Well, I thought that I'd left the chilly weather back in the States, but when I arrived in Israel on Wednesday, I was greeted with downpours of rain, blustery winds, and chilly temperatures! I emerged from the airport with my 3 suitcases (well under 150
pounds, thank you very much! and about 25 of those pounds are books for
the school), tired and jetlagged, but officially an Israeli! It hasn't hit me
yet, exactly what I've just done, but I'm sure it will. Right now it
feels like I never left, which I suppose is a good feeling.
Israeli buildings on the whole are not built for cold weather (poured concrete doesn't do much in the way of insulation). If you're lucky, your air conditioning unit might have a "hot air" option that warms the air, but not necessarily you. So for three days, I basically hibernated in my room with the only heater in our apartment, very glad that I packed my -1 C sleeping bag and a dozen pairs of SmartWool socks. I never imagined that I would be using them in Tel Aviv!
I'm staying in HaTikvah - a neighborhood on the eastern edge of Tel Aviv. It's a slightly depressed area, but there is a lot of construction on our street, which means that people are snapping up cheap properties and "fixing" them. The people I'm renting from also rent out the top floor of the building (there are about 8 other people also renting rooms here). I've been spending time in the upper common room because they have heat, a working stove, working internet, and a tiny kitten! Her name is Katsi (sp?) and she was rescued from the street by a German guest. She was only a few weeks old when they found her, so she couldn't get any shots and couldn't travel on the plane yet. So she's currently wreaking havoc on the other tenants and resident dog and generally ruling the roost. The dog was suspicious of me at first, but after allowing me to pet her and getting a smoked salmon treat from me, we are best friends. So much that she attacked my door this morning when I failed to emerge at the hour she'd deemed appropriate. Her name is Lala and she's very sweet, but very lonely.
On the practical front, today I met with a few people to look at apartments, I've got some leads for jobs as an English teacher, and I just have to set up a bank account and then I will be all done with my aliyah process and ready to start my new life!
Just a few plugs before I go...
-In case you haven't seen them yet, here is the link for my audition videos again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1olde-_KBQ&feature=share&list=PLGN_pJ5E_VUJdtwcpKsotsv4V-VdL3fvw
-And here's the link for my mom and sister's art & poetry collaboration: http://www.adrianatd.com/forever-calendar/
Hope you're all staying toasty and dry!
Snowflakes and sahlab,
Daniella
