RECAP OF IMPORTANT ITEMS:
Hi Folks. Here is a recounting of the things in our blog that we think are the most important for you to remember when you make Aliyah. I've just cut and pasted the lines from my blog, so if they seem out of context, well, they are! But they should be helpful, nonetheless.
GPS AND CELL PHONE SERVICE:
Speaking of cell phone service, I cannot recommend enough that you buy a "smart phone" here and sign up for an internet package so you can use, "WAZE" in Israel. If you do not know your way around the country and need to find the local government offices, this service is invaluable to people who do not speak fluent Hebrew. DO NOT buy the cell phone company's GPS service, (for example: Orange GPS) BECAUSE the maps are all in Hebrew, which doesn't do you any good as an English speaker. You may think it might be fairly easy to follow a map in Hebrew, but when you are stressed by heavy traffic, time constraints, and looking at a small video screen for directions, believe me, it will become very hard to read Hebrew map directions, unless you are completely fluent. MOST OF THE Israel MAPS FOR STAND ALONE GPS SYSTEMS, LIKE GARMIN, AREN'T WORTH A DARN, IMHO.
Also, REMEMBER to ask the salesperson, when you buy your phone, how to retrieve your voicemail. The directions are in Hebrew on the phone menu and "she" speaks quite rapidly, so there is no understanding how to do it after you leave the cell phone store.
DRIVER LICENSE:
Olim can only convert their American licenses to Israeli licenses at certain offices, which in our case was, Haifa!
Note that the "DMV" offices have late afternoon hours BUT Olim cannot convert their licenses in the afternoon only during the morning hours. So while the Aliyah websites list afternoon hours, I'd recommend going in the morning.
A few tips. Take your lessons from an instructor in the town that the "DMV" testing office is located in so your instructor can show you the "usual" routes that the official examiner may have you drive. The experience beforehand is invaluable. Second PLEASE, PLEASE ask for recommendations for instructors in your area. NBN provided us with a reference to a great and honest instructor in Tiberias. We are SO HAPPY that we asked for a referral before we picked an instructor.
ULPAN:
Contrary to what some websites tell you about Ulpan, this course expects that you already know the modern Hebrew cursive writing. LEARN TO WRITE HEBREW CURSIVE BEFORE YOU COME!
Ulpan is 6 months long, five days a week. Be prepared to commit yourself full-time, if you take the Ulpan classes.
BUY APPLIANCES IN ISRAEL:
After reading many suggestions about bringing appliances, if you don’t want to bother with trying to find 220v stuff in the USA, I’d suggest that you shop in Israel for items like this, the prices aren’t that much different. And buying the appliance here insures you have a valid warranty with repair options.
UPDATE:
We purchased a washer, dryer, refrigerator, combo stove/oven, and dishwasher, here in Israel. The pricing for these items fluctuated greatly from store to store. I did my homework by checking on "ZAP.co.il" which has consumer reviews of the appliances and also posts prices from various stores. This helped immensely when it came time to deal on the final prices. In this Country, the stores expect haggling, and if you do not ask for a better price, you are considered gullible. Believe me, by the time you buy an apartment, or build a house, you will become an expert at negotiating!
THE SHIPPING PROCESS:
When you choose to make Aliyah, please, please, remember your obligations to your spouse and uphold them. Treat your spouse with kindness and respect, especially during this time frame! AND most importantly, respect the sanctity of Shabbat. You will NEED the peace and shelter of the Shabbat to re-calibrate your life during the move.
So the process is: the local moving company will come one day and prepare/pack all your household goods for transport. The next day they will arrive with a truck and actually move your items to their warehouse for storage until the shipping container becomes available for them to pack. It is possible for you to have goods shipped directly to the moving company's warehouse, if you buy large items, like furniture, before you leave. We did that with a couch and chair. Hopefully, it worked out. We will see in 8-13 weeks when we get our goods in Israel. Seriously, we had no time to check that the shipment arrived from the furniture store to the shipping warehouse, in good condition. We are hoping it did. UPDATE: We received the furniture with the rest of our shipment, so sending items directly to the shipper seems to work fine.
Make sure that you have an additional sum of money on hand to pay the shipping company OVER and ABOVE what they quoted you in your contract. They speak of additional fees in the contract, but we were shocked when the additional "fees and taxes" amounted to $600.USD! We recommend that you do not pay in NIS (shekels) if you are dealing with a USA owned company. We made this mistake and were charged a hefty sum for the "conversion fees." Also, if you can help it, don't use a credit card because they charge a 3% fee for using that method as well. We recommend that you arrange a wire transfer of money to the shipping company. That way you only get charged what your bank gets for wiring the money.
UPDATE: After our house was built we sent a second shipment of furniture and furnishings for our new house. Even though we picked a different shipping agent, we still ended up paying MUCH MORE than the advertised prices. Also, the second time, the Shipper did not deliver all of our items. We were missing a bedframe and some new blankets. Nothing expensive, but we miss the queen bed frame sorely because they are unavailable here in Israel. So I have no helpful advice here. Most of my friends who made Aliyah concur, no one has had a positive shipping experience!
BANKING:
Ensure that you choose a bank that is nearby your new home. If you are moving to someplace outside the big cities, be sure to see if the local branch has English speaking employees that can assist you. In the first few weeks of living in Israel, you will be visiting their office frequently. It takes over one week to get checks printed to your new account, and unlike the USA, they don't issue "temporary" checks.
UPDATE: After two years, we still use our English speaking banker every time we have to transfer money between accounts, or need updates on our account. Financial matters often involve advanced Hebrew which is way beyond Ulpan Hebrew, so go with a bank that offers good English language customer service.
USE THE BEN GURION AIRPORT MINISTRY OFFICES SIGN-UP PROGRAM:
First off, let me say, that the process of getting your Teudot Oleh at the Ben Gurion airport- Ministry of Immigrant Absorption, is well worth your time and effort. It was the easiest government entity we have dealt with so far. That being said, I would suggest you get some sleep on the plane, because you will need to have your wits about you when you complete this process.
Two important things to prepare for; First, spell out your American name in Hebrew BEFORE you get to Israel. Make sure it is spelled the way you want it because IF you let the government employee try to convert your name into Hebrew, you might be saddled with a permanent mistake in pronunciation of your name. They just do it phonetically, so they might not spell it correctly. As an example, if your name is "Diane", you might end up with "Diana" because it is a very common Israeli name.
Second, be sure to research the state health insurance programs and pick one that has services near your new hometown, BEFORE you arrive in Israel. If you do not pick one at the airport, you will have to pay a fee later and seek out a location to enroll for the health insurance. If you can't speak or read Hebrew, it can be difficult to find government offices in Israel.
Be sure to apply for your Teudot Zehut at the Interior Ministry office closest to your new hometown, as they may not let you complete the process at an office far away from where you intend to live. As an example, we assumed that the Interior Ministry office in Tiberias, was the closest office to our hometown in the Golan, but in actuality, we were supposed to make the application at the office in Zefat. We didn't even know there was an office in Zefat, and the people at our Moshav said that the Tiberias office was the correct location to apply. Fortunately, the clerk in Tiberias took pity on us, and issued us our T.Z. I.D. cards.
Internet and phone service:
I don't know if it is a particular problem in the Golan, but when we moved here, it took us almost one year to get a landline phone and DSL internet service, via the only provider, Bezeq. When we moved to another location, for weeks Bezeq customer service told us on the phone that it was impossible to get service in our neighborhood, despite the fact that our neighbors had phones and internet service. Eventually, a friend of a friend, who worked at Bezeq, straightened out a minor computer glitch in our billing information, and we had phone service and internet within an hour!
SO THAT'S ABOUT IT FOR NOW. As we gain additional experience, I'll post more tips in the future.
Shalom!
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