Leaving Home

I'm sitting on the 910; this bus takes me from the central train station in Tel Aviv to the Hof HaKarmel central bus station in Haifa. I just spent my final open weekend of Nativ in Ramat Gan with some cousins who have become my closest family on this side of the globe. During Nativ, my gap year program, we have had many weekends to travel and see the country; I've (easily) spent a majority of those weekends in Ramat Gan. I've always known that I was extremely fortunate to have family to visit in  Israel, but after this last trip I've really come to realize how much seeing them meant to me and my experience.
They have three sons, all older than me, and one had already moved out. So naturally, I moved in. For nine months I've had my own room in Israel. Obviously, on Nativ I've had two rooms, one in Jerusalem and another in Kfar Hanoar Hadati, but this was different; this room did not have roommates. It did not have loud neighbors, social drama, or a crappy mattress. There was something personal about it (probably because my cousin had lived there for nearly twenty years and left a full bookshelf, desk, and closet): something homey.
The big events my cousins experienced this year were part of my experience, too. The youngest of the sons finished his army service; the middle son moved out, too (and back in [cough, cough nothing]); my cousin had minor surgery (he's doing fine); they got new bikes and a new dining room table; and the oldest son got engaged. The wedding is in June...two weeks after I leave Israel, but whatever...I'm not bitter or anything. I celebrated birthdays, holidays, and secured myself a permanent place at Friday night dinners. That was the biggie; Shabbat dinner is a big deal.
Each week anywhere between seven and fourteen people came to a dinner that Avi and Michal spent all day cooking. Michal was always serving something she had never cooked before; it was always incredible (especially for lunch and dinner the next day). Avi also cooked dinner, but his specialty were cakes; also, always incredible. As the year progressed, the fast Hebrew conversations that took place around that table began to make more and more sense to me, and for that (amongst many, many other things) I am grateful.
When I lived on Jerusalem I'd hop on the 400. It ran every fifteen minutes and dropped me off about a five minute walk away from their house. The first time I made the trip I was terrified to fall asleep; what if I missed my stop and got totally lost right before Shabbat (when all the buses stop running between cities)? After that, the forty minute bus ride was perfect for a forty minute nap (I always woke up right on time). Second semester was a bit harder; eventually, the easiest way to travel seemed to be by train. By taking the train into Tel Aviv to get to Ramat Gan I became a lot more familiar with Tel Aviv and got the opportunity to go out more. As I mentioned, this week I am taking the bus back to Haifa (the train station is undergoing repairs this week).
This was my last time seeing my family, and they did not make it easy on me; using phrases like "adopted son," "we're proud of you," "you've grown up so much this year," etc. only made leaving that much more painful. Now that I've been sitting on the bus for a while, it's become clear that this will be one of my last times taking public transportation in Israel. I will not experience that terrifying feeling of getting onto a bus and 'hoping' I know where to get off again this year. It's weird how comfortable I've become traveling in a country where the language is not my native tongue. Traveling here has been it's own part of my amazing experience this year and even learning bus schedules has been an opportunity to develop as a person. It's really quite incredible...also the fact that the buses have wi-fi is pretty damn sick.
Shavua tov from Egged.co.il somewhere between Tel Aviv and Haifa.