The top three things we needed to do as soon as possible were to look for an apartment, get our Teudot Zehut from the Misrad Hapnim and open a bank account. The first one was fairly easy, we set up appointments to look at apartments in Rechavia, Ramat Eshkol and Bayit Vegan, but more on that later.
I was warned that dealing with the Misrad Hapnim could be a pain, but I was not prepared for what I encountered. We first went on Monday, during the hours that the Nefesh B'nefesh website said they were open. After waiting in a long line for information, we were told "You can't do that now, come back tomorrow between 8 and 12 on the first floor'. Even though it's a pain to get there from where we were staying, I didn't think that was bad, I had been warned after all. I asked if they could give us the form to fill out so we'd be prepared and they said "no". Oh well.
So we came back the next day. We were running late and didn't get there until after 11 and there was a long line. About 15 minutes into the line, the lady at the information desk announced "If anyone in line is here for a teudat zehut, go upstairs". We went upstairs and waited in yet another line, only to be told "we can't help you here, go back downstairs". We told them that we were sent up and they said "you have no ID number, we can't help you. Go back down and tell them we said that".
Fortunately, the people who were in line around us let us take our place back in the line downstairs, in which we waiting for an additional 20 minutes. When we finally reached the front and explained everything, they gave us a form to fill out (all in Hebrew) and directed us into the big room, booth 9. So, we filled out the form and went to booth 9 where there was nobody at the other side of the desk and sat down. A while later a woman came to the desk and said "what are you doing here, go back to the waiting room until I call you". We went back to the waiting room and she called us immediately. Then she looked at our paperwork and said "it's all wrong, your visas are invalid and worthless, whoever helped you get them didn't do it right. You have to start the application over now, fill out these 3 forms and provide all the documentation requested in the next 15 minutes or I'm leaving".
Fortunately, these forms were in English and we filled them out pretty quickly, but it took about 25 minutes. We figured that we'd do what we could and if we had to come back the next day, at least we'd be prepared. For some reason, the lady decided to be nice and wait for us. We brought the forms back to her with all the requested documentation and she looked it over and said "you need photocopies of everything, go get them fast". So we ran off to make copies, but every copy machine we were directed to was broken and the information people said they couldn't help. We reported this to the lady and she told us "why didn't anyone tell you to use the machine on the other side of this floor, it's working". We ran over there, put money in the machine and started making copies as fast as we could. After 6 pages, the machine ran out of paper. My wife went to the information desk and told them, they replied "so, what do you want from me?". Again we reported back to our lady who called the information desk and got the same lady who refused to help us to bring paper.
We finished making the copies, got them all organized and returned to our lady. She looked at them and said "don't give me all them, reorganize them by family member and give me one at a time", we did that and she started with my application. She yelled at us for spelling my last name wrong and insisted we change it to the proper spelling, unless we want to be Arabs. I didn't care to argue, so I said sure, change my name. Then she yelled at me for writing my parents Jewish names instead of the transliterated version of their legal names. When all the corrections wee made she asked for my passport picture and when we looked in our pile of pictures it was missing. We searched for it frantically, but couldn't find it. She yelled at us some more and said 'go find it or I'm not helping you" so I ran around in circles looking for it. Due to the language barrier and the janitor misunderstanding my asking him if he found a passport photo, I ended up talking to the security guards who told me "why are you looking for your picture, go next door and get new ones". I listened to them and less than 5 minutes later I was back in the office with lots of pictures.
Long story short, she yelled at my wife during her application and then asked her for two passport pictures, she only had one. She yelled at us again "I made your husband get 2 copies, why would you think you only needed one" at which point we realized that my photo was never lost, she had used it for the first form and needed a second one for the second form! Again, we'll blame the language barrier, she didn't even attempt to talk to us in English. My wife begged her to let her run next door to get pictures and she said ok, but as soon as my wife walked out the door she told me "I have to leave, go back to the waiting room and I'll get you when I'm back". I didn't think we'd ever see her again, but she showed up about a half hour later and finished our applications. Then she sent us upstairs to get the actual Teudot Zehut. When we got upstairs, the door was closed and the sign said they'd be open at 2:30PM which was 15 minutes away. My wife decided to be annoying and banged on the door until someone opened it and let us in. the lady who makes to document was yelling in hebrew "how many times do I tell them not to sent people up when we're closed!" but she took care of us anyway. 10 minutes later we were done and ran out of there as fast as possible, praying that we'd never have to come back.
During this whole 3 hour+ ordeal, the baby was being overly hyper and friendly, crawling around the floor and playing with the other kids and throwing tantrums when we picked him up. There were lots of other screaming kids and a number of adults screaming and/or crying as well. I was happy I learned the phrase "Mah Pitom", because I heard it yelled every couple seconds. I can only imagine how they came up with the plan for how to run this office, it must've been designed to acclimate people to the tough Israeli lifestyle. That, or it's a sick joke (my money's on the sick joke).
Friday, January 30, 2015
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Cell phones and Rav Kav
It was kind of nice for a couple days not having a cell phone,
although it certainly didn't stop the annoying people from tracking me
down to ask me to work for free. Unfortunately I do need to maintain
contact with the outside world, so we set out to look for a cell phone
plan. Turns out cell phone plans in Israel are way cheaper than in
America and you don't have to be locked into ridiculous contracts.
We went to the Tachna Hamerkazit (sp) in an attempt to get the cell phone and rav kav taken care of in one trip. There's a store there called 'Bug" which sells plans from Golan Telecom. There was a long line in the store and I was worried that we'd wait a long time and wouldn't get anything because of the language barrier. The guy who was setting up the plans had a ponytail and ripped jeans and looked like he couldn't care less about anything.
When we finally reached the front of the line, it turned out the guy spoke English and was actually really nice. I asked him if we would be locked into a contract and he said "Things are different here in Israel, you don't sign a contract of what you owe the phone company, they give you a contract of what they promise to give you. If you don't like it, don't pay and find another company" sounded good to me. We got a plan for two phones with unlimited calling in Israel and a few other countries (including the US) with 6GB of data each for roughly $60 a month.
He was also helped us find the place to get our rav kavs (Prepaid card for public transportation). His directions were 'Go upstairs, turn left and walk to the end, look for some really depressed looking people and that's where you go". Turns out his description was extremely accurate. Actually getting the rav kavs was fairly painless and not too slow.
As much as I enjoyed my temporary freedom, it felt so good to have a working phone with internet. Google maps is extremely useful in this country, especially when the trains get shut down for "chafetz chashud" which seems to happen every time I need to go anywhere.
We went to the Tachna Hamerkazit (sp) in an attempt to get the cell phone and rav kav taken care of in one trip. There's a store there called 'Bug" which sells plans from Golan Telecom. There was a long line in the store and I was worried that we'd wait a long time and wouldn't get anything because of the language barrier. The guy who was setting up the plans had a ponytail and ripped jeans and looked like he couldn't care less about anything.
When we finally reached the front of the line, it turned out the guy spoke English and was actually really nice. I asked him if we would be locked into a contract and he said "Things are different here in Israel, you don't sign a contract of what you owe the phone company, they give you a contract of what they promise to give you. If you don't like it, don't pay and find another company" sounded good to me. We got a plan for two phones with unlimited calling in Israel and a few other countries (including the US) with 6GB of data each for roughly $60 a month.
He was also helped us find the place to get our rav kavs (Prepaid card for public transportation). His directions were 'Go upstairs, turn left and walk to the end, look for some really depressed looking people and that's where you go". Turns out his description was extremely accurate. Actually getting the rav kavs was fairly painless and not too slow.
As much as I enjoyed my temporary freedom, it felt so good to have a working phone with internet. Google maps is extremely useful in this country, especially when the trains get shut down for "chafetz chashud" which seems to happen every time I need to go anywhere.
Jetlag
It's confusing enough for adults to go through a 7 hour time change, for babies it's total chaos. We had a whole plan for how we would adjust our son's schedule and get him to sleep through the night. It didn't work, at all. The first night he woke up to play in the middle of the night, thinking he had just taken a nap and wasn't ready for another one for 4 hours. Then in the morning he slept for 6 hours.
The second night we put him to sleep a bit later, hoping he's be tired and sleep for longer. Didn't work. He woke up screaming at 2:45AM. After playing with him for an hour we were so tired that we decided to take him for a walk so he'd fall asleep. That didn't work. After walking for an hour, we gave up and took him to the park to play. It was kind of fun playing in the park at 5AM, I hope we didn't wake up any of the neighbors. We hoped the playing would tire him out and then we walked for about another hour and went home. He still didn't go to sleep until 6:45.
The next few days we got desperate and started keeping him up until midnight, which worked ok and gave us a good 6 hours of sleep. Every day we moved his bedtime forward a bit and finally on Wednesday he slept from 8:30-8:00. Last night he went to sleep at 7 and woke up at 6 this morning, which is a good sleep for him, but too early for us to wake up, so once again we're exhausted. Thank G-d for Shabbos!
The second night we put him to sleep a bit later, hoping he's be tired and sleep for longer. Didn't work. He woke up screaming at 2:45AM. After playing with him for an hour we were so tired that we decided to take him for a walk so he'd fall asleep. That didn't work. After walking for an hour, we gave up and took him to the park to play. It was kind of fun playing in the park at 5AM, I hope we didn't wake up any of the neighbors. We hoped the playing would tire him out and then we walked for about another hour and went home. He still didn't go to sleep until 6:45.
The next few days we got desperate and started keeping him up until midnight, which worked ok and gave us a good 6 hours of sleep. Every day we moved his bedtime forward a bit and finally on Wednesday he slept from 8:30-8:00. Last night he went to sleep at 7 and woke up at 6 this morning, which is a good sleep for him, but too early for us to wake up, so once again we're exhausted. Thank G-d for Shabbos!
Our first night and day in Israel
In order to give ourselves some time to find an apartment, without rushing into anything, we decided to stay by my in-laws for a couple weeks. BH they like having us, or at least they're really good at pretending. We got to their apartment around 4:30PM, carried all our bags in and collapsed on the couch. The baby was crazy hyper and excited to be there crawling around in circles, enjoying his freedom (video below...not yet, but maybe soon).
I have two sisters in Seminary in Israel, one in Shana Alef in Geulah and one in Shana Bet in Beit Hakerem. Both of my sisters were anxious to come see the baby and maybe us as well, so they met up in Geulah and came over here (Bayit Vegan). We had a nice family bonding moment and then everyone left and we went to sleep, or something like that.
Unfortunately, the baby did not understand the time change and woke up ready to play at 2AM and didn't go back to sleep until 6AM. So we all got a late start on Friday and we were completely out of energy. Still, we couldn't waste our first day, so we went to Geulah at 1:30PM to meet up with my sisters and get some falafel. Of course most of the stores were getting ready to close, but it was still fun to see everyone running around and of course the yeshiva guys and seminary girls trying to be cool. Speaking of which, what is up with seminary girls and selfie sticks? I had never seen a selfie stick before I saw two different seminary girls walking down the street with them. And I thought I was vain.
That's about all we did on our first day, we made it home and got ready in time for shabbos and tried to get some rest over shabbos. More on the in my next post.
I have two sisters in Seminary in Israel, one in Shana Alef in Geulah and one in Shana Bet in Beit Hakerem. Both of my sisters were anxious to come see the baby and maybe us as well, so they met up in Geulah and came over here (Bayit Vegan). We had a nice family bonding moment and then everyone left and we went to sleep, or something like that.
Unfortunately, the baby did not understand the time change and woke up ready to play at 2AM and didn't go back to sleep until 6AM. So we all got a late start on Friday and we were completely out of energy. Still, we couldn't waste our first day, so we went to Geulah at 1:30PM to meet up with my sisters and get some falafel. Of course most of the stores were getting ready to close, but it was still fun to see everyone running around and of course the yeshiva guys and seminary girls trying to be cool. Speaking of which, what is up with seminary girls and selfie sticks? I had never seen a selfie stick before I saw two different seminary girls walking down the street with them. And I thought I was vain.
That's about all we did on our first day, we made it home and got ready in time for shabbos and tried to get some rest over shabbos. More on the in my next post.
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
The Flight and Arrival
Finally the big day was here, we were up the night before until 3AM trying to finish packing and we had to leave for the airport at 6:15AM. We hadn't slept for more than a couple hours for the last two days, so we were already exhausted when we left for the airport at 6:40. The downside of the amazing deal we got on the flights was, as usual, it required a long stopover. When we booked the flights we thought it would be great to have 11 hours in New York, we even considered going to Aladdin on Broadway. The flight to New York was uneventful, we got to the gate just on time and the only delay was for deicing. Of course, not having slept for days, we were too tired to do anything once we arrived in New York. We spend the day in a Bagel and Ice Cream shop trying to keep the baby entertained and driving around trying to get him to sleep.
My sister and her family drove from Lakewood to Cedarhurst to meet us for dinner at Carlos and Gabby's, which was nice. As could be expected, we ended up rushing to the airport, even though we were already checked in and our bags were already on the plane. We got to the airport almost two hours before our flight, which is unheard of for me. When the TSA agent checked my boarding pass, he told me to keep my shoes on and go into the priority line with my wife and son. When we got near the front of the line, the next agent told us we were next after someone in a wheelchair that he put in front of us. Without any explanation another agent came over and said "No, you guys come with me" and directed us to the back of a long line. After making it through that line we were directed to another line for the xray machine, which was impossible to get into with a stroller. When we told the agent we couldn't get in the line, he looked confused and overwhelmed and didn't tell us what to do. By some miracle the people in the line were nice and let us cut in near the front. After all that we made it to the gate at the final boarding call, only to find out that we had to go through yet another security check before boarding. Thank G-d we made it on the plane in time and there were still many others who came way after us.
One of the latecomers, a middle aged couple who boarded at least 15 minutes after us, seemed to have lost their business class seats because they were so late. The wife was berating the husband for making them late by staying in the lounge too long. She stopped in the aisle next to us to stow their carry on bags, looked at us and said loudly "oh great, now you got us seats behind a baby!". My son has been on quite a few flights before and we always made friends with the people around us who were so happy that he was so quiet and well behaved. Of course now that he's a year old, it's a lot harder for him to sit still and be quiet, but he's still a chilled baby. Our flight left at 9:45PM and we hoped he would sleep through most of the flight. Of course, that didn't work out as planned. At first he was so excited by the plane that he kept standing up on his car seat and laughing at all the people he could see. About an hour and a half into the flight he finally fell asleep after throwing a few tantrums. This was the first time I experienced what it was like to be the parent of the baby that everyone is mad at and it was not fun. The only thing that made it slightly better was knowing that the obnoxious lady behind us was fuming. Several times throughout the flight he was woken up by the people sitting behind us and every time he voiced his displeasure. I spend most of the flight holding him, either trying to console him or keep him from jumping all over the plane.
The flight seemed to drag on forever, but finally we did land! After the momentary exuberant feeling of the arrival ended, we had to walk what seemed like 3 miles with all our carry on bags, which was not easy. Miraculously, we avoided the customs line and the customs agent didn't ask us a single question, all she did was flirt with the baby and let us go. My in-laws met us with a giant van they rented (it held 15+ passengers, plus luggage and there were only 5 of us counting my in-laws). The moment we stepped outside the warm air hit us together with the springlike scent and we were finally here and able to relax, for now...
My sister and her family drove from Lakewood to Cedarhurst to meet us for dinner at Carlos and Gabby's, which was nice. As could be expected, we ended up rushing to the airport, even though we were already checked in and our bags were already on the plane. We got to the airport almost two hours before our flight, which is unheard of for me. When the TSA agent checked my boarding pass, he told me to keep my shoes on and go into the priority line with my wife and son. When we got near the front of the line, the next agent told us we were next after someone in a wheelchair that he put in front of us. Without any explanation another agent came over and said "No, you guys come with me" and directed us to the back of a long line. After making it through that line we were directed to another line for the xray machine, which was impossible to get into with a stroller. When we told the agent we couldn't get in the line, he looked confused and overwhelmed and didn't tell us what to do. By some miracle the people in the line were nice and let us cut in near the front. After all that we made it to the gate at the final boarding call, only to find out that we had to go through yet another security check before boarding. Thank G-d we made it on the plane in time and there were still many others who came way after us.
One of the latecomers, a middle aged couple who boarded at least 15 minutes after us, seemed to have lost their business class seats because they were so late. The wife was berating the husband for making them late by staying in the lounge too long. She stopped in the aisle next to us to stow their carry on bags, looked at us and said loudly "oh great, now you got us seats behind a baby!". My son has been on quite a few flights before and we always made friends with the people around us who were so happy that he was so quiet and well behaved. Of course now that he's a year old, it's a lot harder for him to sit still and be quiet, but he's still a chilled baby. Our flight left at 9:45PM and we hoped he would sleep through most of the flight. Of course, that didn't work out as planned. At first he was so excited by the plane that he kept standing up on his car seat and laughing at all the people he could see. About an hour and a half into the flight he finally fell asleep after throwing a few tantrums. This was the first time I experienced what it was like to be the parent of the baby that everyone is mad at and it was not fun. The only thing that made it slightly better was knowing that the obnoxious lady behind us was fuming. Several times throughout the flight he was woken up by the people sitting behind us and every time he voiced his displeasure. I spend most of the flight holding him, either trying to console him or keep him from jumping all over the plane.
The flight seemed to drag on forever, but finally we did land! After the momentary exuberant feeling of the arrival ended, we had to walk what seemed like 3 miles with all our carry on bags, which was not easy. Miraculously, we avoided the customs line and the customs agent didn't ask us a single question, all she did was flirt with the baby and let us go. My in-laws met us with a giant van they rented (it held 15+ passengers, plus luggage and there were only 5 of us counting my in-laws). The moment we stepped outside the warm air hit us together with the springlike scent and we were finally here and able to relax, for now...
Getting our Visas
At some time early in the planning stages, while on a trip to Chicago, we made an appointment with the Jewish Agency to get information on obtaining a work visa. They talked to us about our goals and recommended we apply for an A1 temporary resident visa. We filled out an application and over the course of a bunch of months, sent in all the require paperwork. Some of the requested documentation was harder to get than we expected and we turned it in rather last minute.
After turning in everything requested of us, we were told that they'd process it and have our Visas before our flight. Then we were informed that we had to fill out a whole different application and send it to someone at Nefesh B'nefesh who would then send it to the US Consulate. After doing all that, we were told that we had to overnight some more paperwork with our passports to the consulate in chicago. We found this out at around 5PM and the paperwork which had to be notarized, together with new passport photos had to be in by the next day. We ran to UPS, got the papers notarized then ran to fedex to get the passport pictured and ship the package.
We got to Fedex with 20 minuted to spare before the cutoff time for express packages, but they said they couldn't take passport pictures for at least 15 minutes and it wouldn't print in time. They directed us to another Fedex location, that had a 8:00 cutoff time, the latest in the state. We ran over there and they said they couldn't take passport pictures for the baby, because they never come out. I talked the lady into doing it anyway and she patiently spent 15 minutes trying to get a picture with him sitting still (they required him to sit in a chair and look straight at the camera). Finally we finished taking the pictures and what do you know, the printer died and they couldn't print them. We were now down to 30 minutes until cutoff time. We ran down the block to CVS who refused to take pictures for the baby and then to Walgreens who said 'no problem". They had a much smarter systems for taking baby passport pictures; they lay the background down on a counter and let the baby lie down on it. The photo guy kept having to leave to help an elderly customer, but eventually got all our pictures and sent them to the printer, which seemed to take forever. We finally got them and sped back to Fedex, arriving 3 minutes before cutoff!
Two days later we received our passports back with the wrong visas! This was on Thursday, 6 days before our flight and the consulate was closed the next Monday for MLK day. This meant that if we overnighted the passports back to the consulate and they didn't send them back on Friday, we would not have passports in time for our flight. I thought this was a crazy risk, not to mention expensive. I preferred to get on our flights and get visas in Israel (which is basically what happened in the end). my wife disagreed, she didn't want to deal with the Israeli Bureaucracy, so we overnighted them back with a return envelope with overnight saturday delivery. By some miracle we got our passports with the correct visas on shabbos. Only to find out later, that the whole visa was issued incorrectly and we had to reapply, but more on that later.
After turning in everything requested of us, we were told that they'd process it and have our Visas before our flight. Then we were informed that we had to fill out a whole different application and send it to someone at Nefesh B'nefesh who would then send it to the US Consulate. After doing all that, we were told that we had to overnight some more paperwork with our passports to the consulate in chicago. We found this out at around 5PM and the paperwork which had to be notarized, together with new passport photos had to be in by the next day. We ran to UPS, got the papers notarized then ran to fedex to get the passport pictured and ship the package.
We got to Fedex with 20 minuted to spare before the cutoff time for express packages, but they said they couldn't take passport pictures for at least 15 minutes and it wouldn't print in time. They directed us to another Fedex location, that had a 8:00 cutoff time, the latest in the state. We ran over there and they said they couldn't take passport pictures for the baby, because they never come out. I talked the lady into doing it anyway and she patiently spent 15 minutes trying to get a picture with him sitting still (they required him to sit in a chair and look straight at the camera). Finally we finished taking the pictures and what do you know, the printer died and they couldn't print them. We were now down to 30 minutes until cutoff time. We ran down the block to CVS who refused to take pictures for the baby and then to Walgreens who said 'no problem". They had a much smarter systems for taking baby passport pictures; they lay the background down on a counter and let the baby lie down on it. The photo guy kept having to leave to help an elderly customer, but eventually got all our pictures and sent them to the printer, which seemed to take forever. We finally got them and sped back to Fedex, arriving 3 minutes before cutoff!
Two days later we received our passports back with the wrong visas! This was on Thursday, 6 days before our flight and the consulate was closed the next Monday for MLK day. This meant that if we overnighted the passports back to the consulate and they didn't send them back on Friday, we would not have passports in time for our flight. I thought this was a crazy risk, not to mention expensive. I preferred to get on our flights and get visas in Israel (which is basically what happened in the end). my wife disagreed, she didn't want to deal with the Israeli Bureaucracy, so we overnighted them back with a return envelope with overnight saturday delivery. By some miracle we got our passports with the correct visas on shabbos. Only to find out later, that the whole visa was issued incorrectly and we had to reapply, but more on that later.
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| Angry Passport Photo |
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Packing and Preparing for The Move
True to our nature, we managed to avoid completing the seemingly endless tasks that we needed to complete before the move, until the last possible moment. Our house sat on the market for months, with little serious interest before we finally contacted a realtor who showed the house to numerous interested parties in the last months before we left. Unfortunately, our house is on the high end of the market in a not so affluent area, so it's outside the budget of the average resident. We received numerous "we love the house but can only afford half the asking price" offers, but nothing substantial.
With two weeks to go, we started to get desperate. Our house was a mess of boxes as we attempted to pack all our belongings into storage (we planned to only take with us what we could fit in our suitcases). The more we packed, the more we realized we had more things still to pack. Every accomplished task seemed to create further tasks for us to do. We worked around the clock for the last week, with no end in sight. Finally on our last day before the move we managed to move everything important out of the house and we felt quite accomplished. Unfortunately, we were not able to move quite few unimportant items that are still in the house now.
Our realtor told us several times in the last couple weeks that he would have an offer for us the next day (from multiple interested parties), however they all failed to materialize. We boarded our flight with no idea what the future of our house would be.
With two weeks to go, we started to get desperate. Our house was a mess of boxes as we attempted to pack all our belongings into storage (we planned to only take with us what we could fit in our suitcases). The more we packed, the more we realized we had more things still to pack. Every accomplished task seemed to create further tasks for us to do. We worked around the clock for the last week, with no end in sight. Finally on our last day before the move we managed to move everything important out of the house and we felt quite accomplished. Unfortunately, we were not able to move quite few unimportant items that are still in the house now.
Our realtor told us several times in the last couple weeks that he would have an offer for us the next day (from multiple interested parties), however they all failed to materialize. We boarded our flight with no idea what the future of our house would be.
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| This is what our living room looked like a week before we moved! |
Telling my family and booking our flights
Once we decided that we were committed to making this temporary move happen, we secretly started making plans. We didn't want to tell anyone we were moving only to find that we can't because one of the obstacles in our path was not able to be overcome. Eventually we reached the point where it was necessary to include others in our planning, so we decided to tell my parents first.
We invited them over one night and told them our plans. They were not completely shocked, because they knew that my wife wasn't happy that she lived so far away from her parents. Save for a few offhanded comments about the irresponsible nature of our decision, my parents seemed to be ok with the idea. Despite their nonchalant faces, they were actually rather upset that we were leaving, or so I heard from other family members. I can't say I blame them, what they were really upset about is not that we're leaving, but that they won't get to spend the next year with our son who will be a year old at the time of our move. My whole family is completely in love with him and they resent us for taking him away from them, fair enough.
Telling my in-laws was a completely different experience, complete with excited shouting and shrieking. Instead of offhanded criticisms, we received words of encouragement. In short, they both acted exactly as could be expected.
Once the cat was out of the bag (I never got this expression, I don't like cats, but I wouldn't put them in a bag), we began making plans in full force. We looked around for flights for a while until one day we saw on Dansdeals.com that Air France was having a sale on tickets purchased with Flying Blue miles and a one way ticket was as low as 12,500 miles. We missed that deal, but as it turns out it was for the best, as the 25,000 mile flight we found after the deal ended, had no fuel surcharges and the total cost was similar. This flight also was on Delta, instead of Air France with a stopover in NY instead of Paris, which really turned out to be for the best, considering the horrible events that have unfolded in Paris lately.
We originally planned to carry the baby the entire flight, which wouldn't have been so easy considering that he's in training to compete in Sumo Wrestling in the baby olympics (I still maintain that Baby Olympics would be awesome). I also don't consider it to be very safe (flying with out a car seat, not baby sumo wrestling) and I was hoping that the seat next to us would be empty so we could bring his car seat. It turned out that with miles it was a better value all around to book him his own seat. We also found that even though Air France and Delta both said it was impossible, we were able to get our Delta Platinum benefits on the flight, which gave us 2 bags each (including the baby) plus the normal baby allowance and gave us free premium economy seats.
Booking the tickets was the most exciting part of the planning and finally made us feel like we were really moving. The rest of the planning was kind of anticlimactic.
We invited them over one night and told them our plans. They were not completely shocked, because they knew that my wife wasn't happy that she lived so far away from her parents. Save for a few offhanded comments about the irresponsible nature of our decision, my parents seemed to be ok with the idea. Despite their nonchalant faces, they were actually rather upset that we were leaving, or so I heard from other family members. I can't say I blame them, what they were really upset about is not that we're leaving, but that they won't get to spend the next year with our son who will be a year old at the time of our move. My whole family is completely in love with him and they resent us for taking him away from them, fair enough.
Telling my in-laws was a completely different experience, complete with excited shouting and shrieking. Instead of offhanded criticisms, we received words of encouragement. In short, they both acted exactly as could be expected.
Once the cat was out of the bag (I never got this expression, I don't like cats, but I wouldn't put them in a bag), we began making plans in full force. We looked around for flights for a while until one day we saw on Dansdeals.com that Air France was having a sale on tickets purchased with Flying Blue miles and a one way ticket was as low as 12,500 miles. We missed that deal, but as it turns out it was for the best, as the 25,000 mile flight we found after the deal ended, had no fuel surcharges and the total cost was similar. This flight also was on Delta, instead of Air France with a stopover in NY instead of Paris, which really turned out to be for the best, considering the horrible events that have unfolded in Paris lately.
We originally planned to carry the baby the entire flight, which wouldn't have been so easy considering that he's in training to compete in Sumo Wrestling in the baby olympics (I still maintain that Baby Olympics would be awesome). I also don't consider it to be very safe (flying with out a car seat, not baby sumo wrestling) and I was hoping that the seat next to us would be empty so we could bring his car seat. It turned out that with miles it was a better value all around to book him his own seat. We also found that even though Air France and Delta both said it was impossible, we were able to get our Delta Platinum benefits on the flight, which gave us 2 bags each (including the baby) plus the normal baby allowance and gave us free premium economy seats.
Booking the tickets was the most exciting part of the planning and finally made us feel like we were really moving. The rest of the planning was kind of anticlimactic.
Monday, January 26, 2015
War in Israel
Right around the time we decided to move, the situation in Israel rapidly deteriorated. Three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and murdered and after Israel retaliated against the terrorists, Hamas responded by launching hundreds of rockets into civilian neighborhoods all around Israel, creating an all out war. I wasn't overly concerned for my safety, as the casualties from the rockets were low, thank G-d, but I was more than a little worried about bringing my family there.
I watched the news anxiously every day, hoping that the situation would be resolved and Israel would be a safer place to live before we got there. I decided that unless the situation deteriorated drastically, moving would still be the right thing to do. Unfortunately, it seems like the solutions reached, were little more than temporary pauses in the hostilities.
I'll spare you my opinions of what should have been/should be done until I've been living here a bit longer. Not that a year is enough time, but I hope to at least have a better understanding of the reality of the situation.
I watched the news anxiously every day, hoping that the situation would be resolved and Israel would be a safer place to live before we got there. I decided that unless the situation deteriorated drastically, moving would still be the right thing to do. Unfortunately, it seems like the solutions reached, were little more than temporary pauses in the hostilities.
I'll spare you my opinions of what should have been/should be done until I've been living here a bit longer. Not that a year is enough time, but I hope to at least have a better understanding of the reality of the situation.
The Decision
I always knew there would come a time when my wife decided she wanted to live in Israel. Her parents made Aliyah when she was in seminary and prior to my messing up her plans, she expected to marry a sefardi rabbi and live in Israel her whole life. I however, had no intention of going along with such plans and made it clear I wanted to stay in America while we were dating. I did agree to keep an open mind and not rule anything out before I ever visited Israel.
The 2nd year we were married, we spent Pesach in Israel with the in-laws. I had a great time and loved the country (especially the food and weather). I would have agreed to move to Israel then, but alas we had other responsibilities and it seemed rather impossible. I had a business to run, we had just bought a house in Detroit which we were remodeling and we planned to be there long term.
A year and a half later, the idea of moving was far removed from our minds. We were on vacation in Houston early in the summer, when I received a call from the manager of my restaurant. Apparently over the weekend, while the restaurant was closed, something happened to the water heater which caused a small fire. I was told the fire didn't do much damage, but the smoke was all over and it would take a few days to get it back up and running. When I got back in town and inspected the damage myself, I found that the smoke damage was far more intensive than anyone had noticed.
Consulting with the experts, I was told that at the very least we'd have to be closed for several weeks and it would cost tens of thousands, if not more, to repair the damage. I was distraught, as I had spent several years building up the business and had just finished a major remodel several months before. Everything had been running smoothly and the future looked bright. My wife approached me the next day with an idea that neither of us had so much as mentioned before. Why don't we take off for a year to live in Israel? The idea sounded ludicrous, but the more we talked about it the more it seemed to make sense. I didn't have the drive to rebuild the restaurant again and my wife wasn't happy living in Detroit, so why not try something different.
Of course there were many reasons not to do it and plenty of obstacles in our way, but ideas like this have a way of gaining traction and crushing the logical objections and that's exactly what happened.
The 2nd year we were married, we spent Pesach in Israel with the in-laws. I had a great time and loved the country (especially the food and weather). I would have agreed to move to Israel then, but alas we had other responsibilities and it seemed rather impossible. I had a business to run, we had just bought a house in Detroit which we were remodeling and we planned to be there long term.
A year and a half later, the idea of moving was far removed from our minds. We were on vacation in Houston early in the summer, when I received a call from the manager of my restaurant. Apparently over the weekend, while the restaurant was closed, something happened to the water heater which caused a small fire. I was told the fire didn't do much damage, but the smoke was all over and it would take a few days to get it back up and running. When I got back in town and inspected the damage myself, I found that the smoke damage was far more intensive than anyone had noticed.
Consulting with the experts, I was told that at the very least we'd have to be closed for several weeks and it would cost tens of thousands, if not more, to repair the damage. I was distraught, as I had spent several years building up the business and had just finished a major remodel several months before. Everything had been running smoothly and the future looked bright. My wife approached me the next day with an idea that neither of us had so much as mentioned before. Why don't we take off for a year to live in Israel? The idea sounded ludicrous, but the more we talked about it the more it seemed to make sense. I didn't have the drive to rebuild the restaurant again and my wife wasn't happy living in Detroit, so why not try something different.
Of course there were many reasons not to do it and plenty of obstacles in our way, but ideas like this have a way of gaining traction and crushing the logical objections and that's exactly what happened.
Sunday, January 25, 2015
Why am I writing this
I had a thought the other day, "there aren't enough self-important bloggers writing about what it's like to live in Israel. I better do something about that.". More seriously, I thought it would be fun to document my experiences in Israel and it will help improve my writing skills and considering that my memory is shot, it might help with that as well.
So here goes something, maybe. Good luck getting through my rambling babbles.
So here goes something, maybe. Good luck getting through my rambling babbles.
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