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...

israel in the gardens

every year in SF, the jewish groups put on "Israel in the Gardens". its a pretty impressive grouping of all the different jewish and pro-israel groups, plus music, food and a shuk. its usually a lot of fun, and I always run into a ton of people from my past. we had been debating on if we should this year or not, being that the baby is all of two weeks old. we got an email a couple weeks ago saying they were having a little gathering for all new olim, so we decided to head up there and meet some others.

i dont know why the Jewish Agency doesnt do more meet and greets with olim. it would be nice to get know others from this area who are doing the same trip, and others who might be on our flight, or moving to a similar area (and im sure so many of them are moving to the south...). about 15 olim showed up, and I knew one family... but sadly there wasnt much time to talk with the others. we went up on the main stage and were introduced, and got to shake hands with the consul general of the pacific northwest. all very exciting. i had a moment of "what in the world are we doing with an infant???"... but im sure ill have more of those moments to come.

aliyah feels so distant that when I am confronted with it, I still feel shocked. I have always been a traveler, and i am excited to be going to live abroad. i still worry about my family, and being so far from them, and I am sure I always will. at least in this day and age travel is easier, plus skype and email and everything else... its not the same, but its a whole lot better than 100 years ago. for now we are taking each day at a time.

my inlaws are coming into town next week, and we should be sending out our shipping container by the end of the month... step by step we go

a new life

I knew going into it that this summer would be crazy... here it is the last day of may, and im already wondering how i was crazy enough to do this. baby has been great... overall she is quiet and absolutely adorable. I thank gd for my parents though, who have been so supportive helping us out when i just need a break or a nap. my inlaws come in two weeks, with my sister in law, and that will be interesting. just adding a whole other level to the mix. everyone has been so excited for the babys arrival, its still a shock to me.

on an aliyah level... next weekend is Israel in the Gardens, the yearly Israel celebration in the area. The Jewish Agency is holding a get together for all the new olim coming from here. i want to go to see who else is going, maybe make some connections... but i worry about taking a 2 week old to such a massive event. at least it would be outside, so i can cover her and hope people leave her alone. i would like to feel like i am getting somewhere with this aliyah thing, and meeting others would help. i wonder how many there are?

we are waiting on the babys birth certificate and ssn to go forward with her application. at least her name and birthday are in the system now, so thats a start. we also have to go take passport photos for her... which should be interesting trying to get a good shot with her eyes open. any advice?

baby is here!

B"h.  The baby was born Friday afternoon, and is healthy and beautiful.  I told Y that she would come either on Yom Yerushalim or Shavuot... and she did! (the first of course...).  A true israeli at heart.  All is well, though tiring.  On the aliyah front we now have to get her a passport (both israeli and american) and get her registered with NBN and the Jewish Agency.  I think Ill wait a couple days, and at least try to get a little sleep before running around from office to office.  we are so thankful she is here and healthy

israelis

for better or worse, marrying an israeli means learning from the very beginning the quirks and cultural differences between americans and israelis.  and this difference in only magnified when family and friends visit the US... especially if it is for the first time.  in the last month we have had 7 people stay by us, and 3 more will be coming after baby.  its been an interesting preparation for aliyah.

what i have discovered is that things i can laugh off in israel bother me here in the states.  For instance, israelis HATE to plan in advance.  out of the three groups that have come to visit only ONE did not change their plane flights, and this was a first for them too.  in Israel this doesnt bother me so much... because thats what everyone is doing.  here in the US, when its expected to plan dinner (not to mention its harder to find kosher food, so its needed in advance...) it drives me CRAZY when israelis push off making plans.  just decide already!  make your plans around it if you have to... but this seems to be impossible for a large percentage of Israelis.

there are many other things, but some I am hoping are just personality traits of these specific people.  at least its been a good practice with getting used to israelis 24/7...  its def something that takes time to get used to.  still, its fun in the end, once i learn to relax and let some of my 'american ways' go...

slowly slowly...

well, some good news at least!  we got a call from the Jewish agency, and I have been approved for my aliyah visa!  that means I can get approved for an NBN flight...  the only problem is, in typical bureaucratic fashion, only I got approved so far.  Y and the baby cant be approved until the baby is born and we can prove that with a birth certificate and an israeli passport.  that would be great, but that could be weeks from now, and they wont guarantee that either will be able to get on the NBN flight with me.  the joy.

so we are one step closer, two steps back.  i have to go up to the city to get my visa and turn it in to NBN, and hope they will at least give us spots for now.  they Jewish agency keeps telling me "yehieh beseder" (it will all be ok)... but i havent quite gotten to that point yet.  its almost as if i want this baby to come now, just to give us that extra time to get the paperwork organized!  but things will happen when they happen.

My brother-in-laws are in town from israel, with their girls, and so im getting a dose of israel and hebrew anyways.... its been interesting!  

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?