Interviews with Olim

Q. Where were you born and where did you grow up?

A. I was born and grew up in Brazil.

Q. At what age did you come out? And how did it go?

A. I’m still finding out exactly what to call myself and where I fit, but I could say I came out as non-monogamous and bi/pan/ace kind of at the same time, round three years ago, not long before I made aliyah, with a group that I met in Brazil and helped me starting to investigate all these questions that I still have, clearly, and it went swimmingly, my sister had already came out as bi, and in this group that I mentioned, mostly everyone was bi, at least, so, it helped me a lot.

Q. Were you involved at all in the LGBT community back home?

A. I was mostly involved in the non-monogamous community, which loads of the time intersect with the LGBT one, but I wasn’t doing anything political or something of that nature, I was still figuring myself out, and still am, and I didn’t meet the group for that long a time, maybe a year or a year and a half.

Q. What is your involvement (if any) in the LGBT community in Israel?

A. I’m meeting people and going to meetings at the Haifa LGBT Communities House, but again, still in the discovery phase as to what more I could possibly do/add to it.

Q. How long since you made Aliyah?

A. I made aliyah a year and a half ago.

Q. Did you move here on your own or with family/friends/significant other? 

A. I moved here by myself, but my mom, brother and sister-in-law followed suit just three months after.

Q. Why did you make Aliyah? 

A. I made aliyah because life in Brazil was hard, financially speaking.

Q. How is it going so far? 

A. It’s going smoothly. It was hard in the beginning, because I felt too comfortable just going from work to home and home to work, but now I’m meeting new people, getting out there, so it feels I’m a little more integrated to the country, but I still have a long ways to go.

Q. What do you do in terms of work?

A. I work in a supermarket, in the katsavya/butcher shop part of it.

Q. How is your Ivrit?

A. My Ivrit is not so good that I confidently can carry long conversations, but not so bad that I don’t trust in it to do some basic stuff/conversations in Hebrew.

Q. What has been your biggest challenge so far? 

A. My biggest challenges have been getting my bearings and meeting new people/forming friendships.

Q. How do you perceive the Israeli LGBT community? 

A. I mostly perceive it through English-speaking people. I am not that well integrated maybe to talk something meaningful about it, but here in Haifa the mood seems pretty laid back and relaxed.

Q. How is being LGBT in Israel different to back home?

A. I don’t see that many differences except that back home, I knew the places to go and I had formed a large group. Here, I’m starting the process all over again, so there’s that.

Q. If you were making aliyah now, would you do anything differently?

A. I’d maybe try and immediately following my first ulpan, do another and try and fit in spaces that I feel comfortable in, way quicker.