A Sojourn To Remember

Well today is the big day.

July 6^th, 2015, I start a new life in the Middle East. I am writing this from the Reagan National Airport. I will be flying to Toronto, and from there to Tel Aviv.

Not my best photo, but I'm not traveling to look sexy.

I am actually using word instead of my blog to write this- ATT’s free wifi is so slow it cannot even load my page from blogger.com, so I may have to upload this. Who knows, maybe Toronto will have better WIFI.

It’s already been a bit of an adventure over the last 24 hours. From seeing old friends and leaving Maryland to saying good-bye to my mom and step-mother, her partner.

Oh yeah, I also got my bar mitzvah finally done. I went to see my rabbi just before we left Maryland, and he quickly did a mitzvah, wrapping me in the phylacteries and having me recite a prayer. It may be nearly thirteen years late, but at least it’s finally done. It was literally the most random thing I have thus experienced thus far, as when I went I did so with my mom expecting to say good-bye before I made the move. It was very appropriate considering how it was done, and I am grateful to rabbi Schusterman of Harford Chabad for doing this.

I also got to say good-bye to the sushi-guy, who literally makes the best sushi I have had, and I say that having eaten it for the last sixteen years. To put it in perspective, between Mexico, Michigan, New York, California, Maryland, West Virginia, Indiana, Canada, Austria, Germany, London, and Hungary, I still have not had better sushi. It’s truly a gem of Burke, Virginia, so go there if you get a chance.

I’ll post the pictures later I took with the owner and his wife. They’re pretty much family.

The airport is… well kind of crappy. For one the terminal I’m in is one of those hubs where they stick nine gates in a circle, so it’s one big overcrowded room. Babies are crying, doors are constantly opening and closing, and of course, there’s no seat. I had to fight for this small chair, and by fight I mean the kind you’d see in The Raid 2 or Oldboy.

I already have had positive and negative here also. The lady who bag checked us was Middle Eastern, and when saw my destination didn’t charge us extra for the overweight bags. Plus security only took fifteen minutes to get through, and I was able to get my lighter and e-cigarette through. That’s apparently fairly hard to do, the interwebz tells me.

However, I decided to get pizza since it would be fast. After retrieving my slice a lady hunted me down, claiming I had stolen her pizza and security would be coming for me. That was fun, and a reason to always hoarde your receipts.

She actually sitting across from me, and glaring at me, so whenever I look up and see her staring I flash the receipt at her again.

I mean, talk about rude, so I don’t mind returning the favor in my passive aggressive manner. Oop hang on, need to flash the receipt again to get a nice evil eye in return.

This is exciting! It’s not everyday you up and leave for a new life, and by no means do I think Israel is where I will stay permanently. This is the start of a huge adventure, and I’ll be sure to keep everyone updated.

Israel, here I come.