But Wait!! There's More!!

Yes, I have been approved to make Aliyah through Nefesh B'Nefesh and The Jewish Agency.  What could possibly be bad about that?  Well, the Israeli Foreign Ministry has gone on strike.  It started in Israel and then spread to the USA where all of the Consulate/Embassy employees were told to cease their normal operations.  How does that affect me?  Normal operations include processing passports and ALIYAH visas!  No travel documents will be processed until the strike is over. However long that may be. Oy Vey!

All I can do is shake my head and laugh. I was trying to make the group flight next Tuesday.  So were a lot of other people.  I wonder how many of us are now without our travel visas to be able to board the flight.  Hopefully, it will be enough to warrant NBN to offer another group flight after the strike is over.  I was told that most likely WON'T happen, leaving us to book our own individual flights thru NBN. 

The difference?  On a group or charter flight, there are government employees along who process all of our paperwork during the flight, so that we land with everything we need to begin our new life in Israel. On an individual flight, while NBN still sponsers the one way ticket to Israel, no officials accompany the flight to help with the paper trail.  After you land, (if at a 'normal' hour) you can go to the Misrad HaKlita and Misrad Hapnim offices at the airport to process your paperwork.  If you arrive at an unconventional hour, you need to go to these offices within 3 days of arriving.  Find the offices that serve the area in which you will be living.

I am still going through the motions as if I were leaving on Tuesday.  I have been told that usually their strikes don't carry on indefinitely. It may be a few days. Or a week.  Or two.  :(

I'll be back to update when I know more!

Ali

So There I Was.....In Home Depot......

And my cell phone rings.  I look down and see that the display reads:  NBN Flights. I answer the phone.

"Hello, this is Lior from NBN Flights.....confirming that you will be placed on the July 2nd group flight".

"Ah...what?  You mean, I have been approved?"

"Um, well....um....uh......"

"Well, the reason I am asking, is because I have not heard this information from my Shaliach yet!"

"Well, then you need to call him first thing tomorrow....because my computer screen shows that you have been approved by the Jewish Agency to make Aliyah, and we have been directed to get you on this flight!"

Wow, oh Wow, oh Wow!  Suddenly butterflies were swarming in my stomach.  I was elated and terrified at the same time. It is really happening!!  I am MOVING to Israel!!  Oh My Goodness! Will I be able to get everything done before my flight?  I thought I had planned well for this, but now I feel quite inadequate about completing it all in a timely fashion. 

My head is still spinning.  I have moments of elation and then out of nowhere, a moment of sheer terror!  Not of living in Israel, but regarding the sheer magnitude of all the last minute details!

Yay!!  In spite of the mountain I will need to climb to be ready on time, I am one happy girl!!

Mazal Tov to me!!

Ali  :)  (I am Beaming!)

The "Missing" Document........

So about 4 weeks into my wait after meeting with the Shaliach, I get a call from NBN Flight team wanting to know what flight I would like to join.  I asked him if he knew something I didn't?!??!  Because I still did not have my final approval from the Jewish Agency!  (I was told last fall not to even select a flight preference until you have approval).  He apologized and said that I did need that to proceed, so just wait a little longer. 

Easier said than done!

The next night, my NBN Advisor called me to see how things were moving along (or weren't, as the case may be!).  I told him that I hadn't had any contact from the Jewish Agency.  He told me to be in touch with them.  I explained that I had----emails and voice mails----and nothing was being returned.  Isn't that odd?  I mean, is that normal?  I didn't know if I should be irritated or concerned!!  Maybe something had happened to my Shaliach and I'm fretting over something that he has no control over!  But you'd think I'd get an "out of the office" auto reply.....not stone cold silence!

So my NBN advisor said he would check into it on his end and let me know what he found out.  The next morning, I awake to an email from him saying that the Jewish Agency needed one more document.  (When did they know this?  Why didn't my Shaliach tell me!?!??!). Seems I had started the process so long ago that they needed an updated letter from my Rabbi.  No problem!  I had it scanned and emailed into them that night!

That was a week ago.  So perhaps my "2-3 week answer" started once they received the "final" document.

Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock.........as the days pass, my window of opportunity narrows down on what needs to be accomplished in an ever shorter time frame.  I want to be on the Group flight that leaves on 2 July. Pet travel and health certificate CERTIFIED by the USDA, selling my car, renting or selling my house, shutting down utility accounts, etc.  I can't even order the shipping container until I know I can be on that flight, and the shipping company wanted 6 weeks' notice!  HA!  (That's not gonna be happenin'!)

Can she do it? Can she make her target flight date? I still move forward a little bit every day in order to reach my goal. Sorting, packing, donating. If the approval comes this week, I know I will be ready.  Nothing like the pressure of a deadline to get all the loose ends tied up!  :)  If it comes NEXT week, I'll be in the history books!!

Patience.  Savlanut.  It's just my training ground for life in Israel.

 Deep breath.........exhale...........repeat.  :)

Keeping my chin up,
Aliana