"So why did you guys leave Israel?"
If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me this question (I still wouldn't be able to afford a proper house in TO :)).
Ofir and I had just graduated from University when we decided that we want to try and live abroad. We already lived together at the time, and even though he hasn't popped the question yet, we knew that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together.
But what would this life look like?
We had nice jobs that paid well, we lived in the vibrant and fun non-official capital of Israel (aka Tel-Aviv), surrounded by friends and family and enjoyed every minute of it.
So why? why would you give up all of this and start from scratch elsewhere?
I guess the first word that comes to my mind is ADVENTURE.
You can't say that we're adventurous (specially not me), but at the time it felt like this might be the last time we get a chance to do something as extreme as moving to another country and start new life.
The second word is actually two words: WHAT IF. These are usually used when considering whether to take a big step or not and looking at the pros and cons: WHAT IF something goes wrong? WHAT IF I hate it? WHAT IF my family won't support my decision? WHAT IF we don't get along?
In my case, these were used a little differently. I kept thinking WHAT IF we don't do it now, move on with our lives as is, fast forward to 10 years later, and think "I wish we had done it when we had the chance. Now it's too late, it's too complicated".
I was worried that this opportunity would not be available to me again in the future, and that if it would, I will have too much to loose or risk then.
Don't get me wrong, this decision did not come easily to either of us, but we can't ignore the fact that this was a relatively easy step to take: All we needed to do was quit our jobs. We didn't own a house , Eve and Tom didn't exist yet, and we had saved enough money to support this move and buy us time until we get on our feet in Canada (why Canada, you ask? this will need its own post).
So we did it.
I mean, the first step was to apply for Permanent Residency, which took a lot of time, bureaucracy and documents. And after we did it, we moved on with our lives and didn't think about it too much as we weren't sure whether we'll get it or not. But then we did.
So we did it.
It was July when we got the official letter, and 5 months later we were here. Quick, eh? what's the rush? We figured that if we wait until next summer it might be harder to leave, and since we both knew that eventually we'll have to live through winter here, we decided to move in the winter. The worst winter in 20 years to be exact. And we survived to tell the tale.
Six years and two kids later, we're still here. The adventure continues every day as we (somewhat) struggle to live our lives far away from our families, and the only question that remains now is "WHAT IF we didn't do it?". Guess we'll never know.
This million Canadian dollar question usually comes with a bunch of smaller 10 dollar type of questions. Here are a few examples, I'm sure many immigrants can relate:
1) Wasn't it hard?
Is life easy?
2) Are you planning to go back?
I didn't plan on being here 10 years ago, so really I have no idea. My only plan is to live successful and healthy life where I fell safe and loved. Guess it works so far.
3) How do you manage without help?
It's called "Living an adult life and taking responsibility for the actions that I take, knowing I can do it myself". Also, we have a babysitter.
4) Don't you miss your family and friends?
I do, every single day. But I also have my own family now as well as many other friends. I miss being geographically close to them, but if anything, our relationship only has gone stronger since we moved here. We focus on the good, and even though our time spent together has decreased significantly, we make sure to enjoy it as much as we can and create new memories that will last forever.
I hope I get asked these questions many more times cause maybe one day they'll be worth real money.
Jokes aside, these questions bring up a bunch of other questions that I ask myself every time. It's like a check-in that forces me to look at life with a new and think about where am I now and where I want to get to. But for now, I think I'll stay here.
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