It is now the day after the arrival of our lift. I would have written yesterday, but it is hard to do that when not a single bone in my body did not ache and I am mentally exhausted! So…I waited until today (Wednesday) to update the blog. It is actually NIGHT time already as today was also so busy that I am finally NOW getting to the writing.
The LIFT…It was our first real Israel experience that was not only exhausting, rewarding and time-consuming, it also was our first real encounter with dealing with a different culture that we are becoming accustomed to. (Poor English syntax, but I am tired and not something I am too concerned with. Oops, did it again!) Because there are MANY stairs to get down to our home (off the side of a mountain) and because we had SO much stuff to offload from the lift to our home, we needed to come up with a way to have our goods delivered in a more efficient method than down all the flights of stairs. AHA! At the side of our home outside, there is a drop of about 10 meters (about 30 feet) and then there is a security/work road. It was suggested that they bring the container to that road and then, using an electric crane, send the items up the crane and then bring them straight into our home. Brilliant idea! The crane operator showed up on time at 8am. The lift arrived at about 9:15am…yay, good to go. But wait, there’s a catch…in order to do this, the truck with the container needs to make a strange S-turn (remember the one on Lake Shore Drive??) and sadly, that was just not going to happen. What to do, what to do? The truck with the lift was brought back up to the main road, a smaller truck was brought in and they offloaded to this smaller truck, driven around to the back, offloaded in small chunks, craned up to the top, offloaded and repeat the process. Repeat the process, repeat the process…well, you get the idea! It took from 1pm to 9pm…8 hours!! They (Sonigo) were great and really did a wonderful job. I would say that 95% of our stuff ended up in the right spots. We had planned in advance where things would go, and that helped the organizational part very much.
Our house now looks filled with boxes and items but at least we are not under a deadline to UNPACK like we were to pack up again. Bli Neder…never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever again. This is it! We are staying put. It was so exhausting, even though we did not do the actual schlepping, we had to oversee every step and be vigilant at every step!
During the day and in the evening, our new neighbors, Aaron and Judy Lewin were So gracious, bringing us tea, water and MAKING US DINNER! The day ended with Andy and me sitting in the back yard looking at a million stars, looking at the lights of the nearby communities and thanking Hashem for this awesome opportunity.
Andy and I spent the first night in the house, while the girls spent the night at the Goldenbergs (yet another PERFECT example of what chessed is all about! As a matter of fact, I can not count the amount of offers to help us that we have received, cakes people have brought, Shabbat invitations, etc etc. Incredible amounts of chessed here! I am looking forward to reciprocating one day…once we recuperate!!)
Today, Wednesday, we began the arduous task of unpacking. We made the beds, put together a desk, a mirror/dresser combo, re-arranged some of the furniture and waited…for the air conditioning guy, the appliances to be delivered…the air conditioning guy, the appliances to be delivered…9 am on the dot…or not…or maybe 6pm. Time…it is fluid and relative. VERY relative. We are learning that 9am may be ISRAEL time or possibly Denver time or even LA time…relax, they will get here. Well, the appliances (being delivered between 1-3pm) did show up right on time at 6:10pm! Not too bad! A/C…nope, no can do. But, first thing in the morning, for sure…maybe. We shall see soon, I guess. But in another show of instant chessed, a neighbor across the street whom we do not even know, gave us a fan last night! The weather tonight is actually gorgeous!
Earlier this evening, there was a pizza and salad meal hosted for the new Olim to Maale Adumim…it was a nice break! We took a walk to the Goldenbergs to thank them from the bottom of our hearts for their hosting us and then it was back to the house to finish putting up mezzuzot and finish unpacking a few more items.
Tomorrow…off to Yerushalayim for some “business” that needs to be taken care of. We are going to Misrad HaKlita (Absorption Ministry) for a noon appointment, to the municipality of Maale Adumim for some other business, Bezeq phone company to finalize a phone installation, etc etc etc. Lots to do and I can not wait until Shabbat!!!!
Off to bed, if I can make it all the way up the set of stairs to my bed. (Last night I made it to a plain mattress thrown onto my bed and collapsed in about 5 nanoseconds. Wait…I need to go to 11pm Maariv…ok…back SOON to fall asleep.)
Layla tov…by the way…at NO time, not even for a brief second, have I or Andy thought that we made a mistake in coming here. While it has been physically difficult and mentally taxing…we are fulfilling a dream and a Mitzva at the same time.
