Its 6:00AM and Im sitting in the Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris, France. Let me rewind for a second and catch you up.
Since I didn't make the April draft, I had two options. Either stay in Israel for the three months until the next enlistment month of August, or come home to the states to spend time with friends and family before I am stuck in Israel not knowing when I can come home next. Im not going to hide anything, I also really want to come home to see Maria. As much as I love seeing her face through a phone, I can't wait to actually poke her and make sure she is real!
Back to the reason why I am in Paris, I am waiting through my layover on the way to JFK! Im going to be spending time in New York for a few weeks and then head home to Boston to catch up with my growing family and friends. Why growing? My brother and amazing sister in law just gave birth to my second nephew, Simon Angelov! He is so cute! I really can't wait to hold the next patriarch in the Angelov lineage.
Just when I started to feel like an Israeli, I get the chance to turn back into an American for a few months and you better believe I am going to take it! I am finally starting to form my own opinions about Israel not only from what I hear through media but also through my own two eyes immersed in the country. For example, I learned a new word on this trip, and its not in hebrew.
Bureaucracy. - "excessively complicated administrative procedure, seen as characteristic of bureaucracy."
Until I came to Israel I didn't know what bureaucracy really meant. Ive heard about it before but I never fully grasped the meaning until I met it face to face. Me and bureaucracy are not good friends. Unfortunately we met too many times in Israel and every meeting turned out bad. I love the country, and shit does get done, but the way things work are not easy to get used to. For one, without connections, good luck getting something done on time. The beauty of a small country is people know each other, and that really helps. When I had to expedite my enlistment process while getting verified as a jew, we were required to send a packet of information and documents to an undisclosed address to move the process along. At this point there was a week left before I had to get all my papers in so we couldn't just mail it because that alone would take up the whole week. We drove up to Jerusalem and gave the packet to a brother of a postal worker who knew a driver that was on a certain route the next day which would cross routes with another drive that would take that packet all the way to Tel Aviv. The packet got there the next day. Its great to have connections. I can pretty safety say that the country runs solely on connections, nothing else.
Unfortunately I ran into these kinds of problems a lot, the kinds of problems that only locals can foresee. I guess thats part of the adventure! But I am glad that was the hardest part so far.
Thankfully, all of my paperwork is done and ready to go for August so I don't have to worry while I am in the States. But as soon as I hit the ground in Israel, its game time. I have my first real meeting with the army the following week after I land.
This first week in New York has been quite the breath of fresh air. I landed at JFK to my American sim card not working correctly so I had to ask to borrow someones phone. WOW, people are nice here. Although the man did ask if I was going to run away with his phone, but at least I could answer something back in a language he would understand! While I waited for Maria to scoop me from the airport, I decided to call Verizon and was happily surprised by a soothing southern accent that smelt like gumbo and sweet tea. To my surprise, the young lady understood everything I was saying without me having to say it veeerrrryyyy sllloooowwwllyyy. I missed being able to speak freely without having to think about translating in my head. I never thought I'd say this, but the customer service call actually helped me for once.
MARIAAAAA! She picked me up a few minutes later and we were on our way straight to her temple for a little Purim carnival her mom was running for the kids. It brought back warm childhood memories of my Hebrew School days on the North Shore. The last few days I have been meeting her friends and family, hanging out and enjoying every second we can together. Other than my own mother of course, I have never met anyone more willing to go out of their way to make someone happy. One day when it gets lonely on the army base, Im going to think back to these moments and smile knowing what I have waiting for me at home. Who would have thought that me offering my shoulder would amount to so much love and support. Thank you Maria.
And a HUGE Thank you to everyone who has given their all to help me on my journey, from my parents to friends to local Rabbis to random brothers of postal workers that make my life just a little bit easier. You are awesome.
Minnie mouse and I on Purim
FUN FACT: Israelis dont have a voicemail system. If someone doesnt answer a phone call, they immediately send a text instead of leaving a voice message!
Until next week!
Gud Shabbos
3/25/2016