One week in, and we are starting to feel
more at home. We moved to our flat in Modiin on Thursday, and I for one was
relieved that it was as nice as it looked in the pictures. After a good clean
we were able to start unpacking and apart from the obvious lack of furniture, I
could sit back and relax as I reflected on the huge journey we had embarked
upon. Having talked about it since going on my gap year 8 years ago, it feels
great to finally be here.
The neighbours knocked on from across the
hall to introduce themselves and asked if there was anything they could do. Zak
immediately asked if we could borrow their wifi code until we got our own set
up. I was very impressed with his Israeli levels of Chutzpah; he would never
have done that in Hendon! They were only too happy to help.
We had been invited out for Friday night
dinner and Shabbat lunch by people we knew from London and Manchester which
made our first Shabbat a truly relaxing experience. It is reassuring to be in a
place with people that you know, which is one of the reasons we chose Modiin.
In Kaiser (the name of our neighbourhood) there is park known as the ‘Shabbat
Park’ where people congregate at 5pm when the sun starts to release it’s grip,
so we headed round their at the allotted time. To our dismay, as we walked
through the park we couldn’t see anyone we knew. Perhaps we had the wrong park,
perhaps the wrong time, and then on a bench in front of me an old friend from
home who didn’t even know we had arrived! Having spent a good hour or two in
the park meeting old friends and being introduced to new ones, we wandered home
to put the baby to bed.
It is refreshing being in a community of
Olim. Everyone says, but aren’t you worried you won’t integrate? The thing it,
everyone here knows what you are going through, because they have been through
it themselves, and that is so reassuring.
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