Visiting our New Apartment for the First Time in the City Center





 Today we had our first appointment for establishing ourselves as citizens of the State of Israel.  We went to the misrad hapnim, the Ministry of the Interior, and received our temporary id cards (teudat zehut) and also completed forms for our biometric id cards which will be good for 10 years.  The government workers who assisted us were patient, nicely mannered, pleasant, and very efficient.  Each of us went to a separate "window" for processing and as it turned out, the meetings accomplished what we had hoped for in a very painless manner.

Afterwards, we walked up the block (Jaffa) to mercaz ha-ir (center of the city) and met Shmuel and Chananya who took the train to meet us.  They led us to our new apartment.  The good news is that we are going to end up in an apartment that is not only lovely, it is well organized (floor plan) and is located in a building that is kept in pristine condition.  We had trusted Yehoshua and Nava to find us a place and we couldn't have asked for better.  We even went to see the garbage collection room and it was spic and span with no odor.

The pictures seen above are of our first visit to the apartment with both boys and Yehoshua.  As we begin turning it into our own personal spot, there will be more photos to follow, but that will be closer to the end of October when our lift arrives and its contents are delivered.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Moving In....The Lift Arrived

Image
 Our lift arrived and it was a thrill to see it finally make it arrive in Jerusalem.  128 boxes and furniture that we had not seen since August were now in our possession once again.  The crew from Sonigo that helped was incredible.  They worked rapidly, efficiently, and were very caring.  Abdeel Jaber who was head of the crew even said he would want to have coffee with me in the Old City where he lives one day after the pandemic ends!  Not everything arrived intact but we are going to work with the Furniture Doctor in Jerusalem to see if the necessary repairs can be made.  None-the-less, we did work very hard to empty the boxes, unwrap all the dishes and other household items, and then dispose of the packing paper. As you can see the amount of paper actually made a fun area for Shmuel to try to compact! We also took time to build 4 pieces that we ordered online from IKEA.  After 49 years of marriage, I'm pleased to say that we survived the experi...
Read more

The process begins

Image
Once we decided we wanted to make aliyah, we connected with Nefesh B'Nefesh in Jerusalem.  The organization is amazing.  It led us through the paperwork needed, provided guidance about questions that arose, and kept track of the file that we had to submit to the Jewish agency.  Nefesh B'Nefesh even assigned us our own personal Aliyah counselor who was more than willing to answer our questions.  In addition, we took advantage of various Nefesh B'Nefesh webinars including ones about the health care system in Israel, retiring in Israel, and banking in Israel.  The entire process has been one of learning, trying to prepare ourselves for the changes that will take place, and trying to be somewhat organized for the actual date when we will be making Aliyah.
Read more

Moving Part 1 before the lift arrives

Image
 When we came on August 11th, we had two suitcases for each of us and one carry on luggage piece as well.  For two people moving across the world permanently, we did not bring very much with us because we knew we were limitted to 50 lbs. per bag .  We also sent our household furniture and effects via ship to Israel.  That ship has still not arrived. We've been living comfortably but with little of our own possessions.  The family upstairs (our family) has graciously lent us pots/pans/knives, mixing bowls etc. whenever we've wanted to help cook for Shabbat meals. So this week, we put together some of what we brought with us, arranged for a mover to take it to our more permanent apartment.  We also had the mover bring a high riser bed that the kids were no longer going to use.  We purchased two mattresses to use on the frame to be delivered a day later. That bed (2 singles) will be used in our guest room! 
Read more