This
past Wednesday, I was able to decide where to pack my coat (carry-on or
checked), making the reality of going home very real. I’m leaving Nazareth next week, and it’s weird.
It’s weird to try and fit all of my possessions into my suitcases again, since
they’ve been happily living in drawers in my apartment at the hospital. It’s weird to try and pack food that
I’ll miss, because at the same time I am really excited about the food I’ll get
to eat when I go home too. It’s
weird to say goodbye, since the only reply to the question “when are you coming
back?” is “Insha’allah”: “If God wills it”.
I
am leaving about a week earlier than originally planned so that I can visit
graduate school before I commit to moving somewhere for the next five
years. But even losing a week
doesn’t change the pace that my time in Nazareth passed. I can’t quite believe that I have spent
six months in Nazareth, and the better part of a year out of the United States,
away from everyone that I knew. I
thought that I would be really happy to go home. I am; I can’t wait to see my parents, my family, various
friends, and of course my dog. At
the same time, I didn’t realize how sad I would be to leave. I’m made good friends here and found a
place in my Christian family, even though I am away from my biological
relatives.
I
leave on Tuesday and arrive home on Wednesday. Then I will spend a couple days
getting over jetlag and remembering how to speak English all the time, then
fly to Texas to visit a grad school program. After that, I’m not exactly sure what I’ll be doing until I
go to grad school in August.
Getting some sort of employment would be ideal, but otherwise I’ll catch
up on sewing projects, prepare for grad school, and try not to drive my parents
crazy. I do plan to keep posting to this blog, though a lot of what I’ll be
writing about Nazareth. I have a
number of half-written blog posts that never got published between the internet
not working and being really busy over the past couple of weeks.
I’m
excited for what’s happening next, but it will take some time for me to
readjust to live in the US again.
I haven’t driven in six months, or used a dryer, or done a million other
things. I’ll need to make linguistics transitions as well, since now I try to
speak Arabic with people I don’t know and can sometimes even cope in
Hebrew. Neither of those languages
would be successful in little Hillsborough, NC. I will need to remember cultural
things about the US (hugs instead of the kiss-on-each-cheek thing) and figure
out reverse culture shock (personal displays of affection might top that list). Thought
my mom has done a good job of preparing me for changes at home, like hanging up
a new picture at home and a new stop sign town in, there is a lot that I can’t really
plan for. My Granny died while I was away, and while I know it mentally, it
will be another thing entirely to visit my extended family without her
presence. I’ve changed some too,
and I surely won’t realize how much until I get home. All in all, I think I will find plenty to do over the next
several months, and I am looking forward to coming home. In the meantime, I need to finishing
packing, saying goodbye, and enjoying my last three days in Nazareth.
