Today was an amazing day

"Today was an amazing day"


By: Tori Gruber

Today was an amazing day. For the first time for all of us Americans, we experienced a day at an Israeli school. We arrived at the school at 10:00am after a good nights sleep and went to the dance studio where we played a few improv games with the schools drama teacher. It was a good way to start the day. Then we went to English class with them. Us Americans all did very well in that class.

After English we went and watched an exciting game of "football", or as we call it - soccer. We then played a game of "net ball" which was a version of volleyball without the setting and spiking. It involved catching and throwing instead. Then the American boys and Israeli boys had a spirited game of basketball.

Following the game we watched a short video about the history of Tel Aviv. We learned that it is sometimes called the White City because many of the buildings are the same color and were built on what used to be sand.

All of us are very tired, still adjusting to the change in time, but we continued on to a new location, the Azrieli tower, which is a shopping mall and the tallest building in Tel Aviv. We went to the 49th floor where we were able to see the most beautiful view of Tel Aviv. Now we truly understand now what is meant by White City. Many pictures were taken to remember the view.

Enjoy a slideshow of a few pictures from our day.

We made it!!!

It took us 14 Hours from LAX to Tel Aviv. We touched down at approximately 2pm local time and we were definitely ready to get off the plane. We were greeted at the gate by our host families and Rabbi Raff! It was great to have a touch of home even though we just left LA.

After our initial introductions and meetings our group went back to our hosts homes and quickly changed clothes. We then met at Ironi Yud Daled where we officially "broke the ice" and began our adventure. Our Israeli colleagues had planned several great activities through which we got to know each other better. We were each given a sparkler and when ours was lit we talked about ourselves and shared our excitement for our upcoming time together.

Dinner was a feast of Falafel, Hummus, Pita, and a lot of desserts! The group really seems to be getting along very well. The kids didn't want to leave school. They were hanging out and chatting, and the aduls were VERY ready to get some much needed rest.

Enjoy a few more photos from our very long day. Good night from Tel Aviv.


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We're getting very excited!!!