I should probably change the name of my blog...

I have been terrible about blogging these past few months. Now that I no longer live in Japan, it seems silly to keep a blog, but I suppose I don't lead a very "normal" life and should keep it up until I do (if I ever do).

I haven't written in almost 3 months and I haven't been sitting around doing nothing. I started working at the library in my hometown shortly after getting back to the US. It's a mindless simple job, but it's nice to be around books all day and it pays for my health insurance so it's necessary.

It was great to be home for the buildup to the holidays and then the holiday season and I really got into the Christmas spirit this year and enjoyed time with my family. I decorated the house, baked lots of cookies, and made presents for my friends and family. Everyone came back to Port Washington for the holidays and for a few days it was almost like high school with all the things to do at night!

On January 2nd, I left the country again for a month, this time on a free Taglit Birthright program to Israel. For 2 weeks I was with 40 other amazing people seeing amazing sights completely for free! When the 2 weeks were over, it only cost $50 to extend the free plane ticket so I jumped on the opportunity and extended for 2 more weeks. With 4 other guys from my trip, I travelled around Israel and eventually over to Petra in Jordan. It was an amazing emotional and spiritual journey and I plan to write more about it when I find a minute next week.

My next plan is that I'm moving to California. 3 of my High School friends and 2 of my JET friends live in the Bay Area and I'm going to just go and figure it out from there. Ato was a very humbling experience being so alone, and NY is surprisingly lonely as well. I think I'm ready to be around my friends for a while. Everyone thinks I'm crazy, but sitting at a shabbat table in Tsfat everything just came clear to me. I have nothing going for me here that I can't find there and now is the time to do it. I am teaching one more origami class at my mom's library on March 6th, but March 7th, I'm taking my car and heading west. I'm hoping my sister will join me for the journey, but it is possible I will be driving alone. The plan is to take I-70 to Denver and then hop on up to I-80 for the rest of the trip. If anyone has any friends/family/places for me to crash somewhere along these roads, please let me know as I'm trying to do this as cheaply as possible. I'm hoping to find a teaching job for next fall out west but who knows where the wind will blow me.

There is one other thing that is emerging in my life and that is a possible relationship. I met him when I went to CA in October and we had an amazing "Before Sunrise"-like day together. He is nothing like anyone else I've ever dated, but right from the start we had great chemistry and talked and talked all day. I didn't know if I would ever see him again after I left the west, but he came back to NY to see his parents in December and we met up for a super-chaperoned 2nd date (with 3 of my friends and 3 of his). Sitting at that table in Tsfat I realized that it doesn't happen all the time that I really like someone and he really likes me and I'm free right now to do anything or go anywhere, so why not? I'm not moving to CA only to be with him, but I would like to give what we have a chance. If it doesn't work, it's not a total loss- I'll still have the rest of my life to figure it out from there. Many people look at life from beginning to end with goals set out and many expectations. I like to take it from step to step, not thinking too far in the future, enjoying every day I have. I am extremely excited about starting my next step.