Anticipation...It's Keeping Us Waiting!

Shalom, chaverim! This will be a brief post, as it's a "school night" and we have a big day tomorrow. First, we will be awakened by our charming English nanny-cellphone-robot at 6:30 a.m. Then it's off to Ulpan, where we will have lots of fun learning Hebrew. Normally, we'd head home for lunch, then a short rest, then homework, then errands and eventually dinnertime. But tomorrow will be different because we're going to Haifa to pay for our lift!

Although it really hasn't been very long since we packed up all our stuff and turned it over to Aliyah Lift Shipping (www.aliyahlift.com), we've really missed having it. We've been cold because of our failure to pack properly for the weather conditions and the lack of insulation in most Israeli apartment houses. Our diet has become a bit monotonous, because all our baking equipment has been in the lift, not to mention my cookbooks. I've even missed my dumbbells and awesome Joyce Vedral workout DVD's. (www.joycevedral.com --I'm not being paid to mention this, she's just great and I love her.)

So it was with great excitement that we finally received an email from the company telling us what we needed to do, and what we needed to bring with us, to pay for our stuff. Doing this tomorrow will get it released immediately for delivery, as soon as it arrives this Thursday. We need to bring:

• Our "tehudat zehuts," our Israeli national identity cards,
• Our "tehudat oleh," proof that we are indeed olim chadashim (new immigrants),
• A copy of our apartment lease, so we can prove we have a fixed residence,
• A copy of our contract with the shipping company, and finally,
• Lots and lots of money!

Actually, it really wasn't too bad in terms of the money. In fact, it cost us more to move from Nevada to Boca Raton (our last move) than it did to move here. It will be nice to really feel like we're "home," and nothing says "home" like family photos on the wall and mom's (and grandma's) handmade quilts on the beds.

Haifa port. See that container there? That's the one with our crap! (Thanks to Aliyah Lift Shipping for this image.)

Speaking of shipping costs, I just wanted to take a moment to my friends and loved ones who have been reading this blog, and have so kindly offered to send me stuff to bridge the gap while we're getting settled. I have declined your generous invitations, though, because I know how wickedly expensive shipping to Israel can be. And, of course, I knew that someday our lift will come. But one dear friend would not be deterred. Today I got a note in the mailbox saying I needed to come to the post office to collect a package. So I did, and imagine my surprise and delight to find that she'd sent us two warm fleece sweatshirts and two fabulous Snuggies!

Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies. REALLY real friends send you Snuggies when you're freezing your tuchhus off in Israel!

Finally, it hasn't been all gloom and doom here weather-wise, despite the fact that for the North, January has been officially documented as the wettest January since the establishment of the State of Israel. We had a delightfully sunny day this weekend and met some lovely new friends who were in town for a wedding. Elianora and Lev made Aliyah from Russia over twenty years ago, and have made happy and fulfilling lives for themselves and their children here. We showed them around town, even though many things were closed on Shabbat. But not "The Penguin," Nahariya's oldest and most famous restaurant.

Penguin to Elul: "Who is that strange woman hanging onto my flipper?"

Wish us luck in Haifa, chaverim! And as usual, if you can't see the pictures in your email, go to www.movingtonahariya.blogspot.com .