material things

I know that in this time between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, one should really not be thinking about material things. It is a time to remember that our lives are short, and what is important is our spiritual and deeper connections with the world and what lays beyond.

That being said.... WE GOT OUR LIFT! It may seem superficial, but that is not the main focus. It isn't that I am happy at having things again, or how much I have... It's just that moving across the world, away from my family, has been hard. I miss the things that I grew up with, the things that I am used to. Thats why it is a blessing to have our lift. In it are pictures of friends and family, memorabilia from my past, things that make me so thankful for my life. We have boxes with pictures from our wedding, memorabilia from our time together, even books and outfits from my childhood. Each of them holds a special place in my heart, and reminds me of the people I love.

The hardest thing by far about living in Israel so far has been the distance from my family. I am glad to have these things here, even after all the drama. In the end the movers were nice, and everything went smoothly. Our things are mostly organized, but some of our boxes will be going back into storage until we get a slightly bigger place. Step by step we are making this home.

what a start

Rosh Hashana was very nice and relaxing. With such a young baby I only made it to Friday night services, but the rest of it was also nice. it was very different from how I grew up celebrating, which was hard, but something to get used to.

Today I had an interview in Tel Aviv. On the way up we called our shipping company to check on our shipment, and they told us "still in customs, maybe at the end of the week". So we went to Tel Aviv, where I had an interview (which was fine, although I am not sure the job is for me), then looked for a dress for Ami's wedding.

We got home (after picking up the baby from daycare and grabbing dinner) around 7pm. When I checked my email at 730pm or so there was an EMAIL from our shipping company which said "We are trying to deliver your lift, what is your phone number?"- time stamped just 15 MINUTES or so after we had talked to them that morning. To add to my frustration, I just talked to my parents who said the shipping company called THEM at 2am California time looking for us! Honestly!

So for now, since it is too late to call them, I am just frustrated. And tmw I have another interview, meaning we will be out of the house most of the day. Heres to hoping we will be able to get our things, and sleep in a real bed within the next 24-48 hours!

shipping off

well, for better or worse a large chunk of our worldly possessions were packed up yesterday to begin their ~2 month journey to Israel. we only rented one lift, so we were hard pressed to make some tough decisions on what we really wanted/needed to bring with us. I ended up with only 7 boxes of books...

the whole experience was a little crazy. i guess we are pretty organized, because for the most part we had already packed up our belongings. it was important to me to know where everything was, and thats why i wanted to do it ourselves. the moving company came, and moved all of our boxes 9and our mattress) into a box. we came pretty close to fitting everything, but ended up having to leave 3 kitchen boxes and a set of dishes behind. not too bad for packing up my whole life. There are other things we could have left, but i guess we will see what we really need once we get there.

now, in all honesty we have been living without most of this stuff for over a year (or more in some cases). i guess that means that most of it is not really 'needed',but a lot of it I was just not willing to let go...hence the 7 boxes of books (and believe me, thats a LOT less than I started with). i know you can get everything in israel(or have someone bring it in), but its not always the same.

so thats a major step down. this week we hope to get babys birth certificate so we can get her passports, and get to the next major step... our official flight date. for now everything is unofficial, and i would like to get things solidified a little... never a dull moment here...

the process

honestly, if I wasn't married to an Israeli, I have no idea if I would ever figure this whole Aliyah system out.  Every time I think I understand something, it changes all its rules on me!  Last night we went to a preview night, which was supposed to help people moving to Israel understand all the different systems.  There was a representative from Maccabi healthcare, from a real estate company, from a business start up company, a moving company and from the banks.  I was hoping for some insight, explained in "American" about the whole process.... but yea right.

The meccabi lady was fine, explaining how the healthcare system works.  we are not using maccabi (my husband likes his clalit), but still, it was interesting to hear.  And I never realized that Israeli healthcare has only been government run since 1995.  it didnt explain the whole system, but again, thats what being married to an Israeli is for.

after the healthcare was the business guy.  spent half an hour talking about the GDP, gnp and who knows what else of Israel.  and what to do if I want to start a high tech company through his business.  not particularly helpful, though my MIL is thinking about opening up a bakery, and they did have some connections for other small businesses.

then comes real estate.  slightly helpful, but again, mostly about this one guys particular business and how we should all use him to move to Efrat.  Sorry, Im not moving to Efrat.  And even though he did go over some basics about renting and buying, it would not have made much sense if my Israeli husband had not gone over all the information with me again....

we did not stay for the shipping or the banks, since we already have our shipping ordered, and I was way too tired to stay for the banks.  Once again I will just have to trust the Israeli in helping me navigate the system.  It was an interesting night, but I am still baffled at how anyone figures this out by themselves...  or maybe they all go just hoping it will turn out allright?  

the beginning of things

So we decided to make aliyah.... what was next?  First step for us was the Nefesh BNefesh application.  Its been put online, so that was easy enough, but the amount of information they ask for is crazy!  Not only did I have to prove my Jewishness (luckily my Rabbi wrote me a letter), but I also had to prove that I had been living in the United States (or at least outside of Israel) since 2002).  Easy enough, right?  Just show them your passport!  Since 2002 I have held three (kind of) passports.  My first expired around 2002, so I got a new one in 2004, the first time I went to Israel.  Then I had to get another one when I got married, to change my name.  So I copied all 3 and sent them in.... but they werent good enough, since I had no active passport for a year and a half in that period.

Ok, so how else can I prove my residency?  They didnt seem to believe that the fact that I had no passport meant I couldnt leave the country...  In the end they demanded a letter from my High School that I had actually been enrolled there, and attended.  After all that balagan (craziness) I was happy just to be done...  Ok, so application was in, waiting for my visa... now what?

shipping of course!  Everyone who has ever moved knows that moving your personal belongings can be a pain... and moving them around the world is no different.  There are a lot of rules and fees to be aware of.  We went to a talk on shipping, hosted by the Jewish Agency, which was helpful.  They explained the different sizes of shipments, and some of the rules about what to bring.  As an Olah (new immigrant), I dont have to pay taxes on many things.  I can bring in clothes, kitchen appliances, furniture and many other things.  Certain items have limits.  For instance, I can bring in only ONE TV tax free, the others I will have to pay taxes on.  I can bring in one computer in my shipment, though laptops brought with me through the airport dont count.  rules, rules, more rules... and plenty of ways to "bend" them.  

One man asked for instance, about the law saying that you can only bring indoor furniture tax free.  what if he wanted to bring in lawn furniture? (dont ask me why...)  the answer was simple.  Ship it, mark it "table and chairs" and who will know where you use it?  IF you get opened by customs it may cause a problem... but whose to say you dont like using lawn furniture in your dining room?

All in all its been an eye opening experience so far.  We are mostly packed already (having never really unpacked from LA...) so its not that crazy for us.  In fact, I think the shipping guy was surprised when he came to give us our estimate... we are pretty organized.  It doesnt help that we have a baby due early summer, so I want to get everything organized and done as much as possible before it arrives.