almost home

i arrived back in the states this past thursday, spending a few days in washington, d.c., with my friends julia and brandt before i head back to denver tomorrow.

the relative ease of being back in familiar territory oscillates with lingering images of israel/palestine and unrelenting questions as well as the strange sensations of returning to a faster pace of life. though i spent my last two days in tel aviv, where life is very westernized, i can't help but feel i've been thrust back into a society filled with endless choices to satiate every possible desire. i think i actually grimaced in the midst of listening to a waitress rattle off the lengthy list of beers on tap at the divey, underground restaurant we went to the night i arrived. she looked at me sheepishly and asked, "did i say that too fast?" i simply laughed and said, "well, yeah, but only because i just got back in the country." my meal of a veggie burger and tator tots that followed could not have been a clearer indication that i had indeed returned to the u.s. another strange reality is that since i passed through airport security, the only time i have been required to show personal identification was when i purchased a six-pack to add to the dinner we planned to make on saturday night.

julia and brandt's home, which sits in takoma, the northwest region of d.c., provides a quiet respite from the city and has been the perfect place to provide a transition from my travels to my return to my life filled with responsibilities, errands, and to-do lists. in addition to sipping iced coffee drinks and reveling in two brief thunderstorms this afternoon, i've been soaking in a lot of news stories and updates from npr -- something i have not listened to in quite some time.

i spent part of friday walking along the national mall. what i noticed more than anything was the magnitude of the diversity of people here. being adrift in this sea of individuals hailing from all walks of life and all corners of the world in the heart of our nation's capital made me contemplate the ideals for which this country i call home stands. despite the mess of issues facing our country, the sheer fact that we exist as a conglomeration of opinions, beliefs, cultures, and visions reassured me that the ideals i strive to maintain are worth holding onto.

it could be easy to return to the normalcy of life here, to forget about all that i have seen and experienced in the last six weeks; to dismiss the conversations and the people; to escape the complexity of politics that underlies every component of life in israel and palestine. and yet i don't want to do that. i'm not sure how this summer will resonate within my personal life. how it will seep into my personal choices; how it may affect the way i read the news or share the stories of my travels. i am returning with more questions than i had when i left. any time i think i have a newfound kernel of wisdom, i discover a new complication. the world is far from black and white, and the situation on the ground in the tiny stretch of land known as israel and palestine is no different. still, i return with my hope and optimism outweighing the threads of doubt and cynicism that tried to bind me at various moments throughout my journey.


no doubt i will continue to process these experiences for some time, so you might just want to check back in now and again to see if i've decided to tell another story here....