My days of Bay Area-living seem hazy and distant, but it’s only been a few months since my feet last pulled me up the steep steps of Fillmore Street. I can almost hear the fog horn off in the distance – or wait, is that just someone’s TV that I can hear through their open window on this warm December evening?

There are often times I have to remind myself that I am living in the Middle East because -other than a gorgeous view of the Mediterranean out my office window – I still go to work, I still cook dinner and I still go to the gym, just like before. The daily routine is more or less the same…

But then there are those times when I am forced to remember I am not living in America, such as: having a full body rash for more than 8 weeks and having to deal with jumping through the hoops of the public healthcare system. Or wanting to go to the specialty food store to buy gluten free flour to bake and having my efforts thwarted due the fact that everything is closed because it’s Shabbat. Not to mention the foreign language that fills the air. Though I am learning more and more, so I am not completely lost in the fog.

It’s been hard to be away from close friends and family during the holidays, but creating a life here with my fiance, old friends, and new friends reminds me that I have passed another rung in the ladder of adulthood. I have reached that point in my life where I am confident enough to welcome new situations and then create comfort and normalcy.

I carved out a place for myself here and so far I have made it fit in the Tel Aviv puzzle. Of course there are still daily challenges that attempt to create wrinkles in the masterpiece, but that only adds to the excitement of daily life here and enhances my character (at least that’s what I tell myself as I mumble incoherent swears at the painfully slow grocery cashier).

I don’t know if this ability to find comfort in new situations and circumstances is part of everyones’ climb in life, but I have accepted the challenge and have moved one step further in my journey.

I know most of you would rather see pictures of my cute cat or my latest adventure or even a smiling face of me than hear about my revelations abroad, so if you have made it this far in the post I will reward you with all of the above: