contrasts

I'll admit it, there are a lot of things I dont love about living in Israel... but the holidays arent one of them. Israelis manage to experience and express their feelings about life in ways that I only dream of. In the states memorial day is celebrated by sales, July 4th with picnics. They have no connection to each other, and although you often see red, white and blue table cloths, not many families hang actual flags outside their house. the only time i remember real patriotism was in the months after 9-11, and even that faded fast.

Israel is a completely different story. Today is memorial day, and every tv station is either turned "off" or playing memorial documentaries on those who have lost their lives to terror or in the line of duty. The stories are heart wrenching, and I cried more than once. Here memorial day (or veterans day) is not just an image of a lone WWII soldier crying at a ceremony... its a living memorial to those who we loose every year.

In complete contrast, Independence Day starts tonight. The Israeli flags have been flying for at least a week, from every car, house and public building. Even the freeway, on which I make my daily commute, is lined with flags. Free flags came with the weekend newspaper, and a coworker offered me her extra flags when she noticed I didnt have any on my car. Our city is hosting a major party, with a well known singer and comedians, and tomorrow we will have close to 80 people celebrating with us in the park- BBQing the israeli way. It is my first Independence Day as an Israeli citizen, and I feel honored to be a part of it. I am proud of my dual citizenship, even with the dfficulties i sometimes face.

connections

One thing that has always amazed me about Israel is how connected the people are. It doesn't seem to matter where you come from, who you are, how religious you are or anything. If you live in Israel, you are part of "us". This never ceases to amaze me.

Last night in Ulpan we were discussing a text on the H1N1 virus when my teacher got a phone call from her daughter. Her demeanor immediately changed, and the look on her face was pained. We all immediately thought there had been a terror attack or something of sort, but when she got off the phone she couldn't even talk. After a minute she composed herself, and told us that Assaf Ramon was rumored to have been killed in a plane crash.

I knew that Assaf Ramon was the son of the Israeli astronaut who was killed six years ago when the Columbia exploded, and the fact that now his mother had to deal with another sudden death was upsetting. But why was my teacher taking this so personally?

She explained to us, constantly repeating that she hoped this information was false, that Israel had stood by the Ramon family six years ago, and watched Assaf and the rest of his family take the news and honor their father. Assaf chose to follow his fathers footsteps, became a pilot and had passed the rigorous training of the IDF. He stood for the Israeli mindset of getting back up on your feet, always feeling pride for your country and being willing to put your life on the line for it. Though no one I talked to knew the Ramon family personally, they are all treating this death as a personal blow. And I love that about Israel.

home sweet home

the past couple days have been a crazy blur. ill try to back up and tell all about our move. after the arrival ceremony on wednesday, we headed to KG to our new rented place. its a small three bedroom, one bath duplex kinda thing. yehis parents had set up the kitchen/living room and Mayas room, and both were great. they had also pre-stocked the fridge, which made life MUCH easier. of course we dont have our bed yet, so our room is the only one empty, save a couple mattresses on the floor. we were hoping to get a bunch of stuff done that first day, but we forgot that yehi had turned in his teudat zeut (id card) so we couldnt do ANYTHING.

the last couple days have been nice. HOT AS ALL CAN BE which is frustrating. and the constant switch from really hot to cold air conditioning has Maya fighting off her first cold, which doesnt help my nerves.

thursday we went to look at furniture, since most israeli places dont come with built in closets. the only storage space we have at the moment is in Mays room.... hopefully that will change today. Friday we did some basic errands, and then spent shabbat with yehis parents. his two next brothers were there, with thier girlfriends/fiance. it was nice to be able to relax. i went to services and was so thankful to be here, in israel, with a wonderful family of my own. it was hard being without my own family, and im still not sure how to deal with that part of the move.

saturday night was yehis cousins birthday, so we went out after shabbat to celebrate. Maya got to hang out with her new cousins, and we got to reorganize ourselves into israeli life. its been great so far. we get our id cards monday, so this week will be full of opening bank accounts, releasing our shipment (finally!), getting cell phones and the like. love you all, miss you all to