I made it out and I am now in Jerusalem!
The good news: The flights were relatively uneventful and I got here safely.
The bad news: Not all of my bags got here with me.
OK, so I am short a few things. Like all of my toiletries, all of my socks and all of my pants (except for the ones I am wearing, obviously!). BUT ----- I AM HERE!!!
After getting excited that one of my bags was the first one off the plane, I waited around for about 30 minutes looking for the second checked bag. It never appeared and I spent about another 20 minutes messing around with the Lost and Found department and Customs. I was a bit surprised with the whole customs experience, as they just looked at me and said to proceed. No questions or anything!
I arrived at 22:25 local time and, by the time I got out of the airport and into a Nesher cab it was already after midnight. It then took another 25 minutes of just sitting there waiting for the cab to fill up so that we could go. (Nesher is a shared cab service. The total cost from the airport to the apartment in Jerusalem was only 50 Shekels (about $13 US) compared to the 200-300 it would have been in a private cab.)
I finally arrived at the apartment at about 1:30 in the morning on Wednesday and, by the time I got to bed it was already after 2:00.
It would have been nice to be able to sleep in or, for that matter, to really sleep at all. Unfortunately, because of the 1-day delay, I had to be up and at the Ulpan before 9:00.
Getting up was no problem because I did not sleep well, so was awake by 6:30. Getting to the Ulpan was an entirely different matter. I had a map and verbal instructions, but managed to take a wrong turn anyway. That resulted in my walking an extra 1.5 to 2.0 kilometers! Oh well, it was good exercise.
The Ulpan was an interesting experience by itself. There are people from multiple countries including Brazil, USA, Germany, Jordan, Tiawan and others as well as "Palestine". There are priests, nuns, Arabs and Jews. This should make for some interesting discussions as we progress.
I am in an accelerated program that meets for 3 hours a day 5 days a week. During the entire 3 hours today, the first day, I heard a total of about 8 or 10 words in English. EVERYTHING else was in Hebrew. We are learning to read and write with and without vowels both printing and script, and are learning and practicing some rudimentary dialogs. We have also been assured that there will be homework and a quiz every day. Oh Joy!
On the cantorial side of things, I contacted the school today and am now set to complete the registration and begin classes on Monday. At that time we will determine what needs the most work and start there.
I have had some very interesting conversations with my flat mate and also with the gentlemen that was renting here before me. We seem to be getting along, and I believe that this arrangement will work out.
I am once again extremely excited to get going at last. I have taken the first step on a long, spiritual journey and will just keep putting one foot in front of the other to stay on the path that Hashem has placed before me.
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