Disconnect

As the end of our trips comes into sight, though we still have a couple weeks to go, I’ve found myself thinking about the special state-of-being that such a long journey brings about. It is a delicate balance of disconnection from every day routines, daily life and work while keeping in touch with loved ones, and in my case, also spending some time thinking about research and teaching and my soon-to-start new position. Much of this balance is affected by the presence of on-line access. Whenever we have internet, I feel like I have just stepped out for a moment and will return shortly to my academic pursuits. But when we have gone for some time without coverage, the details seem to fade to the background. Yet still, at odd quiet moments I find myself outlining the syllabus of the class I will be teaching in the fall, trying to frame a cohesive argument for a paper, or planning future experiments in my head. I think of this as a hallmark of the academic life – on the one hand, I have the extreme privilege of taking such a long trip but on the other hand, and because it is a career I am so invested in, it goes with me wherever I go.

As our date of return to Israel approaches, naturally I try to imagine what our life there will be like. Surprisingly, at least to me, I haven’t been very successful. Much like I didn’t come up with very detailed scenarios of how the trip would be (though that might have been due to all the other things I had on my mind before we left :-), I’m not formulating clear pictures of our life in Haifa, either personal of professional. I don’t know whether to ascribe it to the fact that really, I have no way of knowing any of the details, to the fullness of our day-to-day experiences that don’t always leave enough time for such pursuits, or that I’ve just become so zen that I’m content to simply let things unfold and live the moment. I’d like to claim the latter unequivocally, but in all honesty it’s probably a healthy mix of all three. I do feel very optimistic and confident that things will work out even if there are some difficulties in adjusting. I hope this proves to be justified!

I think I owe much of this confidence to the fact that I’ve witnessed our family adjust beautifully to changing circumstances over the last several years. Starting with the trip in New Zealand which I was quite apprehensive about before we set out, through settling down in Pittsburgh, welcoming Maayan to our family, and now this extended journey - we have mostly done well. The hardest part is always leaving friends and family behind, and I hope we will manage to keep in touch with all our dear friends we are leaving behind in Pittsburgh.

Anat