Right, so it was July the 4th, 1988 (American Independence Day too), and the view of Tel-Aviv was beautiful. On landing, I witnessed something for the first time in my life - people started clapping; never saw that before... Mom shed a tear. It was cool.
We lived 2 weeks in an hotel right by the sea and I enjoyed those two weeks more than any other time in my long life (have you realised I have actually lived 100% of my life? well I mean, if I've lived only, say, 80% of my life, then who lived the remaining 20% of it for me?!) It was great though, swimming every morning and afternoon... Getting a tan every two days (skin has a habit of being reincarnated if it gets burnt), etc.
It was real fun. And I wanted it to stay that way. But NO. Someone has to decide that we're going to move. So we do. I mean did - so we moved to Petach-Tiqwa (and no one shall correct this spelling - it's RIGHT), the city is allegedly 8 km from Tel-Aviv, but I reckon they measured from the closest borders of the cities. Not only is it 1 hour 30 mins away from the sea (40 mins by car, but we didn't have one), it is also in a kind of really huge hole in the ground, so if hot air gets in, it stays - and no wind at all, so if it's summer - not the best place for spending your holidays (or even one day).Anyway, Petach-Tiqwa was ok - it's the 5th largest city in Israel (but I dunno now, not after Russian-LeZion was formed). I went to school (first day was a nightmare, but this deserves a separate page), learnt Hebrew, found friends, etc. In short, life went on, strange as it may seem.
Soon enough I changed school (just because people turn 13, they change schools in Israel (and then again in 3 years' time)). Schools don't have numbers in Israel - they have names. My first school was called Yad-Labanim, which means Hand to the Boys. No it's not what you think it is. It's about some Banim, who where some heroes. In fact, right next door to me was a museum by the same name (I didn't like it (the museum)).
The other school was called Ben-Gurion (the accent is on the 'O', and don't try to think it any other way, because Ben-Goooorion sounds like 'son of a male puppy' in Hebrew). I didn't like the school. First because it was 15 mins walk away (as opposed to 2 mins to the first school). And second because of what I'm going to tell you now.During the last year in the first school, we got a form which asked us what kind of class we wanted to be in. The options were: Normal/Computers/Chemistry/some other crap. Then you had to specify 2 friends who would also choose the same category. This ensured that people almost always got to the same class with their best friends. The same procedure underwent in two other schools (from which students also went to Ben-Gurion).
I (obviously) specified Computers, and put down Nathan and Mark as my friends. And they did the same. Well guess what. They both got into Zain Ahat (Computers class); I got into Zain Sheva (Normal class) (but I didn't and still don't think it was). The only 2 people I knew in my new class were two girls, Aya and Ayelet, who both refused to go out with me (not that I asked them)... And though I protested, no one did anything, and I stayed where I was put. :( Oh who cares anyway, I left the school a year later.During the last three years which I spent in Israel I had travelled to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan several times, and went to several schools, including school #91 in Tashkent, school #102 in Chymkent, school #50 back in Tashkent, and then, having been thrown out of #50 (for various unsupported reasons), Tashkent International School (which was a total waste of time (AND MONEY)). I didn't really like it back in the USSR (especially given that exactly at that time, it broke down), but I acquired several good friends (or at least one with a split personality...no just kidding).
In the end, my father got fired (which he mostly denies), and decided to do business with other companies (which he was already doing), and so we ended up in London. And all about that - here.