13.5 Weeks To Go

The flight we hope to make is July 22.
There is so much to do....
Mail darling wife's request for birth certificate to France. Get wedding certificate notarized and apostilled. Fax copies of all remaining paperwork to NBN and Jewish Agency. Bring originals to Jewish Agency. Select a shipping company, and a shipping date. Take inventory of what we have, what we need, decide where to buy what we don't have, figure out our budget, figure out a budget we actually have, wrap up loose ends (cut the cable service, put a signatory on the bank account, etc), packing what we'll need before the lift comes, sending resumes out to half the State of Israel, (try to) contact realtors and klitah coordinators in places we're interested in, and a hundred other things I can't think of off the top of my head.

It's exciting, it's terrifying, it's making wonder if I'm insane. But it's happening!

It's Official

Past the point of no return, no backward glances
The games we played 'til now are at an end
Past all thought of 'If' or 'When', no use resisting
Abandon thought and let the dream descend
("Past the Point of No Return", Phantom of the Opera)



I turned the job down.

Making the phone call was hard. I felt like I wanted to cry. Until now, we've lived with one foot in either world, going through daily life here while also planning a life in Israel. This offer was the point of no return - we are now committed to this, for better and for worse.

Sigh.

Here we go...

יום הזכרון

http://youtu.be/uPaNZ8wFYbE

For some reason, this song holds a powerful sway over me - too often, the deaths of youths in conflicts bigger than they will ever be are hijacked by "patriotism", by politics, by messages and meanings not their own. We sometimes forget the simple fact that the human life, its richness and woven tapestry of narratives and connections, is precious; it is also crushing and devastating when one is lost.

I heard this song for the first time on the bus to Tzfat, looking at the Chayalim and Chayalot on the bus. There are 25,578 who never came home...

Interview Set. Apostille Magic.

Once again, זה לעומת זה at play.

I get the call for the interview. Life is peachy. Friday is the big day.
My wife receives a call from the French consulate, with a (admittedly harebrained) scheme to get her elusive apostille and births certificate.

Long Live Rafael Cohen/Details on our Progress

Rafael Cohen is the director of Aliyah at the Jewish Agency.
He is a fantastic, friendly, caring person. And a wonderful representative for the Jewish Agency.

Due to darling wife's paperwork mess, Rafael took a personal interest in our case, and cleared his schedule to meet with us personally for the interview. He listened attentively to our case, and is already working on helping us with the bureaucratic monolith that is the Israeli government. If all the people we need to meet with (NBN, Misrad haPnim, etc) will be like him, life will be peachy.

We have completed the apostilled name change document (and anxiously await it in the mail), passport pictures, sent in our marriage certificate (though we will need to get that apostilled, as well), and have an appointment to get baby's passport. In about a month, I think we will be done with all the paperwork...!

Now it's on to prepping for a lift, hunting for apartments and realtors, and making an inventory of what we will need to buy here before moving.



Of course, there's that job interview...

I met with that friend in the office today. He had already asked my current boss for permission to move over to his division. The position is a 5 year contract, comes with a raise compared to my current salary, will graduate to supervisory level in about two months, and is closer to the field I enjoy working in (and possess a Masters degree in, for that matter).
It's a two level jump in the agency in four months, which is unheard of.

My current boss gave me her blessing to interview, and intimated that sticking with her will have benefits down the road, too. In agency politics, that is a strong hint towards latching on with her next project after this grant is completed.

It feels good to be wanted, great to be making progress in a career, and confusing for it to be happening in direct contradiction with my dreams, and plans.

We'll see how the interview goes, I suppose...

And the Sun, It Shines for Thee

Interview with the Jewish Agency went VERY well.

I was so excited to take a positive step, a concrete step, towards moving. (Even if we still aren't approved yet, and will need to go down to the JA at least one more time, because of the paperwork outstanding, as well as our apostille issue).

Then I got a phone call from a friend at work, offering me a position even higher than previous (it has the word supervisor in it). It's a position with a lot of potential, and comes with a significant raise.

This is a bit insane - it seems for each step I take in Israel's direction, an equal and opposite force says "stay".

I agreed to an interview - let's see where it goes...

Here Comes the Sun

Sorry for the Beatles reference...

Tomorrow we head for an interview with the Jewish Agency. After much back and forth, they told us to come in without the problematic apostille, and that well figure things out from there.

We also found a licensed rabbi to sign the marriage certificate, which we will take care of tonight. Slowly, the last of the paperwork is being resolved. It is exciting to know that we're finally getting somewhere.

Pesach has come and gone, and this will be the last time (hopefully) that we have two sedarim. It was cold, blustery, rainy, and bleak outside this chag - that should be a last time, too.

Now the nitty-gritty of where to live and job hunting is making its way into our lives - there are so many options, technically, though in our experience of them there seem to be none. Not having the clarity of where we want to go, and how we will earn a living, is a bit crushing. Sometimes I wonder if others have had to go through this, and how they coped. Other times I realize this is something that all people go through at some time or another (job hunting, school choosing, moving, etc) and that the human race is still around and doing okay. I guess it's a day by day kind of thing.

But the sun coming out is nice. May it be a portent of things to come.