I just watched the NBN "Come Back" video on YouTube ( click here for the video). I feel both excited and also sad/get teary...my aliyah has always been tempered with "but my family..." That was the reason, almost four years ago, when someone asked me if I was going to make aliyah I said no. I said I could see myself living in Israel for 2-3 years, but not permanently because my family and friends are here (US/NY).
I'm really torn about this because I don't want to leave them. It is so much easier to keep in touch than even 4 years ago, but still...there is a time difference and they're not right there. I usually call Andrea on my way home from work, as I'm walking home. Yeah...not going to work so much anymore because my walking home from work (if it's close enough, or even to/from the bus)-- she's going to be 7 hours behind me. So if it's 6 pm when I'm getting home, it's 11 am by her-- smack in the middle of her day. And Sara-- I'm on the phone with her all the time now...again, won't be able to. It's the spontaneity that I won't be able to have that I'll miss; I can't just decide, "Oh, by the way, can I come for Shabbos?"...because it will be a 12-hour plane ride, plus to and from the airport as opposed to an hour on the bus/train. That stuff is really going to suck. And answering the phone, "City morgue[, you kill 'em, we chill 'em]!" It's just...and Elissa I'm going to miss like crazy. I mean, we don't see each other for a week and we're nutty. What's going to happen after 6 months? Although, with her crazy architecture schedule, this just might work...hmmm...
I'm going to be a wreck at the airport. I wonder who's even coming to see me off? The calendar in the kitchen says, "L-JFK- 10 AM." It's so surreal. This is actually happening, I'm making aliyah.
But I get what Mom said about being lonely...because I will be lonely for my family and friends here. I will have-- I already have-- people there. Rita and Dov and their kids who are somewhere between parents and aunt-uncle and siblings and cousins. I have friends who I haven't seen in almost a year but am just as close with as when I left.
When I'm there I have a feeling of...rightness, like it just fits. And that's why I have to be there. I broke up with someone who, if not for the fact that I can't not be there and he can't be there, I could have married. Married for pete's sake!
I can't prepare myself for when the lonely moments are going to hit because I don't know when they will. Probably once I'm in ulpan and...settled more or less. I know I'm just going to want someone to hug me and tell me that yeah it sucks, but it gets better and tomorrow will be better and I can always call them (people in the States) or talk to them on the phone. And then just hug me and let me be miserable and lonely but just be there.
I know aliyah is the right thing for me. But why does it have to be so hard, even before I leave?
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Good luck. I miss my family too, and the time difference is an issue. I don't talk to my sister as much as I'd like. :( On the plus side, though, I find that my family actually makes more of an effort to come see me in Israel than they might have when I lived in the states, and when they do come they stay for longer. And we do stay in touch... hehe.... we even all have Farmville farms next door to each other :)
ReplyDeleteOn tip... make friends with other Olim who understand what it's like not to have too much of their family nearby. Israelis are really close to their families, so it helps me to have some Olah friends (Brazilian, actually) who know what it's like to miss family.
Good luck! Come visit me in Israel if you want to pretend to be sisters. :) Where are you settling?
I might take you up on the offer to visit. I do eventually want to end up in the North anyway.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to be in Jlem, at least for Ulpan, and then take it from there.