The Hill Man’s Blogspot

Next Year in Tzuba

It’s 4:30 in the morning; my phone vibrates to wake me up. My body screams in protest. Why am I getting up this early, I mentally ask myself as I stumble to the bathroom. Oh right, to see the sunrise, what a genius I am. I flick on the bathroom light, momentarily blinded by the intense fluorescent brightness. I brush my teeth and stare into the mirror. The face that looks back is not the same face that came here seven weeks ago. The sun has tanned me a nice golden brown and I’ve lost some baby fat in my face. I wonder what my friends back home are going to say when they see me. I haven’t spoken to them in a while. The phone calls that came every day stopped a long time ago and I’ve decided that I don’t really mind.

I spit the excess toothpaste into the sink and leave the bathroom. I get dressed and look for my hiking boots, all the while trying my best not to wake Rachel, my roommate. I realize that I’ve already packed them and that reminds me that today I’m going home. I shake those thoughts out of my head and slip out the front door only to be greeted by a frigid morning air. I silently curse, although I know full well that I should appreciate the cold now, in about 4 hours it will be a scorching 115 degrees. “Rivkaleh, what you get me up this early for?” Orni says to me in her poor English. I turn and smile, “I want to see the sunrise, and if you keep talking we’ll miss it.” I say as I begin to walk up the hill.

We’re about half way to the top of Tel Tzuba before I start to slow down. My legs ache from the steepness of the hill and my back hurts from the weeks I’ve spent sleeping on a couch. We keep climbing for what seems like eternity. Orni and I talk about the past few weeks and what I plan on doing when I go home. I don’t really want to think about it. The people I’ve met, the places I’ve seen; I want to stay here, in this moment, forever. My mind goes back to the task at hand, making it to the tel before the sun. I pick up the pace, the sun is coming up. We run up the rest of the way by the time we’re at the top I’m out of breath. You’d think after seven weeks of this, I’d be in better shape.

Finally, we made it, I say to myself. I look around at my surroundings. Tel Tzuba is an old crusader fortress that overlooks all of Jerusalem. From the top I can see the Kotel and the Dome of the Rock. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen those two great monuments in the past seven weeks. Yet each time I see them they still manage to leave me in wondrous awe of their immense beauty. Orni and I stand in silence as we catch our breath and look out over Jerusalem. I glance at my watch and remark that it’s 5:30; the sun should be up by now. As I look around the top of the Tel, I notice that some clouds have moved in and blocked out the sun. I let out an exasperated sigh. Wonderful, I wake up before the sun to see it rise and now its cloudy just great. I plop down onto a rock and rest my head in my hands. I stare at the ground and remember that in a few hours I’ll be on a plane going home. I start to get teary eyed, when Orni yells “Rivkaleh, look!” as I glance up the clouds part and there’s the sun staring at me. Air leaves my lungs as I watch the fiery globe make its way up the early morning sky. Oh my, I am completely at a loss for words as I gaze into the sun. Orni breaks the silence, “So Rivkaleh, next year in Tzuba?” I smile and break my gaze away from the sun, “Yeah, next year in Tzuba.”

Filed by Mr. Hillman at March 24th, 2008 under Confessions of Serial Teenager