She Arrived!

On Friday Kaitlin finally arrived in Israel. In the morning I was trying to get some last minute things ready. I bought some groceries for Shabbat, cleaned the apartment, started on a little bit of laundry and then I needed to wait.

There was nothing to do because all of my exams were finished so I sat.

I was waiting to leave to catch a shieirut (shuttle) to the airport to collect Kaitlin, but I couldn't take it anymore. I left my apartment to wait on the street near my pickup point. Luckily I found a way to get some of the West Wing onto my iPod so I could kill some time until the cab arrived.

Emily met me a little bit before we were supposed to leave and we went off to the airport.

Sitting in the arrivals area is one of the most stressful things I had to deal with all week. Not nearly as bad as any of the exams. The plane was almost an hour late and after we saw that the plane landed we stood near the exit so we could wait until our friends got through customs. It took a long time for her to come through and I was very anxious.

I kept standing on my toes and stretching me neck to see over all of the other people. I knew she would be carrying my guitar and every time I saw a guitar my heart started to race a little bit. Emily's friend, on the same flight, came out first even though she saw Kaitlin in line ahead of her.

Finally, finally she popped out of the door. Very bewildered I caught her attention and there was a hug smile on her face. I tried to get as close as I could. When she finally got past the pack of people I gave her a huge hug! Aside from waiting to see her, all I could think about the whole time is that scene from Dogma at the very beginning. Matt Damon and Ben Afflek are discussing how great it is to see the reunions at the airport. They were right. There is so much joy in seeing that person you've been missing after so much time apart.

The rest of the night we spent trying to get to Jerusalem, unpack a little bit. We had dinner at a great restaurant, Dolphin Yam. After hanging out with some of my friends for a while, we met at another of my friends' apartment to celebrate New Years Eve! What a night and what a great way to start off 2011!

I know it's been a while since I've posted much. We've been traveling and the internet at my apartment is shaky at best right now. I hope to be able to update the blog while Kaitlin is here, but we're trying to squeeze as much out of Israel into her visit.

Happy Belated 2011!