Hamas gets a slap.

Israel shut down the crossings after Hamas decided it would be in the best interest to the Palestinian people to fire over 160 qassams at Sderot, and over 60 mortars. Hamas is upset that Israel is committing a "conspiracy against the resistance". Their tactics are far worse than targeted strikes. Looking back at history and the war of 1948 many historians illustrate the fact that the chance of a random attack in random areas targeting nothing to civilians lead to a lot of psychological damage. Many people and ministers are starting to lose it, even suggesting targeting Gaza strip with exactly the same qassams. Hamas claims that they use this tactic because it is the only tactic available and when they can fight head to head they will do so. The escalation was from a raid in Gaza on Hamas that killed 20militants and their civilian supporters. I do not blame the IDF for the civilian deaths. Hamas is at fault for putting them in harms way. By traveling with their children while knowing they are being targeted. Funny part is no less than 2months ago Hamas was telling Israel it would be a mistake to invade Gaza. I guess this will be chalked up to just more Terrorist Rhetoric. Latest studies show that over 50% of the children in Sderot suffer from PTSD. This is a very difficult situation for the people in Sderot. Hollandia a Sleep engineering company has left, I feel they should be ashamed. The Jewish State is held together based on the beliefs of unity. In the '48 war people starved in Jerusalem, lost body parts all to help define an imaginary line in the desert sand that we can call our own. Now Hollandia is going to divest their economic investment in Sderot so they can gain some money. Take a hit, go in the red, big deal, this is your people, and your people's lifes.

Ulpan!!!

So I passed the test and I am officially in Aleph Ploos. My class is alot of fun and I am able to already pick up most of what is going on. My speaking and listening needs to improve but for the most part I think i will do pretty well. If only I did not have to wake up so early for it. Also most of the class is French and some American. Originally people did not speak to much to me cause I dressed like a bum. However, with the addition of jeans and a shirt its amazing how the superficiality of people can benefit my self esteem and friendships :p
Some girl actually told the class that her occupation was a Peacemaker. Interesting way to put it. I think she honestly has a little to much hope swimming through her helpful heart. However, I appreciate the fact that there are people out there willing to consistently push for peace. I just hope that the core of her peacemaking skills are centered around education and economic reforms aimed to truly help the palestinian people. Other people are accountants, Lawyers, finance fielders(haha or were, that crash sucks). I hope I excel.

Need to leave the country for a few days?

Well, i am very happy to report that this is one of the easiest things that i have had to do.
I will be leaving to Germany on the 11th to visit my family there on vacation. To get the pass needed to leave the country (Israel wants you to leave under their passport, which you do not get for a year, and not your former country's) you must visit the Ministry of Interior and bring your passport from your Former country. They will give you a paper with a bunch of stamps and you are set. Pain free, easy as can be, to bad i forgot my passport at home so i had to walk there twice.

Leaving with out this paper under your other country's passport can result in a freeze of you Sal Klita basket. So please plan accordingly.

Replaced my Lock

Crazy driver in Nachlaot crashed into my apartment door slightly. I caught him though! He paid for the replacement. Cost him 130shekels for the lock repair after he haggled the handymen down from 200. These are the men.

The Bank part 2 and 3

Well, seems that a cashiers check to transfer funds from an American bank to an Israeli bank not the best of options. Not only do they take an ung-dly amount of commission but it also takes anywhere from 2weeks to a month. It took me a total of three trips to straighten out my bank account so I give this advice:

One: BRING CANDY(i read this on another blog) give it to everyone you are going to deal with. Dealing with Olim is not something I gather they do everyday. Many of them do their best, however, this is not the United States where banks will crawl over glass for you in customer service. If you want service you got to show Love, all girls love Candy ^_^. If you don't really understand why you should bring it still then just bring it anyway and you will understand.

Two: Make sure to repeat yourself a few times that you are Oleh Chadash/ah. You will have a Bank Account notice from the Ministry of Absorbtion it is IMPERITIVE that you have this paper stamped or you will have to go back.

Three: If you want to retain foreign currency in your account then open a seperate account that does not have Oleh status, unfortunately. Having a bank account that with Shekelim and foreign currency can make it so that the Ministry of Absorbtion cannot send you your Sal Klita basket each month.

Four: Stand your ground, if they make a mistake they will be content with making you wait on another line. Bring to their attention that it is not your fault that they messed up.

Five: Bring a book, an Ipod, Phone, Laptop, anything that will fill up time.

Six: Try to arrive prior to 11pm or there will be a rush.

Banks

Settling in isn't exactly the hardest thing to do in a country that is so different from your home. Being a soiled American I am used to customer service, especially when it comes to banking I am very used to getting what I want. Well today I decided was the day to open my account. I went down to the Bank Hapoalim on Jaffa st. in Jerusalem. First, I had to wait 30minutes when there was only 4 other people in line before me. The Chutzpah in Israel is great. At times it can be very overwhelming. However, for some reason I seem to enjoy it at this point in time (which could change overnight). When I finally sat down with a representative of the Bank we got down to business after 30 signatures (no joke), and two personal phone calls on the side of the representative of the bank (rude, but she was speaking to her bf or husband in English so obviously i knew where he was coming from) the opening of my Bank account was complete! YAY! So I handed her my shekels and my dollars and was informed of the good news. It is not her job to deposit shekels and dollars that i would need to get another ticket. So i recieved another ticket and went to the teller which only took 10minutes to deposit my shekels and then I was told I had to wait on another line to deposit my dollarim! So I waited for 30minutes with my E3 ticket number to find out that the lady wasn't there. Great, so i spoke to the hostess in the front of the bank who escorted me to someone who could help (after telling me that yes i am right, the bank here is crap and i should consider another bank, at least they are honest). So Micah a Teller informed me that they would be charging me 25dollars to deposit a certified cashiers check, crap. So i took it back and am now looking for different options. Afterwards, the lady next to him got into a big huff about the hostess escorting me upstairs to the tellers and was telling me how its not her job and she "demands" I tell her who brought me upstairs to get them in trouble. So, I looked at her and said "No one in this entire bank has been helpful to me other than that hostess who finally brought me here" turned my back thanked Micah for the help and walked out.

If I ever have a reader that is an Olim or even anyone for that matter, i would stay away from Bank Hapoalim on Jaffa St, Jerusalem.

Afterwards I decided to treat myself to McDonald's (greatest evil coorperation in the world) and got a yummy chicken sandwich. There were a lot of Asians there, I was a bit upset they spoke more Hebrew than I did. However, the meal was hard to get down because I am sick and jetlagged.

Following McDonald's I walked home (after getting lost for 15min walking the wrong direction). Just in time to see a man driving a truck hit my door! :( However, he was very polite and honest about the situation and is paying for all the repairs.

So Thus far today i have accomplished what I need to. I wish I had my dollarim deposited but that will be another day. As well as health insurance.

Second Day

Second day ended today: After arriving to Israel I met up with my girlfriend and moved into our new apartment in Nachloaot. Very nice place. A little disappointed with the lack of heat, but I knew that that would be an issue thanks to the other Aliyah blogs i have had the benefit of being able to prepare myself better than any of my other trips to Israel. Luckily, my girlfriend the Israeli had that angle already cover with a heater from "Planero".

I tried to set up a bank account. However, my ID number hasn't gone through as of yet. So I have no bank account, no cellphone, and no health insurance. This should all be taken care of by mid next week I hope.

My Hebrew is non conversational. However, I have a good base from a year and half of college study. A lot of it has been forgotten over the last year two years. However, brushing up is easy and my reading is still on a 3rd grade level which is better than a kindergarten level.


Tomorrow or Sunday i will hopefully be able to get some pictures up of my trip, I mean my life.