Shalom from Israel!

Shalom Family and Friends,

Wow, I am writing this blog at 5:00 am (Israel time) because I am so jet lagged (7 hours) that I can't sleep. The last day or so has been pretty stressful, but I got to the absorption center in one piece and am resting comfortably.

My traveling went something like this:

1. Flight to London Heathrow - If you haven't been to London's new Terminal 5 it is monstrously large...getting from my first flight to second flight probably took 45 minutes to an hour including walking, train-taking, and another security screening

2. Flight to Ben-Gurion Tel Aviv

3. Train to downtown Tel Aviv - 12 NIS (New Israeli Shekels), the exchange rate is currently a little over 4 NIS : 1 USD which is pretty solid considering not even a year ago the dollar sunk to 3.3 : 1 ...one upside of the crap economy is the relative strength of the USD to currencies such as Israel's Shekel

4. Taxi from Train Station to Israel's Central Bus Terminal (according to Wikipedia the largest in the world) - 30 NIS

5. Bus from Tel Aviv to Ra'anana - 12 NIS... big thanks go out to the guy I met on the bus who is in real estate, very friendly

6. Taxi from Bus stop to Absorption Center - 20 NIS, interesting story here...the taxi driver is a big fan of American music and has a dvd player constantly playing music dvds in his center console...the first song he showed me was "Massachusetts" on a BeeGees live concert dvd

NB: I was carrying an ungodly 120lbs or so in four different containers (two suitcases, laptop bag, and gym bag). I don't know how I didn't get something stolen, lost, or otherwise.

Pictures of my accommodations (no heat in my room) are forthcoming. Today I'm going to look for a mobile phone, a pillow, some other basics and I go into my office on Thursday (Peres Center). I'll put some pictures up of the area today or tomorrow and a new blog post in a few days when I get settled in.

I'm going to try to post updates at least once a week with pictures or stories, but I am going to be doing some traveling so bear with me as I figure out a schedule for the blog. Thanks again for all of your well wishes. I appreciate all of your support and hope I can keep you all in the know about what's up with me in Israel.

Best,

Pavel

P.S. I've already talked to a lot of you about Skype and Gmail video chat, but if I haven't then I strongly suggest you get an account and a webcam. Video chats are really easy to setup and free and I do want to see and hear from all you in the States and beyond.

P.P.S. Google Maps and Google Earth give you a good idea of where I am living...take a look:
13 Ha-Sharon Ra'anana, Israel