I broke this blogging promise- big time. Nothing crazy has happened since the last time I posted. My program ended, I visited Cleveland, and returned to Israel. New apartment, new job, new weather. We didn't do much traveling over the summer. It was hot hot hot in Israel. We had a very tiny apartment, but life was good. I began working for my program part time doing a little marketing, and I found a full time nanny position conveniently located next door. Towards the end of the summer, we started planning for my parents visit, and looking for a new apartment. I started to reevaluate my reasons for wanting to live in this country. It had become apparent to me throughout the summer, that the extension of my visa would probably not cover the amount of time I was wanting to stay. With a fair amount of soul searching and conversations with friends and family, I decided to become a citizen of the State of Israel. It was a bold move, but I reasoned that if I was planning on making my stay long-term, I might as well enjoy the benefits of being a citizen. The process of gaining citizenship was surprisingly painless. Aside from 'misplacing' my passport (forever), losing my way enroute to meetings in cities I was/am unfamiliar with, filling out an endless pile of paperwork, and learning to use a fax machine - I was impressed with the lack of road blocks.

My parents visited mid October for a few days, after which we (mom, dad, Matan, Stacey and I) traveled to Rome and Barcelona for a much needed vacation. It was a wonderful break and we had an absolutely fantastic time. It was fun to take Matan, the world traveler, to places he had never been. In Rome we stayed in a beautiful modern apartment in the middle of town. It was a great location, a perfect home base for all of our sight-seeing. In Barcelona, we stayed in an amazing hotel, also seemingly in the center of town. We spent a few weeks marveling at the architecture, and avoiding tourist lines for some of the more popular attractions. It was the perfect little adventure.

Next stop for me was Cleveland! Matan returned to Israel, and Stacey to Paris then Seattle. I was home to visit, finish up my Aliyah paperwork, and eat turkey and stuffing on Thanksgiving! I spent a month hanging out with family and visiting friends. Chicago to see Ben Kohn, and BG to see Lauren at the end of her last semester of grad school! I played trivia with a few of my favorite people, did some seriously necessary shopping, and caught up on about a hundred overdue doctors appointments. It was wonderful to be home. At the end of November we traveled to Cincinnati for some turkey and family. It was great to be surrounded by a few of my favorite people (and my favorite dog) for the last few days of my visit. 

On the Monday after Thanksgiving I said some teary goodbyes and left for the airport. What I didn't know was that I was beginning the longest three days of my life. I arrived at the airport, cried a whole bunch, checked my luggage, went through security, and hunkered down with a book and my iPod to wait  for my plane. About 45 minutes later there was an announcement that our flight would be about half an hour late leaving due to mechanical issues. My layover in Philadelphia was only an hour and a half. I could still make it as long as the flight wasn't delayed again. Another announcement- "Ladies and gentlemen, flight (insert number)  will be delayed another hour due to mechanical problems" and approximately 27 seconds later, "Flight (insert number) has been cancelled, please do not come up to the counter until your name is called" (cue every single person on my flight rushing to the counter). So I got another night with the O'Learys. Things could be worse. I will save you the suspense of day number two at the airport. Much of the same sad story, except this time I never made it through security, and I had Beth and the girls to keep me company! And back we went to Herschel Woods Lane. I was incredibly bummed out to be delayed another day, but glad to have a few extra minutes in Ohio. Day three, I was on a plane Philadelphia bound, gearing up for my six hour layover. The last sentence you want to hear at the beginning of a layover that long, "we are sorry to inform our passengers that the internet wifi is under construction. We are sorry for any inconvenience". The worst. So, I had a caesar salad, met some people from Chagrin Falls at the bar, and counted away the seconds until I was on that plane and back to Israel. The flight was uneventful, so I'll skip that part.

Arriving at the airport in Tel Aviv was just the beginning of a bureaucracy that I was not prepared to fight. The State of Israel was unhappy with me for being delayed. So unhappy, in fact, they were prepared to make it as difficult as possible for me to leave the airport. The very last thing I wanted to do after my 11 hour flight was fill out paperwork and make decisions about health insurance. After what seemed like years I was allowed to leave the tiny government office. I created an completely unnecessary scene about seeing Matan in the airport (crying incessantly and blubbering like a fool), and we went home. This time home was a great apartment in the middle of town with a big living room and space to put any furniture we wanted. It came complete with a flat screen TV and a washer and dryer. It's everything we could have wanted.

It's six months after I started writing this blog. I logged on intending on writing about our recent vacation to Crete. Instead, realizing I hadn't finished my previous writing, ended it hastily. I will start writing about Greece - I hope it doesn't take me another six months to finish.

All my love,
s