My flight over was pretty comfortable. My mom couldn't stop taking pictures of me with her before I left: in the airport garage, around security, check in, etc. The flight from Newark to Tel-aviv contained a mixture of ultra orthodox families, payos and all, with christian pilgrims. I ended up sitting with a nice Christian couple from Te
Once I got to the airport I bought a cell phone, and in the process missed the train that hour to Bimyamina. I ended up waiting at an airport cafe for about 45 minutes and sat with a French-Israeli women. Anyways, I caught the train to Bimyamina, then took a taxi to the Kibbutz.
After getting all the official stuff done in the office with the program's director, Yaron, I moved into my room.
The room is pretty small for three people, but when this picture was taken my roommates had yet to arrive. In fact, they didn't arrive until 8 PM. After I got my clothes labeled (for laundry) and unpacked, I went exploring around the kibbutz with a girl named Amber. Though technically from Vienna, Amber grew up in India at an English school, so communication was not a problem. (Actually, what I have found in general is that even though there are only about 10 Americans at the Kibbutz so far, almost everyone speaks English. Hopefully I will learn a little Hebrew though :) ) Amber and I found the Kibbutz's beautiful beach.
We walked around the beach for a little then went in search of the petting farm on the Kibbutz. We didn't find it, though we did end up going through a gate that locked us out of the kibbutz. We had to climb the fence back over.
My roommates arrived around 7 PM. They both were from the USA. I think the program directors did this on purpose so no one would feel too lonely. One of my roommates Alex is also taking a gap year next fall will be attending MIT. My other roommate, Noah, goes to a commuter college in Denver, but is taking a break from his degree. He is 22. Alex is 19 like me.
Last night everyone hung out at the pub. Although I am technically legal I didn't order any drinks. The ulpan is very worldly. So far the people that are at the Kibbutz are from: USA, England, Canada, Italy, France, Austria, Holland, South Africa, Australia, Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina, Brasil, Mexico, Ukraine, Russia, Greece, Sweden. But altogether there should be 26 countries represented here. Everyone has been so friendly and outgoing so far.
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