I’ve come a long way since soup!

It must have been about 2 months ago that I first came out to the world as a very inept food preparer.  My, how things have changed.  I certainly haven’t reached the status of Martha JEWart yet, but I’m on my way! 

 

I’ve been playing over the past couple of weeks with a few simple dishes that I already know how to make (think pasta) but experimenting in a way that lets me spread my culinary wings.  For example, I haven't been purchasing any expensive pre-made pasta sauces – instead, I get the standard tomato base and I doctor it in a way that I think would be tasty.  I’ve played with water, oil, spices and some veggies (like onions and mushrooms).  Sometimes it’s a hit and sometimes it’s a miss…. The other day I spent literally like 35 minutes preparing this pasta dish, I put lots of fun ingredients plus delicious cheese and I was super excited about it.  Fork to mouth to try it – NO TASTE!!!! It was so disappointing! I didn’t understand how all those things could be put together and for it to literally taste more tasteless than plain pasta.  Maybe it was some kind of weird combo that many people know about but when mixed, the flavors all cancel each other out – weird.

Anyway, I didn’t let that negative experience affect me and I have since tried my hand at a number of other dishes – more successfully I might add.  Last week, I prepared an entire 3 dish dinner which was wildly successful.  I’ve kind of mastered my go-to dish of roasted vegetables.  Here in Israel my fellow tasters have called it antipasti.  It’s yummy, healthy and pretty simple.  Additionally, I prepared my first fish since I got here.  My first week in Israel I bought this frozen fish at the super market because it looks pretty basic and the price was right.  I finally defrosted some of it and without following a recipe, I prepared some.  Yummy!!! I’m convinced that Teriyaki sauce can make anything taste good.  Additionally, I made my second ever batch of Kinoa and I made it to perfection.  It could not have been less not-burnt.  It was cooked the exact amount of time and it was perfectly moist and fluffy without being too overdone or wet.  I threw in a few veggies and feta cheese, dressed it with some olive oil and lemon juice, and VOILA! Another delicious component to the meal.  This is what my plate looked like:

Salivate away, my friends, salivate away.

Admittedly, I’ve been kind of a copy-cat with most of my food preparations.  But flattery is the best compliment, is it not?  Tehila and her family have hosted me numerous times and I find the food to be delicious.  As such, I’ve phoned a number of times to get some advice and ask how I should prepare things.  This Shabbat, I wanted to lay low and so I decided to stay in my apartment with one of my roommates – and the kicker is that I prepared the food! 

As preparation, I went to the supermarket early Friday afternoon (hint to Rami Levi shoppers – it’s an awesome time to go!  Super calm with plenty of available carts and space to walk around as well as short lines!) and for the first time in my life, I bought chicken.  Actually, that’s not true – a number of times while living in Teaneck, I had been sent to Glatt Express with explicit instruction of which packet of empire chicken to pick up.  But this was different – I went to the meat/chicken counter and I asked the guy for a kilo of sliced chicken breast.  (Quick side note – I ordered in fully understandable Hebrew, and hearing my accent, he answered me in English, yet I continued to communicate in Hebrew despite his apparent need to talk back to me in English…. How am I supposed to learn if people do that?!?! It’s a good thing I work in an Ulpan!) Along with a bunch of other grocery items, I made my way home to attempt food prep.

What was really my first time ever was cleaning and cooking the chicken.  It was a little scary but I survived and actually made 3 different kinds - 2 types of baked chicken with slices of onions, and a stir-fry with veggies.

Additionally, I made another parve Kinoa and a fresh salad and sweet potato!  I was literally in charge of all aspects of the meals and I succeeded!  I succeeded at covering all the bases and I also succeeded at making the food yummy!  I don’t know if it is particularly bragging, but I’m really proud of what I did!  This is a huge step in the right direction for me in my efforts towards becoming a functioning human being, living on my own and being totally in charge of myself.  I said it before and I’ll say it again – having these little successes is really empowering and it’s just gonna push me to keep experimenting and seeing what other little walls I can break down.  You (I) go, girl!

Visiting Mevaseret

It’s crazy to think that I came for the year to seminary in Israel 8 years ago!  Livimg here now still reminds me of some of the good times I had then, but for the most part, it’s something of the past.  What’s fun for me is that my brother is currently spending his year in Israel, and the other night I got to taste a night in the life of a seminary boy (or Yeshiva Bochur, if you will).

Mevaseret Tzion is located a few Kilometers outside of Jerusalem, and there you will find a Yeshiva full of boys shteiging away at any given moment.  Moshe (the brother) invited me to come check it out, and so I did.  Not ever having been there before, I needed explicit directions of which bus to take, where to catch it, and where to get off.  I was told that once I get on the bus, I should just ask the driver to let me off at a specific landmark, and for certain he would know where it was.  Obviously, the driver responded to me that he had no idea what I was talking about and he was pretty dismissive.  Luckily, though, someone behind me heard that I was going to the Yeshiva, and started asking around for anyone that was getting off at that stop.  The elderly gentleman behind me said that he was, and let me know that he would tell me when it was time.  My only other gauge of where I should alight from the bus was approximately how long the bus ride should take.  When it was approaching the given time, I started looking around for the landmark on my own because the man wasn’t saying anything to me.  When he saw my wandering eye, he got my attention and gave me the quintessential Israel “wait a second” look accompanied by the hand gesture (all fingers together, pointed up, shaking back and forth).  In order to best show what it looked like (because it made me laugh at the time, as this man’s version was so exaggerated), I later asked Moshe to try and replicate what it may have looked like – this is what we came up with:

Anyway, we finally reached our stop, and Moshe and his friend (also a new friend of mine) Jake, came to meet me.  Like true Seminary boys, they took me straight to get something to eat.  Instead of going to the Burger’s Bar joint across the street from their school, we went to this sketchy convenience store next door and ordered the most delicious sandwich ever for half the price that it was offered under the brand name.  Of course I was privy to watching the guy behind the counter (same one who prepared my sandwich and did everything else in the store) hand out his private cell phone number to my brother and friend so that whenever they want a sandwich, they can just call in advance and it will be ready for them when they arrive.  Sketchy doesn’t even begin to describe it. 

After dinner and watching an episode of How I Met Your Mother on the big screen, I got a tour of the Mevaseret campus.  It kind of felt like visiting day at camp as Moshe took me around, showing me all the favorite spots and introducing me to everyone.  I even got to hang out in his room – a strictly BOYS ONLY spot.  Hanging with the summer camp motif, it kind of felt like I was on a raid and any second the counselors could catch me and send me to Chana’s office (that’s a Moshava reference for all you Alumn).  It was funny that I was the object of Moshe’s show-and-tell for the evening as many of the guys on his floor came by to say hi to the taboo girl in the dorms. 

Yes, the dorms were kind of smelly.  Yes, the rooms were pretty messy.  Yes, there was an illegal fridge stocked with stale cake and bottles of beer.  But all of that gave me a real look into the life of a modern day seminary boy.  It was great fun hanging out with Moshe and his friends and getting a peak into his experience – one that seemed as though it didn’t differ quite so much from my year in Israel.  If it follows the same path, maybe in 8 years from now (or hopefully less) I will find that I can greet Moshe on his incoming Nefesh B’Nefesh flight into Ben Gurion airport as he makes Aliyah as well.

It's been a hard day's night - and I've been WORKING like a dog!

Coming off the “high” from my sisters engagement, I figured it’s about to share the other big news in my life – I’M EMPLOYED! It’s hard to call it NEWs since this has been my reality for the past 3 weeks, but it’s certainly one of the biggest things that’s going on in my life right now.  While talking to my Dad last night, he asked me why I hadn’t written about my job yet and ironically I answered that since I’ve had the job, I’ve barely had time to write about it! But here goes:

Never in a million years did I dream that within a month of my moving to Israel that I would land full time (plus) work… I really consider myself very lucky and in the big picture, I think this is what is good for me.  Back when I was working in NY, an Israeli company had made contact with my organization, and I helped to facilitate the meeting.  I had a good connection with the woman with whom I had been in touch and so I kept her contact information in preparation of my Aliya.  Long story short – I got here, I called her to see if she might be able to help me network, she told me they were hiring, we went out for coffee, she shared my resume with her bosses, I got an interview and started work that Sunday.  (Oh yeh, for those of you who don’t know, the Israel work-week is Sunday through Thursday… ADDITIONALLY I work alternating Fridays – shoot me, shoot me now!) 

So where am I working?  The place is called Ulpan Or – Hebrew at the speed of light!  It is a private Ulpan where we do intensive one on one courses where people can start speaking Hebre within a week or 2 (free advertising – I should get a bonus).  Clearly I’m not teaching Hebrew as I’m still brushing upon my own skills, but one of the main perks of working there is that I’m surrounded in this Hebrew environment (and they made a rule for my benefit – which I actually find to be really helpful – that everyone has to speak to me only in Hebrew and I have to speak Hebrew back – except for with one person, the one who I originally made the connection with).  I’m working in the office taking care of a lot of the administrative stuff but I’m also doing some sales and marketing.  I’m learning a TON, but it’s been a little bit hard.  Aside from the fact that I’m learning a whole new system in a new job, while I’m still new in in the country and thus far I’ve been averaging about 50 hours a week, every program that I am using on the computer is in Hebrew as well!  I can read and write in Hebrew, but I’m just so much slower than I am in English!  It’s all a bit challenging but I think having all this hard stuff in the very beginning just means that I’m going to progress much faster.

To talk about some of the GOOD stuff, I actually love the people that I work with!  They are really fun and welcoming and awesome in their approach to be accommodating to my learning Hebrew as well (they are Hebrew teachers after all).  I also like the work environment (other than the times when I’m feeling super pressured and working more hours than I should be – yesterday I pulled a 12 hour shift – I don’t even want to get started on that….) where we really feel like a family.  That’s a new experience for me.  And also the fact that you can wear jeans, T-shirts and flip flops to work every day?  Sweet!  I don’t actually dress like that usually – I was taught that you should dress for the job that you want, not the job that you have – but it’s cool to know that I can!  I’m also really happy to just have a job.

I didn’t come to Israel to be a tourist – I came to start a life, and part of life is working.  Yes, I have less free time, and yes I complain a lot, but this is what I came here to do.  I’m employed and I’m a contributing member of the society, and I’m learning Hebrew and I have a paycheck!  Life is good.

Love and Marriage

Wow – so much has been going on lately, but in this posting I want to make it clear just how freaking excited I am that my one and only awesome sister is ENGAGED!!!!!  Oriyah Lewy-Neuman is officially betrothed to the loving Aharon Nitkin and on behalf of the Lewy-Neuman clan (is it OK that I’m a self-appointed spokesperson?) we welcome Aharon to our family!

This is the first wedding in my immediate family (other than my parents’ – duh) and it’s a new and exciting territory.  Not to take away from Oriyah and Aharon at all, but yesterday someone congratulated me as the sister of the bride and that was so weird!! I’m the sister of the bride!  I kind of forgot about myself in this whole situation, and it is more appropriate that the focus should be on Oriyah, but it’s exciting that I’m a part of this celebration, too! 

The pink elephant in the room has got to be that clearly I’m the Pippa Middleton in this all… right? Ha – just kidding!  I feel so grateful in terms of the timing of all of this because Oriyah has been living in Israel for the past almost 5 years, and I just moved here about 5 weeks ago….. It is almost as though she was waiting for me to be here so that I can celebrate WITH her, in the same country and it’s AWESOME!!!! I’m so lucky to be able to be here in the thick of things and so present in the reality of it all.  I feel a little bad (really just a little because it’s hard to feel badly in such a good situation) for both the rest of my family (my parents and extended family) and Aharon’s family who aren’t here in Israel now.  Obviously the happiness is not limited to those nearby, but the fact that I can give Oriyah a celebratory hug in person feels great.

Having a celebration kind of reminds me how awesome love is.  I clearly love Oriyah, and I’m thankful to have a close sisterly bond with her (I recognize that not everyone does have that).  I don’t know Aharon so well yet (I’ve met him a couple of times and thus far he seems like a cool dude) but the fact that he loves Oriyah and makes her so happy makes ME happy and thus I am on my way to loving him as well.  To be as happy for someone else as I could be for myself reaffirms that I have a working heart!  Please Gd I hope to one day celebrate this same type of occasion for myself (and one day for my brother Moshe as well - although if he gets married before me, I’m gonna kill him), but this is Oriyah’s time and I couldn’t be happier for her, for Aharon and for both of our families!!!  Yay!!!

Here is a picture of us from the night the engagement went public - it is slightly blurry and the lighting is horrendous (it was a Chinese restaurant and they had lots of lanterns) but take what you can get...)

Only in Israel...

Today I witnessed the most precious thing… I was standing at the bus stop waiting for the bus when I see these 2 very young kids – likely siblings – approach someone else at the stop.  I did not hear the dialogue that took place between them, but next thing I knew, the older approached person accompanied the two youngsters across the street.  It didn’t hit me right away what happened, but then I realized that these two kids aren’t allowed to cross the street by themselves, so whenever they approach a street crossing (mind you, it wasn’t on a very busy street – super un-highway like), their instruction is to ask someone older and self-reliant (at least when it comes to crossing the street) to accompany them across the road. 

Seeing this made me briefly smile internally, but it was quickly interrupted when a new set of young siblings, a young girl holding the hand of her even younger brother, came over to me and very quietly, obediently and politely asked me if I could help them cross the street.  My heart melted!!! It was the sweetest thing!  I obviously agreed and very simply walked across the street with them (to be honest I wasn’t sure if I should have held her hand as well but I kind of protectively put my hand around her as if to rest it on her shoulder, but I didn’t actually touch her – I didn’t want to freak her out).  I was so pleased to have taken part in that little good deed.

It really struck me what a special occurrence this was.  I really feel like this would and could only happen in Israel.  Firstly, that such young children have such respect for the rules that their parents set for them is something you don’t see every day.  Secondly, that parents trust their kids to such an extent to set these rules in place and trust that they will followed is also something.  And thirdly, that it is safe and appropriate for little kids to approach ‘strangers’ is the very thing that parents tell their kids NOT to do in America.  The whole situation was somewhat surreal, but was really enlightening and encouraging.  I’m happy now to be living in a place where such an occurrence can take place at such regular intervals.  I’m excited at the prospect of raising a family in such an environment.

Turning Tables

No Surprise – I’m a huge Adele fan (who isn’t), but that’s not what this is about.  I happen to live under an apartment where I can only assume that the people who live there move furniture around their apartment for a living.  At any hour of the day or night, it is not unlikely to hear a table or chair (and I wouldn’t rule out a bed or a chest of drawers, either) scratching across the floor.  I happen to have ears that are very keen to pick up noises, but these are no subtle sounds.  I can be lying in bed trying to go to bed while watching FRIENDS (duh), with a background sound of the usual outdoor noises coming through the window, when a SCREEEEECHHHH will puncture my calmness and jolt me awake.  Similarly, during the day one can hear the familiar drag across the floor at regular timely intervals. 

In truth, it doesn’t really BOTHER me.  Rather, it is just another ‘apartment-living’ component that I need to get used to.  Again, this is my first time living not in a house (incorrect English, but it is what I meant to say), and these strange noises come with the new territory.  The way building structures are made here, some of the older places (like mine) have super thin walls, and so late at night, while I’m watching FRIENDS (again, duh), I can usually hear my roommate/wall-mate laughing at whatever show she is watching as well.  Thank G-d I’m a heavy sleeper.

The only noise that I haven’t been able to get used to is the sudden slamming of the door to my room.  I have a sliding door which is only attached from the top of the door post.  As such, as it slides or even stays stationary, the bottom part of the door can easily be pushed into the room from the middle down.  To keep air flowing in my room, I usually have at least one window open, but sometimes that air pressure pulls/pushes the door into my and then releases it so that it slams back into its normal position.  During the day this is no issue, but when it suddenly bangs and wakes me unexpectedly at an hour that I am not meant to get up, I find it a bit irritating. 

I know that some people sleep with ear plugs – a habit that I know of bunch of my city-dwelling friends have taken up – but it is not something that I would want to become reliant on.  I think if I just tough it out for a couple more weeks (it has only been 3 weeks so far) it will become white noise, along with the Screechy McScratchersons upstairs.

I Made Soup!

I’m not THE most domestic person that ever lived.  Anyone that has ever seen my room in Teaneck could vouch for the fact that I’m kind of a hoarder and sometimes I let things get messy (something that I’m working on not happening in this new life that I’m creating for myself) even though I like things clean (myself included – I shower daily).  Having never really lived on my own before, I don’t know explicitly how to run a household.  There are a few domestic things that I do well such as doing laundry (folding included) and washing dishes – both of which I sometimes actually enjoy doing.  A major area where I am lacking in skill, though, is cooking.

Growing up in a household where the Dad is the main food-maker (and a fine good one at that), a young girl doesn’t generally bond in the kitchen the same way she would say, baking cooking with her Mom.  Said girl is me.  I didn’t learn from a young age how to make chicken, or bake a cake or any of those other standard food related activities.  My helping to prepare food consisted of a lot of cutting and chopping… and as a result, I can cut up veggies like it’s no one’s business.  In my teen years I perfected my omelet making abilities, and it wasn’t until I was about 20 that I started making pasta.  I think I made my first hard-boiled egg a couple of years ago.  I know this probably makes me look like I’m some kind of spoiled girl who can’t do anything for herself, but in truth it is all circumstantial.  When I was in college, I was on a full meal plan, and weekends were either spent at home or by friends – I didn’t have a kitchen.  After having graduated, I backpacked for about a year, and in that time I didn’t have a kitchen at my disposal and so I got really good at eating fresh fruit and vegetables, and where I was able, I bought ready-made food.  Otherwise, I’ve still been living with my parents (not out of laziness, rather to save my money in anticipation of the big move to Israel) and I’ve been able to benefit from my dad’s cooking as well as sticking to what I know (pasta, salad, omelets). 

Now that I am finally a big girl and living on my own, I’m being forced into this situation where I need to take care of all of my own food needs.  In truth, it’s about time.  I’m excited at the prospect of learning how to hone in further on my domestic skills.  Thankfully, I have my sister and a best friend nearby to coach and mentor me.  And it finally happened this week! 

In an effort to clean and purge before Pesach, Tehila was getting rid of a whole bunch of vegetables and I took them off her hands.  Once home, I looked at the onions, sweet potatoes and zucchini and thought it would be a good opportunity to try my hand at soup…. uncharted territory for me.  With the help of both my mentors over the phone and computer respectively, I fried some onions, cut up the sweet potatoes and zucchini, put it all together in a pot with water and some spices and anxiously waited (obviously I incessantly removed the lid, stirred, and kept checking in it) for it to be done.   The results were fantastic!  Here is a picture of my soup:

 It was tasty and filling, and I now feel empowered!  I’m excited about having a new meal option in my arsenal and it was easy!  This sense of accomplishment (laugh if you will, but this was kind of a big deal for me) will only take me forward and push me towards making more new things and becoming the chef that I know is inside me (probably hiding really far away and will need some coaxing to come out)!!!

My love, My life..... VOLLEYBALL

Having just survived my first weekend in Israel, I feel like I’m starting to settle in a little bit better.  Really things are going well here, thank Gd, but it’s still hard to think about the life I left behind in America.  I’m doing my best to look ahead and not behind, but sometimes it is easier said than done.  Mostly when I am keeping busy it’s good for me and I’m able to be happy.  It is sometimes in those quiet moments that a memory pops into my head and I get nostalgic and possibly a little sad. 

Those who know me well (or who have had the opportunity to talk to me recently, because it’s been the topic of a lot of my recent conversations) will know that one of the hardest things for me to have left behind was the regularity of my having played volleyball.  For the past 2 years, I’ve been playing volleyball every Thursday night in Teaneck.  It’s just my thing – Thursday night is volleyball night.  I plan around that, knowing that from 8-10:25pm, don’t schedule anything else or plan to be anywhere else because I will be at the Benjamin Franklin middle school gym playing volleyball.  This past Thursday night here in Israel, I couldn’t help but be aware of the fact that I wasn’t playing volleyball (even though with the time difference, my 8pm really meant 2pm in NJ/NY so it didn’t exactly match up).  In the past month, I’ve started playing every Tuesday night in Hackensack at the YMCA, and even in that short period of time I became connected to the people and the game.  No matter what else was going on in my life, no matter how busy I was otherwise or what other plans I had, these games took precedence in my time management. 

Here’s an example: In the weeks before I left NJ, my dad would remind me multiple times daily that I “(didn’t) have a clue about how much there (was) to do….”  I don’t want to stray too far from my position of oppositional daughter, but I think he was kind of right.  Knowing that I am a procrastinator, I did my best to go through my stuff and pack as far in advance as possible, and so steadily for too week’s I made my way through my life’s possessions and started to pack my bags.  Each day I would think that I made progress and know that I still had the remaining days to get my stuff done.  So the week before my departure was no different.  Even though I still had HOURS (if not days) or work left to do, volleyball was still a priority for me.  I played a record 4 games that week: On Sunday morning, for 2 hours, I returned to my former High School to play an alumni volleyball game against the current year’s Varsity Team.  (I’ve gone back to play with them many times these past couple of years and it has always been fun and a good way to continue to play).  Tuesday evening I went to Hackensack to play for another 2 hours in that new game. (The YMCA in Hackensack is actually a cool place and an awesome resource that I feel foolish not to have been taking advantage of for years!) Wednesday night I got my volleyball buddy Leya to schlepp to Ridgewood High School with me for the best game ever with a cool, diverse group of people and a really high level of play.  And of course, Thursday evening was spent at my usual game.  Despite the ridiculous amount of work that I had to do toward making myself ready to board the plane on Monday, it was still really important for me to get my volleyball fix and push my other responsibilities aside.

Volleyball will play a key factor in my settling down here in Jerusalem, and starting to feel like myself again.  I’ve been posting all over the internet and inquiring with good resources in an effort to find a game (or preferably multiple games) here around town.  I’m pretty confident that something will come to fruition, but until it does, I will remain a little on edge.  In the meantime, my sister and some local friends are interested in bumping around a ball (I now have my own which was my going away present from my former place of work – Thanks Steinhardt Foundation!) so that is fun, and will tide me over for a while.  Here’s to hoping that I find something steady soon so that I can continue my own task of finding structure and reliability in my new life!

Getting settled...

I did it! I’m here, living in Israel and it’s official.  In truth I haven’t done much actual living yet and I’ve spent a lot of time sleeping.  The days before my flight (on Monday, March 26^th) were spent packing and stressing out and being really emotionally charged.  By the time I got to the airport I was exhausted from lack of sleep and from being mentally overloaded.  I also don’t sleep very well or much on airplanes so I didn’t catch up on the flight, and the past 2 days I’ve been going to sleep super late and waking up equally late the next day.  But other than that, I guess I’m now an Israeli citizen!

When we arrived at the airport we were met my a Nefesh B’Nefesh representative who guided us through the process of going to passport control, then busing to the absorption office at another terminal, receiving some information as well at the first part of our absorption package (health insurance, a little bit of cash) and then busing back to collect our bags from baggage claim.  It was after that that I was met on the other side by family and friends – it was amazing! They greeted me with gusto, signs and cookies! Being reunited with people that I love and haven’t seen in a long time made up a bit for having to say goodbye to people that I love and will miss back in America.  It’s hard to sort out all the feelings which I have learned aren’t mutually exclusive.  It actually is possible to feel upset, sad, confused, broken-hearted and overwhelmed regarding leaving America, the life I know, comfort and family and friends while also feeling excited, happy, determined, and anxious to figure out what adventures are to come regarding my new life in Israel. 

For the first time in my life, I’m now living in an apartment in my own room (which is kind of sweet by the way – I have 2 porches off the room that bring in a ton of light and cool hang-out space) while being completely responsible for everything that I do and don’t do.  This move for me represents taking an active role in my life, growing up and making headway in my personal growth.  I didn’t just want to cruise along – I’m ready now (or at least I hope and think I am) to be making some big choices and moving forward instead of being stagnant. 

The next steps are now to finish unpacking, pick up my Teudat Zehut (certificate of citizenship – which I will be doing today), sign up for Ulpan (Hebrew classes) and figure out what to study in school for a Masters and where to do it.  Wish me Luck!

I'm leaving... on a Jet Plane!

I feel like a fish out of water because I haven't done this in a while (Eek! How many times have I said that followed by “I’m going to start this up again…”) but I’m now entering a new stage in life with a new adventure right ahead of me and I’m ready again to start sharing my experiences.

As a quick recap, the past year and a half has been pretty standard – working full time in an office job with a prestigious sounding position title and a super non-prestigious set of responsibilities.  As I’ve previously mentioned, I have been sharing a residence with my parents (“A computer, AND a car?!?! Thanks Mom and Dad!” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCF3ywukQYA – sorry couldn’t help myself) and doing my best to maintain a social life while keeping myself busy with non-work and non-family activities.  I trained for my first half-marathon which I successfully completed in Dec. ’11 in Las Vegas.  Most recently, I’ve made a concrete decision which will have the most impact on my life going forward – I’ve decided to move to Israel (I’m making Aliyah!). 

Having been brought up in a Zionistic family with lots of involvement with B’nai Akiva and having visited and studied in Israel quite a bit, I’ve kind of been on this Israel-bound trajectory for a while.  I’ve known for a couple of years that this was something that I’ve wanted to work towards, but it wasn’t until the beginning of 2012 that I finally got my act together, completed my application to the Jewish Agency and followed through with an interview and actual plans.  All of those efforts have resulted in the fact that in less than a week I will be boarding a plane at Newark Airport on Monday, March 26^th with a direct group flight to Israel.  Initially I had wanted to take one of the Nefesh B’Nefesh chartered flights, where everyone on the plane is moving and they have a whole huge ceremony on both the departing and arriving ends.  Instead, due to timing (as they only have those chartered flights during the summer months), I decided it would be just fine to take a group flight where a block of seats are set aside on the plane for people making Aliyah and we will be walked through the whole bureaucratic process with an agency representative on either side of the flight and on the plane. 

There are a few factors that have influenced this particular timing for me.  Last month I celebrated my 26^th birthday.  I certainly don’t have any real age issues or complexes, but in reality and as clichéd as it sounds, I’m not getting any younger.  As I approach my late 20’s’, I’m realizing that any efforts I want to put in to making an investment in my future should probably be started now.  For example, there was no particular vocational growth that would have happened at my place of work (any more so than what I had already taken from it) and I didn’t see it as much of an education (other than learning how to become a professional scheduler).  As a result, I am fully interested in going back to school to further my formal education, and knowing that I had wanted to live in Israel, what better place to do that than in Israel?  Also, going to school in the country where you hope to be living and integrate into the culture, is meant to be a fantastic way to do that where you can immerse yourself in the language, be with the peers that can help you socially acclimate and experience a right of passage, if you will, that others in your own position go through as well. 

Speaking of Israeli culture, I’m very aware of the fact that I need to get the engrained “New York Mentality” out of my head and stop expecting for everything to run on time, for customer service to exist and I should probably stop walking so fast (and expecting others to do the same).  I had my first slap in the face with reality of an unwanted “exciting” experience at the Jewish Agency in New York.  As part of the Aliyah process, you must receive a special visa in your passport indicating that you are moving.  When you go to Israel as a visitor, just like in many other countries, you are granted a 3 month visitor’s visa.  As I don’t plan on leaving in the first 3 months, I need to have a state-issued visa indicating that I am moving and that the rest of the formal paperwork will be taken care of and is filed somewhere in the Israeli filing system.  Going through this process with the Jewish Agency and Nefesh B’Nefesh, I have the befit of their assistance in dealing with a lot of this formal paperwork.  When I went initially to the Agency for my ‘interview’ and review of all my documentation, they also took my passport along with a passport photo in order to submit it to the Israeli Consulate in New York to process my Israeli Visa in my American passport.  The Agency then receives the passport back and it is up to me to come pick it up or authorize their sending it to me by FedEx.  One of the other benefits offered to me was “First Steps in Israel” meeting held by the Jewish Agency to help the people moving understand what to expect when they first arrive, and what other processes need to be taken care of in the first year of citizenship.  Knowing that I had wanted to come back for this meeting that they hold twice a month, I had requested that they hold onto my passport until I come in for the meeting so as not to have to make 2 trips – I’m very efficient.  So, on Thursday, I made a trip into the city to take care of all the final errands I wanted do, including a visit to the Jewish Agency.  I sat through the hour and a half very informative meeting having learned some really good information and I felt empowered knowing I was better educated about the steps I needed to still take.  On my way out, I casually asked if I could sign for my passport so that I could call it a day.  To make an already long story just a bit longer, we collectively discovered that my passport seemed to be missing.  I was initially met with a whole set of questions that seemed to blame me.  “Are you sure that we told you that your passport was ready to be picked up?”  Yes, I received an e mail over a month ago.  “Might you already have picked up your passport and don’t remember?”  No. “Did you ‘accidentally’ click on the link in the e mail and fill out the pay-pal form to have us FedEx you the passport?”  No – I don’t even have a pay-pal account.  “Yeh, but you don’t need a pay-pal account to use pay-pal… maybe you did that anyway?”  No – and even if you would have sent it to me without my having paid for it, wouldn’t I have received it a month ago? “Yeh – that’s true…Are you sure that you asked us to hold it for you?  Maybe you sent someone else to pick it up for you?”  No – I wrote in multiple e mails that I will come to pick it up when I come for the ‘First Steps’ meeting.  “Oh yes, I see that now….”  It was this series of absurdities that led them to discover a few wholes in their system.  Firstly they thought that maybe they never received the passport back from the Consulate.  That idea was quickly thrown out when they found my folder that had a color photocopy of the visa page in my passport.  So at least it had come back to the office.  Maybe it was in the front with security?  No.  A full on whole-office search was put into effect while I quietly sat there, freaking out on the inside yet maintaining external composure.  I realized that my being a mess wouldn’t be productive and would likely only add to the commotion in their office.  I also couldn’t help but think that I didn’t do anything wrong in this situation and G-d forbid that my passport shouldn’t turn up, it would be THEIR responsibility to expedite my getting a new passport and then expedite my getting a brand new visa and still ensuring that I have a prepared passport in my hand by the time I get to the airport on Monday. They kept assuring me that this never happens – which I actually believed because I can’t bring myself to understand a system where passports are lost – and they were positive it would show up.  In the middle of literally turning out everything in her desk drawers, the representative that I was dealing with decided to do a search in her e mail again to see what might show up.  It turns out that there is another individual whose paperwork and passport were processed about the same time as mine, and his first name starts with an “L” and his last name is “Newman” – not exactly the same as Lewy-Neuman but similar enough.  She got him on the phone and asked if he had received my passport – he responded that he had received his own passport by FedEx a month prior, but recently he has been receiving notices from FedEx indicating that they are trying to deliver a package but he hadn’t been home to receive it and he didn’t know what it was because he wasn’t expecting anything to be delivered.  His inquiry to them with the tracking number they left showed that the Jewish agency was attempting to make another delivery – So they actually sent my passport to the wrong person.  Oops?!?! I think so!   Thank Gd my passport was tracked down!  It wasn’t until this weekend that Mr. Newman handed over my passport to an Agency representative, and they are hand-delivering my passport to me this evening.

Insane?  Absolutely.  But in the end, I am just glad that it turned out to be a non-issue from my end, and I’m looking forward to showing up at the airport with all of my proper documentation.  I’m super excited, nervous, emotional, worried, apprehensive and happy about all that is going on.  Initially all those feelings at once were pretty overwhelming.  Now that I’m in the final stretch and just working towards finishing (ok, that’s a stretch – to call a spade a spade, let’s reword that as “starting”) to pack, I’m slightly more composed than I was 2 weeks ago.  I think that I’m semi-removed from the reality of it all, but if that’s the mindset that I need to maintain in order to be productive, then so be it.  I’m hoping that going forward, I will be more composed and productive, and I’m excited to be able to share more positive experiences and exciting adventures!