End of December 2006

I'm sitting in a café, watching the skies clear (after 2 days of torrential rain here, and snow in Jerusalem and the mountains!) and the people passing. I have completed my first week, and it has been fascinating, fun, scary, COLD, and exactly what I had in mind when I undertook this adventure.

People here are extremely welcoming to new olim, and I have had interesting discussions with so many. Yesterday I was talking to a man who sold me two small table lamps—he said "oh, but it is your first week—you are still a tourist!" And yes, he's right in a way. But as a tourist I never had to light the boiler for 20-30 minutes before I could take a shower! Or open the gas valve before lighting the burner to make some soup. Or squeegee off the bathroom floor because there's no tub or shower stall, just the sink and shower and a floor drain!

And tourists have some sort of heating system! We have a sort of wall heater that we plug in and it cycles on and off, but doesn't make a dent in the freezing air. (I have thought often of the blankets and quilts coming over in my lift!) My flatmate and I each bought (get ready for this!) hot water bottles! Certainly low tech, but quite effective, and a cheap way to thaw one's feet. But I can imagine that this building stays pretty cool in the summer, and I suspect that one summer will make me very happy to be cool in the winter.

No, I don't feel like a tourist! I am starting to be able to get around on the bus—to the nearby towns of Kfar Saba and Hod HaSharon. Next week I must go to Tel Aviv to submit my college diplomas to be validated by the government. They want grade transcripts, but I don't have them, and I don't think 30-year-old transcripts will mean much anyway!

So I will go without them and deal with it anyway. (A tourist wouldn't do that either!)
This week was spent mostly in going from one government office to another. Three of us went with a volunteer who shepherded us through the tasks of getting our identity cards and opening bank accounts, etc. Monday I had an appointment at an office in Kfar Saba—they simply said, take the number 29 bus, and ask the driver to let you off at the "misrad klita"—so I did. Only he told me to get off at the wrong place, and then I had to figure out where I was, and where I had to go, and then get there! I did it, I'm happy to say, and only one hour late—I talked my way in, and by the time I left, the official was shaking my hand and wishing me luck!

Friday night I went to Aliza Regev's home for dinner, and met her husband and two of her sons—a truly lovely evening. Those of you who think I am a good cook…I'm not, compared to Aliza! We started with pumpkin soup with almonds, then had bourre (fish) in a spicy pepper sauce, with salads of roasted sweet red peppers, roasted eggplant and mushrooms in a savory sauce. Then she brought in chicken baked with a confit of sweet onions, a huge green salad, and perfect little latkes! Everything hot and perfectly seasoned. Memorable, memorable. It will be a long time before I summon the courage to cook for her! (Or indeed have pots and pans!)
Saturday evening I went with Aliza and Pnina Gershoni to a concert celebrating another choir's 20-year anniversary. The first half of the program was the choir (not up to Galron, but who is?) and the second was this amazing, gorgeous little man, 70+ years old, with the sweetest, strongest tenor/baritone voice. He opened with the a capella song about the flute in the desert by Sasha Argov—beautiful!

Actually, "yoffe" as we say here! Just a huge amount of energy and showmanship—he played guitar, and led us in singing some traditional Israeli songs (I knew several, and could hum along or harmonize with the rest.) He mimed, he danced, told jokes. We left the theater at midnight—I should have so much energy at that age!

Sunday evening, Shuka Pinchas (Galron tenor) picked me up at the merkaz klita (absorption center) (Shuka lives in Ra'anana) for my first rehearsal with the Galron choir. It was wonderful to see all my friends (and several singers new to the group.) I was adopted right away, and had the phone numbers of 10 people in my book before rehearsal started! And then the rehearsal—everything in Hebrew! We are preparing for a tour of Germany, and I was told I have to sing alto—ALTO! Most of the songs are familiar to me, but I always sang along to the CD on the soprano line! And the music in Hebrew, too! This will be a huge challenge, but imagine the accomplishment! (Oh, and when we get back I go back to soprano and have to learn it all over again—not to mention the choreography!!)

Today I started the ulpan (language) classes—in level Bet middle (sort of low intermediate) where I will have to work very hard. We have a workbook, and are doing a lot of reading to ourselves and in the group, then answering questions verbally and in writing. I'm glad to have started, and will be gladder after a week or two and I figure out what I'm doing.
Tomorrow I go with Ronit Goldberg (Galron sop.) and her husband to Kineret ("Sea of Galilee")—on the way we will tour the Galil (the valley)—finally I get to see something!And Saturday Pnina Gershoni (Galron alto) and her husband will take me to a nature preserve and to a Druze village for shopping.

My flatmate is very nice, and from Sweden. She has been in the flat for a month, and did some modest but meaningful decorating—the place would have been very bare indeed (and I think quite depressing) without her efforts. (When Shuka showed up at my door, he was shocked to think of me there—it's more of a barracks than a "home." But it is my home for now, and I'm content. There are lots of families here—I cannot imagine making this move with an infant or toddler. But most of these people are coming from places where life is or has become extremely difficult for Jews. This is especially true in South America and France. So the merkaz is a lively place filled with the cacophony of many people trying to communicate in languages not their own, of kids blowing off steam in the sheltered courtyards, of new friends calling to each other.

A friend from Chile has a roommate who was the organist for his synagogue in Argentina! So we all got out our laptops and started sharing music—so interesting to hear trends in Jewish music from all over the place. Since I have made a study of traditional Israeli music that is not generally known outside here, I'm able to expose them to lots that they have never heard before. I think it gives us all a sense of the culture of the people we have joined. And I have borrowed CDs from Galron friends, to learn even more. Am making a particular study of Ehud Manor…