Time flies eh?

My grandmother once told me that life is like a roll of toilet paper - the closer you get to the end the faster it goes. She's a wise lady. Today, after five months of living in Y.L Peretz street in south Tel Aviv - sometimes cosmopolitan, sometimes scummy - it has come time to move out and be on my merry way again.

Where on Earth did the last five months just go? It's the strangest sensation when you feel like time has gone by in the blink of an eye yet you feel like you've been somewhere an eternity. The program I was on is now over and I'm back to being a free agent in Israel. A little scary coming out of the safety bubble that a program provides, to be honest. But nothing I can't handle, and nothing I haven't done before.

There have been plenty of highs and my own fair share of lows, but that comes with the territory. Living with 15 (wait, 14...hang on, 13...12...err, 11...um, guys?) strangers was always going to be an experience. We used to joke that they should have been filming us Big Brother style and what a great sociological experiment we would have been. A few have already departed since the program officially ended three days ago, and as I sit here in my second room for the program staring at my ridiculous luggage situation that took me hours to pack, I wonder what comes next.

A crystal ball would come in handy right now but what's the fun in knowing what the future holds? I've become a bit of a fate-ist since I came to Israel, and without sounding like a crazy person, I think there is some satisfaction in knowing that everything happens for a reason. Except for some things...like why did I slip down the stairs this morning? Massive bum bruise, take 2 (for those who don't know, take 1 happened at Camp CHI when I fell out of the top bunk in my sleep. Yeah, I know).

Anyway, something funny happened on the beach the other day. There I was, lying on Gordon Beach enjoying the sun, listening to my iPod, when the loudspeakers started crackling. I normally don't listen to the announcements, amusing as they are (Shimon, your mother has your lunch ready for you), but this one was different and I pulled out my earphones to listen better. From the loudspeakers was the sounds of the shofar (ram's horn). [Jewish New Year is coming up soon and every day in the lead up to the holiday you're meant to hear the shofar being blown.] And when it was finished the lifeguard said "Rosh Chodesh sameach le kulam" which translates to "Happy new month everybody".

It made me smile to myself as I realised what makes this country special. Only in Israel. For all my gripes and complaints about how this this country runs (or doesn't) there are so many things about it that make me smile. Although, there are still plenty of jaw-clenching, teeth-grinding, hair-pulling things about this place, trust me.

So here's to the next chapter, whatever it may bring. And to the Tel Aviv Spring Machzor for 2010, thanks for the memories.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Neyf5IPKnRw