Day 9: Farewell (But Not Yet!) - March 22, 2013

The eventful day began with a dauntingly early wake-up for most.  However, this exhaustion only meant one thing:  a trip to the public high schools!  The Americans’ high school friends awaited the Israelis’ visit for weeks, and today, March 21st, was finally the day.  The Israelis, being light years ahead of the Americans in school classes, were able to take an active role and participate in the classes.  They were engaged in classes such as science and math, even correcting the teacher’s mistakes.  It was a valuable experience for both the Americans and the Israelis to see that these classes involving numbers became a universal language, and as my chemistry teacher put it, “we created international formulas”.  The Israelis were surprised to see the different culture of a public high school.  They were fascinated by everything from lockers lining the hallways, to the cafeteria, to switching classes without a break in between.

When all the Israelis were picked up and brought back to Whippany, they had a Ma’agal comparing the three different types of schools they have experienced: private schools, public schools, and Israeli schools.  They made note of the similarities and differences between the schools and discussed what worked in each, and what didn't. Afterwards, the Americans arrived at the Federation, where we had a workshop and anxiously awaited the farewell dinner while spending time with our 39 best friends. We thought it would be a sad event, because it was the beginning of the end of our time with the Israelis in New Jersey, but we were very wrong. It started off with a delicious dinner! As the night continued we listened to a series of speeches from the farewell committee (Lauren, Seth, Coby, Julian, and Juliet). They summed up the NAS perfectly. We saw a montage filled with the pictures of us throughout the ten days in New Jersey together, which went way too fast. And if you think that the excitement ends there, you’re wrong. All of the Diller teens stampeded to the front of the room for picture chaos. After giving our families home-made hamsas as a gift, we circled around for the Diller famous Achim dance. As always, it took almost an hour to separate all of the Dillers. The building was closing but we just couldn't say goodbye, even though we will see each other tomorrow. Although this marks the end of the NAS, the farewell dinner was terrific, we have the Shabbaton to look forward to, and a bond that will last a lifetime. 

- Sarah Nelson & Seth Appel