Went back to Phoenix to work for a week
We’ve now been here for about four months. When you make Aliyah the government of Israel does give you some money for the first six months to help you get on your feet. That really does help but its not enough for most people. Thankfully we had enough money saved up that we knew we would be OK for a while. But, since I decided to complete the five month ulpan course before starting to work here, we decided it would be good go back to the US to work for a week. Both to keep my medical skills up, and also to earn at least a little bit of income while I’m not working here.
I know everyone knows this and I’ve done it before many times myself. But boy, that is one long flight.
Once you’ve been here three months you can apply for an Israeli passport, which I did right away after three months, and luckily it arrived just before my trip.
Its a “biometric” passport. They associate your fingerprint with it when you apply for it so at the airport returning to Israel I was able to use the machines on the side of the big room where you go through passport control, scan my passport at the electronic kiosk, and go right on through without ever seeing an actual immigration officer at one of those booths. It was actually super fast and easy.
Being back in Phoenix was nice. Working was good, everyone was happy to see me and I enjoyed my time there. Because I worked with my old group, I already knew everyone and already knew the work-flow, so it was easy. I am very thankful to be able to have that arrangement. It was also great to see my parents and my friends again. But I have to say, it was a little weird to be back in your “home town” without your family and not staying in your own house. Just seemed a little off. I definitely did notice, however, that the landscape in Arizona is absolutely beautiful!
The thing that made me feel the most Israeli while in the US, however, was that I was tasked with bringing back a bunch of Amazon packages 😁.
