Shanah Tova/Happy (Jewish) New Year to all!
We can’t believe another week has gone by in our lives as Israelis… and unfortunately not much has changed since last week on the apartment front. We are still working on sealing the deal on the same apartment, but with Rosh HaShanah shutting the country down for two days mid-week nothing was able to progress. In the meantime we have continued looking at other apartments, just to keep our options open. I can’t wait for the day when I can delete the Yad2 app (house hunting app) from my phone!
Some highlights: Last Shabbat we had dinner with an anglo couple that moved to Israel 45 years ago, their daughter and her family. The grandparents obviously spoke perfect English, the daughter was fluent in English, but had a pretty strong accent and her husband and kids didn’t really speak English at all. This made for fun dinner conversation that constantly switched between languages, sometimes even mid-sentence. The 12 year-old granddaughter used us as an excuse to practice her English, which was pretty abominable, but did leave us with the absolute best question we’ve been asked so far as new Israelies: “Why… you… up… Israel?” Her literal translation of the Hebrew question for why we decided to “make aliyah” (the word used to mean “immigrate to Israel” literally means “a going up”), to which our answer received a round of applause from all the kids, has now become our mantra. Thank you little Israeli girl.
We spent Rosh HaShanah in Jerusalem and finally had a chance to see many of our friends there. We had a wonderful holiday and ate more home-cooked meals in two days than I think we’ve had since moving to Haifa (we still don’t have a working kitchen and are eating like college students – instant noodles, cans of tuna and Israeli salad). Thank you to all of you who hosted/fed/entertained us during our visit – now you have to come to Haifa to see us again!
We are now getting ready for Shabbat and have managed once again to get invited out for all our meals this weekend. Thank God for generous people who take pity on new immigrants!
We now officially have one week to move out of our temp apartment, so please keep us in your prayers that we close the deal on a place. For those who celebrate Yom Kippur coming up this week, g’mar chatima tova, may you be sealed in the good book! Have an easy fast and look for our one-month update this time next week.
Shabbat Shalom and have a great weekend,
Stef and Matt
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