Chapter 2: New Home

Kyle awoke drowsily from his about 11 hour flight. He was drifting in and out of sleep, with many thoughts going through his head. He thought of his friends, how they'd get by without him. He wondered what his new school would be like, he hoped the kids wouldn't pick on his accent when he'd try to speak Hebrew. But most of all, he thought of the fat ass. On the one hand, he was happy that he wouldn't have to deal with his anti-semitic remarks anymore, on the other hand, he'd miss the almost special attention Eric gave him. Plus he was relieved to not be the only Jew in school anymore, and he wouldn't feel envious of the kids who got Santa Clause, even though he's known for years now that Santa isn't real.

It was nice to drift asleep over the bright blue Mediterranean. He figures maybe he won't have to wear his hat and jacket anymore, just because it'll be so hot all the time.

"Hey mom...", "Yes, bubby?" said his mom with her nose in one of those airplane catalogs.

"Will I need my hat and jacket? I mean is it gonna be super hot all the time?", "Oh no, kyle. Where we'll be living gets pretty heavy snow during the winter, but on the bright side is that it's not nearly as much as in South Park."

His father had been offered a job in Israel, at first Gerald wasn't sure if he wanted to take it, but it didn't take him long to change his mind, especially when he saw how much bullying kyle went through from Eric. He didn't want Ike to deal with the same thing, so he decided that it would be the best time for his family make aliyah.

'I wonder what our house looks like...' Kyle thought sleepily. He couldn't wait for the plane to land...

The plane finally landed at Ben Gurion Airport. He'd never seen so many Jews in one place before. Alot of them looked like the really religious ones who wore kippah's all the time and tzunits under their clothes. While his father did wear a kippah, they weren't exactly religious; they didn't keep shabbat, or kosher either. He also noticed a lot of the women wearing hair coverings and long skirts, and they had lots of kids as well. He was definitely starting to feel like an outsider now, until he saw a bunch of kids with their parents, they looked more hip and secular like kyle (well he liked to think he was hip anyway) walking around with cell phones and ipods and wearing just less conservative clothes, maybe this place wasn't just for the ultra religious and he'd be able to fit in alright.

'Maybe this place won't be so bad after all...'

"So mom," said Ike, he was about 6 now, and Kyle was 13. "Where's our new house, again?" She beamed at Ike and Kyle and said, "We found a really affordable place in Jerusalem. I was really surprised, it's normally really expensive in the bigger cities." Kyle's eyes widened. This was only the place he'd been told about in Sunday school and it always seemed like just a fairy tale to him, now he was actually gonna live there. Certainly after living in a city like south park all his life, Jerusalem wouldn't seem like a big deal, yet it was.

"So what do you think, kyle?" His mother asked as they pulled their luggage off the conveyer belt, "What do you think of your new home? The land of your ancestors?"

I thought about it, he had always been told this was the land of his ancestors, even if his skin wasn't as dark as most of the locals there were still some things about him that fit, such as the nose and the curly hair.