Fond farewells and new mountains to climb
Where have the last six weeks gone? Have I already been here that long? Although, when I think about it, it also feels like I got off the plane yesterday. Tomorrow the AUJS Israel Programs for 2006-07 officially come to an end. Tonight, as I stood in the nightclub we hired out for this evening's farewell party, I looked at all the participants having an amazing time. You know what I felt? I felt really old!!
There have been the usual ups and downs with the programs - but definitely more ups than downs. There have been some wonderful stories too;
There was the young man who came up to me a couple of weeks into his program to tell me how much Israel already meant to him. He told me that before this trip he had never stepped foot in a synagogue. His first experience of a shul was in Safed and as he stood with his mates, one of them came over to him and discreetly turned his siddur round the right way. Yes, it's funny, but it is also touching and so real.
There's the girl who back home has never felt anything but an outsider. She never ran with the "cool group" and at times on her program she felt isolated and lonely. We sat and had a good chat one night and she messaged me one day to thank me for taking the time to listen to her and to tell me that things had turned around for her and she was having a great time. Tonight I saw her dancing with new friends and having a wonderful time.
And there's the guy who was not brought up with any Judaism at home whatsoever. With a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother, he struggled to connect to anything growing up and revealed to his madrichim one day that he had never had a Bar Mitzvah. A few days later, his madrichim arranged for him to have one at a reform synagogue in Jerusalem. His madrich told me he cried and said it was the most amazing and meaningful thing that had ever happened to him.
Tomorrow afternoon it will all be over. The frantic pace will slow to a snail's pace. My phone will stop ringing off the hook and I won't get those horrible phone calls at 3am to inform me of one crisis or another. What on earth will I do with myself?!
Well in just over a week I start my new job at The Shalem Center and with it comes a whole new set of challenges. New people, new environment, new game with new rules.
I have also found a great apartment that I will be moving into in a week or two. It's in a great neighbourhood of Jerusalem called Talbieh. It's a 15 minute walk in either direction to either the city centre or my new work which is located in the very funky and rather bohemian German Colony. I couldn't have found a better place if I tried.
I am almost getting worried about the amount of good luck which has come my way so far. I am so superstitious (ptoi, ptoi, ptoi!!! she spits) I feel so unbelievably blessed and I wonder what I have done to deserve such wonderful things.
I can't wait to move into my new place, except it will be a challenge for the first couple of months as my container from Australia probably won't arrive until March sometime. In the meantime I will be living the minimalist lifestyle - a sofa (that I have to buy, mind you) that will double as my bed for some time... my laptop will double as my DVD player... and I can foresee that I will be getting artistic and creative with milk crates and sarongs.
I will be calling in some favours from friends and family to lend me odds and ends to tide me over until I have my things. Oh, how I miss my THINGS.
I know it is going to be a bit tough, a bit basic and at times downright bloody inconvenient, but at the back of my mind always, I realise that it is just a temporary state. Eventually I will be able to come home from work, walk through my front door, greet my (future) kitty cat, turn on my telly and chill out after a hard day's work.
Despite this temporary state of flux, of slight chaos, I thank my lucky stars every day that I am here. I am blessed to have so many wonderful friends and family around me, and I know I haven't felt this happy and fulfilled in a long, long time.
It's the best feeling in the world. That feeling that you know you have come home.
There have been the usual ups and downs with the programs - but definitely more ups than downs. There have been some wonderful stories too;
There was the young man who came up to me a couple of weeks into his program to tell me how much Israel already meant to him. He told me that before this trip he had never stepped foot in a synagogue. His first experience of a shul was in Safed and as he stood with his mates, one of them came over to him and discreetly turned his siddur round the right way. Yes, it's funny, but it is also touching and so real.
There's the girl who back home has never felt anything but an outsider. She never ran with the "cool group" and at times on her program she felt isolated and lonely. We sat and had a good chat one night and she messaged me one day to thank me for taking the time to listen to her and to tell me that things had turned around for her and she was having a great time. Tonight I saw her dancing with new friends and having a wonderful time.
And there's the guy who was not brought up with any Judaism at home whatsoever. With a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother, he struggled to connect to anything growing up and revealed to his madrichim one day that he had never had a Bar Mitzvah. A few days later, his madrichim arranged for him to have one at a reform synagogue in Jerusalem. His madrich told me he cried and said it was the most amazing and meaningful thing that had ever happened to him.
Tomorrow afternoon it will all be over. The frantic pace will slow to a snail's pace. My phone will stop ringing off the hook and I won't get those horrible phone calls at 3am to inform me of one crisis or another. What on earth will I do with myself?!
Well in just over a week I start my new job at The Shalem Center and with it comes a whole new set of challenges. New people, new environment, new game with new rules.
I have also found a great apartment that I will be moving into in a week or two. It's in a great neighbourhood of Jerusalem called Talbieh. It's a 15 minute walk in either direction to either the city centre or my new work which is located in the very funky and rather bohemian German Colony. I couldn't have found a better place if I tried.
I am almost getting worried about the amount of good luck which has come my way so far. I am so superstitious (ptoi, ptoi, ptoi!!! she spits) I feel so unbelievably blessed and I wonder what I have done to deserve such wonderful things.
I can't wait to move into my new place, except it will be a challenge for the first couple of months as my container from Australia probably won't arrive until March sometime. In the meantime I will be living the minimalist lifestyle - a sofa (that I have to buy, mind you) that will double as my bed for some time... my laptop will double as my DVD player... and I can foresee that I will be getting artistic and creative with milk crates and sarongs.
I will be calling in some favours from friends and family to lend me odds and ends to tide me over until I have my things. Oh, how I miss my THINGS.
I know it is going to be a bit tough, a bit basic and at times downright bloody inconvenient, but at the back of my mind always, I realise that it is just a temporary state. Eventually I will be able to come home from work, walk through my front door, greet my (future) kitty cat, turn on my telly and chill out after a hard day's work.
Despite this temporary state of flux, of slight chaos, I thank my lucky stars every day that I am here. I am blessed to have so many wonderful friends and family around me, and I know I haven't felt this happy and fulfilled in a long, long time.
It's the best feeling in the world. That feeling that you know you have come home.