Goodbye Petach

From our last full Petach Tikva dinner, and the 

following evening we had a food 

fight

Us with our friend Becca at her Marva graduation ceremony

A few pictures from our last day at work

So, it's the middle of the night and we are leaving Petach Tikva tomorrow morning. I cannot believe that I'm 1/3 finished my program. Tonight as a friend and i were walking around Petach, we started talking about the streets and got into an argument about what the name of a certain street in the city was. I realized that the fact that we were arguing about the name of some random street really went to show just how much we've really grown to become locals in this place. The other day on the way to work someone approached me who heard my friends and i speaking english. He asked how we knew english so well and i told him that we were not israeli. He told me it was refreshing to hear such good english-obviously not the nicest of people to his own kind, and i told him "well i hardly speak hebrew so of course my english is going to be good i'm American" and he said "well you live here, you're on a bus to work on the outskirts of the small town of Petach Tikva, to me you seem pretty israeli". It was kind of surreal, I really do live here and it's become a home to me. 

I had my last day of work this past thursday and it was veryy somber. There was a sign hung up made by the kids saying Stephanie, Noah, Claire, and Lauren we'll miss you. At the end of the day before the kids leave the manager of the Children's Home always talks to the kids. She explained how we were leaving and then asked who wanted to say something. After 1 of the kids, i said "ani rotza" (i want to), then i said "ani lo eshcach etchem le olam, ve ani ohevet etchem meod. Nakzor livaker." (i will never forget you all, i love every one of you and we will visit.) All the kids and other counselors clapped. It was very nerve-racking to speak in front of everyone in hebrew, but the satisfaction i got was amazing. Then i got a book saying thank you Stephanie, and each of the kids wrote something to me - the english speaker at my work kindly translated them. Some of them were so amazing. Almost every one included "I love you" or "you really helped" or "why are you leaving?" or "please come back to visit". It was amazing to see that after 3 months of struggling, i did make a difference in the kids lives. The head of the Children's Home, "Kadima", also wrote me a recommendation for the future. Having a copy of it in english and in hebrew is very- pardon my teenage ignorance and slang- awesome. I'm so glad that i've actually built relationships with israelis like i'd hoped and the recommendation is truly kind and genuine. I will definitely, definitely be back there to visit.

So, tomorrow we leave Petach Tikva, and the town that has grown to become my home, and the people that have grown to become my family for the past 3 months. I'm moving to Holon on wednesday but until then i'll be in Jerusalem.

Happppppy Thanksgiving everyone, i seriously cannot tell you how much I am going to miss everyone these next couple of days- so be sure to eat my share of food too mmmkay!?

MUCH love-steph