Lots to Report Tonight

Well, it's been busy the last day or so. Last week the Israel Aliyah Center shipped my passport back to me with the immigration visa contained within. They sent me a tracking number for FedEx. They shipped it 3 day service on Thursday. The online tracking system showed it to be delivered before 4:30 on the 24th. When I checked yesterday morning it showed that it arrived in Columbia Saturday morning. I was like cool, it'll be in my office later today... wrong... So, this morning, I figured when our normal FedEx delivery showed up it would show up... wrong again... So, when did it show up? around 3:15. So, FYI, when you use 3 day service from FedEx it WILL be 3 days. Well, it did make my day. Even though I knew what was in the package, it was still gratifying to actually see the visa in my passport. So, now I get on the plane... OK, not yet, but in about 14 weeks, but who's counting?

Well, it was also the day I got my letter of acceptance from Nefesh B'Nefesh to utilize their services and join their charter flights this summer. Basically it means they will get me there, help with my integration into Israeli society, the workforce, and such. This organization has streamlined the process and goes to such lengths to make sure your integration is successful. I know that reading about and seeing pics about their initial flights, less than 7 years ago was a major contributor to my decision, obviously if I hadn't gone and volunteered with Sar-El then I might not have considered it, but with the seed planted, I was ripe to feel the pull and follow the path laid out by Nefesh B'Nefesh. A little early yet, but I want to thank them for all their support to date as well as the assistance they will provide in the very near future once I really get on that plane.

The online processing system that I mentioned in an earlier posting, allows for the tracking of any needed information as well as instructing me when I still need to be doing something. The site suggests that I check back regularly to see if there is anything new on the site. I was online late last night and there were new questions and such. They wanted to know if I was bringing a pet, what (if any) special needs I might have on the flight, etc. So, I filled in the missing information. there is a place to select the flight choices, but it just has a message stating that the information will be available shortly and to check back. So, it looks like they are about to put dates up, but not quite yet... There was also a place to let me know when they received a copy of my visa. I scanned it in around 3:30pm and e-mailed it in. When I checked online around 6pm it had already been updated. Since Israel is 7 hours ahead of us, I was impressed as it was between 10:30pm and 1am when they actually did something with the e-mail I sent them.

I came home and shared my days accomplishments with Emily and she looked at the visa and said "This is good, right?" and I laughed and said "YES" She also, said "Cool, there's Hebrew in here"