Well its 10:15pm here in Israel, the weekend is over and as a Hull City fan the season 2015/2016 is officially over and I can happily say Hull City are Premier League once again.
Its been a season of high tension and drama and in a season which I believed we would go straight back up after last seasons relegation from the Premier League, I never thought it would go to Wembley having been in such a good position early in the year. They talk about the curse of the Manager of the Month award and I think its true as the moment Steve Bruce was awarded that and Abel Hernandez received player of the month, it seems our form became inconsistent and poor and having been top of the Championship we slipped into the play offs. A position I can say I would not want to be in as it comes down to 3 more games if your lucky.
Lucky we were a 3-0 win in the first leg against Derby meant by all rights we were safely heading to the final, but an inconsistent and quite frankly dreadful performance put City fans on edge and certainly kept everyone on the edge of their seats. But we pulled through and Wembley we are there.
And today, I spent the 90 minutes sat in a bar in Tel Aviv watch the television, sadly not even able to be in the country to watch my team fight to get back to where we belong. Its a hard thing watching and not being able to do anything, so many emotions going through my mind as I felt and played every kick in my mind. When the 72 minute happened and we scored what would be the winning goal I celebrated and then sagged in relief. To be a football fan is not easy and I can honestly say the moment the final whistle blew I shed a tear of relief and joy.
In some ways the emotion of today in a football game is how I feel with my own life at the moment, a lot of frustration going on, with the direction of my life, but I feel a sense of hope and a little happiness that this move on Tuesday to Ramat Gan is a new start, a new chapter. So just like Hull City soon to be starting a new chapter in the Premier League, my move is a new chapter of a book that is still be written.
Saturday 28 May 2016
Saturday 21 May 2016
Why am I here
Its an interesting question Why am I here? in this case and this time it refers to why am I in Israel. I think I've answered that question over my time here, usually in Interviews its the first question I have been asked. But have I fully ever explained to people, to my friends why I am here. I am going to try and do that now, I hope it makes sense.
My decision actually came about after a conversation with my Mum about 7 years ago, Network Rail who I was working for at the time in 2009 and had decided to build a new office in Milton Keynes and close a lot of the offices in London. As a result staff were being expected to journey there every day. Obviously I did not want to move closer to Milton Keynes, living where I was, I was in a Jewish area, surrounded by friends and places I liked to go to. I could see the possibility of being made redundant from my job and during that time it was very difficult to get a job. So after job hunting without success for a while, a weekend visit to my parents I chatted with my parents and they said 'What about Israel'?
What about Israel, that's the question, I knew people that were already living in Israel, but had I considered making aliyah, giving up everything to move to a different country to start again. However, the idea must have been in my head because the more I thought about it, the more I looked into it, the more it seemed like something I wanted to do. I had been to Israel on family holiday and two summers in-between University and it must have always been in my head because I started the process.
Anyway time progressed and we got closer to when I would come to Israel, but even in my head I still had the idea that I probably would stay in England if the right job came along, with good prospects, money etc. But June/July 2011 my Managers at Network Rail gave me the catalyst to turn round and say I'm coming to Israel and I know it will be hard and maybe I won't make it, but at least I if that happens I can come back saying I wanted to do it, I did it and okay didn't work out, but I tried and stepped out of my comfort zone.
I came to Israel because I'm proud to be Jewish, proud of this country I live in and everything it has achieved. Do I believe I will make it here. I know recently those who read my blog last week and seen my Facebook posts are probably wondering if I am doing okay, all I know is I'm being challenged and maybe I've bent a little on the weight of the challenges, but I'm not broken and I will make it here.
My decision actually came about after a conversation with my Mum about 7 years ago, Network Rail who I was working for at the time in 2009 and had decided to build a new office in Milton Keynes and close a lot of the offices in London. As a result staff were being expected to journey there every day. Obviously I did not want to move closer to Milton Keynes, living where I was, I was in a Jewish area, surrounded by friends and places I liked to go to. I could see the possibility of being made redundant from my job and during that time it was very difficult to get a job. So after job hunting without success for a while, a weekend visit to my parents I chatted with my parents and they said 'What about Israel'?
What about Israel, that's the question, I knew people that were already living in Israel, but had I considered making aliyah, giving up everything to move to a different country to start again. However, the idea must have been in my head because the more I thought about it, the more I looked into it, the more it seemed like something I wanted to do. I had been to Israel on family holiday and two summers in-between University and it must have always been in my head because I started the process.
Anyway time progressed and we got closer to when I would come to Israel, but even in my head I still had the idea that I probably would stay in England if the right job came along, with good prospects, money etc. But June/July 2011 my Managers at Network Rail gave me the catalyst to turn round and say I'm coming to Israel and I know it will be hard and maybe I won't make it, but at least I if that happens I can come back saying I wanted to do it, I did it and okay didn't work out, but I tried and stepped out of my comfort zone.
I came to Israel because I'm proud to be Jewish, proud of this country I live in and everything it has achieved. Do I believe I will make it here. I know recently those who read my blog last week and seen my Facebook posts are probably wondering if I am doing okay, all I know is I'm being challenged and maybe I've bent a little on the weight of the challenges, but I'm not broken and I will make it here.
Saturday 14 May 2016
Feeling the heat and frustration
Well following on from my post a few weeks, I'm going to say things have not totally going my way lately and its being tough. I should apologise and to anyone concerned after my mini meltdown on Facebook at the beginning of the week, I am okay just tired and a little frustrated with things at the moment. They always say its darkest before the dawn, but for the moment I can't seem to see the dawn for me.
As some of you know I've been looking for a new job as the current position which I have been in for nearly 16 months... actually my longest position ever in a job in Israel so go me.... Is rapidly becoming a place I loathe and detest going.... yep I could say that about most jobs after a while. But my place of work is a special place and while most of the people are generally good people and nice to talk to, there are certain people who make the environment not nice and I have really had enough of being there. I am looking for a new job and I have had interviews a plenty since I started looking, its just I seem to always fall at that hurdle, mostly the reasons being 'we decided to go in a different direction' or 'we wanted someone with more experience' In response to that, how do you get experience if no-one will give you the job. Still I keep persevering and hoping that someone will eventually see I have the potential to be good and do a good job at their firm.
The 2nd frustration was the thought of having to search and move home again, but that is actually less of a frustration now and more of a nearly past the post. Thanks to a work colleague and friend I saw an apartment on Monday and then met the neighbour the following day and all being well I will have signed the contract by tomorrow or Monday and will be as of June 1st a resident of Ramat Gan. I am certainly getting around the area, having lived in North, South and the Center of Tel Aviv. Maybe one day I will find a place to settle down permanently, but for now here I am.
3rd frustration is my social life, which probably ties into frustration number 1, as with the job although I have set hours, it seems like more often than not I don't work those hours and then I'm there longer and I miss out on events and meeting people, seeing friends and its tough seeing friends having fun on Facebook and me having missed out because I had to work an extra hour or so... I also feel like sometimes my friends forget about me because maybe I don't make enough noise, but there are times when I feel excluded and its sad to think my life is work, home, work, home and repeat.
I don't know maybe tomorrow will be the day everything changes, I live in hope that one day I will have everything I am searching for. On the happy side I'm delighted for my friends Catherine and James who welcomed their first child Scarlett Rose Angel into the world a couple of weeks ago. I know you two will be great parents and I hope I can get over to the UK soon enough to see and meet her. Oh and there is the matter of Hull City, being 90 minutes away from Wembley again and 180 minutes away from being back in the Premier League. Come on City.
Anyway I've rambled on for a bit, voiced my frustrations... I'm hungry, going to make dinner. Speak soon.
As some of you know I've been looking for a new job as the current position which I have been in for nearly 16 months... actually my longest position ever in a job in Israel so go me.... Is rapidly becoming a place I loathe and detest going.... yep I could say that about most jobs after a while. But my place of work is a special place and while most of the people are generally good people and nice to talk to, there are certain people who make the environment not nice and I have really had enough of being there. I am looking for a new job and I have had interviews a plenty since I started looking, its just I seem to always fall at that hurdle, mostly the reasons being 'we decided to go in a different direction' or 'we wanted someone with more experience' In response to that, how do you get experience if no-one will give you the job. Still I keep persevering and hoping that someone will eventually see I have the potential to be good and do a good job at their firm.
The 2nd frustration was the thought of having to search and move home again, but that is actually less of a frustration now and more of a nearly past the post. Thanks to a work colleague and friend I saw an apartment on Monday and then met the neighbour the following day and all being well I will have signed the contract by tomorrow or Monday and will be as of June 1st a resident of Ramat Gan. I am certainly getting around the area, having lived in North, South and the Center of Tel Aviv. Maybe one day I will find a place to settle down permanently, but for now here I am.
3rd frustration is my social life, which probably ties into frustration number 1, as with the job although I have set hours, it seems like more often than not I don't work those hours and then I'm there longer and I miss out on events and meeting people, seeing friends and its tough seeing friends having fun on Facebook and me having missed out because I had to work an extra hour or so... I also feel like sometimes my friends forget about me because maybe I don't make enough noise, but there are times when I feel excluded and its sad to think my life is work, home, work, home and repeat.
I don't know maybe tomorrow will be the day everything changes, I live in hope that one day I will have everything I am searching for. On the happy side I'm delighted for my friends Catherine and James who welcomed their first child Scarlett Rose Angel into the world a couple of weeks ago. I know you two will be great parents and I hope I can get over to the UK soon enough to see and meet her. Oh and there is the matter of Hull City, being 90 minutes away from Wembley again and 180 minutes away from being back in the Premier League. Come on City.
Anyway I've rambled on for a bit, voiced my frustrations... I'm hungry, going to make dinner. Speak soon.
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