Packing stuff. A lot of stuff.

We started packing today. Considering that on Friday the shipping company is coming to pick up all our stuff, you might think that starting to pack on Wednesday is last minute. However, in light of the weird feeling an empty-house-full-of-boxes induces, postponing that as much as possible was the right thing to do. Noga was really sad when she got back home today, realizing that it had turned into a bunch of boxes in her absence. But I guess this is inevitable when transferring one's life across the ocean. At least both Anat and myself have already finished working, so the whole ordeal is not too hectic. And yet, it's almost unbelievable how much stuff we have accumulated in our 3.5 years here. There is certainly a liberating feeling in throwing away or giving away a lot of the unnecessary items we own.

While speaking with several people, it occurred to me that some of you are unaware of our next steps. So here goes. We'll be leaving Pittsburgh in a few days - after shipping our belongings to Israel, we'll ship ourselves to the western US. We'll spend about 80 days hiking and camping in Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon and California.

In early September we'll fly out from San-Francisco to Israel and start a new phase in our lives, in Haifa. After a few weeks of settling down (mostly helping the girls to get used to the new environment), we'll start our new jobs. Anat is going to be a faculty member in the department for learning disabilities, which is part of the school of education of Haifa University. I will be working for Google, in the Haifa office. We've rented an apartment in Ramat-Begin neighborhood, and Noga, Hadas and Maayan are enrolled in the relevant schools.

But frankly, all this seems very distant right now. I'm much more focused on all the beautiful nature attractions we're about to visit starting next week. We'll keep you posted...

Giora