Throughout the day, it sank in in various phases.
First, after collecting all my documents and my first payment from the government, I got my baggage from the baggage claim and headed out to the free taxis with the rest of my new Olim (immigrants). I heard a lot of screaming and cheering by what appeared to be young girls just outside of the baggage claim in the terminal. My first thought was that somebody on my flight had a lot of family. Adam from LA remarked that perhaps Justin Bieber had just landed at the same time as us (coincidentally, he does perform in Israel soon). But no, it was a welcoming party! A group of about 30 schoolgirls were assigned the task of painting signs and screaming and singing "Am Yisrael Chai." We pretty much felt like The Beatles, and it was awesome! That's when I realized that this trip to Israel was different, and it meant a lot more.
I took the cab to Elad's (my good friend in Rishon) house and we hung out for awhile. As we caught up and I ate the amazing dessert treats his chef/mom made, I resisted the urge to pass out on the table. I decided I would stay up the whole day and not get jetlagged.
Elad has a lot of exams this week, so he dropped me off in Tel Aviv and I had about 6 hours to kill while I waited for our friend Itamar to get off work (he's about to pick me up in a few minutes). I ill-advisedly tried some sushi (tuna nigiri) and was disappointed. Then I headed towards the beach.
As the Mediterranean came into view, "shit got real." The sun glinted off the water, the beach was pristine. After taking in the moment, I napped for a little while in the sand. Seeing the Mediterranean again was indescribable.
As I type this, there is a really rowdy German Shepherd puppy biting his leash and bumping into my leg repeatedly. I thought the Puppy Bowl was on Sunday?
I found this nice little internet cafe near the beach and I'll probably return here at some point. The people are really nice and the proprietor is wearing Sambas just like me! She said "Hey, same shoes." in the matter-of-fact tone that Israelis have perfected.
Tomorrow I have an interview for Garin Tzabar, but it looks pretty competitive so far. Three other guys on my flight also have interviews and I'm the oldest! Not good.
Tomorrow night I might try to go to the Israel-Serbia soccer game at Bloomfield Stadium (home of Hapoel Tel Aviv). I couldn't convince anyone else to go, oh well.
Thursday I report at the kibbutz to start my ulpan!
All of the people on my flight were a lot of fun and a couple of them will be at the same kibbutz as me. Hopefully I'll see the others again somewhere along the way.
Shalom M'Yisrael!
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