Maya In Israel: Saying Goodbye Part 2: Kelly in Israel

It's hard for me to put into words what it was like knowing that the end of my journey in Israel was concluding. My anxiety was high and tears seemed to come pretty easily in the company of my wonderful roommate, Becky. Becky cries frequently whether from happiness or sadness. She's an emotional woman. So in her presence, I too, was able to be emotional in front of her with ease. To that, I definitely say "thank you, Becky!" To make us feel better, we would watch reruns of "Millionaire Matchmaker" and "Wipe Out," then the world was happy again...

But I did have a lot to be excited about. Not only was my father in town, but one of my best friends from the States was coming for a visit! Kelly arrived on May 12. It was her first trip to Israel, so I needed to make it one big whirlwind of adventure. That first night she arrived, I took her to dinner with Sivan at my absolute favorite restaurant in Tel Aviv, Orna and Ella. It was the last time that I got to have their wonderful sweet potato pancakes and flourless chocolate cake. After dinner, I took her to 223, a bar on Dizengoff for one drink with Sivan, Jake (my friend from Cleveland Heights), Russell (a friend from South Euclid, but I had met in Israel 5 years prior), and Toby (Russell's good friend). This was a goodbye drink with the boys, but a welcome drink with the girls. After the yummy white sangria, we let Kelly get some sleep.

The first full day of Kelly's "tour" was a non-stop day of walking around Tel Aviv. We covered Dizengoff Square, Shuk Carmel where Kelly had her first Israeli falafel, Neva Tzedek, the old remodeled train station area, and continued walking all the way over to Jaffo, then we finally took a taxi and laid on the beach for a quick nap, then back to Sivan's to shower and get ready for Shabbat dinner. Dad took us to Aunt Miriam's house for a loud, Tunisian-style, delicious, lots of family Shabbat dinner, where the meat is never-ending and you're so full, but you must keep trying more. It was great!

On Saturday, Sivan and Efrat took Kelly and I on a road trip up north to Rosh Ha'Nikra at 7am. What was fantastic about this day was that it was raining and storming all morning. When most people go to Rosh Ha'Nikra, you'll have beautiful weather with the sea being calm. Not us! Waves were crashing everywhere and it was gorgeous! As we drove away from this beautiful place, the rain stopped and we went to Goren park. We had intended to hike, but the trails were too muddy for our liking, so instead we walked around and took pictures of Israel's nature. I still find it amazing that when most foreigners think of Israel, they can only imagine the desert and not Israel's lush green landscape of the north. We had one more stop on our road trip and that was Achziv, which is a national park that is also a beach. Gorgeous! On the way back to the apartment, we stopped in Herzilya and I got to say goodbye to Sivan's parents, who were truly amazing and treated me like family.

Once we returned to Tel Aviv, did we have time for a nap? Of course not! Tel Aviv never stops and neither did we. Showered and ready to party... or at least, trying to convince ourselves to party... Yuval picked up Kelly and I, and took us to Galina, a club at the namal or port. I am very glad we went there that night because a lot of people from my apartment building on Tsidon were there, and I got to say goodbye to some of them, including Cody, Sharon, and my sweet, Becky, who cried instantly when she saw me. The three of us did not last long at the club from our exhaustion, but at least Kelly got to experience the nightlife.

Sunday, Dad drove Kelly and I to Jerusalem. We started with Mount Herzl, Israel's national cemetery. Kelly and I mentioned something about wanting a picture with soldiers, so Dad embarrassingly asked a large group of soldiers to stop eating lunch and take a picture with us. And yes, they did. haha. My dad is hilarious. Mount Herzl has a walking path over to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial Museum. Everytime I walk through the museum, I learn something new. This particular time, I found a letter written from someone who lived in Cleveland Heights on Kildare Road asking a politician to back a bill allowing Jewish children into the US. That was pretty neat to find a Cleveland connection. After a few hours of Yad Vashem, we went to the Old City of Jerusalem, walking through the market place, and saw the Western Wall. Most of the places that Kelly and I had gone to in Tel Aviv, I had run into someone that I knew. This day in Jerusalem was no different, and I ran into my buddy, Brandon at the Wall. That's the thing about Israel... it's so small, that no matter where you go, you will know someone, and that is what really makes it feel like home.

The next day, Dad took Kelly and I to Masada. Masada has a new museum that shows many of the artifacts that they have collected over the years. They even have a braid from one of the Jewish women who had committed suicide on the mountain. The museum was a treat. Along with the museum, you get the tour through headphones that you can listen to when you are on top of Masada. That was interesting to a point. We were on top for hours and I couldn't take much more of it. So the three of us left and went to the tourist favorite... the Dead Sea. This was my favorite part of the day, just being in the water, covered in mud and floating around.

On Tuesday was my last and final day to pack and say goodbye to everyone. Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond my control, the "everyone" part just didn't happen. (Sorry, Aaron and Bari!!! I tried!! We'll just have to hug again in California one day! Same is true for the MBA Exchange students that I met through Tel Aviv University. I didn't get to have a proper goodbye with them either. Although I did get to say goodbye to my Tsidon friends completely unexpectedly! I got to say goodbye to Sharon, Leah, Tamara, Avidan, Simon, etc. when I walked in on their cultural experience meeting. Such a lucky moment for me to get to see them all one last time!) The morning was spent with my father in the cemetery visiting my grandparents' grave. This was particularly meaningful for me. I kept trying to get there the entire time. There was just no way for me to get there without an uncle, aunt, or cousin leading the way. And finally, on my last day, I got to see them. The last time I was in Israel, my grandmother was alive. I had known that it would be the last time that I would see her alive, and exactly one month later, she had passed away. So this was my first time seeing her in her resting place, next to my grandfather.

The rest of Tuesday morning and early afternoon was spent doing a few errands, exchanging money for Kelly and I, getting lunch, getting snacks for our trip, packing, and in between everything, an uncle would come over, and then another... By 5pm, we were in Tel Aviv, where Kelly got to see an old friend of hers, and I got to hangout one last time before leaving with my two closest Israeli friends-- Yuval and Sivan. Saying goodbye to the two of them was hard, to say the least. But Sivan just said "I'll see you soon. You're going to move here anyway." Moving to Israel is another discussion for a different day, although I will say that the thought is definitely there.

When we returned to the apartment, there were quite a few of my aunts and uncles waiting for me to say goodbye. This is how I think of Israel-- a lot of family, everyone speaking loudly over one another, food being passed around, and a lot of love filling a room. There were a lot of tears that night by me. But it was worth it. It was a fantastic six months.