Day +21 You Know I'm A Dreamer

Guess who's going home? I mean, other than John from Toledo, Ohio. Because I am sure there is a man named John from Toledo, Ohio who is also going home from somewhere, in which case, cheers John! I'm going home, too!

Not my home but a beautiful ancient building in Jaffa.

Not today, not tomorrow but the next day. And I can handle that, not today not tomorrow but the next day, a litany to run through my fingers in prayer. I got the green light this morning so we changed our tickets and leave at the crack of finally on Thursday, connecting through Zurich so I can practice my French during our 4 hour layover. Although merde, I just remembered they sprechen sie Deutsche in Zurich, so tant pis for me. I am just so happy in all of the languages.

I'm going home!

Which is not a moment too soon because, frankly, I think my dad is getting a leeeetle cranky. Like radio too loud in the cab cranky. People stepping into the elevator before we step out cranky. A mosaic of strange smells in the hallway cranky. The kind of cranky that makes him look at people like a hawk, sharp, cutting, quick. Crank. Eee.

Truth be told, I'm cranky, too. But not as cranky as the woman who works at the grocery store who, when my dad began to ask her a question, swatted him away while saying, I know nothing! People here have a lock on crank, and that's coming from someone with an ancestry rich in ornery.

There are things I won't miss about Tel Aviv. The cars constantly honking their horns, Israeli soldiers on the streets with semi-automatic weapons, not being able to read product packaging, the commercial with Alec Baldwin that's always on tv, the one with him licking the ice cream cone, the tension between the Jews and the Arabs, the fear of violence, not being able to understand why, the alone. But then there are things that I will miss. The beauty of street signs in both Hebrew and Arabic. The colors of Jaffa, the sound of the call to prayer. Samira, Ashraf and Naveat; I will miss Hussein returning from his vacation in Thailand. I will even miss Nadir, sweet, horrible rude Nadir, who I have actually grown to really like.

So there is that, but there is also this song that has been stuck in my head since this morning when I found out. Over and over and over...while I have never been a huge fan of Mötley Crüe, I am on my way, (I'm on my waaay! *bangs head and bares tits with a shout out to Nadir*), home sweet home.

xo,
S