First Days in Israel

Dear friends,

Hope you all continuing to enjoy the summer.
Just a quick update of our adventures in Israel so far.

We were greeted in Israel by our families with confetti poppers, billboards, flowers and songs. At first I thought our arrival coincided with Lady Gaga's or some other celebrity, but turned out it is all for us.

Heat here is like from an open stove and any attempt to step outside between 9am and 6pm is an act of heroism and probably a stupid one. After 6pm life is paradise: imagine a bright pink sunset above the Mediterranean and a delicious dinner of lebane with freshly baked bread, roasted eggplant, tahini and local fish at a breezy beach cafe after a dip in the warm waters of the salty sea. By the way, we were told that the owner of the cafe does not have a permission to build or sell anything on this beach territory but because he is an injured army veteran the authorities have let this slip through for 10 years.

We have visited about 10 government offices so far - interior ministry, immigration ministry, town hall etc. All have strong AC, long lines with one tail but many heads which behavior could not be described by any computer science algorithm. People appear and disappear, last become first, people fight and 30 mins later tell each other their life stories.

We are living with Moshe's parents and hope to populate our new home in a week. Just a few small problems to solve: mice in the attic, a few old air conditioners that do not work, and the fact that we have twice as much stuff arriving in the container as can fit inside our new house. Likely, it is not going to rain here for another 90 days and we can probably store our giant Ikea bookshelves in the yard.

Yes, the country is at strike. A few months ago a newspaper article about ridiculously high price of cottage ignited a wave of political activism demanding social justice: affordable housing, free medical insurance, longer school day, smaller taxes. In every green town square there are tents where protesters camp and live with their families. I am not sure they really stay in these tents during the day as there is no breeze and 100F outside but at night it all looks like a hippy commune. People eat at the long connected tables, kids play ball outside and there are even movies screenings for kids and adults on the loan. Today apparently there is planning to be a half a million people demonstration in Tel Aviv. Struck by jet lag and being a newcomers here we are still trying to figure out what side we are on. We are definitely angry to pay 100% tax on the car we have shipped but after 17 years in US we also understand that affordable housing for everyone in any place he/she wants to live is problematic.

We are slowly getting to know our little nephews that were born in the last few years and now have well-defined personalities, facial features and can talk. Kids are thrilled to have so many cousins around them but do not always manage to find common ground with them.

The amount of love and support that we got so far is unbelievable that quickly convinced even skeptics like me that the decision to try this out was the right one. We miss you all and hope to hear from you soon.

We have no phones yet and just got wireless working but in a few weeks it will all settle down and we hope to be easily accessible via skype, email and phone. Can't wait to welcome you in our new house someday soon!