Ramblings about the first (relatively uneventful) 48 hours!!!

I’m here! I arrived in Tel Aviv yesterday, after a trip that lasted forever (I got on the plane to go from London to Tel Aviv and the nice British gentleman next to me said “good morning” and it took me a second to realize that it was, in fact, about 8:00 in the morning, not still evening of the day I left as my brain and body thought it was). The flights were fine—I spent a good four hours watching Josh Duhamel which made the time pass wonderfully. There was also a nice Israeli boy on my flight who first asked me how to decipher his seat letter and then, upon realizing we were in the same row, welcomed me to row 32, only to discover that he was sitting in the wrong row and had to move. We said a tearful goodbye and he switched rows (tearful on his part—I wasn’t looking for a friend on the flight, I just wanted to read my Julie Andrews memoir). At the end of the flight he asked me “How was the flight in row 32?” I replied that it was fine and asked about row 34. He answered wittily “It was the same flight”. Thanks, smarty pants, welcome to Israel.

My spanking new Israeli passport in hand, I zipped through passport control like a champ, thrilled they let me in the country (I even understood the question they were asking me in Hebrew). My cousin Dan picked me up at the airport and I was able to spend last night and today with my wonderful family! I got to meet who I can say unreservedly is my favorite baby on the planet, my almost-two year old second cousin. Tomorrow I head to Jerusalem to check in, get my housing, and settle in. I’m certainly looking forward to finally being in the place that will be my home for the next 5 ½ months.