This morning before school, my mother asked me to pull out this journal of mine
Hi, there!
Arggh! I am so done with this whole moving to Israel thing! I had a blast with Eli over the past two days, but now, it’s like, welcome back to reality. And the reality is that I’m not in New York, my real home — at least it was my real home until this past summer. Instead, I’m stuck here in Israel.
My parents have been trying to cheer me up ever since I got back from my trip with Eli’s family, but honestly? I don’t want to be cheered up. Until now, there have been times that moving here has been hard, but I’ve always managed to snap out of it. But now? I’m just so bummed to be here without all of my old friends. And it’s not just the kids; it’s also how different everything is, like the language. Okay, so I’m learning a lot of Hebrew and I honestly surprise even myself sometimes at the way I can talk to Israelis and understand them and be understood by them. But classes? Those are still super hard. It’s hard enough to focus in school and learn new stuff every day when it’s in English. Doing it all in Hebrew is exhausting!
My parents could tell that I was feeling down ever since I had to say goodbye to Eli, so this morning before school, my mother asked me to pull out this journal of mine. She said that everyone finds aliyah hard sometimes, but the best thing to do is realize that it’s okay to feel sad sometimes and then to try to remind yourself about all the good things about Eretz Yisrael. That’s why this morning I went to school a little late so that my mother and I could read through my list. My mother made me my favorite breakfast, chocolate chip pancakes, and then we read all of the things that I like about living here.
