The Itzhaki Family – Sydney
How the three of us got to Sydney a year and a bit after we made a decision…..!
The decision to try our luck a little bit to the left of the world was very spontaneous, one bright morning on the way to work in the car (it is true that sometimes the most difficult decisions are sometimes made the quickest).
That same morning I ran internet checks and contacted three offices that claimed to deal with immigration to Australia, two of them were very difficult to reach and neither of which agreed to let me speak directly to the attorney and began interviewing me asking to set up a phone meeting two weeks thereafter. Already then availability was important to us and we understood that was not what we would get from these places. We contacted Advocate Lisa Segelov quickly via her office and she got back to us the next day and answered all of our questions and prior to our meeting. She was both efficient and friendly, and answered the thousands of questions we had. Following a meeting at which Advocate Segelov gave us several options. We decided to embark on a journey that was quite simple at the end of the day because in spite of the paperwork and the bureaucracy, Advocate Segelov did all the work, including requests for additional documentation from the authorities during the application process, which she carried
out in a professional and efficient manner. We only rang her from time to time to ask “What’s new?”, and she always answered us quickly and efficiently and no less importantly “politely”.
For our migration journey, we arrived fully equipped with Australian CV’s, letters of recommendation and translations of everything and to Sydney we arrived in shock although at least very organized!
We landed with three suitcases and a child and began from the beginning. Sydney is incredible, and it took 1½ months for one of us to find employment, buy a car and rent an apartment, very quick in spite of the fact that we – with typical Israeliness- were under pressure! And since we have been here, a period of four months only, we are learning the mentality, we are a lot calmer and we are beginning to realise that it is possible to do things differently. We are missing our family very much, which is one of the most difficult parts (internet is the first thing that one orders after landing). However, we spend more leisure time with each other and manage to sight see every weekend.
There are of course ups and downs, but all the experts have already explained to us that the first two years are the most difficult. There is no doubt that one’s thinking changes, the small family nucleus comes first, and pushes work aside, no telephone calls to home from the office and almost no cutting off on the roads. Our child goes to kindergarten only 3 days a week- which is not so terrible- in fact quite the opposite as he is a lot happier with this arrangement and taking into consideration just how much kindergartens cost here, this is also an important factor in in the beginning.
The Israeli community here always looks bigger to us than what everyone says, and one always needs to keep in their mind the fact that Hebrew is not as rare as what everyone thinks. For those to whom the community is important, there are whole areas here of the Jewish community into which one can integrate, yet one should take into account the fact that you need money as the Jews live in up market areas and mostly attend private schools which are expensive.
The majority of the population is educated in public government schools and one as the impression that these schools are of a good standard.
In short, a smooth beginning is important, because many get stuck on the way to a little left to the end of the world and the process goes on or they lose hope….. A not so simple process but definitely worth it!!!
The Itzhaki Family
Sydney, Australia
Please free to contact us by email – einatit@windowslive.com