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Published: February 25th 2009
The View
From our balcony in Poriyya.It is amazing how in any given moment time can feel as though it is crawling by, but when you stop to look back, a whole week has passed. And this is where I presently find myself.
I arrived in Israel at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv at 2:30am local time on Feb. 14/09. After a near eternity of traveling, it was glorious to be somewhere permanently, even if it did mean facing Israeli immigration. Being a bit of a worrywart by nature, I had spent a fair amount of time trying to conceive of every possible question that could be asked, along with the appropriate range of potential responses. However, about a week before departure I decided to abandon all worry and instead projected the image of myself walking out of the airport with Yotam, no problems.
So, this positive image in mind, I faced the young immigration official with polite firmness, just
knowing that I would get in. There was no other option. She asked the routine questions:
"What is the purpose of your visit?"
"To visit friends."
"How do you know them?"
"From Toronto."
"Are they Canadian or Israeli?"
"Israeli."
"How long do you
First Rays of Dawn in the Promised Land
My first sunrise over The Kinneret in Israel! intend to visit for?"
"Until December."
pause... "December?"
"December 2009."
"But that's almost a year."
At this point I felt obliged to be slightly more thorough. I told her I was going to be staying on Kibbutz Ashdot Ya'akov Ichud because I am interested in kibbutz culture and Israeli lifestyle. To this she replied:
"But you know a tourist visa is only for three months."
Luckily, I did know. Without missing a beat I told her that when I was booking my ticket, my travel agent had called the Consulate and they had told her that tourist visas can be extended for up to one year. She seemed to like this response. She reminded me that you are not entitled to work on a tourist visa, and asked how much money I was bringing in. I told her, and she seemed satisfied (somehow, someway). Finally, she asked why I needed to be in Israel for so long. So I reiterated that I felt an extended stay would allow me to more fully appreciate the depth of Israeli culture, would allow me to travel within the country (and possibly to Jordan and Egypt) and give me a chance
The 'hood
The street on which we live. to learn Hebrew. She piqued at this;
"At a university?" she asked, eyebrows raised.
I wasn't going to fall for that one though. You need supporting documentation to enter on a student visa.
"No," I said "I'd like to go to an Ulpan maybe, and just learn from listening to people and conversing with them."
At that, she rook one more moment of pause, reviewing my passport, stamped it, and told me to enter. I thanked her and walked on, trying to keep my deep sigh of relief to myself.
I made my way through another security gate where the officers took a piece of stamped paper the woman had put in my passport (entry form? get out of jail free card? I guess I'll never know...) and proceeded to claim my baggage (with ease! a delight after my Christmas experience with Air Canada). A nice Peruvian woman helped me pull my baggage (I had three large suitcases on wheels) through customs, where no one asked to see anything (another sigh of relief for me). The woman left me outside the customs area to manage on my own, with a kiss on each cheek and
The Homestead
We live in the upper apartment.... sweeeeeet! well wishes. I could see Yotam and Uriya (Yotam's younger brother) on the other side of the gate, so I began plowing forward with my 70 kg. of luggage towards the finish line. I crossed the line (there is actually a line, which felt very satisfying to step over) and officially came into Israel, at long last.
Hugs, kisses and introductions were had and made and we began the last portion of the journey, a two-hour car ride from Tel Aviv to the Jordan Valley. After what felt like an eon of traveling, I was excited for a new mode of transportation and to see some of Israel, even if in the dark.
The first thing I noticed as foreign were the palm trees lining the highway. Coming from the cold climate of Canada, palm trees are an exotic novelty to me, even if they are commonplace in Israel. The highway we drove on out of Tel Aviv (HWY 6) reminded me of HWY 6 heading north out of Hamilton into Flamborough in Ontario. A lot more hilly in places, but a modern two-lane highway like any other in Canada... well, aside from being placed
right next to
Home Sweet Home
Comfy quarters. the Wall, dividing Israel from the West Bank. In the quiet cover of night one might mistake the embankment and barbed wire fence as nothing more than a safety measure against roaming pedestrians and livestock. On the Israeli side, it is the height of a regular fence. When I mentioned my surprise at its small stature, Uriya informed me that it is much larger on the Palestinian side. (He saw it from that side many times during his three and a half year army service, which concluded only a few months ago.) I was shocked. I felt as though I was experiencing the dense, crampedness of Israel I had imagined from looking at the map within moments of my arrival. Somehow I had foresaw working up to the Occupied Territories; like I would be able to remain at arms length until I was 'ready' or something... This is not to insinuate that I experienced anything resembling trauma in this little nighttime passing. It was fundamentally ordinary. I suppose I had imagined something more harsh, or at least intense. But from my vantage point, it was a swiftly passing roadside fence, that would have been truly unremarkable in any other scenario.
Bird's Eye View
The view from the loo. I do not intend to belittle the
very real experiences others endure on a daily basis on account of the Wall and what it stands for. This was simply my first impression of something I have often though about in some depth.
Making our way further north and more easterly, we began approaching our final destination; a lovely place called Poriyya, where a comfortable bed was awaiting. By 6am, I lay my head to rest, to awaken the next morning to the first day of the rest of my life.
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Lih Kim Chung
non-member comment
Wonderfully Enjoyable
Thank you Meggie for giving me such insight to the outside world. I am slowly forgetting what it is like to be outside of our Canadian comforts. I enjoyed your slice of experience and look forward to many more :-) xoxoxoxo- Make sure you come back ;-P Lih Kim.