Alina Kanaan

Chapter 28

"And Allah is the Protector of the Righteous." (Quran 45:19)

I walk around the neighborhood one last time before we drive to the Tel Aviv airport. We'll be on our way to Santa Rosa then.

Francisco volunteered to walk with me in case something would happen to me. Since he's tall and strong, my family agreed that it would be safer that way.

"I don't want to leave," I tell him.

"Me neither actually. I love it here. Everyone is so genuinely kind. I love it!" he replies.

"I know! I feel homesickness already," I remember feeling it in Egypt and California when we first arrived years ago.

"You'll be back here before you know it." He's right. Alhamdulilah, I was given an opportunity to come back. I was going to come back in August with Aman for our wedding, but-

I stop thinking about him. I'll only make myself miserable if I do.

"Yeah, you're right. It'll always be here and I'm sure I'll be given many more opportunities to come back here, in sha Allah," I say.

"In sha Allah," We walk silently the rest of the way. Without us even speaking, I can tell that he's fallen in love with Palestinian culture. I watch his facial expressions. He looks at the shops and restaurants in awe. He watches people do their errands or work in shops. He must notice the difference between life here and live in America, or even life in Mexico. I don't know about life in Mexico since I've never lived there or even been there, but I know that Palestinian life is so different from American life. People are less rushed here. Meals are given more time. People enjoy things more. Don't get me wrong, America is awesome, but Americans are rushed all the time. I know because I had a complete culture shock once I came to Santa Rosa. It took me a while to get into the habit of rushing. Now, it seems like I'm getting into the habit of just going with the flow, which makes me feel a lot better in all honesty. But through Francisco's expressions, I know he feels the exact same as me. I also noticed that as we walk by, he smiles at everyone we pass by. They smile back, some even saying salam to the both of us.

What's strange is that even though Francisco and I have known each other for only four years, we can read each other's minds. I can read Rosa's and Ashley's minds too, but I can read Francisco's flawlessly. He can read mine too like that.

As we reach the house, we say something at the exact same time.

"I love it here," we blurt out. We laugh at each other. This is the first time I've laughed in a while. It feels like I can finally breathe.

"Let's make a promise," he says.

"What promise?" I wonder.

"That at least us two should come back here. It doesn't matter if it's with our future spouses. We'd have a double vacation," I laugh. It actually sounds like a great idea.

"Deal," I say. We make a pinky promise.

We go into our rooms and bring our luggage to the car. After, I hug every single one of my family members who live here.

"We'll definitely Skype! I'll be back soon!" I say to each one of them in Arabic. Some even cry that we're leaving which makes me tear up as well.

"Shukran kteer," I hear Francisco say to everyone. His Mexican accent flows into his Arabic, but it still sounds lovely.

We drive to the airport. I'm really going to miss Palestine.

We land in Santa Rosa at about eight a.m. the next day. There is a little airport in the city, but it's not a major airport. The nearest major airport is in San Francisco, an hour south of Santa Rosa. The show pulled some strings to get us to land here instead of San Francisco. I'm so happy that we got to skip the hour drive because I'm so tired even though I slept on the plane.