Headlines

So...although you'd never know it walking the streets of Jerusalem, this country's been in an escalation with Gaza since Friday. I'm certainly not the most politically involved person here, even in this house (yes, Eitan is way more into the news then I am. I kid. But Ami is.), but going about routine in this city feels a bit off considering what's going on a couple hours south of here.

Long story short, with links to articles I've been reading; on Friday, Israel completed a targeted assassination of a bad guy who was not only involved with Gilad Shalit's capture, but also currently planning future attacks on Israel. As a retaliation, more bad guys in Gaza have been shooting rockets into Israel. Hundreds of them. Primarily these rockets have been headed towards Beer Sheva and Ashkelon. The good news is there's new technology called the Iron Dome which intercepts rockets, but it's not 100% effective.

School's been cancelled in those regions, which means parents have to stay home with their kids and life pretty much has got to suck big time there. Sirens warn 45 seconds before a rocket hits, leaving a few moments for people to get to shelter, that's a good start but 45 seconds? 45 seconds. It's nothing. Especially if you would need to grab a baby and get there. Or two babies. What do you do? There's a bomb shelter in the basement of our building, which is good if I wouldn't plan to go anywhere more then 45 seconds away from home. Which would suck big time because today we ran out of both milk and diapers.

There was a ceasefire brokered by Egypt, which seems to be a bit tenuous now. 

Okay, so that's a wrap up of what's going on. What's odd, really really strange, is it seems I am the only one around here somewhat consumed by it. People are going about their business as usual, and while I'm certainly not fluent in Hebrew, I haven't overheard one conversation in my daily outings about it.

I might be a bit more sensitive then the average Israeli who has been raised with rockets as a reality, but, I still can't grasp the normalcy of it all.

My sister travels to her army base through Beer Sheva, and I worried the whole Sunday morning until she texted that she was on her base. I'm not worried about her on the base, it's the to and fro that make me nervous. I'll probably go through the same stomachache on Thursday when she comes back here for Shabbat, even if everything is quiet until then.She told me about a girl that was supposed to join her team in the infirmary this week, nothing out of the ordinary, just someone new to the team, who lives in Ashkelon, and was too scared to leave her house to travel to the base and is official AWOL from the army despite everyone knows exactly where she is and why she's not on base and she's been in touch.  My brother lives in Tel Aviv, just a half hour drive from Ashkelon where rockets have been hitting as recently as this morning. Heck, I stayed in Ashkelon just a few weeks ago while on Birthright. This stuff freaks me out!

And then, I guess at the same time, I live my normal life here as well, but clouded with a bit of Jewish mom worry. I still am out and about (enjoying the beautiful spring weather), taking buses, sitting outside at sidewalk cafes, because, thankfully, nothing really feels different here in Jerusalem.  And since we got here, always walk by various memorials marking different bombings on our street and around town a bit anxiously, both thankful that we're able to walk on the street safely now, and proud of us for actually coming here this year to do it, but at the same time both aware and worried that this carefree-freedom can end.

So, one day at a time. Right? For now, trying to both embrace the Israeli spirit of continuing on, and not getting bogged down by what is really a reality, and at the same time, trying to keep myself here- checking the news sites to be informed, and to really really appreciate the people who are living in the middle of this all.