Landed

Hello all!

After miserable 10 hours of switched seats, being sandwiched between a chasidic, shomer negiah man and a very grumpy and unfriendly Israeli man and in front of a five-year-old whose legs are juuuust long enough to kick the back of the person's airplane seat, I arrived safely to Tel Aviv! Although the program has been incredibly unorganized and my camp friends and I who have been at camp as campers and then counselors could absolutely run it more efficiently, we somehow made it to the dorms successfully.

I live in a 5-person suite of singles with a shared kitchenette, living space, two toilets, a sink space (like for brushing teeth), and a shower. I came to Israel knowing one suitemate, Aliza-another American who I have a mutual friend with, so the three others were a mystery. We met one of our suitemates, an Israeli man named Sasha nearly right away. Aliza and I were incredibly put off by him at first, but Omer tells us he's just fairly socially awkward, especially in new situation. Omer, our other Israeli suitemate, was so welcoming and kind to us on our first night here. We sat down and had tea with him for quite awhile last night and really had a nice chat. The third unknown suitemate is an American girl named Casey who is spending the year in Israel and on her between-semesters break and will be back when actual classes start (we have four weeks of intensive Hebrew study called Ulpan before our actual semester).

So far, I have met so many nice and wonderful people in my group (not too many people I knew before the semester, but lots of friends of friends, which is nice) and cannot wait to meet more! I bought groceries for the first time in Israel, which made me feel like I was actually living here and not visiting, and walked to the school building from my dorm (quite a hike! might Since I'm still buying essentials (like a bedspread and eggs and toiletries) I don't 100% feel as though I'm not a tourist, although I hope this will change soon.

A funny story (which Aliza will probably kill me for writing!)--Aliza's mother gave her some shekels she had at home before Aliza left for Israel. We went to a restaurant called Burger's Bar--a delicious and pretty well-known Israeli hamburger and chicken sandwich restaurant--and we still hadn't had time in the day to exchange the American money we had been traveling with. But Aliza had the shekels from her mom! So we order our food and eat outside (apparently at Burger's Bar, you are supposed to pay AFTER you eat? We decided that would NEVERRRR happen in America!) and go back inside to pay, and Aliza hands the burger man her money. He makes a point to not only laugh directly in her face at the bill she hands him, but calls out from behind the kitchen counter another man to see what she has given him. Aliza's mom, so well-intentioned, had given her a 'Golda shekel'--money that the burger man said hasn't been used in Israel for nearly 10 years! They had a good laugh, and Aliza turned about as red as the ketchup on her hamburger. I think it's a pretty good indication of how we feel about now--most Israelis we've seen the past couple of days have gone out of their way to laugh at how tourist-y and American we look! Oh well, I'm sure once our Hebrew starts improving and we start to get the hang of things, that will change!

That's about it for now--hopefully more, I will have lots more interesting things to say than I do now! I hope all is well with everyone. And if you'd like to call me sometime, my number (from the US) is 011-972-52-613-6643 and if you're in Israel, my number is 052-613-6643. Please come visit if you're in Jerusalem! I can't say with confidence that I'll be able to show you around just yet, but if you come, we can absolutely get lost together! :)