I have had my fair share of international travel over the past 3 years, though I don't think I felt the way I did 30 minutes prior to landing at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv. The flight attendant notified the passengers that we had entered into Israeli airspace.
"Welcome to Israel," the attendant stated...as we were still in the air.
My Birthright journey began in Philadelphia...and don't ask me why. Most of the people on the trip are from NY, NJ, MA (with some exceptions being Texas, Colorado, Florida, among others). As Melanie does best, she asked to get my seat changed so we would be closer together on the aircraft...meaning we got the last row (next to the bathroom, yay :( ) but we traded some seats and sat together during the 11+hr flight.
Unlike Egypt, I got a kosher meal on the flight...though it wasn't very good. Chicken in a [pareve] creme sauce with some bread and a Kosher for Passover-tasting chocolate cake. Yum. Yum. Breakfast was eggs and a cheese sauce...and bread.
And then we arrived in Tel Aviv. Amazing. I still can't believe I am in Israel. As we went through Border patrol, there was no problem and just told the man that I was with the Birthright group.
We met our tour guide, a 37-year old man named Orie (meaning light in hebrew). We traveled through the Judaean Mountains (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaean_Mountains) from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and recited the Traveler's Prayer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tefilat_HaDerech). What a beautiful 45 minute ride. Orie said we will recite the prayer each time we leave a city.
On our way to our hostel in Jerusalem, we stopped at the infamous Haas Promenade where we viewed the "City of Gold," or the Old City. Pretty amazing. We recited the Shehecheyanu (a prayer for special occasions) with some grape juice at this site with our group.
The Birthright experience has been very interesting so far. We have two group leaders who traveled with us from Philly to Israel (one lives in the US, the other lives in Canada). In addition, we have the aforementioned tour educator and a medic. There are 40 kids on the trip, ranging from ~19 to ~23 and we are staying in hostel with 2 to 3 people to each room. We stay at this hostel: http://www.uscj.org.il/tichnor.php for three nights. We have played some ice breakers and people are still trying to feel each other out. A lot of smokers on this trip, for whatever reason...one girl said that she "wants to take up smoking because she is in Israel." Alrighty then.
Anyway, I still can't believe I am in Israel. A place that is always talked about in Hebrew School and beyond. A place that is always in the news. Birthright is a gift that I plan on cherishing because it truly is a blessing and an amazing opportunity. Who else gets to go to the land of their people FOR FREE?
Tomorrow should be an amazing day at the Western Wall.
I will post some pictures in the next post!
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