Homeword Bound

Today was an odd last day.

Got up, had a nice chat with the man, and then walked to the Moslem district for coffee with a friend working in Jerusalem for the summer at a cardiac clinic. Seeing where she worked was amazing, and meeting those adorable children who are being given a free chance at normal heart functioning. 

Then I came back for lunch and had some last minute errand bonding time with the gals and we watched Friends for an hour instead of napping. I said goodbye to my friends in the Old City, good ol' Shaban, Louie, Lutzfig, Munir, Abdab, and Soloman. I almost felt bad telling the airport security people that I had not spent time with any Arabs, as most of my favorite people in Jerusalem were...

I will always miss the Old City, while hating its overwhelming nature none the less. The thick smell of cumin mingled with freshly carved flesh and ten thousand sour candies beneath the bright flagged scarves of the Moslem district. The constant chatter of anxious shop owners, foreign jewelry and tacky ornaments in the Christian district. The faint lingering of pottery dust cluttering the air in the Armenian district. And the crowds of devout Jews towing children, wife, and tractor all the way to the synagogue on shabbat. 

I can never explain so many things of Israel.

I can never explain the way one feels more valued in conversation, and more accepted because of a smile. How do I explain the doctor in the hospital smoking in his scrubs with pointy Italien patent leather shoes, or the sound of a tractor pushing its way through the Old City? I want to, but I can never spell out an accurate picture of the way a priest looks at you, compared to the rabbi, or the way the Sea of Galilee's waves flow with you through the following days, the constant movement of the water becoming your stroll. 

i won't even try.

After my shopping and goodbyes and Friends I ate my final questionable dinner with my closest friends (save April) and packed up my bags for the last time. I can't believe I've left, well...that I am in the airport. I want to start over again.

The ride here was more terrifying than all the Los Angeles traffic in the world, don't ever trust a sheurut driver, they'll drive you 95 miles per hour off a cliff. 

but I guess the day is finally done. I am sleepier than a sloth and ready for this flight to begin, only another hour till boarding...

see you tomorrow America. Happy independence.