Shabbat came in. We decided to take a second shot at visiting Eliran. Our friend Shevy (the one who introduced us) came with. The drive was a lot less scary in the daylight and we had slightly better directions than the night before. Poor Eliran. This outpost is literally in the middle of nowhere (It wasn’t even on a regular map). Eliran is in a tank unit so when we drove up to the outpost we got to see the tank (SO COOL!). It was a little humorous that for a group of over 60 tank soldiers there was only 1 tank. Eliran explained that it’s more of a deterrent than anything else or if they need it for a specific mission but that the mountainous terrain is not really conducive to tank battles. David said that the outpost was one of the nicest he’d ever seen (I was appalled but I guess they don’t need to be glamorous or anything). Eliran was so excited to see us! He showed us around a bit and then we sat in a shady area. Usually the guests bring cold drinks and food (we were bad and didn’t really have anything to bring or time to stop at the store to buy) but Eliran was so happy that we came that he bought stuff for us to snack on! It was really cute. We sat and schmoozed and then he took us to see the tank! He is a driver of the Merkava 4, which is Israel’s most elite tank. Most of the details were lost on me but I still thought it was pretty darn cool. I love big machinery even if I don’t understand it one bit. He showed us the inside, but we weren’t allowed to go in because I was a civilian and the stuff inside is top-secret (the others couldn’t go in because they weren’t trained in tanks even though they were both soldiers). Eliran was going to help me climb onto the tank to take pictures but the guy on guard duty likes to enforce rules and since I was a civilian I wasn’t supposed to be within 10 meters of the tank. We just went around the other side for pictures but I didn’t get to climb up ☹.
We had to head home because we’d pretty much used up all of our pre-Shabbat free time. The usual rush to get ready in time ensued. It wasn’t so bad except all of my things were a mess spread out between three suitcases and it took me about 20 minutes to find clothes to wear!!
Shabbat came in without anything exciting. I went to shul which is depressing here. The shul David’s family goes to is dying. Its mostly old men and most of them don’t seem too interested to be there. They did Lecha Dodi to one of the nicest most energetic tunes and they killed it because out of about 75 men maybe 10 were even pretending to sing. It was pathetic. Fortunately his parents are moving to Jerusalem and I’m living in Jerusalem so I’ll be able to find a shul that is younger and more vibrant!
We had a nice dinner at home just us. After dinner, David, Ari, and I walked to another part of Efrat to visit my friend Monica who was staying with friends. She was one of the ones who woke up super super early to come see me at the airport and I had been too flustered to really talk to her so I figured the absolute least I could do was visit her. We sat with her for about 2 hours which was really nice and then we came home and went to sleep because it was really late and I was really tired.

Thursday 7/12

2007-07-19T17:32:00.000+03:00

Wednesday night was not a good sleeping night. My jetlag kicked in big time. I slept great until about 6:30 when I woke up completely wired. I was really really awake until about 9:30 when I completely crashed again. I slept until almost noon when David forced me to get out of bed. That’s one of the ways I know he really loves me because he knew that if I didn’t get out of bed I would be worthless for yet another day and would never get over my jetlag. We were going to try to visit Ariel, the same friend that we had failed to see the day before. When we found out that she might not be able to meet us we were really lazy and just lounged around the house. Then her plans got cancelled so we went into town to hang out at her house. We sat with her for a couple of hours and caught up. She is one of my closest friends here and she and David are also close and we are close with her boyfriend too so it’s a really nice connection. I also crash at her house whenever I don’t have a place to sleep. Her family is amazingly hospitable and it has really rubbed off on Ariel. I am really excited to finally be able to be in a position to pay them back for all of the things they have done for me over the years.
She had dinner plans with her mom which is just as well because David’s parents called and invited us to dinner. We went to a really good meat restaurant (Joy) on Emek Refaim (the main street through my neighborhood). Dinner was nice and then I went with David’s parents to the wine store to learn a little something about wines while David davened mincha.
Noa my youngest cousin was the only one I hadn’t seen yet and she was in town that evening. After dinner we went to the center of town to meet up with her. We didn’t work out the timing very well and ended up basically walking her to her bus stop. Fortunately it was an unbelievably lovely evening and the bus stop was about 10 minutes away. We chatted with her and waited for her bus. It was nothing special but it was nice to get to see her!
David and I meandered back to the car. It was such a nice evening that we didn’t mind being out walking. One of the things I love about Jerusalem is how cool and pleasant it gets at night. It really is a pleasure to wander with a slight chill in the air and a soft breeze. We waited for Ari to come back from karate so we could drive him home. Nothing exciting there.
On the way home one of David’s closest friends from yeshiva called. He had been stationed at an outpost not too far from David’s house and said he would love to have us come visit. This friend, Eliran, happened to be one of my favorites of David’s friends so I really wanted to go see him. We dropped Ari off, got directions, and headed out. It was not the most successful endeavor. The directions weren’t great and the road was pitch black. It was an area that David had never been to and as it is considered the west bank it’s not the safest place to be alone at night and unarmed. He usually has a gun from the army but because he had just finished officer’s training and had switched bases he didn’t have a new gun yet. Once we realized that we had no cell phone service and that this place was much farther along than we’d anticipated I started getting nervous. It’s really not the safest thing and we didn’t see any other vehicle traffic, Arab or Israeli, and that made us even more nervous. We decided to turn around much to the dismay of Eliran. We couldn’t call him for directions or encouragement because our phones didn’t work so we couldn’t let him know that we were ok until he had already started to worry about us. Maybe if David had been armed we would have continued but neither of us were comfortable (mostly me) and figured it was better to turn back.
At home we did some more reading and almost finished the first chapter!!

Wednesday 7/11 (Sorry no Pictures for the next few days)

2007-07-19T17:30:00.000+03:00

David and I got a late start since I didn’t get out of bed until around noon. I feel like I deserved it considering how many consecutive hours I had been awake! We were planning to be really productive and take care of as much of my immediate post-aliyah bureaucracy stuff as possible. We rushed into Jerusalem to make it to the bank so I could open an account which I needed before my meeting with the Absorption Ministry on the following Wednesday. The banks hold really strange hours here with a 3 + hour lunch break and sometimes they don’t even reopen after lunch. The post office (which I needed to get a random form to sign up for health insurance) has similarly strange hours so we really wanted to get going before they closed up for lunch. Of course things couldn’t continue being as easy as they had been for the first 24 hours, and within less than 5 minutes I was informed that I had rushed for nothing and couldn’t open a bank account due to the fact that I had made aliyah barely 24 hours ago and wasn’t yet in the “system”. The silver lining to that experience was that the guy was surprisingly nice and I was able to get by all by myself while David was parking the car. I have a hard time speaking Hebrew in front of people with whom I usually speak English so it was very empowering to be alone and have to deal with a situation with foreign vocabulary and succeed.
We didn’t give up and went straight to the post office which was thankfully directly across the street. My new neighborhood is a fantastic little microcosm with many bank branches, restaurants, a gym, grocery stores, and its own post office so I never need to leave the main area to take care of a majority of my needs. We had to stand in line to have the postal bank stamp a piece of paper saying which provider of the socialized health care I was choosing for my free first year coverage. It was surprisingly painless. I realized that the woman started addressing David (who’s Hebrew is infinitely better than mine) rather than me and for the first time I noticed that things like that are going to be some of the largest obstacles I will have picking up the language. When someone doesn’t look right at me and focus the conversation on me I tend to space out just enough to get confused. When they direct their conversation to me and fully engage me I am able to understand completely and really work on my ability to fully communicate in Hebrew. I asked David not to speak for me anymore unless I really need help. He is wonderfully understanding and I think he’s going to be a big help when it comes to my absorption here. We had some time to kill before the health care center opened from THEIR lunch break so we went to lunch. I had one of my all-time favorite sandwiches: tuna, lettuce, and tomato on a whole-wheat bagel. I start salivating just thinking about it. Yes I am sick and food obsessed, but deep down who isn’t?
After lunch we headed to the health center to sign me up. The lady was really nice, but I got a bit concerned when I had to fill out a prior medical history sheet and could not understand one thing. David was there to help me translate and he also had no idea what most of the things meant. The most disconcerting thing was the lady’s attitude: if I don’t know what it is, I don’t have it. I guess it makes plenty of sense considering most of the things on the list seemed serious, but at the time I was a little concerned that my future health care clinic receptionist didn’t even know what the diseases were. I am very glad David was there because I would have freaked out if I was alone and didn’t understand!!
We were supposed to meet up with a friend who was in town with her army unit but she wasn’t going to be available for an hour or two so we went to the mall to run some errands and waste time. The most productive thing we did was to buy my favorite childhood book, The Golden Compass, in Hebrew. I have the English copy with me so I could read it again before the movie comes out and I figured that it was a perfect way to work on my Hebrew especially since I already know the story.
It started getting late and the friend still wasn’t available so we decided to just head home. I was about to crash big time and wouldn’t have been much fun to hang out with anyway. On the way we got a call from one of David’s best friends from childhood. We decided to have dinner with her and her husband (also one of David’s childhood friends). A few hours later we met up at the grocery store to get supplies. We ended up making a gigantic stir-fry that took over and hour to make and even longer to eat. It was a really really lovely evening. I think there’s a lot to be said about spending time in the kitchen with friends. It’s also so much more satisfying to eat food that you prepared and know that you did a good job. It was really nice to sit with friends our age and do “grown-up” things. It is something I really enjoyed about living on my own in Austin. No matter how old you are and how much freedom your parents give you, its still not the same as truly being on your own and blazing your own path through things…even if it is as simple as what vegetables to put in a stir fry. We ended up staying until almost midnight. We’d been there for four hours and it felt like barely 2. I think that’s how you know you’ve had a good evening: When it’s over because it’s late but you feel like it has only begun and don’t want it to end. Fortunately for David and me it wasn’t quite over yet. When we got home we started to read. I sat and read out loud to him and we worked through the translation together. It was really tedious and we only got through about 5 or 6 pages in over an hour but it was still a really great feeling and by the end my speed and accuracy of pronunciation had greatly improved.

Omigosh I’m an Israeli: Part 2

2007-07-15T15:57:00.000+03:00

On the way into the terminal I was skipping and dancing because I was too jazzed and happy to simply walk. The air-conditioning felt amazing. I was still so hot I could barely breathe when David reminded me that he’s the best boyfriend ever and had brought me an extra t-shirt to change into. So I ran to change and cool down. He gave me my newest army shirt commemorating his graduation from Officer’s Training from the week before. We moved back toward my little crowd and were standing around waiting for the ceremony to begin. There was food but I was way too excited to eat anything. Supposedly it was good so at least the guests had something to eat while they waited!! I thought that all of the surprises were over and that I could finally start to relax and let it sink in that I had just moved to Israel when David pulled out another surprise. It was a huge Israeli flag that he’d had signed by all of my friends who were in the army etc. and weren’t able to make it to the airport to see me that day. It had taken him almost a month to get the flag to everyone between all of their army schedules. It is so beautiful and meaningful and I almost started crying yet AGAIN when he gave it to me and I started reading the beautiful things my friends had written to me. I became interesting again becase a few people came over to take pictures of us with my new flag of my new country! Then we had the ceremony. We sat, not like I hadn’t been sitting for hours on end or anything, which was difficult because I was so excited I couldn’t sit still and I definitely didn’t listen to any of the speeches. Tzipi Livni the foreign minister spoke but since I don’t have the highest level of respect for her I didn’t feel bad for ignoring her along with all of the other speeches. I was happy just to be breathing normally and holding David’s hand. Once that was over it was time to go upstairs to the Absorption/Interior ministry offices. Everyone else went home/wherever they needed to be that day and David waited with me so we could get my bags and he could take me home. I was so lucky that he was on his week off. It was so nice to know that I could spend almost a whole week with him while I reacclimatize.
The mood upstairs was really nice and calm. After all of the craziness of the last hour there was complete calm in the air. NBN is again amazing and they had us in lines by last name with no more than 8 families per line. It was nice to be waiting around with all of the people from the flight just calmly waiting around and starting to process what we’d just done. It felt like I was in a private clubhouse sharing my afternoon with people who belonged to an exclusive group☺. It took me about 45 minutes of waiting and schmoozing to have my turn with the government official. NBN rocks and all of the paperwork was ready the minute I sat down. I received my Immigrant identification booklet, my cash (the government gives you money to help ease the absorption process) and the other documents I would need to open a bank account and set up health insurance etc. It took a grand total of 5 minutes. I grabbed a rugulach on my way back downstairs… it was amazingly delicious. I met David in baggage claim after setting up my appointment with the ministry of absorption to finish my processing next week. My bags all came off within about 5 minutes. Good thing David is in good shape because each of my bags was almost 70 pounds and there was no way I would have been able to lift them myself!!
We got all of the bags loaded into the car and starting heading to Jerusalem. I was tired but wired. In the car I felt so calm and at home. It’s a feeling I usually get when in the car with David. It was also nice to be driving through the countryside thinking that this was my country now and not just some place I came to visit. It felt so good that I almost started crying again.
We went into town to buy me a new cell phone. It was amazing. We were in and out of the cellcom store (including parking) in exactly an hour. And David also had to replace the battery on his phone! It was pretty much a world record. By then I was already really tired so we came back to his house where I caught up with his dad, vegged, ate something, and started to show David all of the things I’d been waiting 6 months to show him. Stupid things but its hard to be away for so long not being able to share even the stupid things!
We spent the next few hours doing a whole lot of nothing which felt great! I had wanted to watch a movie and ended falling asleep on the couch instead. Considering I hadn’t really slept in almost 2 days I didn’t mind. For dinner we decided to go into Jerusalem. We met up with his brother Ari and went to a place called Masryk on Emek Refaim (my soon to be new neighborhood) which is a personal favorite of mine. Our friend Yoni who had made aliyah a few weeks before came to join us and say hi. He was one of the friends whose job it was to stay in touch with me to make sure I made aliyah in the end. Thank you Yoni!
After our late dinner I wanted to drive to see my cousins. They were all leaving to various places and I wanted to make sure I had an opportunity to see them. They live about 20 minutes in the opposite direction from Jerusalem than David does, but he had a car and he loves me so he didn’t mind driving. My cousin Lia had just gotten home from a trip to Paris with some friends and she’s going into the army this week, Maya just got out of the army and was leaving in the morning to go be a staff member at camp, and Asher is leaving in a few weeks for a yearish in India after his army service. We sat around chatting with them for an hour or so and it was so nice. It was great to have to leave them and know that I would see them in a few weeks no matter what instead of having to wait years to hang out again. It was also nice to see them and my boyfriend getting along so well together and having so much in common. That’s one good thing about the army is that it’s a huge equalizer in the country. Turns out that one of Asher’s former soldiers is a good friend of Davids… Things like that make me happy. Its also great to see my boyfriend and my family liking each other and enjoying being together. It’s important to me that it not be a chore to be with my family.
That’s about it for my first day in Israel…it was crazy and emotional and long and I loved it. Absolutely loved it. I was so ready to continue my life as an Israeli after such a wonderful day.

Omigosh I’m an Israeli: (warning this part is really long)

2007-07-15T15:06:00.000+03:00

After the taxiing that seemed to take forever we finally parked. We were in the middle of nowhere in the airport but we could see the bus full of press waiting to capture our first moments as Olim Chadashim (New Immigrants). I had two way too large backpacks so Sam, my older brother of the day, switched bags with me because he is just that nice. He’s moving into an ulpan place (along with half of the plane) that is around the corner from my new apartment! Once I stepped out of the plane it was like I was in a dream. I tried to smile as much as possible walking down the stairs because I knew photographs were being taken at every second. (It paid off too. Click here to see the picture: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/123026) The only reason I might have not been smiling is that I was afraid I would slip on the stairs and fall into Israel. That would just be so me to do something like that.
Once I reached the ground I started jumping up and down screaming and hugging all of the girls I’d been sitting with. We had our picture taken a bajillion times and some of them were interviewed. Obviously I wasn’t interesting enough yet again, but it’s ok because the questions they asked were so annoying and I didn’t want to ruin my amazing mood. They asked things like “Why in the world would you want to live here?” etc. I mean I guess it’s an important question for Israelis who don’t understand how lucky they are to live here and who take for granted that it’s not as easy to be Jewish anywhere else in the world. They also take for granted that they have no idea what it feels like to live as a “stranger” in another country and to always be in the minority. The longing to be part of the majority is one of the main reasons I felt I had to live here.
After about 7 minutes of dancing around I got really hot. We landed in the middle of a heat wave and were standing on the tarmac next to a massive plane with no shade. We moved onto the bus, which thankfully was air-conditioned!! As we were driving around the airport to get to the old terminal I don’t remember thinking much of anything. I was so excited and nervous and tired that I just couldn’t feel anything. I was vaguely aware that I was going to be seeing David in less than a few minutes for the first time in 6 months, but it wasn’t until I could see the building and the huge crowd waiting that my heart really started racing. I feel so lucky that I ended up on the first bus because the crowd was still semi-orderly and once we got off things broke into a mad rush of hugging, crying, cheering, and a massive blur of activity that is overwhelming. I also got really lucky because I saw David just as the doors were opening. He came in uniform and our friend who was also in uniform was friends with the officer in charge of organizing all of the soldiers at the welcoming ceremony so they got to be at the very front before all of the other civilians.
I stepped off the bus and made a beeline to him. I dropped one of my huge bags at his feet and gave him a huge hug. After that I felt like I went into a warped world. I was only conscious of what was directly in front of my face. I was vaguely aware that there was music playing and people cheering—it was so overwhelming that my senses shut down. Next I saw Aunt Marilyn. I went to give her a hug and she was crying (and obviously I immediately broke down too). She was so proud of me and happy for me and so happy that finally after 34 years of being alone away from her family on the other side of the world she had someone else who had followed her that she was close to. She has made amazing friends here that act like family, but it isn’t the same as having members of your real family close together. She is one of the main reasons I knew that I could make this move. Not only did she move here 34 years ago when she could speak to her parents for maybe once a month-ish and it was crazy expensive, she also knew she wanted to be here after only 6 weeks! She’s also the one who helped me make a plan and get the courage to break the news to my parents that I wouldn’t be finishing college in the states and I was moving to Israel. I owe so much to her (and her family) for their constant hospitality over the years and constantly making me feel at home with them. I don’t think I would have had the courage without their support. Seeing them at the airport was so special for me and hopefully I will be able to see them often.
Once I calmed down from that I noticed that I hadn’t said hi to my friends yet! They were all on the same program this summer and had to get up around 6am to catch a bus to take them to the airport so they could come see me. That is such a big deal!! It was so early and I am so happy they could all come and share my aliyah with me. One friend I hadn’t seen since I had left Midreshet Lindenbaum 2 years ago. It was a wonderful reunion!! Then I noticed my friend Craig! (one of my best friends from UT) He is also in Israel for the summer and he had told me that he probably wasn’t going to be able to come. I was in complete shock at seeing him and so excited that he also made the huge effort to see me land!
I had finally started to calm down when yet ANOTHER huge shock came. Tova and Rav Brown, heads of the Midreshet Lindenbaum American program I was on, were ALSO there to see me. I was so surprised and grateful that I broke down sobbing again. They had always promised us that if we made aliyah they would be at the airport to pick us up. I didn’t realize that they were seriously serious, and I couldn’t remember if I had officially notified them of my date of arrival so it was one of the most pleasant surprises I could have ever asked for. They also played a huge role in my decision to make aliyah and it meant a lot that they could be there to see me through. Not only did they give me one of the most amazing years of my life, but they also have taken me in numerous times on extended visits over the past few years. They gave me a place to stay, food, classes, and love and encouragement all for free just because I was an alum of their program. Their support gave me the opportunity to spend more extended time in Israel and really helped foster my love for this country and my determination to move here.
This was definitely a day of surprises! I hadn’t even finished getting over the fact that Tova and Rav Brown were there when I noticed family friends from home, the Levys were also there!! I sent them an email with my flight information knowing that they’d be in Israel on the off chance that they could fit me into their schedule. I fully did not expect them to take time out of their vacation to schlep out to the airport at a ridiculously early time…and was just so unbelievably touched that they did!
Once I calmed down from all of the excitement outside I was able to give David another hug and realized once again that I was burning up so we decided to move inside. In the interest of time I’m going to write a separate post about what happened once we entered the terminal. Dun dun dun…

The Flight

2007-07-13T00:22:00.000+03:00

Once I got onto the plane my fear turned into excitement. I started chatting with some of the people seated near me and really started to calm down. It turns out that the nbn staff are geniuses!! They set up the seating on the plane by categories to ensure that people would meet others in their same situation who would relate to each other and start a network of friends even before landing in Israel. A super perk was that the families with little babies were in the back and the young singles were in the front of the plane!!! I did not sleep one wink on the flight. I had a middle seat open next to me and I shared it with Polina my row buddy so I was comfortable… but there were just so many people to talk to and so many things to say that there simply wasn’t time to sleep. Every time I tried I would get too excited and start talking to someone or start smiling because I was so excited!! The hours of the trip ticked by SO slowly! We kept turning on the flight path screen hoping to see that more time had passed… we were lucky if even half an hour had gone by between checks. A much anticipated break from the monotony of the flight came with the start of in-flight processing. I had thought it was going to take at least half an hour to fill out all of the computerized forms so I figured it would help pass time on the flight. Sadly (yet amazingly, proving again just how awesome nbn is) all I had to do was sign 4 things, correct the spelling of my last name, and check that all of the information that they had previously entered was correct. It took a grand total of 45 seconds. I was still really really excited that I was filling out my aliyah paperwork and had Polina take pictures. The next bit of excitement came when they announced that for the first time ever they were going to process passport control while we were still on the air. We had to dig up our passports and hand them to a dude with a big plastic bag—I thought it was a bit sketchy but I knew that they knew what they were doing.
About two hours before the end of the flight I started getting antsy. I was hungry (they fed us less than a hour into the flight and it had been almost 8 hours since I’d had anything to eat), I was bored, and all I wanted to do was land in Israel and actually finish making aliyah! At the hour and a half mark they finally served breakfast which was pleasantly not disgusting. Once the meal was over I couldn’t sit still. We had less than an hour left until landing and I was so excited. Everyone began brushing their teeth, changing out of their plane pajamas, and excitedly walking up and down the aisles. Forty minutes until landing the nbn staff passed out the “oleh” stickers and nbn hats that we were supposed to wear to the airport to differentiate us from the guests. I had been waiting over a year for the day when I would be the one to wear the oleh sticker. I was so excited. We were literally bouncing around the plane with excitement. A bunch of us even took pictures in the hats we will most likely never wear again to commemorate the moment. On a last bathroom stop just as the flight crew were begging everyone to settle down for landing, I started talking to a man who was making aliyah with his wife. They both had on matching Bubbie and Zaidie shirts and were going to move near their 11 grandchildren. I think it’s such an amazing thing that even at such a late stage in life people are picking up their lives and moving to Israel. It is so inspiring.
We all finally sat down and buckled up with less than 20 minutes to go. I was glued to the window (by now I was excited about my window seat) searching for my first glimpse of Israel. I almost started crying when I saw the first stretches of Israel beaches and started recognizing the buildings all throughout Tel Aviv. We kept turning to each other saying things like “this is it” and “ I can’t believe we’re REALLY doing this” or “It’s really happening” and smiling and laughing uncontrollably. The entire flight we spoke about how we couldn’t believe that any of this was actually happening and how the whole thing felt surreal. That’s still the best way I can describe this whole experience. It’s something I’ve wanted for so long and talked about and thought about and dreamt about and now that it’s finally here it’s very hard to grasp.
As we neared the airport cheesy music came on like “od yavoh shalom aleinu” and “yachad” I felt like I was at summer camp. It was so cheesy that it was a little embarrassing but I loved it anyway. When we landed I clapped with everyone else and couldn’t stand to remain seated. We taxied for a long time and we were all trying to figure out where in the world we were going. I was expecting an outdoor welcoming ceremony so I was looking for the pavilion… Turns out that they changed the format and instead of having the ceremony on the tarmac as we came off the plane, they had it at the old terminal where we go through processing anyway and just bussed us from the plane to the party.
I’m going to leave the story hanging now and I’ll write about what it was like to actually be on the ground as soon as I can!

The Day Of

2007-07-12T00:58:00.000+03:00

When I officially got up on Monday morning the way to describe how I felt: nauseas. That’s one of those feelings that sort of takes over and pushes out everything else. All other thought and feeling goes out the window. I showered and put on a cute outfit (so not me but hey there were going to be cameras everywhere!!) that even made Nathan proud. Grabbed some orange juice because I was too nervous and nauseas to eat…thanks mom for telling me that on an empty nervous stomach OJ was probably a bad idea!
I got to talk to seth in the car on the way to the airport. He’s been great about clandestinely using his cell phone to call from camp over the past few weeks and wanted to make sure he could say goodbye. After that serious nausea set it. I asked my parents to stop talking to me and couldn’t even talk to david!! We got to the airport super early which is fine because I can’t even imagine how nervous I would have been if we’d gotten stuck in traffic or anything. The nefesh b nefesh (nbn) people hadn’t set up their desk yet so I had time to get over my nerves a bit. Check in was surprisingly easy. They had assigned us seats in advance (I got a window…bummer) so they would know where we were to make the documentation process in flight easier. All I had to do was take my ticket, scan my bags, and get a boarding pass. I was ridiculously high strung and snapped at my parents like there’s no tomorrow but in reality it was a pretty painless process.
The flight went out of the same terminal (and even the same gate) as my flight to spend my senior year in Israel. I felt overwhelmed with déjà vu at every turn and then we sat in the same spot to wait for the flight where we waited 3 years ago. After about 10 minutes sitting there I had to move. For whatever reason I felt negative about being in the exact same spot maybe as if I wasn’t really doing anything beyond going away for a little or maybe because it was just making me sad and forcing me to think about the last time I drastically left my parents to be so far away. Mom and I went into the duty free and we sent dad to the bookstore because he hates the overwhelming smell of the perfumes. I thought maybe I would buy something small for David, but I quickly understood what my dad felt and the fumes mixed with my nerves were a bad combination. It was really rough sitting there with my parents for our last hours together for a few months. I felt like we had said everything there was to be said about loving each other and missing each other and since I would get my phone shortly after arrival it wasn’t like we wouldn’t be speaking and communicating multiple times a day soon anyway. But at the same time I had a hard time looking at them. I love them and miss them terribly but we all knew that this is something I’ve been needing to do for a long time. I know they don’t think I abandoned them or ran away from them but standing there in the airport waiting felt like waiting for an execution. It seemed ridiculous to be there with them and tell them that I’m not abandoning them mere hours before I was going to get on a plane and do (it felt then) just that. Fortunately nbn is a pro at the whole aliyah thing. They had a ceremony which was a bit disappointing but at least it was a distraction for a good 45 minutes! Nathan also came to say goodbye. He took off work to come be with me and my parents for a bit.. I don’t know if I told him properly, if I was even capable of saying it then how much it meant to me that he took off work and schlepped both ways to jfk to be with me for barely 2 hours. I think it also helped me be able to be normal slightly because I was also thinking about leaving friends instead of worrying about my parents. Funny that I thought to worry. They are going to be fine, they were fine long before I came around to take care of them. Hopefully seth and dad will make a concerted effort to reduce sports time to be with mom so she doesn’t feel lonely but other than that I know life will go on in the Medvin house as usual and when I come to visit things will be wonderfully and peacefully exactly as I left them.
The entire process at the airport was being filmed and photographed for nbn purposes as well as general press. Mom joked that we weren’t interviewed or anything because we weren’t interesting enough. Some people had large dogs or infants or were 87…I was just a young woman moving away from my parents- nothing abnormal about that. The second I started crying I became more interesting than I probably would have liked. I was saying goodbye to Nathan we were both crying and the next thing I know he laughs into my ear “ we’re being filmed by the way”. Knowing that I was being filmed was probably the worst way to ruin a completely honest and heartfelt goodbye. Fortunately I didn’t realize the camera men were there until we were almost finished! They must have really liked the sight of me crying because as soon as I moved to leave my parents I had a whole flock of them watching. I tried to hide my face from the camera as much as possible because all I wanted to do was concentrate on them and not the fact that this might end up being memorialized in a promotional video for the next 5 years! Saying goodbye to them was awful. I don’t know if there’s any other word to describe it. I knew that once I got settled on the plane or in Israel with david I would be ok but the actual leaving saying goodbye and I love you one last time and turning around to walk through security was agonizing. I hope that this is the last time I will have to do that with them. Hopefully for the rest of my life we will be together often enough that I won’t have this huge feeling of dread and anguish when I have to leave them. I stopped crying in the security line but I almost started again when I saw that they were waiting and watching me so they could see me until I disappeared for real. As I was walking to the plane lugging two backpacks with a combined weight of way too much I was going down the terminal with a random nbn employee. He didn’t say anything to me didn’t really have any reason to but I felt bitter and angry toward him that here I was lugging heavy bags (he was carrying things also) and sniffling and he didn’t have any comforting words. In the end I’m glad he didn’t say anything because I probably would have resented his words and wished he had left me alone with my sadness and slowly growing excitement. What could he have said anyway? Nothing that everyone else hadn’t said to me before. I felt like I was walking down a deserted hallway to uncertainty and was really scared. Really scared. I knew this is what I wanted but it didn’t change the fact that I was petrified of the change and of what finally choosing a life would mean.

Before

2007-07-12T00:53:00.001+03:00

I’ve been planning to make aliyah for over two years. It took almost an entire year of intense planning, organizing, and applying. I had to apply for 7 different things in the proper order, which took FOREVER. I never actually thought the time would come when I would move to Israel for real.
At the end of fall semester I left UT to move back home to get a job and spend time with my family. I worked at Shefa Bakery as a mashgiach and did a whole lot of nothing. I told myself that I was going to use the time to go through my room and close up my life in America properly so I could move on knowing that I had taken care of everything I could possibly need. Obviously I didn’t use my time very wisely and I spent most of the time taking advantage of my netflix subscription.
Up until a couple of months ago everything seemed completely normal (except for the fact that I was living at home again): I worked and vegged and begged Seth to hang out with me. I kept up with all of my applications, but I didn’t really get ready to move. I did shop a lot. Mom and I did a ton of shopping. For whatever reason I shopped as if I couldn’t buy anything in Israel. Really I did it because it’s a recreational activity that Mom and I do together and if I end up with some cute stuff at the end it’s a perk ☺
Seth left for camp a little under 3 weeks ago and that’s when things really started to sink in that I was ACTUALLY leaving. I spent an entire day sitting with Seth in my room going through all of my old junk. I worked for literally 8 hours and hardly scratched the surface of what I needed to get done. It was emotionally hard to sift through my entire childhood, but at least I had some real quality time with Seth.
The few days leading up to his departure I was a wreck. I had been talking about moving for so long but had pretty much ignored the part that meant I had to leave my family so far behind. Also I spend two evenings watching Seth play playstation because I was so devastated that I wouldn’t be living across the hall from him anymore. I was good and didn’t cry when he left but it was an emotional blow that I was not prepared for.
Once he was gone and all of his things packed I went into hyper packing mode. I had under a month to pack up almost all of my material possessions into 4 suitcases and a little box. I was torn between wanting to pack everything and get it ready because I was so nervous I wouldn’t have enough time to get everything done and needing to keep things in my room since I wasn’t leaving for 3 weeks.
My last few weeks at home turned into a blur. I slowly moved everything out of my room and into the dinning room where we usually stage large packing operations. I could only do a little bit each day before I started to get emotional and figured I had enough time to wait. Fortunately my mother is amazing and helped motivate me to get everything finished. While I was physically going through the motions of moving it didn’t feel like I was actually leaving. Mom, Dad, and I kind of ignored it and just went on with our routine until occasionally one of us brought it up. I have to give my parents a lot of credit: There is no way in the world that it is easy or exciting for them to have me live so far away yet they have been nothing but supportive the entire process. They never stop telling me how proud of me they are and how much they love me. They always had tears behind their eyes when others would congratulate them and get excited but they smiled and moved on and focused only on how happy this move will make me.
Even when we left the house and went to New York I didn’t feel like I was really moving. (Saying goodbye to ginger was rough mostly because I can’t communicate with her from here and let her know that I love her and didn’t abandon her or anything.) I had sat through my goodbye bbq talking to everyone nonstop about leaving but it still felt like I would see them every week for the foreseeable future. My goodbye dinner in New York felt much the same. I was with my friends and relatives from the greater NY area who I hadn’t seen in a long time so it didn’t feel like anything special to visit people I love while on a trip to their area. I even fell asleep right away the night before the flight because I was so tired. I hadn’t been able to fall asleep right away for almost 3 weeks!
It was a short lived triumph because I woke up at around 4am and started agonizing about all of the many trivial things that suddenly seemed more important than life itself that I would have to do before, during, and after the flight. It was one of those times that I’m grateful that David lives in a drastically different time zone because he was able to calm me down significantly. Of course I wasn’t able to fall back to sleep but at least I was relaxed!!