I've Arrived!!

Tel Aviv Beach
Originally uploaded by holylandhipster.

I am here. I can't believe it. I really am truly here. This HolylandHipster is finally blogging from my temporary apartment in Tel Aviv.

It's so surreal.

I'm now going to bore everyone with the details of the trip before getting down to the really, really good stuff.

My parents took me to the airport last night and, of course, my bags were overweight. What did El Al really expect? Fortunately, Mom was being really generous (and Dad really didn't want me to turn around and move back in with them) so she paid for another suitcase. God bless her! We hung out until 9:00 pm before they decided to go home and get to bed and that left me 3 1/2 hours to hang at the airport. My flight was PACKED! They were offering people overnight stay in a hotel and a free roundtrip ticket to take another flight, but with my overweight bags already checked in, there was no way I was volunteering. I was ready to get here.

We finally loaded the plane and it was one of the most organized, efficient experiences. Seriously. El Al has really come a lot way. The entire trip, the staff on the plane was courteous, kind and prompt. Whenever I wanted more water, a stewardess was there with a glass. It was nice. Unfortunately, and I will dedicate an entire blog to this much later, the whole no-creams/no make-up/no deoderant on board was really a big hinderance for me. There were a number of guys I would have chatted with but without some newly sprayed deoderants, I really just didn't want to chance it. I was also dying for some lip balm. Fortunately, I made it through the 10 hours without my favorite plane products. Anyway, I sat next to a yeshivah bochur from Mexico! Didn't speak a word of English and was on the plane with a bunch of buddies from Mexico. Made me regret spending two hours talking to Moshe a few weeks ago when I needed to interview him about the Jewish community in Costa Rica. I could have interviewed David from Mexico instead. Between my zero-knoweldge base on Spanish and David's broken Hebrew, it would have been interesting. David was great seatmate though, we basically slept for most of the flight.

We landed and I situated myself between two guys, because I knew there was no way I could get my bags off of the belts. These guys were great, although one remarked that he wouldn't be going to the gym anytime soon since lifting my bag was harder than his workouts.

So, this guy I met online picked me up at the airport. Seriously. There are really nice guys out there. We have been e-mailing for a few months, he saw a post on Janglo that I had put up in July, and we've been e-mailing ever since. Anyway, he was amazing. Not only did he bring me a bottle of water AND maps of neighborhoods in Israel, he drove me to my apartment, and helped bring my bags up two HUGE flights of steps. Sadly, he had to bail after bringing my into my apartment, but he reaffirmed my faith in nice guys.

Now on to Zion and my apartment. Zion is THE MAN. Seriously, he was great. He waited for me to arrive tonight, putting off family dinner and everything, to show me the ins and outs of the building. Basically, the building is full. There are six French families, two Belgian guys, a single American girl and four Italian girls, all staying here. Not one Israeli. Anyway, Zion even drove me to the cell phone store on Allenby so I could pick up a new phone. Now tell me, what landlord in Manhattan would do that?

In the cell phone store, I was in and out in no time at all. I decided to go with the Motorola RAZR since it's so similar to my Samsaung faux-RAZR from home. In 15 minutes, I was good to go. I have a cell phone, a US calling card and more than 200 minutes of calls to Israel. I should be good for at least a few weeks.

And that brought my growling stomach to the AM PM store on Allenby. The selection was pretty interesting. I went straight to check on my American products and was shocked to see that bandaids are 11 shekel! That seemed pretty expensive to me. Anyway, I picked up a box of Honey Bunches of Oats (with almonds), 1% milk, a BIG bottle of Me-Eden water and some paper bowls and spoons. I made my way back towards my apartment and stopped by the fountain at the Opera Promenade (view in the photo above) to just sit for a minute and soak it all in.

My initial observations:
1) Where are the soldiers? This is the first time I've been in Israel and haven't seen Chayalim every where I turn. Are they still ALL up North?

2) I couldn't stop laughing when I saw the Stripclub near my apartment. It looks like Billystopless on 9th Avenue in the City. It was a little odd to see but funny nonetheless. First time I've seen that in Israel. I'll take a photo and will upload to FLICKR once I find my camera

3) Technologically, Israel has really evolved. My laptop is working beautifully with the wireless in the building, I've been in the country less than 5 hours and I'm already blogging, Zion and I chatted about his VOIP and SKPE, and my cell phone was up and running in 15 minutes. That was terrific.

4) I should have gone to the singles party at Mike's Place tonight but couldn't rally enough to go hunting for my jeans in my bags. Basically, there was an Anglo singles party at Mike's Place, which is a bar near the US Embassy in Tel Aviv, for singles in their 20's - 40's. It was nice to see the post on Taanglo, and even better to know that there is an active Anglo singles community in Tel Aviv

Jet lag just started to hit me and so I think I'm going to hit the hay and get ready for tomorrow morning's crazy day.

I miss NYC but man, is it nice to be here!

Song for the evening is One but the Mary J. Blige and U2 collaboration.