Day 16 - Setting Sail

Day 16 - Sunday 30 May 2010

"An emigrant's voyage aboard a tempest-tossed ship making its way slowly to a new world has been compared to the stormy and agitated period of adolescence, the long voyage from childhood to adulthood. The emigrants on board, having left behind the world they know, move toward a world of which they do not yet have a realistic picture. Far from the shore, they live in an unreal state, shared only with their shipboard companions. As the word shipmates denotes, these travel companions become a new family to the emigrant."

-an excerpt from הגירה

Had to visit the Misrad HaKilat today, for the final stage of all the Aliyah paperwork and bureaucratics and happened upon this picture hanging on the wall of the office I was in.

Needless to say, I forgot to take the photo of it! But luckily I had to walk around a bit and wait for another form to be brought to me, so I had to go see the same lady again, but I forgot to take the photo again! Then as I was walking to the exit, I remembered and quickly went back in, she laughed, seeing me for the third time, but once I explained why I had returned, I got the photo!

The quote above was hanging on the wall next to it and I feel it pretty much sums it up!

Apart from that, have had a great last 12 hours, finally having my first Felafel and Shwarma in Israel, both of which were incredible..

And in more lighter news, Betty who was sadly left in Melbourne now has a new sister Angel, והמבין יבון..

Keep smiling =)

Day 15 - Censored

**WARNING** Not for the view of Children! This is a Censored image!

Day 15 - Shabbat 29 May 2010

Another addition to the Jerusalem Graffiti series, my thoughts on this are twofold.

One, that the person who tagged this helpless electricity box merely cannot spell; or is actually playing a smart game with words and trying to continue the label of Israel being an apartheid state (as seen in Afrikaans with 'k' often replacing a 'c').

Two, that the title of this photo, Censorship, stands to prove that in Israel, although we are surrounded by the feeling of holiness, that age old saying rings true, 'nothing is sacred.'
View will be spread, and ideas will be propagated - censorship of foul language is something we can try to stop, but the irony I'm trying to show is that in our modern world of media warfare, how much is 'Big Brother' really watching and controlling nowadays?

Day 14 - Gooday!

Day 14 - Friday 28 May 2010

Just another little cute image from the expo yesterday. For those of you who are familiar with the standard pedestrian crossing sign around Israel, here was a cute little play on it.

Just think he's politely saying, "Shabbat Shalom!"

I hope it was an awesome Shabbat! =)

PS sorry for the late posts, I was unintentionally locked out of my account for the last few days and have been stockpiling, waiting and praying for it to open up, until today!

Day 13 - Rebirth

Day 13 - Thursday 27 May 2010

I spent the day today in Tel Aviv at the ועידת ישראל לאדריכלות ולעיצוב - Israel Conference for Architecture and Design. Apart from being able to view works from 70 of Israel's top architects, there were endless other things to do at this expo, and I ended up walking around and spending close to 6 hours there!

I listened to an interesting lecture on the current state of and future of Architectural design in Israel and spent some time looking beyond the architectural designs, and seeing some of the industry professionals and what they had to offer (comparing this to the form and function expor of Australia pretty much!)

But the photo above is one that just happened, I was on the balcony, getting some fresh air from the hussle and bussle inside, and I see this photo playing out in front of me. The old buildings of Tel Aviv, foreshadowing the building to the back of new life, the new skyscrapers of Tel Aviv, and topped off by none other that the mad traffic of any metropolitan city, and specifically Tel Aviv in the foreground.

Also, it was a day where there was a thick dust/sand cloud over the country. When I left the heights of Jerusalem early Thursday morning, it wasn't that bad. But in Tel Aviv, it was hard to see across an few streets ahead..I thought it was the volcanic ash cloud finally hitting..but not correct on that count!

Really, it was a fantastic day! =)

Day 12 - Strange Prayer-fellows

So pretty much all of today I've spent trying to re-do my folio for the architecture conference tomorrow..I've now given up and know I won't finish and will have to just walk around gathering emails and will send the firms my folio when I finish it on Friday! Pretty much a downer on my part, but hey, I tried! And I forgot the thrill of the last minute Archi Rush to finish, the only difference is that this time, the work is for me and I have no image of a crazy eyed Tutor who will kill me tomorrow if I don't finish!

So to today's photo! It happened first thing this morning actually..

Day 12 - Wednesday 26 May 2010

I wanted to wake up at 8am to go to prayers, to start the day early and get more time to work on the folio (because I knew I'd waste time so I wanted to maximise - wasting was done visiting the bank and lunch with Josh!) but you know me and wake ups, that snooze button just looked to good! So it got pressed..and I woke up at 8.44am..not such a biggie..but not getting out of bed until 9.10ish was!

I got ready and left the house, and got to the Shteiblach just after 9.15am - so I joined that minyan anyway, regardless that I was late. I was standing at the back, when a nice man came and signaled to me that there was a spare seat next to him, so I went over to sit. The guy on the other side kept kind of turning around and looking and then facing forward again, so I took no notice until just before Shma. Thinking I'd take a quick look and then get back to it I turned my head, and turns out it wasn't just anyone, it was a old friend from Eretz HaTzvi, Daniel! This got me smiling and kind of laughing..

Was nice to chat after-wards and catch up, me having made aliyah, him having been married! But that's why today's photo is of the Shteiblach, (not such an artistic one, just a quick shot of the inside of one of the prayer rooms) because had I have done everything that I wanted to do in the order I wanted to have done it today, I never would have seen DRob..that's real Hashgacha Pratit (Divine intervention) and another one of those things that makes me smile and realise, yeah, I'm living in Israel, the home of the Jewish religion..

Plus my bed arrived today! And I reshuffled the room so it looks all good now..I'll keep that pic for a spare one for a day when I forget for real!

Have a great day all and keep smiling =)

Day 11 - New Beginnings

Day 11 - Tuesday 25 May 2010

Today 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. =)

Day 10 - Freedom

Day 10 - Monday 24 May 2010

The definition of that Furniture franchise in Melbourne took a whole nother meaning for me today..

I woke up under the weather and whereas I though I was getting up to start a new day and go to the Shteiblach for morning prayers, I found myself back on my matress on the floor faster than I could think!

At about 3pm when I finally manged to get the strength to get off the floor, I was told by my roommates that someone was offering a free couch on one of the websites we check daily, trying to furnish our new apartment and all, and for some reason I had to call up about it!

Needless to say, we called up, and luckily the place was about 4 mins around the corner, so we walked over, checked it out, gave it a butt test (sit test) and said thanks we'll take it!

All those years of shlepping stuff for Bnei and helping Dad gave me the foresight as to how to maneuver it out of the house (and to Ep to for when we had to unpack the entire Shaliach house and pack it into one room), and the shlepp back to our place and up the stairs was fun to say the least! A good workout for someone who hadn't eaten all day and was probably dehydrated!

So pretty much the photo sums up my day - a glass on the table, because I had a liquid day of water, water, water, bourbon & coke, and water - and the couch, which now proudly sits in our living room!

And what's the best way to get over feeling sick? Keep Smiling! =)