Life moves so fast now it's sometimes difficult to stop and think where I was one year ago, and how much has changed since then. I've gone from substitute teaching in Delaware county Pennsylvania, living at my mother's house to living with my girlfriend in an apartment in Tel Aviv. It all seems natural, as I've adjusted to Israel, but when I have a chance to stop for a second and think about how different my life was a year ago I'm astounded.
Sometimes when I think about the first 26 years of my life and then look at the last year it's almost like I've been stuck in a dream for ten months. A small part of me is slightly paranoid that I am really dreaming and that sometime soon I'm going to wake up on the border of Havertown and Upper Darby, Pennsylvania to put on my shirt and tie on my way to babysit 25-30 kids for the day (the equivalent of substitute teaching). It's like I'm in a different world here; I mean sure I have connections to my past with talking to friends, watching sports, and keeping up with the news in the U.S, but my life now is so completely different from my life one year ago.
What's most shocking for me is how well I've handled so many transitions, one after the other. I went from moving to Jerusalem, to Ulpan, left Ulpan and moved into my Aunt and Uncle's house, moved on to my cousin's house in Tel Aviv, and now I have my own place. I almost wonder if I'm truly handling the transitions well, or if they're happening so fast that I don't have time to process the changes. In any case, I'm just happy and thankful to roll with the changes, and to not get hung up on the bumps in the road.
I know I'm not alone, as my recent revelation applies to most if not all new olim. I hope and pray that everyone is dealing with the constant changes as well as I have, and that we'll all soon find a bit of stability. Still, it's amazing to look back on how much one can accomplish in a year, if there's a will, and a strong desire to move forward and succeed.
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