I Live Here

When someone who is visiting Israel comments about her beauty or her charm, my favorite retort is “yeah, and I live here.”
Today I have been living in Israel 6 months and sometimes it still doesn’t feel real. When I look around I see all of the symbols of a life here: an apartment, a job, bills, and credit card statements….but other times I can’t believe it.
I still manage to stay patient when someone cuts me in line at the bank because she “really was there first but decided to sit down for 20 minutes and just assumes her spot at the front of the line,” and smile when an argument breaks out between the shared taxi driver who decided to take a different route home because of the traffic and a passenger is now late for his appointment because he has to walk two minutes to the original stop. I like the fact that I hear Israeli music playing in the bars and don’t mind the wind and rain because I still remember what winter is like in Boston.
I know that I am fortunate to have a great job that does not stress me out and an apartment on a quiet street in the center of Tel Aviv.
I am waiting to wake up one day and realize that I actually live here. But in the meantime I am happy to roll over and continue the dream for as long as it will last.

***For those of you who always ask for pictures of me. Here is one of me with a good friend of mine on New Years Eve.