"It's the End of the World as We Know It..."

I don’t know how many of you know about the day that we left Los Angeles, but as we were pulling out of our drive way sobbing, the song “It’s the End of the World as we Know It” was playing on the car radio. It was so perfect for the time, but now that I look back at it, I think that the song should be playing as we leave for the airplane back to America. The trip has been such an amazing experience for our whole family, and there is not one thing that I would change (except for maybe my WaterFALL, and more time in certain places). Not only have I learned a lot about the world, but our family also has gotten much closer. My sister and I don’t fight as much, and we get to spend a lot of quality time with each other as a family. Ever since we arrived in Israel, we have started to see people we know, and just bump into them on the streets of Jerusalem, which is strange, but good since we are going to have to see people soon. As we finish this trip, we are all looking forward to seeing everyone at home, but we are also a little bit sad that this incredible experience is coming to an end; it is very bittersweet. I will never forget when we walked through security at the Israeli airport and I saw tears well up in my mom’s eyes. It was also such a bittersweet moment. The whole time that we were on the plane, I was imagining what it would be like to arrive home; we all had no idea.


When the pilot landed after the seventeen-hour plane ride there was applause from the passengers and then came the most astonishing words (for me, but probably not for anyone else on the plane), which were: “Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Los Angeles International Airport.” Of course I knew that we were landing there, but it didn’t feel like it had already been six and a half months. It shouldn’t, it couldn’t be over! I was so surprised. When we walked outside of the airport, it felt so strange to be home after so long. When we finally got our taxi, we started making phone calls and we were all extremely excited to see family and friends again. The first person we saw was our cousin, Kiki. We were all so happy to see her. The next couple of days we saw more and more people. We went to a Bat Mitzvah on Saturday and it was fun to see those old friends again. As we are adjusting a little bit to the changes, we are also packing up to go to camp. Emma and I are really excited to go to camp and see all of our friends, but we are sad that we are not going to see our parents for one month. After spending six and a half months of 24/7 together, now it’s the opposite. When we got home, people started coming to visit, which was enjoyable. As we walk around Los Angeles, it is so weird to hear everyone speaking in English and buying things in English. It is also strange to be able to understand everything that people say. It is good to be home, even if we are sad that this amazing trip is over.