A Heightened State of Awareness

Since last Thursday  night, I have been living my day to day life with a heightened state of awareness. Since last Thursday, I realized that those rockets that Hamas and Islamic Jihad have can reach the Gush Dan( Metropolitan Tel Aviv). It is not just those Israelis down south that have to be constantly aware of their surroundings. Even if it sounded like the siren, I was on my toes. When the alarm went off though, I was calm and knew what I had to do. It was very interesting to see the Iron Dome in action. The Iron Dome is Israel's rocket defense system. To see people going about their normal life was very reassuring for me. At volunteering, they were even making fake siren sounds with their voice and their iphones. The first time was silly, the second time was just annoying. Now that there is a ceasefire, I do not know what to think. I do not know if Hamas and Islamic Jihad will keep their end of the bargain. There was a bus bombing so public transportation was going to be an issue, but now it is not due to the ceasefire. I have experienced so much in less than a week. I have experienced Israel in good times and in times of conflict. I feel that my experience is not comparable to what is going on in the south. Families there have either relocated north for the time being, or have been in bomb shelters for days. I will never experience this conflict like they have. I am thankful to be safe and unharmed. I hope that there will be no more conflict here while I am here. I make no promises though. It is hard for me to promise peace in this volatile region. More to come from Eretz  Yisrael in the coming days.