Arrived to the Kibbutz

So I'm safely at the Kibbutz, via two trains and a taxi...

Yesterday, my friend Einat took me to Tel Aviv. We walked around the arts markets and shopping area, drinking a great pomegranent smoothie. For dinner last night, we went out for sushi. The pieces were large and yummy. Then we went back home where I slept for 14+ hours last night.

This afternoon, before starting my journey to the north, Einat & Shimon took me to the pier (not port) in Herzeliya. The view of the boats and water was quite beautiful. We had a nice small lunch and coffee before heading to the train station.

I arrived to the Kibbutz around 8:45pm. We just had a little 'meet n greet' with pizza. I'm writing from the computer in our common area- a room with a tv, couch, dining room table and kitchen (fridge, stove, etc.). Everyone seems nice, there are about 12 of us, ages ranging from 18-26..with one canadian and one person from england.

Tomorrow we start orientation and such around 10am. Sunday we'll start hebrew lessons. That's about all I know for now.

My room has a small kitchen, bathroom and two beds. Thus far I have no roommate, I don't think I'll be getting one but it's possible. (The other people on the trip all have one roommate, but I'll gladly live alone.)

I'll do my best to updat this often. I find the blog a lot quicker than writing seperate e-mails.

First Days in Israel

I landed safely in Israel yesterday at 2:30pm (8:30am in Washington, D.C.). However, I had quite the adventure getting to my 9:15pm flight leaving Philadelphia. I arrived to National airport with an hour and a half before my flight. They switched my flight to one leaving immediately, saying my orginal flight would be delayed.

So I go directly to my new gate, to find out that this flight too is delayed (all due to weather). I find out it's delayed 2 hours and go to the desk to switch my flight again. This new flight, my third flight now, was set to leave at 6:15pm. 6:15 rollls around and I start to panic that I missed boarding for my flight, since I'd been busy making phone calls. Then an announcement sounds about this flight also being delayed. Meanwhile, my original flight actually left on-time at 6pm.

So all in all, the flight finally left around 7:40pm. The stewardess was odd and the plane small. We were asked to spread out on the plane because we were nose heavy and couldn't take off until more people moved to the back. I landed at the Philly airport when my plane was boarding. I got there in enough time to continue making a few 'last calls' which annoyed a stewardess and, I believe, scared away the man who was supposed to sit next to me.

So I had the two seats, window/aisle, to myself. It was great. The back of the seat in front of you had a screen to choose movies, tv shows, etc.

I've stayed with my friends Einat & Shimon in Herzeliya, about 15 minutes outside Tel Aviv. I'll write more about that later. I'm off to change money, go to the Port, get on a train up to my Kibbutz.