Cats and Feeling at Home

Have you ever introduced a cat into a new environment? They aren’t like dogs, who will excitedly run around, exploring every nook and cranny. Instead, when you bring a new cat into your home, they need some time to adjust. Usually people will keep them isolated in a bedroom for a few days, letting them get familiar with the new sights, sounds, and smells within that room first, before slowly allowing them to discover the rest of the house.

This process helps prevent the cat from panicking: they are allowed to gradually adjust to all the changes surrounding them. They become familiar with that one room, and come to view it as a safe space to return to if they get scared or nervous while exploring somewhere else. They learn where their food and water is – how to get to their litter box, etc. It becomes their “home base,” and as such gives them the confidence to widen their perimeter of discovery.

I say all this because I feel like it serves as a good analogy to explain why these past two weeks in Israel have sometimes been quite challenging: I have yet to really establish my “home base.” I feel like a cat who has been set loose inside a mansion with 15 rooms, each one with its own staircase and secret passageway inside. I am living in Bet Safafa, the church I’m connected with is near the Old City, I’ve been working on a farm near Bethlehem, and I just spent the weekend in Tel Aviv.

I have bits and pieces of streets and a smattering of knowledge about bus routes for each of these places, but comprehensive knowledge about none. Even though my apartment is beginning to feel homey and familiar, the neighborhood surrounding it still remains largely unexplored, and finding a grocery store in walking distance continues to be #1 on my to-do list.

I am unmoored; grateful to have had the opportunity to see so much of Israel/Palestine in such a short amount of time, but also desirous of some roots that can help ground me in this still-foreign land.

I am learning a lot about self-reliance, though. About being comfortable in my own skin, even when I am not 100% sure I’ve gotten on the right bus; even when everyone around me is speaking a language I don’t know. I’m learning to laugh at both myself and at the situations I get myself into (like trying, and failing, to tell a cab driver the stop I wanted in Arabic), and I’m learning to soak up what I can, when I can – even if I would prefer to just explore one bedroom at a time.

I leave tomorrow to help with a two-week long summer camp at a farm between Bethlehem and Hebron. It is called Tent of Nations, and they focus both on sustainability with the land, as well as peace between Palestinians and Israelis. This camp will be for about 50 Palestinian kids, ranging from elementary to high school age. I spent last week helping to organize and plan it, and will now spend the next two-weeks sleeping at the camp (in a cave, interestingly enough), working with the 25 or so international volunteers flying in tonight specifically to help with it.

I’ll do my best to continue posting while there about all that is going on. I also have a post I hope to write soon about some experiences I have had walking through the checkpoint back and forth between Bethlehem and Jerusalem. But, for now, I am heading “home” after a fun weekend in Tel Aviv, ready to pack and get busy next week!