Only in Israel

Israel is truly full of surprises. Good ones and bad ones. But the Israeli, as tough as it is on the outside, it is sweet on the inside. We had to drop off a document to our landlord and so we decided to "stop for a minute" on the way to buy our son's schoolbooks after we dropped him off for his first day of elementary school. I got out of the car to drop off the document while my husband and our daughter waited in the car. When the landlord opened the door, she said, come in. I apologized and said my husband was waiting in the car. Well, to our landlord, there was no way she was going to let us off. She insisted he get out of the car and come in. She served us coffee, cookies, took out a box of toys for our daughter to play with, and we talked for over an hour. I guess landlord/tenant relationships here are more than just a financial transaction. It means we are living in their house and we should have a relationship. She said she feels I am like a daughter to her. She invited us to her house for Rosh Hashana, but because we already have plans, we settled for succot. Amazing. She just met us, yet she feels like family.

Coincidences that only happen in the holy land... We went to the mall and my husband wanted to buy Crocs. Three-times-as-much-money-as-in-the-US-Crocs. He didn't get a chance to buy them before we came and although we are going back to visit in just two months and he could buy them then, he wanted them now, and so we went into the store. In our "challenged' Hebrew, we strike conversation with the sales lady, who happens to speak Spanish, so we immediately switch languages. She is from Argentina, her sister lived in Mexico and then in Miami, so there we have a few things in common. As we are filling out a form to get a discount, she asks for our address and as we say "Migdal Oz", she says "I live in Migdal Oz! what tower?" (there are 11 towers). "Number 1", we say. "I live in Number 1 too" she responds, amazed at the coincidence. her mom has already come up to our apartment to welcome us and offered us help in whatever we need.

OUR LIFE IN BOXES (PART DEUX)

Two hundred boxes made it across the Atlantic and were delivered to our door on Migdal Oz just a couple of days ago. The sight of boxes piled high and covering every square meter of our apartment is nothing short of overwhelming. I thought it would be a good idea to stay at the fully furnished apartment we rented until our container was delivered, for a couple more days until we get a chance to unpack a little, but after a month of being nomads, the idea of sleeping in our own bed sounds very alluring. We had shipped our stuff about 3 weeks before we traveled and stayed with my aunt in Miami for that time and then rented a temporary place in Modiin for 10 days. We decided it would be better to be uncomfortable for a month where we know our surroundings and feel "at home" rather than in a new place where we don't know how to move around, so we are lucky that after only 10 days of having made aliyah, our stuff has arrived and we can begin to build our new home and our new life with our own stuff. I am grateful for this, but still, the sight of 200 boxes invading our apartment is not a pleasant one.
I am maniac, obsessive, compulsive and un-diagnosed with every related disorder when it comes to having my house in order. "one day at a time" and "leat, leat" are not part of my vocabulary. I have unpacked all my prior moves in two days, so I figured now that I have two kids on board, I should extend the deadline a little. Erev Rosh Hashana (a week from now) I want every box, every piece of bubble wrap and packing material gone! We have been unpacking for 3 days straight and are down to about 15 boxes.

As one of the many surprises we have encountered here, we have been informed, after having purchased all of our appliances and having had them delivered, that the delivery guys do not install. This is a separate transaction that needs to be scheduled, so we now have 6 appliances sitting in our apartment boxed up (as if we don't have enough boxes) and have been calling for two days to schedule the installers, but have not been able to achieve what seems like such a simple task. Is it too much to ask for a little customer service? I guess the "the customer is always right" memo got lost in the mail on the way to Israel. Did I mention we have no refrigerator (we have been eating out breakfast, lunch and dinner for two weeks) and a pile of dirty clothes and nowhere to wash it? Grrrrr... There. I vented. I feel better.

Overjoyed and Overwhelmed

When we decided to make aliyah, we knew that one of the benefits provided to Olim by the Israeli government was a paid flight to Ben Gurion Airport. We soon found out that one of the ways to fly to israel, rather than coming by yourself on a commercial flight, was to join a Nefesh B Nefesh charter flight.  A flight where every passenger on board was making aliyah. We saw some videos on youtube of past arrivals and I immediately thought "if we are making aliyah, we are making it big and we have to get on a charter flight".  It was a challenge, because the flight left from JFK, which meant, our husband and I, our two kids, our dog, our 6 suitcases, a stroller, a pack and play and two car seats needed to make it to JFK from MIA somehow. It didn't matter how difficult it was going to be, the dream of joining this flight and making part of the incredible atmosphere aboard this plane was going to be worth it. And boy, was it worth it... As we arrived in Israel, we realized we were making history as it was happening before our eyes. The atmosphere aboard the plane was amazing. A mix of nervousness and excitement, nostalgia and hope from every single passenger aboard this plane. As we started to descend onto Ben Gurion Airport, passengers started singing Israeli songs, clapping, celebrating. Only on El-Al does the pilot have to ask more than once for people to please stop dancing and take their seats so we can land.  As we landed and the doors of the plane were opened, we descended a flight of stairs onto the tarmac where as Israeli music was playing loud, staff of NBN, hayalim and the families of those arriving, greeted us with signs reading "welcome home" and handed us little Israeli flags. The feeling of joy was so great, tears started to uncontrollably run down my face. The faces were a blur, as we didn't know anyone, but at the same time, they all looked familiar. They were greeting us as if we were family, which in a way, I guess we are. Finally, at the end of the welcoming line, a familiar face; my uncle who had come to greet us. We proceeded to a welcome ceremony, where the fact that it was 2 in the morning in America and we hadn't slept hit us. The adrenaline was starting to wear off and fatigue settled in. We still needed to pick up our teudot oleh and our ride home (or wherever our first destination would be). About 4 hours later, we got to a small apartment in Modiin where we would stay for about a week or two until we move to a more permanent home. Our friend Ethel was waiting for us at the door to the building. She had picked up the keys form the owner earlier that day and had filled the refrigerator with basics which would later that night when our jet lagged stomachs awoke, save us from hunger (not sure if this is an Israeli thing, or a very-special-person thing, or both, but the fact that she went to the supermarket and took the time to buy groceries for us was an incredible gesture).

From that moment on, our few days in Israel have been filled with incredible joy coated by overwhelment. Still feeling like a foreigner while trying to get settled in what is now our home. Trying to use my poor Hebrew to communicate so that I can start practicing turns into an entire new language with too many English words in it. We have so far picked up our teudot zehut, registered for health insurance (very easily done at a fair held by NBN-one more of the benefits of making aliyah in bulk), opened bank accounts (we are yet to see how the banking system takes us for a ride as everyone has advised us of the banking fees they charge, even for depositing cash into your account),  have registered our older son in school, have Israeli cell phones and have applied for a file in customs to have our shipment released. We have accomplished so much, yet there is a laundry list of things to do that grows by the yard after each meeting we have with the different coordinators and advisers.Our shipment has arrived, which means next week will probably be unpacking at our new apartment. My cousin has offered help which I have gladly accepted. We will need to transfer the electric, cable, gas, etc to our names, which we have yet to figure out how to do. We need drivers licenses so we can buy a car, go to the ministry of absorption to register for our sal klita, buy uniforms and school supplies and so many other things that I must not bore you with and that there is no point in writing since I have them already neatly listed on a Basecamp application on my phone :)  . Checking things off the list gives me such a great feeling of accomplishment!

Having been able to make aliyah in one of Nefesh B Nefesh' charter flights was the best opportunity we could have had. First of, NBN is an incredible organization. The red carpet of aliyot. They helped and guided us through the pre-aliyah process from gathering paperwork to recommending vendors and choosing the right city for us to settle in, they greeted us at the airport and helped us through the check-in process, held a farewell ceremony, took care of immigration from aboard the plane and since we have arrived, they have made the entire process of settling in (obtaining teudot zehut, registering our kids in school, obtaining medical coverage, etc) more manageable and less stressful. We have been lucky to have been able to make aliyah with their help.

Good bye, so long

And so the time to say good bye has finally arrived. 

After so much planning and thinking about this moment, the day to say good bye to all of our friends and family is here.Tomorrow is the day! 

The last few days have been a bit of a blur. Mixed feelings is a total understatement. Hearing the sadness on our closest friends' and family's voice is tough. I had made a silent promise to myself that I would say casual good byes. No sweet words, no long hugs. I broke my promise. It was inevitable. I said good bye to our best friends who we have shared the good, the bad and the ugly with, we said good bye to our cousins who we spent countless Shabbat dinners with, and the toughest of all, I said good bye to my brother and my sister in law. How could I keep my promise not to cry? It was the best broken promise ever! I sobbed like a little girl. Well needed and well deserved closure. 

We spent the day at the pool, with exceptional weather, clear blue skies, friends and family. We said good bye, cried a lot and promised to stay in touch. 

 I tried to talk to our friends and family in Israel, as much as i could as to compensate the "we'll miss yous" with the "we are waiting for yous"

14 years of wonderful experiences, of building a life in Miami, give way to a new chapter of our lives. I came to Miami as a teenager and leave now, just a tad older and a little wiser. Add a husband and two   kids, amazing friends and a ton of sunshine. Wow, I really will miss this place, no doubt about it, but I do feel more excitement about what's coming than nostalgia about what we are leaving behind. 

I am certain that what's awaiting us is amazing!

11:11 - It's time to go

No, our flight doesn't leave at 11:11, nor does it leave on 11/11, but lately, in fact, since we made the decision to make aliyah, I have become more and more drawn to glancing at the clock whenever it's 11:11.

Numerologists believe that events linked to the time 11:11 appear more often than can be explained by chance or coincidence. Some authors claim that seeing 11:11 on a clock signals a spirit presence. (excerpt from Wikipedia)

I have never really found any significance in this number, other than our family on my dad's side used to call this "la hora del tito" (my grandfather's hour). He always found this time "interesting" and the number always called on his attention, so much so, that two of my cousins have tattooed the number on their skin in his memory.

My grandfather (el tito) was born in Palestine. At a young age, his parents took him to Colombia to pursuit the dream of a better future. When he turned 18 years old, just as Israel was fighting for a Jewish state during the Israeli war of independence, he decided he needed to go. He left his family behind and in pursuit of an ideal that back then didn't even exist, he traveled thousands of miles to enlist in the Palmach. Zionism already traveled through our family' veins. In Israel he met my grandmother, had two of their three children and after some years moved back to Colombia.

I am not sure if it is pure coincidence or my grandfather hoorraing for us from above. I'd like to believe the second one is true. I may be fantasizing, but I'd like to believe that our decision to make aliyah is part of some great plan, part of my family's legacy being realized, my grandfather supporting our decision and making sure this time around, our moving to Israel sticks!