50 pounds

This morning I did a test run of the luggage situation. It used to be that for international flights one could take any amount. Then it was restricted to 70 pounds. Just recently it was lowered to fifty. How does one pack for a year's trip and remain within those parameters?

Well, there are a few options. The first is to send items with other people, which I took advantage of. The next is to live minimally. That's a little more complicated. Even though I know I don't really need three pairs of black Shabbos shoes, somehow I can't shake the urge to take them all with me.

When I spent a semester abroad in my undergrad years I took way too much stuff. It made the return trip challenging to say the least. I had to pay something ridiculous like 200 Deutschmarks to get my luggage on the plane. So, I'm doubting the wisdom of having both my suitcases to maximum capacity on this trip. However, it seems like human nature (or at least my nature) to see the limits and push right up against them.

Less than a week remains before I embark on this incredible journey which lays before me. I'm facing an interesting mixture of known and unknown. On one hand, it's a culture with which I an unfamiliar. On the other hand, it's all family.

Avital, who I miss terribly (she's been in Israel since late January/early February), is planning to meet me at the airport in Tel Aviv. When she left I told her that it wasn't exactly fair that she was going on her own, forging her own way, while I was just going to come later and reap the benefits of her hard work and experience. She's setting up my first Shabbos for me, the tzedekes.

Have a great Shavuos!

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