So last night I learned a valuable lesson. When you are leaving the country for 3 months do not pack the night before.
I was going to spend friday afternoon packing but instead met up with two special people to enjoy a Caribou before I took off. Luckily I can’t recall anything important that I forgot at home. I made sure that I have two of the most important things for going to Israel my camera and passport.
Today was a long day of traveling through momentarily losing luggage, broken luggage, two delayed planes, and showing up to the wrong hotel. Now that is all behind me as I am safely sitting in my hotel room the night before I leave to go to Israel.
Tomorrow I will be meeting my group Mayanot 69, who are the young adults who I will be traveling through Israel with for the next ten days. Together we will experience the markets, beaches, hiking, Shabbat, and much more in Israel.
Following getting a taste of Israel I will meet family and live with them as they show me Israel and host me for a little over two weeks. From June to July I will be volunteering with Geo Eco for reef conservation in Eilat. Which I am very excited for! Seeing how I want to be a marine biologist but also because I find conserving the earth, its natural beauty and habitat to be very important.
While volunteering I will be doing beach clean ups, setting up buoys, directing tourists to where they can dive/snorkel, learning about threats to the reef, and help out where ever needed. While volunteering I will be staying in a hostel that’s a few minutes away, which will also be a great experience as I will meet people from all over the world.
I am a very social person and love meeting people, but especially if they come from different backgrounds and cultures. One thing I look forward to in the hostel besides meeting new people is the guest speakers they will have. Every evening they bring in a speaker to speak about Israel from the history to traveling. Following volunteering I am planning on staying on a kibbutz. Ever since I was young and heard about kibbutzim in Hebrew school I have wanted to live on one. I have wanted to see what it would be like working, eating, praying and living together. I think a kibbutz is a great way to build a strong Jewish community and learn how to embrace your identity. I promise to write and post pictures as much as possible, as I want to document this amazing experience that will be this summer.
Courtesy of Elli Rosenthal http://www.israeladventure2012.blogspot.com/2012/05/day-before-take-off.html
