We made it!!! The feeling is surreal. I mean, I'm actually in Israel. In ISRAEL. It's still hard to believe even with the Hebrew language being spoken and written everywhere.
The plane ride was about 10 1/2 hours long. We left at about 9:30pm and got to Israel around 3:15pm. I didn't really sleep at all so I haven't slept since I woke up at 6:30am on Tuesday. I'm pretty exhausted but luckily my excitement is holding me over, but this post is probably going to be pretty short since my train of thought is dwindling. The flight wasn't too bad... we got decent food... I watched "The Artist", "Hugo" and "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" all which held my attention so they must have been good! I also learned never to go to the casino and play black jack because my computer endeavors have failed me.
Anyway, once we landed in Israel, we went through Customs which really wasn't as bad as I expected. They just asked some simple questions and I got my first stamp in my passport! Pretty excited. Just saying. After we all got through, we headed to our host home. These people are so wonderful! They greeted us with hugs and prepared pita with lunch meat and potato salad and chocolate... we got to introduce ourselves to them and learn about everyone's favorite ice cream. (Mine is Moose Tracks! Can't beat chocolate and peanut butter mmm....) I think the favorite among the group was mint chocolate chip.
We got to hang out with each other for a bit and then the 18 and younger group went to the youth group to help paint and clean an apartment. The rest of us split up. One group went to the grocery store to go shopping and my group went to the mall to exchange our currency. I think I'm starting to understand shekels. I just have to remember when I see something is worth 40 shekels, do not be alarmed! That's only about ten dollars... We got to walk around the mall for a bit which was really cool just to see Israelis in their every day lives. We enjoyed trying to read the Hebrew books (backwards!) but of course, not successful. I have been learning a few words from Chris, such as todah, meaning thankyou! And a few others that I just don't want to chance misspelling...
My group was the first back to the house so I was lucky enough to get a shower before the other 10 girls got back! (We'll see if that luck holds out for long...) So now after unloading all of our groceries and 40 rolls of toilet paper, I think it's time to sleep like a baby. We actually get to sleep in tomorrow and it might be my only time for a while, so I think I better make the most of it!
Ok, so sorry for the misleading sentence of a short blog post, but hey, if you're reading this then you obviously are interested in knowing all the details, right? Anyway, I've posted a few pictures to my facebook page. I haven't taken that many yet, but I'm sure more will come soon!
Thank you again for your support. I love being here already and we haven't even started! So here goes to another day!
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