Back in the USA...

Tuesday.

Yom Shelishi - Day Three ( of the week)

Yom Gimmel – In the Hebrew Alphabet, Aleph is the first letter, Bet the second and Gimmel the third.

I am back in the United States and it’s my third day at home. I’ve been running these past few days until 7 pm this evening when I could not keep my eyes open. Now it’s 9:40 and after a two hour nap, I’m good to go.

Now, a very quick catch up of what my last three days were like in Israel, since I was unable to connect to the Internet those days.

Thursday we had our final exam; prior to this we had a party and talked in Hebrew about the program and our future plans. Shortly after I began packing, hoping to fit everything back into my duffel bags. I left the university that day and returned to where I started - the Amoyals. I was home again. How do you put a feeling like that into words? The next day late Friday afternoon, Anat picked me up and we returned to Merchavia, my other home in Israel. We ate Shabbat dinner outside with friends and went to an outdoor concert to see Shemtov Levi, who wrote many songs for my all time favorite Israeli singer, Arik Einshtein. It was my last real night in Israel and the concert was phenomenal.

Shabbat morning I repacked, hopefully to not have to pay overweight fees. We headed to Tel Aviv to celebrate Anat’s birthday with Nitzan, Noa, Shahar and Sari at a wonderful restaurant overlooking the shore. Nitzan is one of the first Israeli kids we hosted back in 2002. He works for the army and has just completed his position of flying drone airplanes. Noa is his girlfriend; they met when she was teaching him how to fly the drones (you go girl!!). Shahar is Nitz’s brother. He is an artist in Tel Aviv and also writes poetry and prose. His second book is coming out this September. Sari is his wife and very talented agent. The Sarig’s two other sons could not join us; Tal is in Poland with his classmates, doing the March of the Living, and Amer, is in Australia with his family taking a special Master’s program.

Before we knew it, it was time for me to go to the airport. My dread of paying overweight fees was for nothing; when I approached to check my bags I was crying and the agent was more concerned with my wellbeing than anything else.

And now I am home. Jeff and Ben picked me up from the airport; I saw the rest of my family throughout the day. Everyday since Sunday I have been welcomed home with strong, warm hugs from friends and family. I’m slowly readjusting to being home. I lost five pounds in the month I was gone – I’m thinking about marketing the Hebrew Immersion Diet! I miss so much of Israel. The past three days have been an adjustment: I keep looking to flush the toilet on either the top or opposite side of the tank or wall, have had to figure out where I am when I awake in the middle of the night and think twice about whether the word I am using is the correct word, among many other things. One thing that remains a constant between both continents is the love I feel for and from family and friends. I really missed my family and friends here and now I miss my Israeli family and friends.

I’m ending this blog now with an explanation of the sole (soul) picture featured above.
It was painted on a wall inside Café Café, a great breakfast/coffee shop.

“Take Your Time”
My mind immediately tells me to slow down when I first read those words.
But on second thought, the emphasis is more on “your”.
Take YOUR time.
Take time for yourself.
Take time to nourish what it is that feeds your soul.
Take time to take care of yourself.
My trip to Israel was all of this and more.
I can honestly look back and know that what I gained was so much more than a language.
I lived, breathed and inhaled Israel and grew stronger - physically, emotionally and spiritually.
I remain forever grateful for taking my time and making this dream come true.
And I thank all of you for your support and sharing this dream with me!

Yours always with love ~ Debbie

A Day to Remember

How long have I been here?

Each day is so different from the one before that there are times that I still can't believe I'm even here. Class remains challenging, hard and fun. We have a good time learning but I think at times, each one of us is doing an internal exorcist head spin. There are so many verbs to conjugate and in so many ways! Often I know what to say but my tongue gets twisted. Today we had a guest speaker who spoke only in Hebrew about the myth of equality between the sexes in Israel. It was quite interesting for me. I think that many people believe that the country is totally, (how you say? <--just kidding with that English!) equal between the sexes since the women serve in the army, Golda Meir was Prime Minister and now Tzipi Livni was elected to a high position. Ha! According to this lecturer that's a joke. I'm not sure if there is any difference here on this issue than from anywhere else in the world.

Yesterday was wonderful! Harel, another friend who was a camper that we hosted, picked me up from the Ulpan and we drove to Jerusalem. First we went to the mall and had lunch near McDonald's. It was a long drive to Jerusalem with a lot of congestion, some due to construction -yes, even in Israel there's construction but here this is a good thing. More important, the family of Gilad Shalit started a walk from their home in the north to the Knesset (Parliment) in Jerusalem to draw attention to the plight of their son. They were walking by the freeway with the aid of the police and this was really something. Gilad Shalit is the soldier that was taken four years ago this month, in the Lebanon War. His family publicized the walk on FaceBook and now there are over 10,000 people walking with them.

We finally got to Jerusalem, found a place to park and headed to the Western Wall. Once there it was a totally different experience, unlike any I've ever had at The Wall. Tears poured and poured out as I prayed for everyone I know and their loved ones and our world. It came as such a surprise for me. Then, very carefully I placed each and every note that many of you gave me into the cracks. I think there was so much energy held in each of these notes that the praying and placing them in The Wall released it all. I have nothing to compare it to and am still in awe of the experience. May my prayers be answered for you and yours. Amen.

Sending you all love from Israel,

Debbie