"My home is not a place, it is people."

Home. As I wandered the streets of DC last weekend, I thought a lot about where "home" is to me. Iowa City will surely always be home, but I am also certain that DC is home now, too. When I was in the Philippines and Bangladesh during the summer of 2007, I spent the first couple of weeks at IRRI counting down the days until I would go "home" to Iowa City. After I had traveled to Bangladesh, I referred to going "home" as returning to the Philippines. In fact, when I traveled away from the hotel I stayed at in Dhaka to travel to the rural parts of Bangladesh, I referred to my return to Dhaka as "going home." A friend from the Philippines, who has done a lot of traveling herself, told me that she thought a place only became home after you had left it for awhile and had the experience of coming back.

All that is to say- it was good to go home last weekend and walk the streets of Washington, DC- of home. It's also been really good to be home in Iowa City this summer- to see friends and family, sip coffee at the Java House, attend church at Zion: this, too, is home.

The best way I can describe how I'm feeling now about my upcoming move to the Holy Land is this: If you've ever been on a roller coaster, particularly one with a HUGE hill, you know the feeling of the slow ascent to the top of that hill. Usually right before the top car is about to crest over the hill, I get this terrifying, yet also thrilling sensation in my stomach. I often wonder why I've gotten on the roller coaster at all and "is there any way to get off now??"- but at the same time I can't wait to be sailing down that hill, experiencing the thrill that comes from the speed and excitement of the rest of the roller coaster.

How does that have anything to do with how I'm feeling right now, you ask? I applied for the YAGM program in February, and after a number of interviews, found out that I would be headed to the Holy Land in April (which perhaps was the lurch that started the roller coaster ride in the first place). Since then it hasn't really sunk in a whole lot what's about to happen- but as the day gets closer, I feel my nerves just a little bit more. Just this morning, I received my flight itinerary- so I can now confirm that I should be in Tel Aviv at 3pm on August 27th. I'm excited, nervous, and maybe a little bit terrified. The best way to describe this feeling seems to be that moment on the roller coaster when part of me wishes I hadn't gotten on at all and most of me can't wait to experience the rest of the ride.