(no subject)
I arrived in Israel yesterday at about 930am. When I was in NY, my shaliach told me that someone would meet me at the end of the plane sleeve and before passport control to go through it with me. So I looked out for someone with a sign and saw no one. So I walked straight through passport control where they stamped my passport and didn't even look at me twice. Once I walked through I asked someone about it, 'cause supposedly I had to go through some kind of something with the immigration ministry before I left the airport and then they were going to give me a voucher for a taxi ride to any place I wanted to go. So someone comes to meet me and is like 'oh you're a returning minor (it's the category for those who leave when they're under 14 and come back after 17). you don't have to see anyone at the airport, you just have to get an Israeli ID and then meet with someone at the immigration ministry in your area.' She went away but sent someone else who had a car voucher. The new person walked me to baggage claim, to the ATM, and then out to the cab. And the cabbie drove me to Beer Sheva. He was an old guy from Uzbekistan and moved here 12 years ago with his whole family. He was nice enough but I thought I wouldn't make it. He didn't look at the road enough, like it wasn't important. He also didn't keep his hands on the wheel or stay in his lane the whole time. And he also kept saying how tired he was and how he couldn't keep his eyes open. Awesome. Somehow we made it to Beer Sheva in one piece.
Today I woke up early and my cousin went with me to apply for my Israeli ID card from the Ministry of the Interior. I thought I'd have to wait a week or more but they made it on the spot which was nice. Then I opened a bank account. We also walked around the school. It's pretty. It's big. At the school, I went to the Communication dept. office to ask about registering for classes. I tried to register a whole bunch of times online but it kept saying that it wasn't my window or something. Turns out that that's exactly what it meant. I can't register for classes until 10/7. I also checked with the dorms office. I got an email yesterday saying that I was accepted but they had nowhere to mail the form (this, after I called about a week ago and they said they'd never received my application). Anyway, she gave me my form and that was that. I hope I get into someplace good... we'll see.
I don't feel like I'm here. I feel like I'm going back to the US in like two weeks. Going to do all these things and trying to learn the different ways they do things here and with everyone speaking Hebrew constantly (and obviously) , I get overwhelmed. Like my brain gets tired and wants to shut everything out. Maybe I did too much today. Sometimes, I feel like I can't do this- it's too hard to learn everything from scratch. And sometimes I have to remind myself that it's fine- I'm in Israel and I'm setting life up for myself so that I can do what I came here to do and learn what I'm here to learn..whatever that is. And so that I can stay for as long as I want, however long or short that may be, without having to sit in the airport in 2 weeks after saying goodbye and wishing that there was some way I could be here a little bit longer.
Today I woke up early and my cousin went with me to apply for my Israeli ID card from the Ministry of the Interior. I thought I'd have to wait a week or more but they made it on the spot which was nice. Then I opened a bank account. We also walked around the school. It's pretty. It's big. At the school, I went to the Communication dept. office to ask about registering for classes. I tried to register a whole bunch of times online but it kept saying that it wasn't my window or something. Turns out that that's exactly what it meant. I can't register for classes until 10/7. I also checked with the dorms office. I got an email yesterday saying that I was accepted but they had nowhere to mail the form (this, after I called about a week ago and they said they'd never received my application). Anyway, she gave me my form and that was that. I hope I get into someplace good... we'll see.
I don't feel like I'm here. I feel like I'm going back to the US in like two weeks. Going to do all these things and trying to learn the different ways they do things here and with everyone speaking Hebrew constantly (and obviously) , I get overwhelmed. Like my brain gets tired and wants to shut everything out. Maybe I did too much today. Sometimes, I feel like I can't do this- it's too hard to learn everything from scratch. And sometimes I have to remind myself that it's fine- I'm in Israel and I'm setting life up for myself so that I can do what I came here to do and learn what I'm here to learn..whatever that is. And so that I can stay for as long as I want, however long or short that may be, without having to sit in the airport in 2 weeks after saying goodbye and wishing that there was some way I could be here a little bit longer.