01 August 2008 -- Back in the Saddle

Yeehaw! I'm home! I left the Holy Land on the last day of school: July 11th. That still gave me enough time during the past month to attend my first Israeli graduation and my first Israeli wedding, both of which served as further evidence that I wasn't in Texas anymore. My patchwork itinerary from Haifa to Houston included a multi-day stopover in Berlin, but I'm not going to post those pictures or stories here for the sake of narrative coherence. Perhaps I'll upload my Germany photos to Facebook.

I thought I'd close out my HolyLand Hijinks blog by sharing what I will and won't miss about Israel. That should provide an adequate framework for reflection and closure. I hope you've enjoyed this chronicle of my life's most unusual detour so far, and I hope that when I re-read this page five years from now, I can appreciate the experience despite its abundant challenges.

To all of my dear readers, and to all of my Israeli friends: Shalom!

I WILL NOT MISS my cramped, dark, threadbare apartment. The bright side is that now my little house in Houston feels like a mansion!

I WILL MISS the super-strong Israeli sense of family. Here I am with Noga and Itamar, the kids in one of the several families that did their best to make me feel welcome. A side-effect of living in such a culture was my decision to invite my parents to move to Houston, which they have decided to do. By October, I will be living in the same city as both my mom and my dad for the first time since eighth grade.

I WILL NOT MISS the Israeli approach to roadway courtesy. This is a very typical scene: a car audaciously parked with its ass hanging out into a busy street.

I WILL MISS the ubiquity of all things historical. That's something that just can't be approximated in Houston (or almost anywhere else in this hemisphere).

I WILL NOT MISS my bus stop. Well, I guess the stop itself wasn't the problem, but rather the unreliability and unpleasantness of the bus that picked me up there (if I was lucky). That said, I do have a newfound comfort with the idea of public transportation, and I have actually taken the bus more than I've driven to my new job -- which may not seem remarkable to you non-Houstonians, but it's just not how most people here roll...so to speak.

I WILL MISS my students (or some of them, at least). I came to realize that many of the problems I faced in the classroom were due to cultural and institutional norms that the kids had internalized, so I was reluctant to be too down on them even when they acted in ways that struck me as profoundly inappropriate.

I WILL NOT MISS the ridiculous polarities, inefficiencies, and travesties that plague Israeli politics and government. Luckily, I've returned to a place where such things don't exist...

I WILL MISS the food, and in particular the falafel. I've had falafel twice since returning to Houston, and it just doesn't come close. I admit it: I'm a falafel snob.

I WILL NOT MISS the middle-aged-woman-with-ludicrously-unnatural-red-hair phenomenon that truly is epidemic in Israel. I lived there for a year, and I never got used to it.

I WILL MISS the hospitality on which Israelis of all ethnic backgrounds pride themselves. This is Wasim, a Druze security guard at Leo Baeck, who greeted every student and teacher with a handshake and a prayer in the mornings, and who regularly asked me to join him for a cup of tea. He represents the Israel about which many Israelis so often boast.

I WILL NOT MISS hanging my laundry outside to dry. It was always such an ordeal because of weather or competition for the clothesline or bugs. When I got back home to Houston, I wasn't nearly as excited to see my car as I was to see my dryer!

I WILL MISS my colleagues, who strive to serve their students despite sub-professional pay, deplorable working conditions (by American standards), and a virulent disrespect for teachers on the part of the Israeli public.

I WILL NOT MISS the smoking. I couldn't stand it at the beginning of my sojourn, and I still couldn't stand it at the end. Look closely at the booty up for grabs in this coin-operated claw game. Yup, those are packs of cigarettes. Baby Party, indeed.

I WILL MISS the beach. Okay, so I'm not much of a beach person, but the Mediterranean has an allure even for us land-lubbers. If Galveston had fine, clean sand (which it doesn't) and warm, blue waters (which it doesn't), it would still be hard-pressed to deliver the ruins of a Crusader castle overlooking the shore.

I WILL NOT MISS Leo Baeck in general. While I became close with many of its people, I never felt like an integral part of the organization, and I was no less skeptical of its educational approach in July than I was in September. (By the way, in case you're wondering, this is a wooden statue of the Rabbi Dr. Leo Baeck "ministering" to one of his students. Progressive Judaism sure is...progressive.)

I WILL MISS the sincerity of so many Israelis' efforts to better their country. Eran, who (as the legend goes) brought me to the Holy Land, is one of countless people who work diligently to secure the future of a nation whose history has been one of tragic insecurity. I wish him and his compatriots the very best in their endeavor to bring peace and justice to Israel.

a Haifa sunset

a Houston sunrise