Career Search

Life has been a bit less eventful for me as of late. My activism with the refugees has decreased a bit as the government agreed to give them work permits and we were able to arrange housing in apartments and jobs in the hotel industry in the southern resort city of Eilat. There are fewer refugees in the shelters where I work the most often. Those that are left and living with them are mostly single mothers with children, the older refugees that have trouble getting hired, or just the few lazy people who don’t want to work. I refer to the shelters with the people from Eritrea, South Sudan, and the Ivory Coast. The Darfurians have their own shelter and still receive new people from prison. They are neat and orderly so far. It is a vastly different atmosphere from the chaotic situation in our large shelter. However, we have moved the families into their own new and clean shelter and we are preparing to open a new shelter for the teenaged boys.

I am almost finished with my first course in Hebrew. It is usually a 5 ½ month course but it has taken me a year as I have left and returned to class so many times. Each time I return, I go to a class that is a little further behind so that I can have a review. It will end in about 8 days. I will need to continue as I am still very frustrated with my Hebrew I am with groups of Israelis. I generally cannot follow conversations. I hang with them for the first few minutes, get frustrated, and tune out. I am determined to get over this, however.

I was very disappointed after I was offered what I thought was my dream job. We were down to the final 5% of negotiations when they completely changed their minds about hiring someone in the role they offered me. We had been talking for months and it appears the opportunity has passed. I am at ground zero with job leads and I am exploring different career avenues. This retirement is brutal. I so much want to get into a work routine and to join a work community. I have had an offer that will allow me to make strong commissions but it would entail sitting alone in my apartment from 4PM until midnight every day while calling the USA. I don’t think my Hebrew would improve and I don’t think I would have much of an opportunity to meet new friends. Thus, I have passed on it. I am networking, sending out resumes, and considering entrepreneurial avenues as well as nonprofit organizations. Finding interesting work is my priority now. I am opened to real estate careers as well as other careers. It takes constant work to put yourself out there, network, and to find new friends. It is especially challenging when you have no solid support group or even people of your same culture.

As this is a small country, families tend to get together more often and friends drift apart less. Yet, I do find people welcoming and I have been brought into families and groups of lifelong friends. It seems that, on holidays or Shabbat dinners, I begin to get sad that I have no plans and few supporting friends that are local. However, the culture here is spontaneous and it is common to invite someone to dinner 30 minutes before they have to leave to come over. I have often been the only non-family member at a holiday or Shabbat dinner and I am usually saved from loneliness the last minute phone call to a dinner with a family. That means so much. The families of my friends, Doron, Lior, and Dalit and Dganit have taken me in and made me feel like family. They have also included me in friend’s parties and family get-togethers.

I often tell myself that I could be in the same situation had I moved to another city in the USA where I would not have a support group. So many new Israelis have warned me that the first 6 months are brutal in Israel. I have not found that but I have also not had a regular scheduled job routine. I have enjoyed this temporary retirement for as long as I can stand it. I am ready to get back in the game and join a community. Next week, I will be in a full-time career search.

I am in an emotional trough at the moment without a job, school ending, and no real support group. I am completely OK with that as the lows come with the highs. I am just trying to give myself permission to be down and not pressure myself to throw myself out there when I have a lower self-esteem. I think it’s the Cave Syndrome from Men Are from Mars… I will spend Shabbat with my friend, Rabbi Adam Frank from Atlanta this week. I have vowed to him to give him support in his heroic ways that he betters the world. As he is one of my hero's (see entry on June 8, 2007), I am looking forward to re-energizing him and myself.

I am warned that salaries are often less than half of what you would earn in the USA, taxes are higher and the cost of living is higher as well. Many in Tel Aviv tell me how hard it is to get by and how much better it is to live and work in the USA. I now remind them that they are comparing their lifestyle to that of the wealthiest country in the world. I also tell them that there are many Americans who complain of their difficulties in getting by. I ask them if they have a car, an apartment, a TV, a stereo, air conditioning. Most have all of the above. I also ask them to look around at the neighboring countries or even Eastern Europe. You can’t fly for two hours in any direction and find a higher standard of living for the general population. The grass is always greener on the other side, especially when you live in the desert.