Over There, Here and There, and Back Again

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I was driving home from Larry's Produce this afternoon, and as I was admiring the green trees swaying in the wind and the golden hillsides in the distance with the groupings of dark green trees reflecting the late afternoon sunlight in a spectacular fashion, I began to think of the television show Little House on the Prairie. As I go around the bend in the road, I see a hill that looks just like the one the credit scene for LHOTP, I'm sure you know which one I mean, but nevertheless:


Of course, after watching the video, the hillsides really have nothing much in common, other than the slope (kinda) and the presence of some grass. It makes sense, though, that I would associate the golden Californian hillsides reminiscent of the LHOTP television show as I live near Southern California, where it was filmed. But this is not about LHOTP, no matter the fond memories of the show I still harbor from my childhood, but instead about my reflection on travelling to distant lands and my impression of my home, as it has been for nearly 2 years now. That said, some of those LHOTP episodes were terrifying -- bag full of kittens thrown in the river? Crazy masked rapist coming at the kids with a pitchfork? Albert's opium withdrawal? Good stuff.

I returned a few days ago from being overseas for nearly 2 months. The first portion of the journey saw me working as a Doctor in Training at a hospital in Israel -- I'm sure I'll be sharing many stories and insights from my month in the Israeli hospital in posts to come. The last month I was able to meet up with my wife in Western Europe, where we wandered from Amsterdam to Paris down to Barcelona and then to London, where we have some family. Much impressive scenery -- from natural to man-made was seen, digested and appreciated (although the full gravity of the appreciation may come later.) The other day I was coming back from Walnut Creek on Highway 4  and I took the back way, which I like to do when possible and my recent venerable tourist inside of me roared to life and had me grabbing my phone so I could record the drive. 


While I don't know if I'll stay in the San Francisco Bay Area after this phase of training is complete, living here has been a pleasure and it is good to be home. 

While June is just over a month past, it feels like my experiences in Israel are buried beneath a month of travelling and other new and exciting experiences (and French wine, Belgium beer, etc) -- this makes sense, as this is exactly what happened. Thankfully I have a fairly detailed log of all my clinical escapades in Israel and I look forward to incorporating my insights into future posts. 


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