Coming to America

So, we're back home in California for a two week vacation to see family, friends, and pets. It's great to be back but I miss Israel and our friends and community there.

We adjusted to California time fairly quickly despite not sleeping much on the flight here. We arrived at 1 p.m. and stayed up until 8 p.m. and then woke up around 5 a.m. and every day since then, we've been on nearly that same schedule. Unfortunately, that's posed somewhat of a problem for morning prayers, which can't be said until nearly sunrise and sunrise is after 7 a.m. here. This morning, for example, I woke up just after 5 and had to wait awhile before I put my tallit and teffilin on. In Jerusalem, I'm not waking up as early but sunrise is nearly an hour earlier than it is here.

We still haven't been to Target or Costco yet - these are places I'm very excited to see while I'm here. But, we have visited the grocery store and Trader Joe's - our first trip there was fairy overwhelming. There were so many products and so much selection and it was all labeled in English. It was all too much!

It has also been very liberating to drive. I hadn't driven in nearly six months before coming back and it was a great thrill to hop behind the wheel and drive. I even avoided honking at everyone and everything all the time, as I've become used to experiencing in Israel.

On the flight home, the stewardess were Americans and it was quite strange to be saying "thank you" in English for the first time in many months. It felt different and unusual to be saying those words because for several months I've said "todah" to everyone.