Aliyah

Well, I finally did it. I made Aliyah, I am an Israeli now.

It was much sooner than I thought I would- I had planned to in September, but unfortunately MASA-Tlalim Project 10 Arad was canceled, and I was dropped from the program the day my visa expired.

With no other recourse to legally stay in Israel, and since I was going to make Aliyah anyways, I opted to do it early.

Anyway, the process wasn't so bad. I did all the paperwork in Hungary while I visited family with my girlfriend (I had planned on visiting them between programs, I was to do a second one had not the first been canceled and I dropped). That trip was particularly nice- and the food excellent as always. I swear, if you want to try the best quality food on Earth, do so in Hungary. The name is fitting.

I was assigned a handler, and I barrelled ahead with aliyah. For most this is a process that takes months, sometimes years, but I heckled and hounded, and with the help of my family also doing the same, we managed to shorten the process down to just four weeks.

So, in a way, this blog post is as much about my experiences with the process, as it is what you can expect.

First of course you need to submit your paperwork. I'll provide a link in the post later when I have more time.

Second you need to stay in constant contact with your handler for your aliyah process. They are godsends, and if you do not tap that resource in all likelihood you risk extending the time it takes to make aliyah.

Third, you must go to your appointments. If you are lucky, you will be given appointments within 5 days of being told you have an appointment for aliyah interview, or other services from nefesh b'nefesh. But if you miss this appointment it can take months to get another. That's the worst case, but why risk it?

Fourth- there is an 8 step process after aliyah; receiving your identification card, and then opening a bank account in Israel, then receiving another identification card, opening your national insurance account, ulpan, obtaining a driver's license and figuring out where to work or if you are going to school.

Five- this is where I'm at. Organizing everything so I can do an ulpan, go to school, and work. As someone who speaks Hebrew poorly, an ulpan is necessary for me. Unless you speak Russian in Israel, you need Hebrew or finding a job is next to impossible.

The process really takes as long as you want. Most can do it at a leisurely place back home in their respective countries, but I had only two options when I re-entered Israel from Hungary; either do Aliyah, or go home. And I have a life here.

After going to Jerusalem and officially completing and acquiring my status as an Israeli citizen, my girlfriend Karin took me to Tel Aviv to meet her family. We visited the old British train station there, she told me about her old stomping grounds in the area, where she went to school, where she wants to go to school, and then headed over to the shuuk which was remarkably clean.

She bought candy and we took photos near Jaffo by the beach until we noticed we were covered in some kind of tiny bugs, like sea gnats or something. So itchy, we left.

I later met her family and we ate out where they treated me to an entrecote steak and potato. What was particularly amusing, and really reflective of the Israeli approach to things was that to celebrate me becoming Israeli, they asked for a candle, kind of like a birthday. None of us would have room for desert, so instead they stuck a firework on top of the baked potato and lit it.

Now that was cool.

If you are going to make aliyah, or are making aliyah, try not to stress. It's possible to do this process in as a little a month, but really go at the speed you are comfortable. I have been in Israel for the last 8 months, so I've had time to sort through this. That's what you have to do when it comes to emigrating; you have to have patience even as you work hard to shorten the time you need that patience for.

There will be hardships; my name is Alexander Friedrich Borschel. That's a Macedonian name followed by a German followed by an ancient Dutch name. You try translating it into Hebrew accurately. So I've been called a lot of different things- so you need to really take care to get your name translated accurately.

Additionally, to complicate things on my end, I was born in Germany on an American military base- making me a naturalized American citizen, who as a Jew, can claim citizenship in Israel or because I was born in Germany (still divided at the time, mind you). But this is confusing on documentation, because it says I was born in Germany but am a US born citizen.

Anyhow, best of luck if you are making aliyah. I'll add to this later, so flesh out more details about things that might come up, and ways you can make your own life easier. And pictures, can't forget the pictures.

Photo of Sunrise over the Dead Sea I took 6/3/2016

Masa's Seminar Part 1

You'll have to forgive me for not updating as frequently as I used to; it's the usual excuse- I'm working around 50-60 hours a week, and between that sleep, and a girlfriend (yes I have a girlfriend now, I've gone native, rolling my cigarettes and dating Israeli style) I've been hard pressed to find the time.

It's funny, but I have officially been as far as every direction possible in Israel- from Tel Aviv to Arad, to the Golan Heights (and that one city waaaay to the top of Israel) to as far south as you can go before you find yourself in Jordan or Egypt.

But now, writing from Eilat (the hotel is less than a kilometer from the border) on a short vacation, though that is a story for my next post, I have the time to resume writing.

We left from Arad on a bus normally reserved for yours at 6:20, meaning I was awake at 4:50(ish) so I could leave Karin's place to get downstairs and grab my things. I left with a peanut butter sandwich, and another that was humus and cucumber. It seemed fitting to bring those somehow, even though I never actually got around to eating them.

Loaded with my labtop, clothing, necessities and something like eight two-liter bottles of water, I was a tad burdened, in addition to ferrying the snacks our boss had kindly given us.

We departed Arad where we picked up a fellow group sponsored by Masa who are also teachers, and there reconnoitered with every other group under our umbrella program. People from Netanya, Harduf, the internship program in Tel Aviv joined us at Harduf, where we met and mingled with one another. It turns out that though there was a group with five people, Arad is the smallest program in terms of volunteers out of the entire Masa program. 

Out of something like 6,000 people, we are apparently the tiniest, though we only saw around a 100 of our co-workers at the seminar. Only the Masa-Tlalim Project 10 participants came, so that was kind of neat.

So after retrieving our partners from Ber Sheva, about 25 people or so, we then made our way to Jerusalem, where the traffic combined with no wi-fi made the trip just... lovely. I found of all things a copy of the book 'Queen Of The Damned' by Anne Rice, in English, and since it'd been a good five or more years since I last read it, I had something to pass the three hours.

We converged outside of Alon, various buses meeting up. Harduf showed up last, which was kind of funny because in that group was the two members who had quit our group over tensions within the group and some ire over the group getting a late start for the volunteering (since we were setting things up). All together we had groups who hailed from Tel Aviv, Natanya, Harduf, Arad, and Ber Sheva, all meeting for the first time. And it was honestly nice. Each of our groups introduced ourselves, and some were lame introductions, some were pretty good. We all enjoyed it.

We then entered Alon and spent some time for a break stop, then piled back on the bus and went to our first stop; a small village in the West Bank that is composed of volunteers who are both Israeli and Palestinian working together.

The theme of our seminar was 'freedom' which in its own right was interesting- this isn't the American freedom we are used to, but something somewhat different. So stopping at 'Eco-me' was fairly fitting. There we toured their grounds, and took part in some group activities, also where I got to try Acro-Yoga, which was something certainly new. I have done yoga for a long time, and though I'm no expert despite that, I'm not bad either, but acro yoga took me way out of any element I was used to.

Heres the lot of us

Somebody better at this than I am.

...and me.

We stopped after the yoga and ate a quick lunch, sandwiches were provided, which I had been told would not be the case, so I decided to eat mine later. That later ended up stretching to... never, but that happens when you're well fed I suppose.

We piled back on the bus as the day grew hotter and it hit 2:00 P.M. and made our way to the hostel in Ein Geidi. This isn't the same as the hotel in the kibbutz Ein Geidi, which I briefly visited about a week later, but the hostel we stayed at is a very frequented one, and funny enough, not too far from Arad, and next to the Dead Sea. Many, many, many tour groups for Taglit or Birthright come to it while visiting, and many at our seminar had already been.

So in an eight hour period we had gone from Arad to Ber Sheva, then around Jerusalem to Alon, then to the West Bank, and then doubled back to the Dead Sea, just a bit farther from where our group had initially started. The Dead Sea after all is less than twenty kilometers from Arad, so that was kind of interesting we crossed the country and then back- a reminder of how compact Israel truly is.

The view was fantastic (though the flies sucked). And when we got the Hostel we were paired off with who we would be rooming with. I haven't the foggiest who I roomed with, save one was Italian, and the other guy another American, like me.

I'm terrible with names, slimcha.

Here's where the Seminar got more interesting for me- we met again at 5 p.m. to begin shabbat. I'm not the greatest practicing Jew, which is ironic considering what would happen later, but it was nice to watch the girls light the candles in the hostel lobby, and we then went downstairs to begin a portion of the shabbat that was on a selection made for the seminar; that of the story of Esau and Jacob.

Now, about a week prior to the Shabbat, our director Adva had asked that I give a short speech on the section from the old testament. It could be on anything, and I ended up typing something like a three page paper on my analysis of it, and it went all over the place, from explaining the story, my viewpoint, and contrasting it to Israeli-Palestinians contension over Israel. The paper was also vetoed, because it was so political, so I opted to just read the story directly from the Bible.

Here's where I went wrong; I had assumed that because so many Americans stay at the hostel, there would be copies of the Old Testament in English and Hebrew, and not just Hebrew. Well, surprise, surprise, there was only Hebrew. And while I can read Hebrew now (much to the surprise of my Israeli friends) I can not do so quickly, certainly not like I can with English. In fact it would be agonizing for anyone to hear me read it.

I decided then to pull up the old paper I wrote on either my phone or labtop, and even my advisor suggested I do this. I fled the room, but the wi-fi had inexplicably stopped working... it was as though God had willed things to be stuck in this situation.

So after fifteen minutes I returned, and unfortunately the session had already begun. One group did a play that was star wars themed on Esau and Jacob's story. Meanwhile I just sat at the front where I had been reserved a seat since I was to speak next, not having a clue of what to do.

I got up after they were done, and winged it. And apparently did a very good job. I was supposed to speak for five minutes, but I think I went on for six or seven, which isn't too bad. I spoke about my father, for Isaac is integral to the story of Jacob and Esau, I spoke of how I was moving to Israel and making Aliyah, I spoke a bit on politics, and when I ran out of things to say, which occasionally happened, I opted to go with the flow and pose philosophical questions on the nature of the story and what it meant to those present. Such as can you actually sell who you are to someone else? If I am to take from Israel in anyway, is there perhaps a good need to give first? Which is why I am doing Masa, and so on.

I was told a lot afterwards, especially by my boss how good it was, so I'm hoping the slew of people were telling the truth.

I'm just glad that I apparently killed it, and didn't screw it up, considering everything I had planned or made had fallen to pieces literally minutes before having to speak.

Afterwards we met for dinner, where a few of us somehow got actual wine at our table at the buffet, so we enjoyed ourselves before meeting again for the next activity, which was a series of 'games' designed by the directors of each group, which was also fun, but more or less eventful. I particularly enjoyed the game where we had to act like a character from a movie (Mine was Ted from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure) and I was happy that I nailed it.

I'm not sure it's a... good thing I was told I'd make a good actor since I portrayed Ted well, but c'est la vie.

We retired thereafter, and since I'd been up since absurdly early in the morning, I passed into a good sleep.

I'm cutting this into two parts, because otherwise you'd be reading a chapter out of a book on this weekend, but I'll leave you with this;

---

A beautiful morning.

A Second Day In Jerusalem

"Abracadabra"

Is actually a Jewish phrase meaning,

"I create what you speak."

-Ancient phrase

I know, I know, it's been weeks since I last posted. It's been hellishly busy here, but that's little excuse for laziness.

September 28th, just as the violence was beginning to stir in Israel, we had a somewhat of a surprise trip to Jerusalem. It was a nice experience where we got to visit our boss’ apartment in the city,I got to return to the infamous shuuk, and visit the kotel again. We also got to see the new movie Everest, based on the book by John Krakouer. That last one was really, really random, but nice. I didn't expect it at all really.

So where to start? We left from Arad around 6 p.m. in the evening and reached Beer Sheva close to 7. We then left from Beer Sheva for Jerusalem. I do have some small complaints to make about the bus system when you go to Jerusalem. While the busses seemingly everywhere else in Israel have internet, the busses either to or from Jerusalem always seem to never have it. Part of me thinks this is some weird deliberate move by the bus company, but I cannot imagine why.

At Beer Sheva we disembarked in the central terminal, which as it always is, was absolutely flooded with soldiers. I don't think I've ever actually seen that many guns in one place. I ended up getting pasta from a nice place where everything sold there from coffee to sandwiches was five shekels. The food wasn't great of course, but it was filling.

We arrived to Jerusalem and went to the house of the head of our division of Masa-Tlalim, where we were greeted with pizza and drinks. More of the unusual Israeli pizza you come to expect in the country.

We then crashed at our employers home which was fortunately nearby. It was already 2 .am. and by the time we figured out who of the six of us volunteering was sleeping on the couch, the bed, and the floor, it was around 3 a.m.

The only intelligent solution ended up being to write down the location where we were sleeping and let people draw it from the bag.

I slept on the floor on a shag carpet with the pillow I brought. I’m not complaining, I prefer the floor. I have a relatively bad back, so sleeping on the floor always goes a long way to reducing any discomfort. Unfortunately, we woke early after only a few hours of sleep. I suspect part of our trip was to exhaust us into compliance.

We walked to a youth center in the middle of Jerusalem, near the Shuuk, and then wandered through the city visiting multiple cites as part of a scavenger-type hunt. We visited one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city, then schlepped through winding corridors and side alleys near the marketplace, many of which were hasseidi and where great rabbis from the past had once lived. We saw this great painting on one of the walls within; 

A man with the letter Aleph coming out of his Head.

What was pretty cool was learning from one of the locations that in the section we were in many of the hasseidi Jews were part of the Chabad sect of Judaism. A form of Judaism I embrace wholeheartedly, though I do not practice it in their extreme. I liken it to appreciating their philosophy and worldview.

You see people who dress so differently with such a different culture sometimes you just forget that perhaps there is more in common than you realize.

We then wandered the shuuk looking to complete our task, even finding the small synagogue within it. Who would think one would be there?

One thing that was particularly interesting was on the bus the night before when we arrived to Jerusalem I noticed a pretty young woman with curly blonde hair. The night we arrived I perused tinder, because I guess, why not in Israel? It's a funny app (I even found a fellow volunteer on it)  I don’t think I’ll ever take a person up on a date from the app, but it seems like a fun way to get to meet new people.

Anyway, she popped up on my feed, and it was in the shuuk when I ran into her again! When life puts a random person in front of you multiple times with no discernible reason for the sake of the coincidence, it’s worth at least speaking with them. Turns out she was from the north, and visiting a friend from the army who lived in Jerusalem. That’s about as far as the conversation went before I was dragged off by my friends.

We ended up then going to what is called the kotel, though more famously the Wailing Wall, the last remaining portion of the Hebrew second temple that was destroyed by the Romans.

A kippeh, or yarmulke is provided for those who come, and it was packed in the square. Men and women are separated for the conservative Jews, and though the women’s section was much smaller, it was also much more crowded. Apparently from what the girls told us there was hardly any room.

Looking up the wall

There is a tradition to place a prayer in the wall on a small piece of paper, and it is filled with every nook and cranny containing one of the prayers. I took a friend’s prayer to the wall and placed it there; there is the belief that anyone’s prayer which is placed there will be express sent to God and fulfilled. I myself have never placed my own prayer in the wall, I do not pray. But I am always happy to take other’s prayers and place them there. It is what I did the first time I visited the wall.

My close friend's prayer

We then spent the afternoon trekking back through Jerusalem and watched the Jerusalem Day parade, where Jews from all of the world come and represent their countries. The parade lasts for hours, and winds throughout the holy city. The most memorable groups for me were the Russians, English, Americans, French, Swiss and Chinese. Especially the Chinese, and I even saw one woman dressed as Moses, and under her shepherd robes she was wearing what looked like a kimono, even though it was Japanese and she helped carry a Chinese flag.

Later in the evening we went to a movie theater and saw the new movie Everest. What surprised me is I read the book it was based on by John Krakauer years ago, and didn’t have a clue Everest was based on it.

We then wrapped up the evening and returned to our program coordinator’s home, where all six of us spent the night.

Our group’s morale had been low, which was why we came to Jerusalem, and because the general sentiment of the group hadn’t changed, we ended up canceling the rest of the time to be spent in Jerusalem to come back home in Arad early and do some group activities. Between the upwelling of violence and the poor morale, it was deemed necessary.

Plus, here's something you won't see anywhere but Israel, a Kosher Mcdonalds:

Transitions

So this has been something of an eventful week.

Rosh'Hashana has ended and the holiday of Sukot begins soon. I've been spending a lot of time with my Hebrew teacher and her friend Sapir, and that's been great. I've made a fair few friends so far in Israel- it's hard moving to a country where you cannot speak the language. But these are among the first friends I have made who are Israeli.

I got my first introduction to the Israeli education system- their high schools are both very much, and very different from those back home. The grades of the school I visited in Arad has grades 8-12, and the classroom setup is arranged like those back in the states. The air conditioner was at least two decades old, whereas the projector was brand new and Toshiba. Hebrew lined the walls, and there was no English, something strange to me since the class is an English class.

Much differently, there are no desks for the teacher. This suggests to me that teachers have different classrooms, but I suppose I will see.

I met a great guy named Dan/Roshem (his Hebrew name) who is an immigrant like me from the States. He is already teaching in the school system, so he has already taken the path I would like to with getting certified and acquiring a job in the education system.

He invited our group to sit in on his class, and half of us did, the other half visiting another classroom. There is a lot, a LOT of shouting in the classrooms to manage them. And that is something common in the education system. Very different from the U.S., but I have to admit, it was necessary. You would not be able to teach otherwise.

The class was composed of eighth graders, and I can tell you from firmly established memories from my own time how difficult such an age group can be to teach. In my own English literary class the teacher had to take a leave of absence because of an engagement falling apart and how ridiculous my own class was.

We were supposed to meet at 7:45, but there was a last minute teacher union strike, so we began at 10. I ended up almost being late because I had to rouse my roommate to avoid being late, and he was extremely hungover. I'm not happy about that, but am happy I did my duty and helped him get there.

I like Dan, we've had some good talks, and he's helped introduce me to dungeons and dragons. That's so surreal to me- playing Dungeons and Dragons in the Middle East. They are catering to me and we are playing in English. But I hope to be able to transition to playing the game in Hebrew as soon as possible. I am playing a Monk, and somehow at level 1 managed to one hit kill a creature, dealing 30 damage. That's ridiculously rare, apparently.

Granted the others were playing my character for me, as I had to leave the room to attend a group learning on the old testament, the focus on Yom Kippur, another holiday fast approaching, and the most important in the Jewish faith.

I also have the pleasure to announce I managed to get an affirmative yes for a date with a really cool Israeli girl, my teacher's friend. Her name is sapphire in Hebrew. I think this really cool- the idea of dating at all was something I would not have been able to do for perhaps years after coming to Israel.

I'm thinking I will cook dinner with her and watch a movie. Then go to the top of the building I live in with her and watch the sun set. It's low key, and should be nice. Of course I will also take into account whatever she would like to do. She's really, really cool. Cannot put enough emphasis on that, and a former soldier. So a real Israeli woman, as far as I understand them to be considered here.

On a different note, my father is currently vacationing in and around Croatia, and I admit, I am a tad worried about him. With the border restrictions to Hungary becoming severe because of the Syrian migration occurring, my father as an already established immigrant himself now living in Hungary may have serious difficulty re-entering the country. Perhaps not, we will see. But I worry.

That's all I can think of for now, but I will keep y'all updated as usual.

Rain Drops In The Desert

This isn't the most dramatic post I'm sure, but something very rare occurred yesterday. I'm watching American Sniper with some friends I've made in the building. Screaming 'Murica! everytime an American shoots a gun.

So anyway, yesterday,

I stepped outside with a friend to take in a kitten for the night, and found myself facing rain.

I'm near the Dead Sea in Arad, as far west in the Negev Desert you can go in Israel and still be within Israel.

I took a video of the thunderstorm, to say it was beautiful is an understatement for me.

Where I come from it rains a lot. A LOT. There is forest everywhere. Spilling out onto the roads, and surrounding your homes, threaded through many of the towns, especially in Northern Virginia and Maryland. Sometimes it rains five days out of a week. And when we have a draught, it means we probably hadn't had rain since last week.

But here, rare is rain. There are no clouds where I am- just an ever present line of dust. I'm told it rains maybe once every six months, if that.

The storm here reminded me of home. And it's very strange weather for this area. A dust storm and then a rain and thunderstorm.

As one put it, perhaps in a way it like God's fireworks- celebrating the new year.

Rosh Hashana

L'shanah Tovah! (Happy New Year).

It is now the year 5667 in the Jewish Calendar, and my Rosh Hashana has been pretty good.

There is the belief that what happens during the day reflects what you will experience throughout the year. So if you have a fight with someone, well you might be doomed to that nonsense until the next Rosh Hashana. Did you have some wine? Well, I hope you're looking forward to a merry year.

I spent the holiday setting up a character for the Dungeons & Dragons group (Yes, apparently Israel even has those!) I joined, and downloading a new game, which unfortunately I still cannot make work.

I ate a shit-ton of rice. So I guess I'll have a lot of rice in my future also.

I was invited to a dinner with someone I met in our building. I went and it was an orthodox dinner, and there was quite a bit of good food. Never had chicken stuffed with couscous before. There was a lot of singing, and my host's father ended up dancing a bit also.

I'd say it was because of the alcohol, but it was only 3.8% so I think they were just high spirited because of the new year.

Unfortunately because they were orthodox I wasn't able to take photos (many consider it rude). I'm going to assume they figured any photographs would steal their souls.

I'm hoping for a good new year. I'm not having the greatest time with my roommate, and it came to a head the night before Rosh Hashana, so hopefully that will get settled. The last thing I need is strife in my life.

I haven't had the greatest track record with roommates, but usually the issues come from my end- not cleaning the area enough, or leaving dishes, or drinking belligerently. Whatever, you name it. But for once it's the other, and I've got to say that's leaving me a bit without a clue how to react.

Hopefully we can has it out- the rest of the group comes back within the next few days, and our group leader tomorrow.

I'm wish y'all a great New Year. Let's make 5667 kickass!

The Forecast Today Is Dust

Well these last 24 hours or so have been certainly interesting.

I remember a movie once, Stranger Than Fiction which spoke that there are two kinds of characters in a story; those who move the story forward, and those who the story move forward in it. But there's a third kind, a person who does both move the story forward, and who the story moves forward as well.

I tend to fall into that category.

Usually I have to find the adventures to record in things such as this blog, but sometimes I just walk into events. Like when the dog bit me, or today, when I left the building I was greeted by a massive dust storm that has enveloped all of Israel.

That building you sort of see is across the street.

Israeli fog is apparently hazy dust.

Edit: I just came across this video, and it is perfect.

So far I've heard two theories on the dust, one plausible, the other conspiracy. The conspiracy is that this may be a side effect of 'cloud-seeding' where chemicals are dumped by planes to promote cloud growth and rain. This is very unlikely what happened, because it wouldn't be possible to affect the entire country and several surrounding. In more likelihood this is from a sandstorm that originated in Libya.

Either are cool in my book, honestly.

We spent today and yesterday visiting the Immigration Absorption Center, and a local boarding school for children who have been abused, or their parents were caught up in drugs, or unable to support them. They are wonderful. The latter I was unable to take photos of, but we did have a great dinner tonight where we celebrated Rosh Hashana. 

Here are some photos I grabbed from the immigration center;

The kid on the left is Israel, and the kid on the right Ethiopians.
Or maybe it's vice-versa, both kind of fit the situation.

Painted By Ethiopian Immigrants. Pretty cool.

I also that day went to Arad's Shuk, or marketplace-bazaar. It's pretty neat.

That last photo blew my mind. Back home when Muslims pray, there is a rug always used. It never even occurred to me other means could be used. And seeing someone use a cardboard box is just so different, that chances are I could only see it in Israel.

I then visited the part of Arad I know of as 'Little Russia'. Around forty percent of the city's population is Russian, though it seems like the whole city at times is either Russian or Haseidi.

Virtually every product in the store is Russian. And the price seem to me incredibly reasonable.

I spent the rest of the day taking pictures of the surprising amount of greenery in the city;

This is so kickass. For about the size of two soccer fields I would have sworn I was back home in Virginia. Like seriously, who the hell thought there might be clovers in the middle of the Negev, a huge, barren desert? I didn't.

I made one last stopover on the short trek back to the building I am staying in.

Another Map of Arad. Israel's first city to have been completely fore-planned with infrastructure.

Stay posted guys. Who knows, maybe I'll fight a camel next time I write.