Jubilee Edition No.50
NOV. 2006 – DEC. 2006

NEWSLETTER INDEX

I first came to Israel on a Birthright ‘Taglit’ program in 2003. I distinctly remember Bibi Netanyahu giving an address one night to the 5000 of us who were on the Birthright program at the time, and I remember him encouraging us all to make Aliyah. I also remember balking at the idea. I mean honestly, who was he affecting? Maybe some of the participants from the other countries, but who would give up Australia for Israel?! Certainly not I, I thought! 

After the program ended, I stayed on for a few extra weeks, doing some more sight-seeing in this beautiful country. It was in my last week that I met Eli Onunu. 

Eli was playing an amazing saxophone solo as I walked past a café in Jerusalem playing live jazz. Of course, on a cold winter’s day in Jerusalem like that day was, according to my logic, there was no better place to be than inside. My instincts proved correct.  

It has been almost 3 years now since that fateful day in Jerusalem, and Eli and I have been together ever since. After that heavenly week (which featured a very spontaneous 3- day stint in Sinai and an eye-opener Shabbat dinner with his Moroccan family!),  I went back to Australia to complete my B.A at the University of New South Wales (in Film & Media Studies). Eli stayed in Jerusalem, completing his degree in Music at the Academy of Music and Dance. After 5 months of incessant long-distance phone calls, sms’s and emails, Eli finally came to Sydney and we lived together there for 1 very happy year. Once his visa expired, he returned to Israel, and for another 5 months, whilst I was this time completing my Honours thesis, our second bout of non-stop phone calls, sms’s and emails ensued…  

Finally, in November 2005, I returned to Israel- this time to Tel Aviv, to the lovely, small inner-city, bohemian neighbourhood of Florentin. We didn’t know whether I would find work, we didn’t know for how long we’d stay here, in fact we didn’t know exactly what the plan was, but in any case, it felt right to be here. Life in Israel simply ticked to a different beat than the life in Australia. 

Eli studied an extra year (obtaining a music teaching certificate), and I got a job in no time as an English teacher. Eli proposed to me in July of this year (a story in itself I’ll save for another time), and we will be getting married here on May 21^st, next year.  

As of August 2006, I am now officially an olah chadasha. I am studying Hebrew at the ulpan and I am thoroughly enjoying it. Both Eli and I are currently teaching, whilst at the same time, Eli plays for events and functions and I do some freelance editing. In addition, I am an avid member of the Tel Aviv Scrabble Club which meets weekly (and which I would wholeheartedly encourage anyone who loves to play a good game of Scrabble to sign up to! www.scrabble.org.il ).  

All in all, although it’s still early days for me yet, I’d say my Aliyah so far has been successful. However, as proven to me in the past, one can never know what lies ahead. I can only wait to find out.