I'm here! I have a cute little apartment. I live right by the Ziv, also known as a square, that has cute coffee shops, pubs and restaurants. Many of the places are open on Shabbat, which was really nice when I arrived last night. There's also a Rudy's, which is a little convenience store, that I would not have know was called Rudy's, as it's name is written in Hebrew, had I not been told. Another quick thing for everyone to note, is that here in Israel they have already had day light savings time, so until that occurs in the USA, I am 6 hours ahead of the east coast and 9 hours ahead of the west coast.
So, of course I already have a slightly unbelievable tale for my travels. While I am not safe and sound in Israel, I nearly didn't get out of the USA. Despite the Technion and everyone else telling me to buy a one-way ticket, the US didn't want to let me leave with a one-way ticket. So after arriving about 9 hours before my flight at the airport, and finally being able to check-in for my flight 5 hours later, I then had to get out of line, cancel my original ticket and purchase a new two-way ticket. This only slightly flustered me, as I was tired and cranky, but as the good little independent girl I am, I did what was necessary. After returning to check-in and finding the nice woman who was helpful in the first place, I had to do through, for a second time, the customary set of questions asked by El Al. These questions include such things as: "Are you Jewish?" "What congregation do you belong to?" (This was asked after I told them I wasn't Jewish!) "Do you have weapons or explosives in your bag?" "Why are you going to Israel?" Once getting through all of this, twice, I thought I was good to check-in and head to the gate and commence with texting, calling, emailing and facebooking. El Al had another idea for me, and that was that I needed to have all of my possessions taken and searched! I was told I could take one credit card, cash, my passport and ticket. I was told to get something to eat and to return to the security area in 1.5 hours. Now, I'm not a person who cries often or easily, but at this point due to exhaustion, frustration and I'm sure a variety of other emotions, I burst into tears. All I wanted was my cell phone, so that I could call my parents and then a taxi and leave the airport and never look back. I no longer wanted to come to Israel or work at the Technion or even be an engineer! (It's obvious what kind of a delusional state I was in!) So I spent the next hour and a half chugging water, attempting to eat, splashing water on my face to try to stop the tears, and walking around the shops in terminal 4 of JFK. I finally got myself somewhat put together, well I had stopped crying, and returned to the security area, was I was told that all my luggage had checked out. No surprise there! However, I was then asked a few more times if I had a bomb, in a variety of creative ways that I meant to note down, but didn't. Along with me in the "special security area" was a nice Russian girl, who was also blonde and not Jewish. I found that quite funny! After putting the two of us through hell and back again, she seemed to have handled it better by having a few drinks, we did get to go through all kinds of expedited security to the gate, and we got to board with the first class and business class. I also didn't have to pay several hundred dollars to check my way over weight luggage. I must add that they did go through every inch of my two suitcases and carry-one, I was impressed that they got everything back into them! Everything, that is, except my pillow. I was pissed last night when I was unpacking to make my bed and sleep to realize the pillow, I had worked so hard to fit into my suitcase, was not there. But needless to say, that's a small lose given the events of Thursday evening.
Going through customs and passport control on the Israel side, was painless. I had printed my offer letter and contract form the Technion, as well as my proof of all the varieties of insurance I had to purchase in triplicate and was able to give a folder of that to the nice gentleman at passport control. I got stamped with a 90 day tourist visa and even got a free pass through customs! The shock to me, was that they are giving my 90 days to get my permanent visa. People had told me horror stories of only getting 10 or 15 days to do so and I was freaking out about that since it is Sukkot right now and the government is shutdown! At least I don't have to worry about that.
Well that's all for now. I'll write some more tomorrow. I miss everyone! I hope everyone is well. Text me at my google voice number please! No more texting my US cell phone!
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