Archive for the 'lizrael update' Category
August 6th, 2008 by elie
Haven’t done this in a while, but here goes.
Aliyah
At this point, I’ve been living in Israel for three and a half years. Seems like so much longer… I can now count ‘old friends’ I had when I first came, I have a lengthy list of apartments I’ve lived/crashed in, I’ve been married for nearly two years and traveled internationally with an Israeli travel document six times.
The reasons I stay in Israel are different from the reasons I originally came. When I landed here, I was a single post-graduate with a lot of different directions and vast openness. Since then, I’ve worked at a steady job for three years, which has opened me up to a career path I never would have expected for myself, but warmly welcome. I’ve married a non-American/non-Israeliborn from across the world, so it will never be easy to pick up and leave Israel for us; it’s not a matter of moving to an obvious place.
Also, I’ve invested so much into living here, mentally, and I’ve lost touch with reality in the States. I’ve gotten used to a lifestyle here that I couldn’t have back there with ‘only’ this much effort.
It’s not that I’m thinking of leaving Israel, but I really don’t think about it because it’s now, simply, where I live, where I get my paycheck from, where I’ve started building my house and home.
School
I’m on the very last leg of my toar sheni, my graduate degree. Yeah, remember that goal I set out for myself three years ago? Conflict Management and Negotiation at Bar Ilan University.
I’m currently engaged in a required ‘internship’ which actually takes place at my job. I’m working on creating a dispute resolution program for an online social Q&A community. I like that it has nothing to do with international relations or politics (although sometimes it feels that way).
I’ve come to realize that being friends with the intertubes is the way to go if you’re going to live comfortabley in Israel. That being said especially as I’ve been told by professors that no one makes a living here off only doing gishur (mediation). Online Dispute Resolution is a curious path I’m looking forward to exploring in the coming years.
Which leads me to my work…
Work
By some interesting twist, three years ago I ended up working in the marketing department of an internet company and I’m still there, job having evolved over the years, but a rainbow of experience gained.
The job that was supposed to be my financial parent through grad school became a career path - who knew? In fact, I’d argue I’ve learned way more at the job than the university, even if the two subjects are completely unrelated.
I tell people now that if you are open, have mother-tongue English and some internet savvy in your pocket, hi tech is the way to go here in Israel. You don’t have to start your own start up, either. There are plenty of jobs right now and the business is flourishing. And because it’s based in Israel, and you speak mother-tongue English, you are a step ahead in gaining a new career that you can really leverage. Just be open to learning some code.
Family
As I said above, we’ve been married for nearly two years now; we have a Tu B’Av anniversary coming up. Marriage is everything and nothing like I thought it would be, in the best possible ways. And I know why that is; it’s because of who I married and how much we’ve both been open and proactive about making this work.
Of course, we’re at two years and no kids, so who are we to talk? There are challenges that crop up now and then, mainly concerning the issue of us both being from two different countries located on opposite ends of the planet. What if we left? Where would we go? Whose family do we visit next?
It is also difficult for both of us to be far from our families; neither of us have immediate family here and we do catch each other’s bouts of homesickness once in a while.
But there’s also the topic of extending our own family, which I’ve realized I wouldn’t want to start anywhere else but Israel. It’s a different life than how I grew up, but I think with lots more positive elements.
June 3rd, 2008 by elie
I know it’s been a while since I properly updated with the whole fancy ‘lizrael update’ subject line. And this is likely to be quick, since it concerns school.
Some days I’m soclose to finishing my remaining projects (which these days numbers three) and some days I feel like I will never finish this thing. Fortunately, today was a soclose day. I’ll be done with one paper by the end of the week, starting a new one (ahem… two years over due one) after Shavuot and then I have my big fancy internship project to work on and then write up.
Of course, there is also the official ‘course gishur’ (mediation course) to take, which I still need to sort out dates and details for.
No more classes, no more books… but a lot between me and accomplishing the degree.
May 15th, 2008 by elie
Usually when I touch down in JFK, flying over Queens at dawn, I get teary-eyed and patriotic for my hometown. I’ve been pretty emotional about New York since I left; even before I left.
Maybe it’s because I landed here today coming off the Presidents Conference, or maybe it’s been a year and four months since I’ve last visited, or maybe it’s all the changes I’ve undergone since last time I was in New York… But as soon as I saw the straight rows of yellow lights lining Far Rockaway from over the wing of the plane, I don’t know. I wasn’t feeling it. I missed the chaos of Jerusalem streets. I thought about the forest I live in, the bare roads I take to get to work. The green, the brown, the blue, the white.
Usually when I get into my parents’ car our of JFK, driving through Queens and Brooklyn, I get culture-shocked in awe of the bigness, the vastness that I have so quickly forgotten in three and a half years.
Maybe it’s because I have really built a quality life for myself, or maybe it’s because I’m doing more there in Israel than I ever imagined I’d be doing in the New York daily grind, or maybe it’s because in Israel, every single moment seems to count for something… But as soon as we passed the giant shopping centers, when I saw the first advertisements off the highway, and after viewing jeep after 4×4 after four wheel drive… I don’t know. I’m not feeling it. I just start to feel really bad for people living here.
Have I turned my motherland into a place for fun shopping? A place to be in awe, but in a not so comfortable way? And wouldn’t that make sense, that she did it to herself? Staring at these over sized products, overgrown people, at these American phenomena…
I’m interested to see how this develops over the next week and a half that I’m visiting New York. Is this a no-turning-back point for me in my aliyah or perhaps in my self-imposed American exile? Is this something we all acquire with age? Or with stepping back?
If nothing else, I am really enjoying walking barefoot over carpet and inhaling the fresh smell of hardwood floors.
March 29th, 2008 by elie
Over the past few months, I’ve been watching people come and go from Israel. I haven’t been back to New York in over a year and it’s nearly a year since I left the country at all. If you take a look at my past passports, you know that’s a bit insane.
At this point, I’m holding out for the summer, when I have a couple weddings I’d like to attend. I’d likely stay for a couple months over the holidays. Various family members, however, disagree and want me to visit ASAP.
We will see what happens with regard to New York. I’m losing my patience as far as leaving Israel for a trip to anywhere. I have time and I could have money.
Stay tuned…
February 29th, 2008 by elie
It’s been a long couple of weeks. I haven’t had much to say and haven’t been wanting to think about the news. I’m currently a bachelorette living in this big apartment since my roommate went to Australia for two weeks. I’ve got a lot of school work to do and a lot of work work to do.
Not complaining; I’m enjoying my situation right now. When I hear about friends trying to cut it in America, paying that god-awful rent and keeping up with terribly high standards of living… I really do appreciate what I have built here. Could I have been this successful if I had lived in New York? I really don’t know. There’s so much about me that is calmer and more focused here.
I think I’ve come to the point where I realize I’m now here more for the conditions of my life than the ideological reasons from 2005. My lifestyle, my job, my school, my friends, my inter(national)marriage all keep me here more than a philosophical desire or religious dream. I do still believe in it, but I think I have a lot of new things I believe in now, too.
Which is why I always find it funny how people who have been living here for around 3 years seem to have a ‘new answer’ to why they made aliyah. Ask an oleh (not chadash) point-blank, and they will pause, possibly squirm, sigh, and tell you, “Well, the new answer is…”
I’m very grateful at how things have turned out for me; I know it’s usually the opposite for a lot of people. My key is to take it all one day at a time, or at the very least, not think more than six months ahead. That way, when you ask me why I made aliyah, I can continuously look back, reflect and be prepared to tell you what my ‘new answer’ is.
February 5th, 2008 by elie
The move went surprisingly well on Sunday. We’re here, unpacked and spoiled in this young building with its (existent) heating system and modern tiles. Katamo-who?
Alas, I am still exhausted from the last three days of little sleep, zero nutrition and inevitable fatigue, so I will post some gorgeous views from my kumah bet apartment and leave the textual updating for another time.
January 30th, 2008 by elie
We’ve been hitting snags in the moving process. Like the fact that we didn’t move last week so that we could be cozy in Tzur Hadassah for this snowstorm.
Our current landlords are giving us issues and because of the snow, the tenants at our future apartment are having issues getting their kablan to finish working before Sunday.
But, yes, Sunday is moving day, assuming the rest of the week falls into place.
January 15th, 2008 by elie
On Thursday, we gained control of one of the most dangerous Israeli weapons in the rather wide arsenal. No, we don’t have shwarma breath… We got a car.
Or, at least, we’re babysitting one for a coworker for the next month until we begin leasing one of our very own from my company. Either way, a fresh, new freedom has been born with this addition to the family and its name is: unlimited petrol.
In the States, I never explored the topic of ‘company leasing’; I always assumed company cars meant your company gave one to you and covered the costs.
Here, it means you have the option of leasing through your company with certain benefits. They may cover your petrol and take care of your insurance. But you do pay towards it out of your salary and it definitely adds up. It all depends how far you have to travel for your job.
I was on the phone to my dad the other week, telling him about this deal. He asked what kinds of cars were offered. I excitedly told him we were going with the smallest (and cheapest), the Hyundai Getz, but for the next month - for the move - we’d have access to a big, bad Ford Focus.
He started laughing and when I realized why, I joined in. Here I am, American born and bred, boasting about a Ford Focus to help us move apartments. I guess that’s some kind of absorption/integration hurdle I’ve passed.
The actual driving in Israel hasn’t been as much a challenge as I had anticipated (tfu tfu tfu). Then again, I haven’t been up North yet.
Sharing a car with someone is actually harder. But we’ve got big plans for traveling to the far corners of this land for as long as we’re lucky enough to afford this luxury.
January 6th, 2008 by elie
So apparently, starting today, I am no longer considered an olah chadasha (new immigrant). That seems to be the consensus from other olim, the Israeli government and Nefesh b’Nefesh.
Do I feel vatik (senior)? Certainly not… But I suppose I don’t feel new anymore, either.
Whatever I am in numbers or years, I know that what is really interesting is all I’ve accomplished in three years of ‘newness’: Finding a city, finding friends, finding a masters program, finding homesickness… Searching for jobs, registering for a masters program, getting a job, starting Israeli graduate school… Discovering the world of Israeli mediation, discovering the world of Israeli hi tech… Finding a new career, finding a life partner, finding a neighborhood, settling in an apartment… Learning about the various cultures that surround me… Finding new friends, finding a new city, coming close to the end of the masters program…
What freaks me out is not that I’ve been living in Israel for three years; it’s that I haven’t been living in New York for three years. What’s happened since I left? How has the city changed? Where in life are the people I left behind? If I returned, would they recognize me?
And what have I learned in three years? I’ve learned a lot about patience, creativity and open-mindedness, which I still think are the three things you need to make it in Israel long-term - and I now think life in general, as well. I’ve learned a lot of new Hebrew. I’ve learned that if you can laugh, you can enjoy your status of ‘new’ and actually take pride in it.
But, I’m finally here, no longer new; here, on the other side of three years.
December 30th, 2007 by elie
Lots of people are talking about ringing in a new year - at work, in the news, on the party scene. I’m not much of a New Years gal, but it seems 2008 holds a bunch of new experiences for me, before it’s even begun.
The year starts for me with recognizing the fact that I’ve been here for three years now. I feel like three years is the second hump to cross (after one year). There’s something about three years… (maybe it’s because the Nefesh b’Nefesh financial assistance contract is completed?)
Along with acknowledging three years of aliyah experience, I get to take on some new ones with a set of wheels… Yes, in the newborn weeks of 2008, I will become the dreaded creature known as: Israeli driver.
Soon after, we’re set to hit the beginning of February, when we make our big move; I haven’t really made it clear yet, but here is the official announcement that we are leaving Jerusalem and moving to Tzur Hadassah, a cozy suburb about fifteen minutes away, tucked in green hills, next to Beitar.
Fast forward to the summer, when I plan to be finishing the requirements for my Conflict Management and Negotiation degree at Bar Ilan. Not sure what comes after that in terms of a mediation career, but I’ll be glad to know that I’ve completed my Masters.
After that, it’s all a blur: living in the Israeli suburbs, finished with graduate school. Maybe I’ll have a chance to fall in love with Israel all over again and see this place through the eyes of someone with their feet in the ground. Then again, maybe I’ll get antsy and wiggle through the days until I can’t take it anymore.
Whatever the year brings, I’m looking forward to the new experiences… Three years in, and I’m ready for the next phase. Is the next hump the ten-year? I won’t bite off more than I can chew, but I can say I’m ready to start the trek… Although for this phase, I’ll (finally) be trekking in a car.
Stay tuned…