Divinity Study Tour

Day 14 – Saturday March 13 “Departure”

CINDY
(i will miss these two!!)

I slept until 5am. I heard when the first group left.. Jackie didn’t sleep at all, I think. They left Jerusalem at about 2am that morning. My flight was at 11am. So I could sleep a bit. Took a shower. Went for my last amazing breakfast in Israel. Took a taxi with Dr. Pannell to Tel Aviv airport. Dr. Pannell was wide awake.. BUT I was still trying to wake up.. secretly I was hoping I was still sleeping .. at least that would make me believe that I wasn’t leaving Israel ☹ lol

Security Ben Guron airport is INSANE. They even took my laptop, opened it, and put it in this crazy contraption through a scanner.. then they said my bags had to get searched. Too bad I didn’t adhere to Dr. Pannell’s advice: throwing all my dirty clothes on top.. he said in Central America it worked like a charm. They would open it up and close it immediately. Hahahaha! Dr. Pannell is hilarious!

Remember the Jordanian stamp on my passport? Yeah, they didn’t like that too much.. so on went the search.. the girl that was searching through my things was so nice. She said “Don’t worry I’ll help you put everything back” and smiled. Lol. They had these two cool touch screens that would give them a 3d view of my luggage. They swipe all through your clothes. It’s like your luggage getting a throat culture. Ha. Then they take the instrument they used to swipe through all your stuff and rub it on some machine and the machine tells them if it’s ok or not. I have no idea what they were looking for.. traces of bomb chemicals or materials?? Meh. I was all clear. The woman actually walked me to the front of the line and I got my tickets AND then she walked me all the gate. We talked the whole time. She was sweet. I think she needed a break from her work. She waved goodbye and said “Don’t forget to pick up your luggage in Newark before your next connecting flight.” Yes. That’s right. Good point. Lol. Almost forgot. Ha! Too early in the morning still.

However, as I got on the plane I was WIDE AWAKE. I did most of my Hebrew and learned all of the Hophal verb stem and my vocab. Right there on the plane. Spawn, you would have been proud! By the time we were arriving in Newark I was tired. I only slept 1 hour (if that) on the plane.. and I had to meet my dad at the Newark airport.. He was taking me to my mom’s house. It was my brother’s birthday and could not miss the opportunity of celebrating it with him.. even if for 2 hours!.. so I went through security AGAIN. Rechecked my luggage, met my dad, saw both sides of my family (having divorced parents is hard…) and then had only one hour left to do what I really wanted to do.. spend it with my bro on his bday.. I gave him a BIG hug!! And I missed his hugs too. My bro has like the best hugs in the world! The Northeast was pounded by a crazy rainstorm so my mom’s house had no electricity when I got there! We ate dinner by candlelight and carried candles throughout the house.. even to the bathroom! Lol. I gave my bro his bday gift: a Jerusalem cross made from the special olive wood in Bethlehem. He gazed at it.. turned it over and over and was like “Wow! Thanks so much.. wow, this is fire.” Hahaha. I love my bro. I’m so glad he liked it.

I was completely zapped from energy by this point. I laid my head on my mom’s shoulder as she played with my hair (I love it).. and then in a few mins I had to leave. Boooo! It was so fast. BUT I was so glad I did get to celebrate with my brother.. He’s now 25 years old! 25 was an amazing year for me. I wish him an even more amazing year ☺
Then back to the airport thru the wicked rainstorm.. I just made it in time for boarding.. sat in my seat and was out in a flash.. I was soooooo tired. I was awake for more than 24 hours and had been through 3 countries in about 24 hours! Insane. So glad to get to see Dr. Pannell’s friendly face the whole way back.. He had the same flight as I did. Yaay for getting home in one piece and having my life completely changed.