The first week

27 December 2005

At 5 o'clock sharp in the morning, the alarm went off. Well, actually Norma woke us just a minute or so before the alarm would have gone off. Then began the last frantic minutes, trying to make sure that we had not forgotten anything important. As a matter of fact, because it was in the refrigerator we nearly did forget David's entire insulin supply!

Then we had to get everything into the rented Camry: 5 large suitcases, one medium U-Haul box (with 35 snakes inside it!), a carry-on bag of maximum size, a carry-on backpack, and, of course, kitty Katom in his traveling cage. It had taken several attempts to get his tranquilizer pill down his throat.

So, off we went, feeling rather packed into the car, with kitty frequently meowing his protest as he looked out of his cage on daddy David's lap. We had intended to leave at 5:30, but it was more like 5:45 or 5:50 before we actually pulled out of the driveway.

Luckily, traffic was quite light almost all of the way, and we arrived at our first destination, the APHIS office of the USDA near the Los Angeles airport, just shortly after 7:30 a.m. We needed their signature and official stamp on the document from the veterinarian, certifying the all the snakes were healthy. This is where we hit our first snag. The man at the office informed me that ALL of the vets were over at the airport inspecting a shipment of horses that had just arrived that morning. He said that they weren't expected back for 2 hours. Since our flight was scheduled for 12:10, we were supposed to be checking in at the airport by 9:10 (3 hours before the flight), and we still needed to turn our rental car in. First, we hoped that the vets might return sooner. We drove a short distance, got something to drink, went to the bathroom, gave some tsedakah, and returned to the APHIS office. The vets were still not back. So we had to go return the car and get to the airport.

Before we could check the box in with the snakes in it, we needed the veterinary form, so I hailed a taxi and headed back to the APHIS office. This time, we were in luck. The vets had returned, the document was signed and sealed, and I hopped back into the waiting taxi and got back to the airport. The taxi cost was a little more than the cost of the permit.

Now we were, of course, flying El Al, the safest airline in the world. The down side is that they check EVERYTHING. They had to paw through all of our suitcases and carry-ons, and they had to open the snake box and see that there really were snakes in there and that there was nothing hazardous with them. Before they even finished going through our carry-ons (David's contained almost nothing besides his medicines, which they had to check carefully) they sent us scurrying through security to the gate and onto the airplane, Before the plane left the gate, they brought our carry-ons to us as we sat in our seats!

The flight left a little late, but it went fairly uneventfully, though perhaps a bit more turbulent than usual. I had completely forgotten to order vegetarian meals, but, at least on the first leg (from LA to Toronto), they managed to scrounge a couple for us. On the second leg, we just took the tray without any entree at all. I think I actually slept quite a bit more on both legs than I usually can.

28 December 2005

Upon our arrival in Israel, a volunteer from AACI (the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel) met us as we disembarked. She guided us through the arrival process so graciously. What a wonderful greeting! The Misrad Klitah (absorption office) at the airport was seriously under-staffed, since most of their personnel were over at the old terminal, preparing to receive the Nefesh B'Nefesh flight that was scheduled to arrive full of olim chadashim (new immigrants) from New York just an hour or so after our arrival. Nevertheless, they did manage to process us through, including giving us our first sal klitah (absorption basket) payment in cash: 1250 shekels (about $267) for each of us. During the time we were in their office, they were also processing 6 other people from 3 different families, all from France. Despite my weak French, I was actually able to be of some small assistance by coming up with the French word for "rights".

Then we went down to claim our baggage. So much time (over 2 hours) had passed since we arrived that our baggage had been taken off of the carousel and placed on the floor nearby. Everything seemed okay except that our cat, Katom, was nowhere to be seen! We finally located him in the lost-and-found area, and he seemed fine despite his long ordeal. So we packed all of our things onto 2 carts and wheeled them out to the area where the taxi would pick us up. One of the rights of olim chadashim is to receive a free taxi ride to anywhere they choose in Israel!

It took a bit longer than usual for them to find a taxi big enough for us and all of our things, but eventually one was located, and we started on our way. By now, it was somewhere around 8:00 p.m., and, of course, we were quite tired. Still, we were glad to finally be on our way. Gradually, it became apparent to me that our young Russian taxi driver, who spoke essentially no English, did not really know where, exactly, Tsfat was! Not only would I have to direct him to our house, I would first have to direct him to Tsfat, all in Hebrew! Fortunately, I did know the way quite well, and the only Hebrew words I had to know were "yashar" (straight), "smolah" (left), and "yaminah" (right). The only part that made me slightly nervous is that I knew, from experience last summer, that following highway 65 through Afula could be just a bit tricky. Luckily, I was able to find the way with no problem. Just another of the many ironies of Israel: an American ole chadash (new immigrant) directing a Russian/Israeli to Tsfat, in Hebrew!

When we were not too far from Tsfat, I called Zion, our builder, using the driver's cell phone, and arranged for him to meet us near the spot in Tsfat where we would leave the main road and go towards our house. When we got to our house, we quickly unloaded our stuff and got it into the house. Since the heat was not yet installed (and most of the faucets, drains, and toilets were also not yet working!), Zion had arranged for us to spend the night in a room in the basement of his mother's house on the other side of town. Since I wasn't sure exactly what the arrangements would be, we decided to leave Katom in his cage in the house. So he and the snakes spent the first night in our new house without us!

29 December 2005

Tsfat feels very cold at this time of year, although the temperatures have actually been well above freezing. So by Thursday afternoon Zion got a kerosene heater for us, with a good supply of kerosene, so that we could at least heat our bedroom in the new house. He also got some additional plumbing working for us. Besides all this, he got us connected with the best furniture store in town, so that we could get some essentials. We ended up spending $4000 (!) on a bed (actually 2 very basic twin beds that we put next to each other, since this seemed cheaper than getting a single fancier bed for 2), a refrigerator, a microwave oven, a washer, a dryer, a blender/food processor combo, an MP3-capable CD and radio boom box, and several small appliances, all of which they were able to deliver the same day! A representative from the cable company (HOT, that's its name, believe it or not!) came out and got us signed up for cable, which is actually a cheaper as well as quicker way to get telephone and high-speed internet services. She was really better at English than she gave herself credit for. So David got considerably more than the new house for his 50th birthday, which was actually that very day (December 29)!

30 December 2005

On Friday morning, we walked to the market (probably a bit more than a mile away) and back in order to get a few more groceries. In the afternoon, I got a call from the ISP who will actually be providing the cable internet connection. He's got us signed up for high-speed access over the cable as soon as it is installed.

31 December 2005

I had found out from our neighbor, who is an Ashkenazi rabbi from Southern California, that Shabbat morning services at the nearest synagogue (Sephardi) would begin at 7:40 a.m. So we got up in time (not so difficult, since we're not quite fully on Israeli time yet and tend to wake up early anyway), and headed down there. With some minimal help from a couple of guys sitting near us, we were able to follow quite a bit of the service, including the Torah reading. The only familiar melody, though, was "Ma oz tsur", although they were singing some other words, which I think might have been from a psalm. It was just a bit surrealistic hearing a bunch of Sephardim lustily singing what is essentially a German chorale!

The Torah scrolls were in exquisitely beautiful cases in the Sephardi style. The cases are hard and open up on hinges. The scrolls remain in the cases and are read in a vertical position. The trope is different from Ashkenazi trope. There is no gabai, but when the reader had any trouble (which wasn't very often at all, by the way), a whole chorus of voices would rise up from the congregation to help him get it right. If I'm not mistaken, I think that they read the entire parashah for this week. Although it may not become our regular congregation, this will not be the last time that we attend services there.

The weather on Shabbat (December 31) was mostly overcast, but the sun did shine some, and it did not seem particularly gray in general. There was a fairly good breeze, though, so it was still quite chilly out, even in the late morning.

On Shabbat morning, we looked out our bedroom window and noticed, for the first time, that someone about a quarter of a mile northwest of us has several horses. There's a black one, a bay, and at least 3 buckskins.

1 January 2006

On Sunday morning, we planned to go into town to run several errands and to help David get a little better orientation to downtown Tsfat. Zion called us and said that he would be coming by and could take us to town, so we rode in with him.

The first stop was Zion's office so that I could check my e-mail on his computer. I spent most of the time deleting junk and semi-junk mail. I only sent out one brief e-mail, to Norma, so that she would know that we're okay.

We stopped at a pet store and bought some food and kitty litter for Katom. We were relieved that they offered free delivery in the evening (accomplished very nicely except for some very understandable complications due to an almost complete lack of street signs and the fact that the "street" really doesn't quite get to our house yet!).

At Bank HaPoalim we had to open a different account than the one that I opened last summer, since I now am an oleh instead of a tourist. However, although he could reserve a number for the account, he couldn't actually open it, since we don't have our teudat zehut (identity card) yet. We tried to get them last week, but misrad hapnim (the ministry of the interior) told us that we couldn't get them for 2 weeks, something which I think is not actually correct. Also, I think the ladies at the misrad klitah (absorption ministry) at the airport forget to give us our copies of the papers we signed there. I'll see if I can get AACI (the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel) or NBN (Nefesh B'Nefesh) to help us sort all of this out tomorrow on the phone.

We checked out most of the downtown area of Tsfat and bought several other items that we needed. We ended up at the little market, where we bought more groceries and a few more kitchen items. Then we waited for a taxi to take us back home. I'm not sure that the one we took was actually the one that I called (using a number that Zion had given me), but his price was not the minimum price that we had learned from our neighbor, Mordecai, we should be able to get. Still, we were too tired to care that much, and so we bit the bullet and got back home.

Meanwhile, the HOT representative (HOT, as you recall, is the cable company) called and said that they could not accept a non-Israeli credit card. Since we couldn't open an Israeli bank account without our teudot zehut, we seemed to be in a bind. Finally, she said that we could pay cash for 6 months in advance (about 1485 shekels, which is just over $300). I used the ATM to withdraw enough money from one of my U.S. accounts to be able to do this. Later she called and said that even cash was not good enough to get the telephone. So, we'll just get the cable and the internet, the latter of which is really the whole reason for all of this anyway. With the internet, we can do VoIP (voice over internet protocol), using some service like Skype, to call the U.S. She will come out to get the cash tomorrow, and then the installation can be scheduled, probably later this week.

The electricity to our house is still jerry-rigged, with both Mordecai and us getting power from a single cable running from the house of a nearby-neighbor (it's metered separately so that the neighbor does not end up paying, too!). This means that we really don't have much power; even a pot to warm water could cut off the electricity to both us and Mordecai. Now, Mordecai and Naomi, his wife, will be leaving tomorrow for a 2 or 3 week visit in the U.S., so that will ease the situation slightly, but we still will certainly not be able to operate any major electrical appliances, including the heater/AC (which still hasn't been installed yet anyway!). So we continue to heat and even cook using only a kerosene heater. Quite a trick! Still, the warmed, canned beans and fried potatoes and onions tasted quite delicious. It's a little like camping with the important differences that we have a roof over our heads and the room is reasonably warm. Zion says that it will be 7-10 days until we get the proper electrical hook-up, so I'm hoping it will all be ready within 2 weeks. I wouldn't bet too much on it, though.

2 January 2006

Today, they began work on the railings for the stairs. They set up the vertical support posts and measured, but now they have to go back and actually make the railings themselves, so it will be several days, at least, before they can finish the installation.

Yasmin, the cable representative, came out and collected the money today. She said the cable installers will be here tomorrow morning. With a lot of luck, we MAY have cable (but no TV, so we can't even be sure that it will work) and, most importantly, an internet connection.

David & I walked over to the nearest drug store and market to get a few items today. We also stopped and had falafel at a stand there, and it was the best meal we've had since we arrived in Israel. It was of comparable quality to the falafel that I ate nearly every day last summer at the University of Haifa!

They installed the tiles on the wall behind the kitchen sink today. They look very nice.

Zion says that the AC units will be installed on Thursday, that the bathroom sinks will be installed tomorrow, and that the railings, including those for the stairs and those on the balconies, will be installed soon. I think the electricity will be the biggest delaying factor, but, who knows?

3 January 2006

The kerosene heater barely worked last night. It sputtered and sputtered all night and finally went out entirely at about 5:00 a.m. Luckily, we kept fairly warm under the blanket and slept reasonably well.

We decided today to get our own kerosene heater, figuring that it could serve as backup heating even when we do have all the electricity working properly. But we had to wait for all the various installers, so we couldn't leave in the morning. By the time I left to go into town to buy the heater, it was about 2:00. I went by myself because David needed to wait here for the cable installers. More on that later... :-)

I took a taxi into town, but when I got to the store it was closed. The taxi driver said it might open again at 4:00, so I figured I'd just wander around town for a couple of hours. I found another grocery store that had some different items from the 2 grocery stores that we already knew about, and I also found a nice produce store. Most of the stores were closed, though. Many will probably open again later for the evening. When I went back to the appliance store just after 4:00, it was still not open. I hung around for another half hour, thinking it might open by 4:30 (there was no sign at all telling their hours of business). Finally, I asked a guy in another shop, across the street, and he said that they don't open at all on Tuesday evenings! So my whole trip into town was basically a waste, other than a few items I bought at the grocery stores.

When I called the taxi driver who had taken me into town (he's also the one that Mordecai recommended as having the best rate), he was out of town as he had told me he might be. So I decided to take the bus, which actually turned out to be very easy and very cheap. So I learned how to get between our house and downtown quickly, easily, and cheaply! The cheap taxi rate is 12.50 shekels per trip, while the bus costs only 3.80 shekels. Of course, two can travel as cheaply as one in the taxi but must pay twice for the bus. Still, this means that both of us can travel to town for 7.60 shekels each way, which is still cheaper than 12.50 shekels. So we'll probably only use the taxi when we're in a hurry or have so much to carry that we want door-to-door service. The bus stop is maybe a quarter of a mile or so from the house.

Meanwhile, back at the house, the cable installers finally arrived. So, it's a good thing that David stayed there. They got everything hooked up, but I they had no directions for connecting a Mac. I finally connected with user support, they found a problem on their end, and they fixed it. So, now I'm connected to the internet at home!!!! Hurray!!!!!!!