Israel, And Post-Israel Planning

My apologies for the dearth of updates from Israel. Things have been great here, but our days have been packed and I’ve been pretty exhausted most nights. It’s pretty strange to be back on a schedule involving involuntary early wake-ups, but I haven’t been experiencing the same “ugh” feeling that too frequently came with the alarm clock for financey work.

I’ve been very happy with the amount of time we’ve been spending outdoors – hiking, rafting, biking, and climbing – and am looking forward to our sunrise hike up Masada. I also can’t wait for our night out in the desert. The stars are sure to be spectacular, and I have a great astronomy activity planned. (I already did a “Pluto’s Planetary Identity Crisis” evening discussion.) Incidentally, I’ve started to become Amy a bit. I’ve been doing yoga most mornings and started to lead a regular class with some teens.

Most exciting for me in the coming week are two things:

1. My group is snorkeling in the Red Sea on Monday. There’s a pretty decent chance that I’ll be able to leave the group in the hands of my co-staff and tour guide and go scuba diving. The Red Sea is one of the world’s best dive sites, and I’m keeping my fingers tightly crossed that this will work out. I have my PADI card and log book ready to show the dive shop (along with my wallet),and it’s now just a matter of scheduling.
2. Coming back! As the trip enters its final week I’m starting to get very excited about reuniting with Amy. It will be wonderful to be together again, although our return is going to be pretty hectic. I get back on the 25th and we fly out to California on the 29th. It still hasn’t sunk in yet that home will be an RV.

Amy has mentioned that we don’t do small changes. We got married, Amy started her first job, and we moved to Riverdale in the span of two days. We’re apart for a month, are coming together, and are moving to an RV in a similarly short period of time. The last move went well and I’m hoping this one will as well. Next step: start a list of things we need to take care of in the few days that we’re in NY/NJ.

PS – In the middle of writing this post I got a call from some kids in the room next door. They ordered pizza at 1AM and wanted to share with the staff so they wouldn’t get in trouble. Sweet!

[UPDATE: I’m writing this from our bus as we drive through the Negev desert. The update: WOW. I’m a fan of the desert!]

posted by jayhorowitz