Landing In Israel

So as the plane finally came down to a smooth touchdown in Israel the excitment on the plane was palpable. with the whole plane being full of just olim. (New Israeli Citizens, the Hebrew word oleh means to go up and since Israel is considered the holiest place it is considered as you are going up always, even if you are not going up litteraly. Olim is the plural form of oleh.)

When we landed we stayed on the plane and sutoms came on made sure ourpassports were in order and we then got off the plane. from the plane we took some pictures and then were put on buses to go to Terminal 1 where we were greeted by hundreds of family members, freidnds, and well wishers. After saying hi to our freinds, and exchanging hugs we had a welcome ceremony. I had spoken with the director of Nefesh B'Nefesh (The program I made Aliyah throuhg) and he told me the directors of my Mechina, me, and another member of the Mechina would be in the second row. now on the plane I did not realize what that meant. When I got to to the ceremon I realized this meant I was the row before the Prime Ministers staff. As we waited for the ceremony to begin we were all hanging out, and in came Natan Shiransky, this man had been a Refusnick in russia and had treid to leave the USSR for Israel. For this he was sent to the Gula and even there he refused to give in. When he was released he was ordered to leave and walk straight out of there, he walked out in a zig zag.

After I met him we began the ceremony and we heard from shiransky, the founders of Nefesh B'Nefesh, and then the Prime minister of Israel, Bibi netanyahu, got up there to speak. I was told 5 minutes before me and another girl would be recieving our Tudot Aliyah (Documentation of making Aliyah) from the Prime Minister him self. It has been a long time since Iwas that nervous, standing up there with the Prime Minister, a baggilion cameras going off at once, and then when he hands me my tudah he starts to ask me, questions like what type of officer I had wanted to be in America. It was a nerve racking moment for me to say the least. But when it all ended I got to go upstairs and there I got the rst of my papers sighned and off I went to my new country.

This thursday I begin my program Garin Tsabar, and move into Kibbutz Tirat Tzvi. Getting pumped.