After spending my last full day stateside, I was more than excited to get en route to Israel. Arriving at the Newark airport (courtesy of the Hammer family) a few hours early, I breezed through check-in and TSA in a flash--there was literally one other person in front of me at the security checkpoint! After Amy arrived a few minutes later as her usual bubbly self, we began what became an ordeal of a boarding process.
Boarding hundreds of passengers ranging from many walks of life (many of them Jewish) was hectic to say the least. Orthodox families, womens' groups, teen tours, family vacationers alike piled onto the El Al flight and insanity ensued. After quickly finding overhead storage and my seat, I watched from the rear of the plane with shock and amusement; never before had I seen so much haggling over seats and fighting for storage.
As the flight filled an old Israeli woman speaking broken English approached me, saying something about not sleeping. Let's just say my Hebrew skills are minimal at this point in the trip (although its already getting significantly better), and was rescued by a nearby traveler who translated. It turns out the woman wanted my aisle seat because she didn't want to get stuck in the middle in case both aisle passengers fell asleep. I value my aisle seats more than anything, treasuring the extra leg room and easy access to the bathrooms and could not imagine sitting in a middle seat for almost eleven hours. Luckily the other aisle was available and the situation diffused and she claimed the other side of the row.
Amy and I eventually were able to switch to sit next to each other on the otherwise uneventful flight. Three movies and nearly a dozen hours in transit later we arrived at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv. The Israeli sun shone through the terminal's frosted windows like a light from heaven, greeting us at long last.
Unfortunately that excitement momentarily gave way to disappointment as we discovered our next twelve hours were to be spent in the terminal awaiting other arrivals and the bus to Be'er Sheva. Luckily we stumbled upon Craig, a fellow program member who had arrived at 4 am (3 hours before our 7 am landing!) and wasted the hours away laughing and playing Monopoly Deal.
More and more Israel Teaching Fellows (ITF) arrived and exhaustion posed little resistance to the influx of so many new friends and colleagues! By nightfall we arrived at Be'er Sheva, dispersed into our respective apartments and set up camp for the long haul. I will be sure to post pictures of my new home as soon as they are uploaded, and another entry is coming on the heels of this one!
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