"All my bags are packed/ I'm ready to go..."

Yeah, right, who are we kidding? This is me we're talking about. Hyper-organized about everything BUT packing. I will always be packing until the last second possible. I had-- have-- a packing list; it's on the spreadsheet with all my schedule and OT site contact info.

Anyway, so I have one suitcase of stuff for my trip, plus clothes to leave in Chashmonaim. And my second suitcase is full of linens and stuff. It's kind of jolting-- I've packed to move halfway across the world. It's a little weird, things being up in the air-- I don't know when I'm going for sure. It also sort of feels like I'm moving into a dorm, except I'm not bringing anything electronic-- because, oh, yeah, the voltage is kind of different.

First suitcase has my clothes for the trip (only taking 4 pairs of shoes, including naot [comfy shoes] and shabbos boots! go me!), plus pjs, tanks, a couple of pairs of pants, and a couple of tees.
I have in the second suitcase:
Sheets, towels (hand/face, bath, hair, netilat yadayim [for ritual hand washing, like before eating bread], and milchig [dairy], fleishig [meat], and pareve [neither meat nor dairy-- kind of neutral] dish towels), pillows, and a couple blankets. I also have my tik [knapsack] from madrichim [instructor's course], but that's going to be my second check on the return.

The carry-on is so not packed.

On the upside, I have copies of my diplomas. Yay. Maybe I can get my degrees recognized...supposedly you need a teudat zehut, but in theory you can do it on a passport. Hope I can.

I'm surprisingly awake and focused. Not that this entry reflects that at all, but for it being 2:11 am now and me being up and running since 6 am yesterday, I think I'm doing pretty well. It feels like yesterday was so long ago-- exciting to have a break from school, but...feels odd. We'll see where things go.

Application in Process

Almost done. I scanned in and uploaded a lot of the documents that I needed, but I wasn't able to do them all-- some of them were more than one page, but there was only space to upload one file. And after I uploaded some of them and they went through, it looked like there were different files uploaded and some didn't upload...so I don't know. I sent NBN a message, so hopefully they'll respond soon.

I set up a whole bunch of appointments at hospitals in Israel-- I have to make some more phone calls, probably tomorrow or Tuesday night. I'm going to be very busy, hopefully. Also, I found my high school diplomas and did a victory dance, because I couldn't find them for a while. But now I did. See, I need to have my Bachelor's recognized to get my Master's recognized. In order to get my Bachelor's recognized I need my high school diploma. And I couldn't find them (Hebrew, English, and Regents), so I called my school and the assistant principal said she could reprint them when she got more in April...which meant that I wouldn't be able to start getting my degrees recognized until I made aliyah, but at least I'd have them. And then I found my diplomas!

So now I have my elementary school, high school, and undergrad and grad diplomas. As well as my license, a letter with my dates of attendance and fieldwork dates of my program, and my transcripts. I have 5 sealed transcripts. The NBN website says:

1. Teudat Oleh
2. Teudat Zehut
3. Diploma (If you have not received your official diploma yet, you can submit a certificate indicating that you are eligible to receive your dipoma.)
   
4. Transcript (If you graduated before 1987, you do not need a transcript.)
   
5. Proof of name change, if relevant
6. Transcripts of other academic study for which you received credit (such as studies abroad or summer study)
7. For distance learning or off-site studies, declaration of type of academic study, signed by a lawyer
8. High school diploma (for Bachelor's degree recognition, if you graduated after 2000)

For recognition of a Master's degree, you must still present your diploma and transcript of your Bachelor's degree.

Transcripts must be original copies and not student copies. If necessary, your university can send the official transcript directly to Misrad Hachinuch. If your name has changed and you are sending the document directly to Misrad Hachinuch, please ask your university to indicate your new name.

If your documentation is NOT in English, Hebrew or Russian, you must obtain a notarized translation by an Israeli notary.

You can begin the process of degree recognition prior to making Aliyah, however, you must present your documentation in person. If you are visiting Israel, you are entitled to submit a passport instead of a Teudat Oleh and Teudat Zehut. This eliminates the 5 month waiting period, once you arrive in Israel as Olim Chadashim.
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The misrad hachinuch website says that I need copies of these...fine, but I can't copy the transcripts, because once I open them, they're no longer sealed, official transcripts, and the school does not guarantee that they are original. So I don't know how I do that...I'll find out.

In other news..no other aliyah news. Wait, yes, I found out that there aren't anatomy books in Hebrew, but someone suggested getting an exercise book-- I don't need organs as much as mucles and bones and limbs. So I'm going to try to get an exercise book.

Now it's good night all.

Applying

I started my aliyah application yesterday. So far it's...going. For some reason it didn't save my education information, so as of now I didn't go to college or grad school, but I can apparently edit things at the end. Now I'm writing my aliyah essay, which is harder than you might think.

In other news, I'm still working on my pilot trip. Sunday I have to call hospitals-- Beit Levenstein, Tel Hashomer, Hadassah, Sha"tz, Alyn, Merkaz Rakefet, maybe some kupot cholim in J'lem. A couple of other places.

And I'm going to try to pull a couple of shifts...we'll see how that goes.

This is going to be one whirlwind of a trip...wish me luck.