Home is all around us.

I was never a person who woke up not knowing where they were. I always know exactly where I am. Yet for all the traveling I do, I still cannot fathom the physicality of it - of waking up in one city and going to sleep in another. It still blows my mind that all these worlds exist out there simultaneously. I love how travel makes new places real to the traveler, and how the existence of hundreds of peoples is realized.

I am still reeling from two days of non stop travel and 2 weeks of work, babysitting, school work, moving into my new apartment and catching up with the whole school, and have not yet processed Argentina, let alone Israel. They were both very separate, intense, and different experiences. There were some general things that I took away from the experiences...

There is no reason to not do what I want, when I want. This sounds very immature, but since I am naturally a strict self-regulating person, it's not! I have the power over so many decisions, and I can make them any way I choose. I can make things happen, or prevent them. Traveling does not allow you to be passive - something so refreshing after 2.5 years on a college campus where passivity comes rather easily. I wanted to work at this specific school in Buenos Aires, so I called until they picked up. I had spoken nonchalantly about visiting Kiah in Rio, so I booked a plane ticket. I needed to make friends once I landed in Tel Aviv, and I did. I wanted to see live music, so I called Maya and we went! It is strangely easy to feel incapacitated by freedom but I worked hard to make sure I wasn't.

I also learned to be nice to people, to trust them, and to accept the comings and goings of people in my life. I learned that I am capable of being friendly and outgoing when I try! Relationships of all kinds are always transitory and sometimes thats enough. Thinking to the sweet boy waiting for my bus with me in Buenos Aires, to Gonza and Maca, to Aileen, Daniele, Michelle and Maya, to Boots and Roman who lived across the hall, to seeing Raz for 20 minutes and running into Eyal biking to the gym on my walks home from work - all of these people have made these past 6 months incredible and vibrant. Thank you.

I learned that education and beauty can come in the most unexpected ways, and that the world truly is my classroom. So many times abroad I was so frustrated because I felt my peers were not getting a full educational experience and through this have learned how lucky I am to have an experience that stresses that the world is a place to learn, that this process is not (and CAN NOT) be restricted to a classroom. Related to that, I am coming to accept that I can only be responsible for my own learning and experiences, and whomever I can positively influence is a plus. But you must must must learn from everyone and everything you can. Visiting the community garden in Vidigal was huge for me - a little side trip Kate took me on a whim but changed my entire experience in Brasil. Listening to stories from the Windows kids had a similar effect. I really came to like those kids. I was so proud of them when we they presented for the British youth group.

Speaking of Kate, traveling makes you dependent on the hospitality of others, and this has made a huge impression on me (I have already hosted 3 little meal things at my apartment this year, and have attended them at 2 others). It is amazing how people go out of their way for you and take care of you when you are on the road. This is something that I find lacking in our culture at home - hospitality and generosity. I am striving to have more of this in my life. Thank you to everyone who helped me out - especially Kate hosting me for 5 days and showing me her inspirational life in Rio,  Gonzalo and Maca for completely integrating me into their lives in Buenos Aires, Nicky for cooking us dinner, Ronit and Raviv for hosting me in TLV and driving me around and feeding me, Maya for sharing her bed, friends and wifi with me when I lived in suburbia, that random boy at TAU for giving me a room in his apartment the night I had to stay in Ramat Aviv, and Rebecca for a beautiful conversation and cup of tea at the end of her time in Israel.

Traveling through 3 countries in 2 very different regions of the world where I feel a strong personal stake taught me a lot about my positionality as a traveler, as a woman, as a mixed race person and as an American. I am learning how I experience the world differently with all of these intersecting identities. I have less patience than ever for bleeding hearts, though. That's not so noble.

I wish I had pushed myself to get into the Negev, to see the Wall up close, to get out of Buenos Aires more. But at the end of the day, I lived by the Mediterranean Sea, rode motorcycles in Vidigal favela, went to underground trap parties in Buenos Aires, ate dinner in closed restaurants, partied on rooftops in Tel Aviv with people from all over the world, hiked to the top of Dois Imaos, took twice weekly buses down the famous Avenida de Mayo, and met the next generation of peace builders in Israel and Palestine. What a gift this life is. Eternal gratitude to my mother, who does everything to make this possible for me.

My "culture shock" is manifesting itself in small ways. I still do the 'hand under the chin' motion that signifies "I have no damn idea" in Argentina, I keep trying to open magazines and brochures backwards the Middle Eastern way, when asked if I wanted a receipt at the grocery story I answered "si-ken-YES" and told the old midwestern bus driver "todah rabah" after she gave me my transfer card (they don't even have transfers in Israel). I'm sure the coming weeks will bring new insights into my time abroad, and that the reality of my existence here in MN will hit a little harder.

Until the next post, I'll be wandering wide eyed in American supermarkets, relishing having a dresser and a closet all to myself, decorating my beautiful apartment with my amazing roommate Emily, doing homework in the last of the warm sunshine and working on an application that would sign me up for the adventure of a lifetime...cross your fingers for me!

“I am learning every day to allow the space between where I am and where I want to be to inspire me and not terrify me.”

—	Tracee Ellis Ross

"Still, there are times I am bewildered by each mile I have traveled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept. As ordinary as it all appears, there are times when it is beyond my imagination." — Jhumpa Lahiri, Interpreter of Maladies

Jerusalem

Halva - dessert made from sesame

spices and rosebuds at the market

merengue, tahini, pastries. 

more spices 

in the neighborhood outside damascus gate

rooftops in the old city

Went to Jerusalem to go to the markets and the kotel before leaving Israel in a week. Its all so beautiful, feels like a different country than Tel Aviv.

I've been blessed to have already seen many of the worlds incredible, busy and beautiful cities at the ripe old age of 20, but I'm so lucky that my favorite one is my own. I miss you, NY! Not even the mountains of Bogotá, the street food of Bangkok, the nightlife of Buenos Aires, the rhythm of Rio or the beaches of Tel Aviv can compare. (Thats a lie. Rio is pretty damn incredible.) 

Robert, me and Noah the other night at Cafe Dalia!

Sin amigos

In a few days I will be friendless in Tel Aviv for my remaining two weeks! It seems crazy to me that the time has flown by so quickly. I've managed to see several new parts of Israel, work at this crazy job, meet people from all over Europe and make a lot of new friends. I have learned a lot, but the Tel Aviv is incredibly hard to pop - no one wants to be the downer trying to talk about politics all the time. It is fascinating to me that so many people who live in and move to Tel Aviv consider themselves apolitical. How can you move to the most volatile region of the world and consider yourself removed from politics? Being able to cross this border is a political act. Regardless, as much as I am learning about the current reality and the conflict itself I am also learning about apathy.
Crunch time at work. I have a big grant application due in 2 weeks and then I have a few days before I fly to NYC. The plane lands in NYC at midnight and my flight to MN is the next day at 11 30 am. I won't be able to sleep which will ensure prolonged jet lag. Mac friends, be ready for me to be a weepy mess! I am already incredible stressed out - the new apartment, jumping straight into school and work and grant applications. I am trying not to think about it when I have the sea outside my window and this gorgeous city at my feet, but it's hard! I am thinking of taking a twice a week babysitting job at school - but can't decide if it would be a source of stress or fun.
I've been in a weird mood lately. The weather makes things difficult, I've been eating mainly fruit during the day because it's too hot for anything else, and I've been stood up several times so I am finished with people for the time being. (For the love of god, if you don't want to see someone, just make up an excuse and cancel. It's easy. I just did it to someone this morning! Don't just vanish. Israeli men transform into Houdini at a moments notice and just turn into thin air when they feel like it. So goddamn obnoxious.) The gruff Israeli manners (or lack thereof) is seriously wearing on me (the Midwest got to me more than I thought! I'm really upset by how mean people are here to strangers on the street, it's terrible) and it's too hot to motivate myself to do much. I also have no internet in my apartment which sucks because it cost an arm and a leg and a torso and I am losing valuable time I could be spending on various applications.
Last night was Noah's last night and his birthday! We went back to Cafe Dalia, where we went earlier in the week to listen to live jazz in their pebbly backyard. We met some Austrians, and between them, his Swiss roommate and German friends we had all 3 German dialects at the table and he was very happy. Then we went to the beach before going home a bit too late. This morning I walked all the way to Kikar Rabin to pick up a check before work, and then Maya and I had to go deposit it which was a quilombo like always - the bank here is survival of the fittest at workkkk.
This is Maya's last weekend here in Tel Aviv so we are trying to find fun things to do. Hopefully we have the energy to actually do them!