The first week...(and a bit)

    The date was August 15th, 2022/18th of Av 5782, the day I became an Israeli🎉. At the airport, myself and about 20 other now Canadian-Israelis were greeted by a nice man from the Misrad Haklita holding a paper sign saying, "welcome olim." It turned out that on my flight, a cousin of my mom made aliyah with her family. The processing of  my paperwork and signing forms didn't take along, especially since the person who worked at the ministry of aliyah and integration and was explaining me things didn't speak English - the irony. I hoped that 65% of understanding would be enough to follow through with everything, and it turns out (so far) it is!

It was so nice that a friend/teacher from high school greeted me at the airport, since Canadians aren't blessed by Nefesh B'Nefesh to have a whole welcome party.

After a long flight, it's important to hold the country's flag that you immigrated to just in case if you forgot

    The last time I was in Israel before I made aliyah, it was the summer of 2019, and boy did I forget how hot and humid this beautiful country was. To make it even better, I am moving to a coastal city so the humidity is over 9000. My cab driver was a nice Swedish oleh who I gave quick Hebrew lessons to on how to spell the word the word "occupation" in Hebrew. I arrived at my new apartment early afternoon, and one of my roommates helped me with my bags and showed me around the apartment. I was so exhausted but I managed to unpack most of my things. At the end of the day, I was invited to a sheva brachot and I managed to just barely keep my eyes open and head up.

A view from the train from Herzliya to Jerusalem

For those who are reading this who know me, which I assume you do if you're bothering with this, you know that I am very exact and like to make to-do lists. In this fashion, below is a "did-list" of what happened, for better and for worse this past week and a bit.

• Opened a bank account in just about about an hour while understanding about 65% of the things thrown and said at me (thank Gd for cousins and colleagues who help me translate). Was even offered coffee and tea by the nice old Russian-Israeli lady who opened up my account.
• Got a grammar lesson on numbers by the old lady in the Misrad Hapnim who helped me get my temporary teudat zehut.
• Drove to IKEA to get a closet for my room and then got lost in said IKEA.
• Helped an old lady reach milk in the supermarket, to then be called "kaparah."
• Told the cashier at the supermarket "I thought there was an army" instead of "I thought there was a sale." Made the customer ahead of me laugh out loud.
• Returned multiple times to the bank to fix certain things that I didn't do right the first time (fingers crossed I am done going for the next little while).
• Got an eye exam for the license conversion process to yet again have an old lady test out my Hebrew skills.
• Learned that there are a lot of old ladies in Herzliya.
• Learned that dog owners don't clean up after their dogs (not the hard way, b"h).
• Had a very nice first Shabbat in Herzliya and second Shabbat in Jerusalem.
• Went with some friends to the marina and learned how to ride an electric scooter.
• Went with some friends to the beach.
• Signed up for healthcare, to be helped by very nice old ladies again - one of them was very happy that I was an oleh.

Me on my friend's scooter on the marina. If anybody would like to donate funds for me to get an electric scooter and a helmet, please don't hesitate to reach out :)

    My week was packed, and week two I have a couple final appointments before I start work - which will be the next big change! Stay tuned for my next thoughts then!