I wasn’t anxious about crashing, but about landing.
Tag: aliya
In the beginning…
I was as nervous as a whippet. Leaving London, leaving England, filled me with fear.
Nerves
He’s in Israel ‘in case’, and I know that the case he’s most nervous of is Muslims taking over Germany. Israelis, as far as I can see, think that’s something that’s already happened.
Little Miss Sunshine
She killed more bees, just so she could fill the tiny bee graves she’d dug.
Telling Gloria
She said she’d visited my father’s grave and told him my news. He was, I understand, thrilled by it.
Last day at the ulpan
She danced with Alberto, I don’t know why, the joy and sadness of the occasion, I suppose.
A year ago
I’ve decided to stop saying goodbye, and start saying hello, instead.
Gone in six seconds
Nathan imagines they’d be caught and, besides, the man may be a serial killer, so suggests the cruising park behind the Hilton instead. Much safer.
My first night in Tel Aviv
We’re drunk and happy, and howl into the night, like wolves in the forest.
A moving story
Israelis, in case you don’t know, aren’t great at customer relations.
The Azurs
Tim, infuriated by the sounds of a mother playing with her baby, who wouldn’t be, poured a glass of water onto them from his balcony.
A write-off
I discover that doing nothing is more fun than having nothing to do
Ulpanation
She looked disgusted, as if I’d admitted to a taste for rat, or beetroot, or something.
Jenni’s party
He tells me at length ‘what I should do’, which includes marrying his 48 year old niece. She’s a PE teacher, he says, guaranteeing her attractiveness.
Joonatan and the Art of War
He carries, at all times, a beautiful modern edition of The Art of War, which he reads during the break.
Why are we here?
I ask if there’s anything that connects us, the new immigrants. ‘We didn’t fit in at home?’ says Megan, in that way that makes statements sound like questions.
My first day at the ulpan
It is my first day at the ulpan, and the first time I spend with people in a common cause since I arrived in November, three months earlier, unless you count queuing at the Ministry of the Interior, that is.
Woman with moustache
I am distracted, and slightly repelled, by her moustache, can hardly take my eyes off it, actually…
Rabbinical detective work
It was so simple to do, I never stopped to think if I really wanted to leave London.
My new sort-of passport
Dan shook my hand and smiled and said, ‘Welcome home,’ and I felt emotional again.
