Home.

Home! Finally! The flights were pleasant, and I had a devastatingly funny rabbinical student as a seatmate on the way across the pond. Upon my arrival in Philly, though, I learned that my bags were left behind in London. Hoping that they'll arrive by tonight, but hey, who knows. It would really be nice to have a cell phone charger and clean underwear. Like, REALLY nice.

The last few days in Nijmegen were brilliant and incredibly sad. In the absence of our actual family, we find family--and the Erasmus kids became my family in the last five and a half months. It hasn't quite hit me that they're so far away, but it won't be fun when it does.

In the absence of having a whole lot to do here, I'm just kicking back with the family and a couple friends, reveling in the joys of a clean house, DSW, and driving. I'm shipping up to Boston on Sunday. It's overwhelming, if you think about it...three homes and two countries within a week. But it's good to be back stateside. It really, really, really is.

There are already things I'm noticing about Americans: how harried we look, how sarcastic we can be, how helpful we are on the phone, how skimpily (is that a word?) we dress. I think I'll continue to update this blog periodically as I re-learn how to live here and try to define that nebulous thing we call American-ness. So stay tuned, kiddos.