Shalom!

Hello from Israel!

So, lets catch you up on the recent happenings of my life!

On Tuesday, September 1st, I got on a plane in chicago, and took it to JFK. I then waited and met people from my program while we waited for our next flight, which would take us to ISRAEL! After about 8 hours in JFK airport, I got on an 'EL AL' 747, with about 60 kids from my program, and we were off!

During the 9 and a half hour flight, i slept for about 8 hours, and talked with other people on Nativ! Once landing in israel, and collecting all of our luggage, we hopped on a bus, and went to a look out, where we had a pep talk, from the Nativ Director, Yossi Garr. He took us to an interesting spot. In front of us, was the city of jerusalem, behind us was the city of tel aviv. directly to our left was a mall, with food and stores, and to our right, was a bunker from the war of independence. Yossi told us that during our year, we would all find our place in israel. whether it was modern (the mall to our left) or historical (the bunker to our right), religous (jerusalem) or fun and social (tel aviv). it was a really cool place, and really put things into perspective!

Once we got back to Beit Nativ (our base and home for the next couple of months) we found out who our roommates are. I am rooming with 2 guys, Tyler and Adam. Tyler is from New York and went to ramah in canada. Adam is from Minnesota, and went to ramah wisconsin. they are both really awesome people to be with and hang out with. My friend Josh from home is just down the hallway, so its really easy to see him as well. our room has a huge porch, unlike any other room in the building [=)], which connects to the main area of our building. i feel really fortunate to be in such a good location, with good people, in a big room!

This morning, we woke up, davened (prayed), ate breakfast (wasn't a big fan at all =/) and did ice breakers! after ice breakers, we took a little walk in jerusalem, which was beautiful. even though my computer says that its 86 degrees, it really feels much hotter! i know i'll be burning through the deoderant pretty quickly!

Ok. it's 1 PM now, and im off to lunch!

i'll update you later!