Hadn't spoken to my mom in three days, and my dad in almost a week--this is pretty weird for me, since normally I hear from my parents every other day. Where we last left off, my parents were furious. Absolutely pissed with me.
Tonight I called my mom back after she called me while I was with a friend--and now she's all totally happy with me. When she originally called me, she sounded angry with me. But I called back and suddenly she was happy..... WEIRD
We were talking about me withdrawing from university, this time as a fact rather than as an abstract thing that she is trying to prevent from happening. They even cracked a joke about my leaving--I said that the lady at the university office told me that there was absolutely no problem with my withdrawing. And then my dad lets out a hearty, Santa-like chuckle and says, "Heh, well at least you've got HER permission!"
I'm thinking they're trying to be extra nice to me to prevent me from leaving. I think they realized that their being angry only makes it easier for me to leave, because I don't want to be around people who "hate" me. Or maybe they're realizing that if I leave university for Israel, they can retire MUCH earlier. For whatever reason they're being nice suddenly, I'm glad. I feel a lot less stressed--now the only thing I'm stressing over is whether or not experiencing their niceness at home or a month is gonna convince me to stay!
I'm also afraid that maybe this is some ploy to get me to let my guard down. Aw fuck it, why be paranoid
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5 comments:
Hi,
Long-time reader, infrequent poster. Anyways, when you say you are withdrawing, do you mean you are transferring to a school in Israel for a semester, or are you dropping out of university entirely? Not to interfere since I don't know you other than your blog is hysterical, please please please do not forgo your post high school education just to be in Israel. If you are transferring, cool, but don't quit university entirely just to make aliyah. Israel will still be there in 2 years when you graduate and you will have a MUCH easier time with a degree, especially from Northwestern, than going there with no higher education. Israel is a tough place to survive in, as you well know, you need all the credentials on your side - education, Hebrew, $$ - that you can get.
Thanks for the input! To clarify, I am "temporarily withdrawing" from my university.
I do get what you're saying, and part of me agrees..... but the main problem is that if I wait until I graduate to come to Israel, I will be too old for the army. For reasons of assimilation, ideology and also for reasons of simple "I wanna!" the army is really important to me and I wouldn't want to miss out on that. Yes, Israel will still be there in 2 years, but one major pathway into assimilation will be closed off to me by that point.
I already talked to my university, I can come back whenever I'd like, including after army service. And if I decide to stay in Israel, I can always finish uni there.
Then there's also the big reason of "There's no fucking way I'm spending another winter in the Midwest!"
Hi,
Thanks for responding. I actually know some people who graduated from college with me who made aliyah and joined the army at like 22-23. Because they had college degrees, they actually got pretty cool jobs in the army where they were able to utilize their education in something like intelligence and what not. Yeah they were a bit older than your typical Israeli 18 year old, but as a result they were able to take direction better and got pretty good jobs when they finished because 1) they had a degree 2) spoke fluent English and Hebrew by that point and 3) did the army.
Anyways good luck to you either way, and as some one who was in Chicago last month for a week to "try it out" and was wearing 2 jackets in 40 degree weather while I passed people wearing birkenstocks and jeans, you can always transfer back to CA :)
Marni,
With all due respect, because you seem like a really nice person--it is nearly impossible for "over-aged" immigrant women to join צה"ל because, as is often the case for any college graduate who is over-age, it's a) hard for them to prove their ability to do the whole schtick, and b) there's plenty of younger, more able people who immediately understand how it functions. Yes, we all hear about the people who wait and then can do wonderful things with their college degrees (I mean, I'm Sam's best friend, and I'm waiting) but that's almost always MEN. Because it's way way way easier for men to do this, because of the way guy culture works. Guy culture and צה"ל go hand in hand, and so to put it very very simply, they're all for putting those men into the army (additionally, because guys go for combat units. Most women go for intelligence, or other behind the scenes desk-work, at which point why bother, because a college-educated woman is put to better use working behind a desk in the economy, not the army).
So while I totally understand that in many ways a college degree allows for greater access to Israel, nothing beats צה"ל and for Sam, that window is closing, fast.
And in regards to your other comment, unfortunately, you picked a bad week to try it out--I'd recommend returning to the Chi between the third week of January and the 28th of February. When it gets to be much colder than 40 degrees (not typically considered winter weather here).
Best,
Abraham
I don't think I have anything to add to anything, except I'd like to point out that at first glance I read the line:
Guy culture and צה"ל go hand in hand,
as
GAY culture and צה"ל go hand in hand
and I was so confused.
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