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I just got back to Israel two days ago, and I feel refreshed from my trip to the States. I especially enjoyed my trip up to Massachusetts. A week of swimming, bike-riding, reading, swimming, and relaxing, was long overdue. It was also great being with the family. For example, I think the moment when I bonded most with my uncle was when he was saying goodbye to me.

"Eli, good luck to you, take care of yourself, and don't do anything stupid. Oh wait it's too late, you already joined the Israeli army."

Tsss, ouch. That burns.

Or when I was in the car with my grandparents and my grandmother said, "You know Eli, you're a real mensch."

"And yet..." my grandfather said.

"And yet what?" My grandmother asked innocently.

"And yet he's a shmuck."

Nothing beats positive reinforcement.

I'm being a little unfair. It really was a good trip, and the topic of me moving to Israel and volunteering for the army was hardly brought up. However, it was clear that they still don't get why I'm doing this, even though I've done everything I can to explain it to them. My uncle is a lawyer, and it's like he explained to me. Most lawyers work such crazy hours that by the time they are successful enough to be able to work less, they often don't want to because they're not used to doing anything else. I feel like the same is true in most middle to middle-upper-class jobs. Whereas for my uncle it was a casual observation, for me it reinforced my decision. It's that type of typical, run-of-the-mill "McCareer" and "McLife" that I was trying to escape by doing something different.

Also, after being in a non-Israeli environment for two weeks, by contrast, I came to a few observations about Israelis. I've basically concluded that Israelis adhere to rules, and will go to great lengths to make others adhere to the rules, and how indignant they can get should they see a transgression. The "rules" of course aren't written anywhere, but rather each Israeli has his own set of guidelines defined in his head. They span from all aspects of life, from religion, to to social norms, to crossing the street. If you want to see what I mean, try crossing the street in Israel when the crosswalk light is red. God help if you hold up traffic. There will be so many horns blaring at you that you'll think that there's a raid siren going off.

That's what's great about Israelis, how they fly off the handle about the smallest things, on principal more than anything, and are totally dumbfounded when they see someone behaving in a way that isn't, to their definition, normal. Of course, I'm making a sweeping generalization here, but I think you'll find that it's a good rule of thumb.

As for what I said about not missing NJ, well I can't say that by the end of the trip I was so resolute. It's sad seeing the life that you left behind, even if that life was dysfunctional. However, now that I'm back in Israel, struggling to communicate through my broken Hebrew, in touch with friends (and I have a lot more here than I do in the States), I'm happy to be back. It also seems to me that that just now my American family is coming around to the idea that I'm serious about this-- that I didn't come to Israel on an impulse that wasn't thought out, and also that I'm going to be a soldier. My aunt and uncle are planning to come out to visit me, here in Israel, and my grandparents are as well. They likely weren't ready to even think about something like that a year ago or even six-months ago.

Speaking of which, the 27th of this month will mark the official one-year anniversary of my aliyah. It doesn't feel like it's been this long. It's amazing how fast time flies by now that I don't have high school artificially blocking out my time. At this rate, I feel like tomorrow I'm going to be seventy-five.