We made it. It took what seemed like forever. We were plagued with Murphy's Law the whole way. I made it to the airport on time. Y. drove me, bless the man, and it was a little eerie how he seemed to know what I was feeling. He commented I didn't seem excited enough. I tried to shrug it off and say I'm just not an openly excited person. Which is true, in general. He mentioned that he thought I was apprehensive. A good word. I said, true, but probably not about what he thought. I wasn't at all scared of Israel itself in terms of danger here. He said he thought I was nervous about the people, the food and such. He was pretty dead on.
Anyway I made it to the airport on time. 3 hours ahead of take off. I checked in and waited to go through security. Made it through security and then waited some more. Saw that K. and Y. Blum were here, I was relieved to know someone, even if they weren't in my group. A few people introduced themselves, everyone I met was very nice but as I feared it seems I'm the only non-student here. And more, the only religious person. And as nice and friendly as everyone was and is, I feel out of place. I can't help wishing I were with other young religious people. People I could talk to and share with. People who's lifestyles and values echo mine. People who wouldn't talk about going to bars and clubs in Jerusalem.
Back on track.we waited and finally moved on to another security checkpoint and then to our gate where we proceeded to wait more. After about an hour and a half of waiting, we finally boarded our plane. Where we sat for about an hour and a half. An hour longer than we should have. Turns out someone got sick and left the plane. For obvious security reasons they then had to find his luggage and remove it before taking off. I was stuck in the center aisle in a center seat, lucky me.
People wearing cheesy clothes and even cheesier haircuts were on the movie screen, singing Israeli songs. I guess it would have been nice had they shown more scenes of the places they were singing about but for some reason we mostly just watched the people sing.
Finally we took off. My ears were not as bad as I had feared, although it still was far from comfortable. I was feeling headachy and queasy too. The amount of turbulence wasn't helping any. I closed my eyes and tried sleeping but that was when dinner came. I managed to eat the rice and a couple bites of chicken before giving up. I tried sleeping again and met with some minor success off and on. I read for a while in between sleeping. Light came sometime and we davened shacharis. Back to sleep. Movies played but I didn't bother. I thought we were almost there, but we weren't. Breakfast came. I ate the eggs, the fig newton, some coffee and orange juice. Not bad for me. I wasn't queasy anymore but I was very uncomfortable. There are only so many positions in that chair.
It was dark and near 6:00 p.m. by the time we landed. Over an hour later than planned. Into the airport we all filed to have our passports stamped. I was the very last person from our group to go through. Not that it mattered. We now had to wait for our baggage. When that was done we filed outside to meet our buses. All this time, I kept trying to remind myself that I was in Israel and how special that is. But one airport looks like another and it was hard to get excited over waiting in one when it seems you've already spent half a lifetime in another not long ago.
At the buses they gave us things to eat and drink and welcomed us. Everyone started smoking, just one more way I don't fit in. We stood around for about an hour before they finally let us on our buses. Where, for no perceivable reason other than a truly horrific lack of organization, we waited for yet another hour and a half. By this time I was irritated, annoyed, hungry, tired and felt disgusting.
Finally, finally, finally we were on our way. An hour and a half drive to Northern Israel where we're staying at a hotel on a kibbutz. I can't think of the name. They fed us, the food was good and recognizable. Fear of starvation faded. I called my family to let them know I'm safe. We had a brief group meeting with our Israeli guides. Two young, nice people named Ital and Shmulik. Shmulik told a lovely chassidishe story about "as long as the light is burning, there is work to be done." Then we got our rooms and were dismissed.
The rooms are actually tiny bungalows. They're very cute and remind me of bunks at camp. It's too dark to really see anything but in the morning I bet it will be beautiful.
So far, all in all, I don't have much of a feeling of being in Israel. It's dark, there's nothing that screams Israel and if I ddn't know better I could be in Florida for all I've seen. Except for all the Hebrew signs. And the guns. Which people around here carry casually strapped across their backs. It's a tad disorienting having a firearm that close even if it's not pointed at you.
It's very late now. I hope tomorrow when I'm able to look around and see, and I'm awake and refreshed, I'll have a better feeling about being here. The view from our room promises to be spectacular.
Glossary
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