Arrival in Kibbutz

After I last wrote, I took the A train all the way from Manhattan to JFK airport.  There I met up with my 31 other cohorts, as well as our “chaperone” of sorts, Daniel Klein of JNF.  We gathered in Terminal 4, waiting for El Al (the Israeli airline) to open it’s check-in gate.  Because of the time difference and the volume of traffic, El Al is not open for flights all day.  Rather, our flight out a midnight was the first flight for them to check in for the day.  I’ve also been told that it was their last, but I am not certain.

            We all made our way through security and then into the terminal where the boarding gates are.  We grabbed some dinner and continued to mingle with the 30 new faces.  Lots of iterations of the questions “Where are you from?... What’s your major?... Where have you traveled in the past?”  There is quite a healthy size crowd of students from Northeast Florida (JU, UNF, and Flagler).  I assume this is because of some of the generosity that comes out of our Jacksonville, FL community to support the JNF and the Caravan. 

            I am going to be terrible with names for a day or two, but I will also be attempting to collect some photos with the friends I make each day- so you may be able to put a face with the names!  I may have mentioned this, but one of the biggest things they want us to do while on this trip is mingle with other students and learn from each other’s ideas.  There was certainly no lack of mingling in the airport!  It felt like the first day of school, but in a much more fun way.

            Finally we boarded our flight at 11:30 PM.  This took QUITE a while.  The flight was completely booked, it seemed.  It took almost an hour from when they called our boarding zone to when the plane finally was leaving.  We sat patiently until at least 12:30 AM.  I was in the middle seat next to a guy named Alex Banks (Flagler) and a girl named Abbie ______ (UNF).  These guys are cool!  Alex managed to sleep most of the flight, of which I think we all were envious.  Abbie and I entertained ourselves by laughing at a large crowd of awkward teenage boys on the plane.  The flight felt quite long.  I may have slept for an hour or two, but it was not very satisfying.  I think it may have been the warmest I’ve ever been on a plane, which was just really uncomfortable.

            We arrived in Tel Aviv close to 7 PM.  During our descent from 30,000 ft, we were watching a sunset for a day we had never lived.  But I guess we’ll get that day back on our flight home.  Definitely felt strange!  It was about 10 hours in the air total.  Getting admitted into the country was quite painless, and my luggage was NOT lost, so that is always a win!  We walked out of the airport to find a large charter bus waiting for us with snacks.  I wasn’t even close to hungry but I munched.  My body was still in hibernation mode from the flight.  We loaded our luggage, boarded, exchanged money with a friend for a good rate, and then met some of the counselors that will be traveling with us for the trip.  The two main new guys are Iftah, who seems to be our tour guide of sorts, and Rabbi Leor who will be facilitating our discussions.  Both are probably early 30s, very cool guys. 

            Our bus left the airport to drive us to our first destination, which is called Kibbutz.  It is about two and a half hours north of Tel Aviv, in a valley that is situated between Syria  and Lebanon.  Pretty amazing!  We are staying a beautiful guest house that has plenty of amenities.  We met briefly, ate a small dinner, and were in bed by about 10 PM.  I am posting this just as our new day begins.

Leaving Tonight!

Friends!  I am flying out of JFK Airport, New York City tonight at midnight and will be landing tomorrow in Tel Aviv, Israel!  I cannot wait!  I wanted to write you all and catch you up on a few things that have happened to me in the past few days leading up to my trip! 

            JNF booked our flight out of New York for us, but when I was booking my flight up to the city, I realized it was much cheaper to fly in a day earlier than to fly in on the Saturday after Christmas.  I have lots of amazing friends that are doing cool things with their lives that live in New York City, so I reached out to many of them to see if any may be able to host me for the night between my flight in and my flight out.  Not surprisingly, almost all of my friends were not in the city the day after Christmas, which made my finding a place to stay a little tricky.  However, a good friend of mine from high school at Stanton, named David Emami, works in research and development on Wall Street, and he said I was welcome to stay at his place although he and his roommates would not be there!  So amazing.  I mentioned that he works on Wall Street?  Well he also LIVES on Wall Street.  He is the man.  He left me a key with his doorman when he left town so that I could pick it up and stay at his empty 11^th floor apartment.  SO thankful, David! 

            I had been working in the Raleigh-Durham, NC area for the holidays, so my flight to NY was from there.  My best friend J dropped me off at the RDU airport at 5 AM on Friday morning like a trooper.  I flew into JFK at 6 AM, took the airtrain and the subway, and made my way to Wall Street.  I first went to drop off my bags at David’s apartment.  Then I contacted my friend Alyssa Gatke, who also lives in the city and I knew would actually be there.  Alyssa was my boss at Abercrombie Kids for my freshman year of college.  Kind of embarrassing, but it is a cool, random connection to still be maintaining!  She moved up to NY with the Abercrombie & Fitch company but now works with Wings Worldquest, a women’s explorer’s club founded by a living descendent of President Andrew K Polk.  She and I met up in the East Village and had Tibetan food!  It was probably the first time I had seen her in person for two or three years, and it was so fun to catch up!  She showed me around the Greenwich Village where she lives.  Thank you so much Alyssa!  Cannot wait to see you again!

Bye J ~

First view off of Wall Street!

Walked by City Hall to meet up with Alyssa.  Cue Law & Order
Theme song.

Solo subwaying!

Washington Square Park

Alyssa claims that in the movie I Am Legend, Will Smith's
character lives in one of these row houses.

Alyssa is the best ~

            After parting with Alyssa, I explored a little more and then went back to David’s apartment to catch a quick nap.  I woke in the early evening and headed back out into the city to meet up with my one other friend (I knew of!) that lives in the city that was there.  Grace McAuliffe has been a good friend of mine since I was like a sophomore in high school.  She was studying and working in Chicago, and now works in New York City.  I met her at her beautiful apartment off of 107^th in the upper west side of Manhattan.  From there, her roommate Austin, her, and I grabbed an Uber car to one of their favorite spots in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  We met up with some more of their friends at a Polish restaurant, and then walked down the street to another place for drinks and some Skee Ball (yes the children’s game).  It was really fun, and also great to see them!  I have been to New York a few times, but I loved getting to see some of these people I haven’t seen in a while on this trip.  From Williamsburg, we caught a cab that dropped me off at David’s apartment.

Typical Williamsburg Bar Scene.

            Saturday morning I woke up and went exploring!  I always loving getting reacquainted with the subway system each time I’m here.  I’d say I did pretty well!  No wrong trains or anything.  Here are some pictures I took of the city!  Hope you enjoy!

New World Trade Center and 9/11 Memorial,
only blocks from David's place.

Grand Central Station

Time Square 

Ice Skating at the Rock!

Christmas Tree in front of Rockefeller Center!

Radio City

View from the Brooklyn Bridge

I just felt like this sign was trying to tell me something...

Spent a lot of time walking up and down Wall Street!

NYSE

            Now I am back at David’s apartment at Water and Wall, packing up, enjoying probably my last free wifi access in the United States, and getting ready to head over to the airport to meet up with my 30 new friends and leaders!  I’ll keep you posted!!

Going to Israel

      

            I’ve had the opportunity to tell many of you about this in person already, but I just wanted to formally announce that in 7 days, I will begin a 10 day journey to Israel!  It seems unreal, but I am so excited!  I want to take a second and explain how this came to pass, talk a little about the organization with which I am traveling, and then give a little preview for what’s to come. 

            This trip is organized through a program called Caravan for Democracy, which is a project done by the Jewish National Fund each year.  The JNF is a non-profit, non-government organization that was founded in 1901 with the intention of pooling money together from Jews all over the world to use towards reclaiming their holy land.  Through collection boxes placed in Jewish homes, as well as through the selling of stamps, JNF collected money and began buying pieces of the modern day land of Israel from the Ottoman Empire (whoa- throwback!).  They would plant trees to keep the purchases tax-exempt, while also developing new practices in irrigation that would help them inhabit desert regions.  By 1948 when Israel declared independence, JNF held about 54% of the land claimed in the new state!  Since then, JNF has played a large role in the Israel Land Administration (a division of the Israeli government responsible for parks, land settlement, irrigation, etc.) and has launched countless community projects in the state of Israel.  JNF still holds about 13% of the land of Israel.  It is a pretty potent history for a non-profit!

JNF has offices all over the world, including a major office based out of New York City.  They continue to participate in advocacy and development projects in multiple countries, such as the Caravan for Democracy.  CFD seeks out 30 non-Jewish college students (usually seniors) to expose to modern day Israel with the intent of promoting a perspective of the nation outside of just what the media portrays.  There is an initial application process, a Skype interview, and then finally a selection.  If selected, you are invited to participate on an all-expense-paid excursion to Israel for 10 days. 

ANY college student who is not Jewish could apply for this program!  YOU SHOULD DO IT.  I heard about it through an (amazing) administrator from my school who believed I could be a good candidate.  I actually applied for this last year as well, but two of my good friends and colleagues were selected ahead of me.  I’m so glad they got to experience it, and I can’t wait to get together with them and share all of our memories. 

This year, myself and one other fine young woman from my school have been selected among the 30 students across the nation.  Her name is Jess Parker. (I’ll probably be mentioning her a lot.  Travel buddies!)  We are so honored to not only represent our university, but also our country in this endeavor!

We will be flying from NYC to Tel Aviv, Israel on December 27^th.  We’ll then be exploring all over Israel for 10 days.  We’ll get to see many of the holy sites, including Jerusalem, Galilee, the Dead Sea, and the Negev Desert.  We will also have the opportunity to meet different political leaders in Israel, as well as other leaders in the development of the country.

This is such an amazing opportunity, and I can’t wait to share it with you all!  Stay tuned for more updates and, as usual, tons of pictures!