a bittersweet symphony without the music

So I've been here for almost a week, and in that time I have:
- flown on four different airlines through three different countries
- bought a new TV so I can use the new PS2 I brought to watch movies
- drove back and forth between Tel Aviv and Be'er Sheva (twice)
- eaten a cheese-filled Shavuot dinner with Limor's family
- gone apartment shopping with Limor
- watched the entire first season of "Lost" (that's 40 min x 25 episodes = 17 hours of tv)
- seen the port city of Ashdod and toured the battlecruiser where Limor's brother Snir is posted
- played some video games
- watched as a rolling power-outage erased the first version of this post, and a second caused further delays
- climbed on the roof of Limor's apartment
- stared in horror as my brand-new iPod stopped working right after I spent two hours trying to transfer pictures

To sum it up, I've haven't really done anything productive. My access to computer / Internet is spotty, mainly because Limor and I share a single desk and it's a pain to switch all the plugs on the computers.

I have had a lot of time to sit and think. Mostly I feel a weird kind of numbness, which I attribute to both the incessant heat and the fact that I am in a transitional period. I haven't started my internship yet (I should be meeting the professor tomorrow), so I still feel like I'm on vacation. It's only been a week since I left behind all that is familiar. The happiness I feel from being with Limor is counterbalanced by a sadness stemming from the realization that I won't be seeing the familiar faces.

Haha, on a side note, what sounds like the wailing of an imam calling faithful muslims to prayer is rising from the street outside my window. However, it is actually the sound of a street vendor selling eggs. True story.

So, back to being serious. It may not have seemed like it if you saw me, but the last couple days before I left were really hard. As usual, I forgot to take care of a bunch of stuff until the last minute, and so I didn't spend my last week relaxing like I had planned. Because I was off running around so much, it didn't really hit me that I wouldn't be seeing my friends for a (relatively) long time. The last night, when I went over to Mark's house for a lovely barbeque (to which I showed up late of course), it was down to Mark, JK, and I. Looking at them, one of whom being my first friend in middle school, and the other being the brother I've lived with for the last five years, I found myself unable to express how upset I felt.

You would think that not hearing JK randomly scream about World of Warcraft or repeatedly quote a one-liner would fill me with relief, but in fact, it seemed to sum up all that I would miss about my friends.

And yes, that's not really representative, but at the time it felt like it was.

Then there's my family. I may complain about them, but ever since I moved into an apartment I've really enjoyed hanging out with them more frequently than before. And now that the new edition to my family is recently official, and both parents are settling in to their new(ish) homes nicely, AND my grandmother just moved nearby, *AND* my sister is starting school at the university I just graduated from, I move out. Go figure.

In conclusion, I miss all of you, and I hope your next year is fruitful and fun. I'm pretty sure mine will be.