Hey everybody!

WELCOME TO ISRAEL! TJJ has officially commenced! After our 10 hr flight over the Atlantic, we finally landed in Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport. We all made it through customs without many problems and collected our bags and excitedly met Gershie and the rest of our staff for Bus 2. We enjoyed a delicious bagel and muffin and rehydrated ourselves with a 1.5 liter water bottles. Moshe (advisor) miraculously fit every bag under the bus! We realize now why there are restrictions for packing. While we were settling on the bus, we also met with TalknSave to pick up our cellphones and changed some money. After pulling out of the airport parking lot, we headed north to Alexander River/ Nachal Alexandar where we met Yonatan/Jon, Adi, Ariel, and DeMarcus. In the park, we participated in team-building games and learned how to work as a group. Some of the challenges involved getting the whole group across the “firery lava” or passing the group through a rope web one at a time. I know that everyone benefitted from such an incredible program. The final activity was a boys v. girls hollahoop-passing race, and yes, the boys did win. I should mention there are 18 guys and 29 ladies…I don’t think even the 10 seconds lag was enough for the girls’ team to stand a chance. Rematch soon! We then regrouped and met with Gershie (bus director) to review the rules and get pumped for an amazing summer. Exhausted, we got back on the bus and drove further north to Hakuk Halev, where we enjoyed a shnitzel (breaded chicken) dinner with delicious sides and finally made it to sleep after a long trip.

Looking forward to an awesome summer!