What do I say?

One week ago I returned home from my "vacation."

Everyone is asking me "How was your trip? Did you have a good time?"

What do I say? It all seems so surreal now.

Did I really see families living in tents in front of their bombed out homes? Did I really meet a man and his 2 sons who live in 2 rooms the size of my bathroom with their mother and 8 brothers and sisters? Did I really hear bombs exploding all night, every night, keeping me awake for hours? Did I really see those sadly displayed memorials of bullet holes in dead children and body parts sticking up out of the ground? Did I really hold in my hands the bombs and artillery pieces labeled "Made in the USA" that had been collected from numerous demolished neighborhoods? Was I really told to wash my hands because those pieces may contaminate me with white phosphorus?

Did I actually meet warm, wonderful, giving people who fed me breakfast and danced and laughed with me in spite of what is being done to them with my country being a part of it?

I just returned from a delegation for International Women's Day to Gaza.

What do I say when I am asked "How was your trip?"