Day 11 - Tuesday 25 May 2010Today I attended a Red Carpet Aliyah ceremony run by the Jewish Agency. The idea being that as new Olim (people moving to Israel) there is A LOT of bureaucracy to deal with, which usually takes days on end and many hairs missing from the head!
This ceremony however brings together pretty much all the offices and information you'd need as a new Oleh and allows you to get it all done in less than 5 hours.
Surprisingly, I met 3 other Aussies there and a British Girl who were all attending the same ceremony; whereas I was told it would be me and 90 French Olim! (Regardless, all the booths had a French speaker on hand due to this.)
It felt really good to be surrounded by people who were all there celebrating the same thing (though I wasn't jetlagged after a week of settling in!) and on the even more plus side, the fact I have fluent Hebrew meant it was that bit easier to move around and get what I wanted!
I don't think I've wiped the smile off my face since..nor left the Teuadat Zehut out of my pocket - which I carry proudly (even dancing around at Tobi's wedding last night!). Knowing that I am now officially an Israeli, after years of waiting, years of feeling like I already am, years of determination, I can finally call myself an Israeli. =)
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