Today we met the Israelis for the
first time! Yay! Throughout the entire
day, as the Israelis were exploring the Jewish experience to America, we were all very excited and anxious to meet our new friends. I mean, who
wouldn’t be, right? Before arriving at the Federation, the Americans made signs
with his/her Israeli’s name on it, similar to how a taxi driver creates a sign
with the name of his client. All of our excitement made it difficult to get
things done because all we wanted to do was see the Israelis. To put
our excitement into perspective imagine that your pesty Aunt Elga and her not so great family are coming to
visit you for an entire week. They’re the family no one actually cares for, but
are nonetheless still invited to all family gatherings. Now, the day before her
intended arrival, she sends you a message saying that unfortunately her family
would be unable to visit. WHAM! Your
screaming in joy and elation! Well, if it were possible to funnel emotions into
others, this would be the one that us Americans felt waiting for the Israelis.
Our months of doing Diller were finally to reach consummation.
As each person from Greater MetroWest
Diller arrived our excitement grew because each time someone walked through the
door we thought it might be the Israeli group. It must have saddening to have
been the person arriving late: everyone is excited for a moment, just until
they realize its simply another American. I’m just teasing. To try and calm our
nerves, we attempted to play a game of Ninja. Without going into details, the
game got slightly out of hand and we were forced to end it before Seth and
Corey had a chance to face off in what most likely would have been a pretty
great fight to watch. We also tried to play a game of Waa (yes, Waa) which went better. We were all laughing and getting very excited and
decided we should try to calm ourselves down for the big arrival.
When Rachel and Meital, our junior
counselors, said they were going to get Leah and the Israeli Dillers, we could
not contain ourselves. Each time we heard footsteps near the door our stomachs
turned more and more until the moment finally came when they walked in. We all
were holding our signs and had our confetti “explosions” and the accompanying
adrenalin rush of meeting our new friends. It was pure happiness in the room.
Everyone was hugging each other and introducing themselves. It was very chaotic
but in the good sense. Once the initial meeting was over we sat down,
introduced ourself again, and our Israeli counterparts presented us with small
gifts: a journal and a small book, which I am unsure of the contents of sine I
haven’t had a chance to open it yet. We then went around the circle said our
names and played some ice breakers. The time went by very quickly.
Everyone was very exhausted
afterwards. When we arrived home, we had an opportunity to bound with our new
Israeli. We were bewildered how instantaneous our friendships were. It was as
if we had known each other for years. We can't wait for the next 11 days!
Sincerely,
Rebecca and Eric
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