Flight and first night, ex post facto.
Let me preface this post by saying that I'm writing about our first night a few exhilarating days ex post facto, so the memories have had time to solidify. Or more accurately, to flee buzzingly from my sleep-deprived brain.
After an early bus to Philly on Wednesday morning and a train to the airport, I was given a reminder of just how small the world is when one of the first new people I met turned out to have gone to the same college as me and graduated the same year, and we had never met before. A bit of the familiar amongst the new. As the rest of our group filtered in and found each other, formalities were had and habit began to kick in as we checked in through security, ate some hurried airport food, checked through security again (they don't mess around on flights to Israel!), and boarded.
Twelve slightly-jostled and movie-laden hours later, we landed and were met with an incredible greeting. No, not more security and bag checks, but a group of 11 Israeli soldiers cheering and clapping for our arrival. We met the rest of our group and learned a traditional chant for brotherhood and happiness. Never before had I seen forty people dancing and singing in an airport. A bit of the unexpected amongst the strict rules and procedures.
We bussed to Golan for our first night and caught a few winks on the way, and then were assigned our roommates for our the next few days. This was a little uncomfortable since not everyone knew each other yet, and trip partners had been deliberately split up.Luckily and oh-so-coincidentally, our counselor Dana had some killer icebreakers lined up. You know the game where you write dirty questions on a beachball and answer them in front of complete strangers as you pass it around? I didn't either, but it was surprisingly fun. You know the game where you pass your teammates over a tightrope suspended five feet in the air without touching it? Me neither, but it was full of crowd-surfing fun. You know the game where everyone grabs hands and has to untagle the human Gordian knot? Yeah you do, and so do I, and we played it anyway. A bit of friendly touching amongst... well, more friendly touching.
Despite our hectic travels, our exciting introductions, and our challenging challenges, there have been oases. That seems to be the trend of Israel and our trip so far -- a strange desert with islands of abundance scattered throughout.
-Bevan Weissman
