A Novel Concept

Normalcy. A novel concept. Who'd have thought that everyday routines would be missed? Who'd have thought that Be'er Sheva would be missed? But, who'd have thought it would be gone? Wednesday 14 November is a day I won't soon forget. Nor will I forget the week that followed. We left the barrage of rockets early Thursday morning. We went hiking at Masada (מצדה). We went hiking at Sde Boker. We stayed in nice hostels in Sde Boker. We had meals provided for us. We had counsellors who put up with all of our crap (They deserve medals. And a raise). But, on top of all of the great things the OSP provided for us last week, it wasn't normal. It wasn't familiar. Everything seemed surreal. I mean, why would we ever go to a spa in Israel? Regardless of how amazingly relaxing it was, it wasn't normal. Or cheap. I mean, 60₪ for lunch? Ripoff...

But on Wednesday night, the ceasefire was announced. And on Thursday, we got the all-clear to return to campus. Cue celebration. Finally, after a week of being the most spoiled 'refugees' on the planet, we were going back. Back to Be'er Sheva. Back to normalcy. Back to our 6-month home. And finally, I could celebrate my birthday. I turned 20 on Friday the 16^th, but it just didn't feel right to have any sort of party. But we were back. So let’s party. We went to my favourite restaurant, Kampai, for some Bamba sushi and Sufganiot, the best dishes in the world. And to make the night even better, Clarissa came down from Tel Aviv and surprised me, even though she was sick and had to be back in TA in the morning. On Friday, we went to Rakefet’s for a Thanksgiving-esque Shabbat dinner. While it wasn’t Dad’s cooking, it was still an excellent way to welcome us back to B7. And to top off the return to normalcy, whether we liked it or not, Clive’s Environment paper was due yesterday (Sunday). What a great way to spend your Saturday. Also, note that this post is written in Bookman Old Style font, my new best friend.

Classes started back up yesterday and everything is putting itself back together after a week of disorder, balagan and rockets. As for me, I’m good. Yes, I was shaken, not stirred, after Wednesday night, and for most of the week, every loud noise made me jump a little. And the IDF didn’t help by shooting test missiles and having gun practice nearby every place we stayed. And I didn’t feel comfortable at Sde Boker, to no fault of anyone but my nerves. Like Adi, I just wanted to be back in Be’er Sheva, because (and mind you, I like being in small towns, but) like I said to a few people over the past week: Sde Boker is somewhere nice to visit, or to commute to to have classes. And Be’er Sheva isn’t a place to travel to, because there isn’t much here for a traveller to do. But it IS home. I’ve established myself here. I’ve got my routines. I know where the good restaurants are (BTW, I’m really craving a Zygote burger, if anyone wants to go soon). I have my classes here. I can go anywhere easily from here. And by god I’m glad to be back. Nothing could make me unhappy this week. Except Jackie’s paper. That might make me pull my hair out.