Travel/Day 1/2

Hi Everyone! Sorry for not posting earlier! Its been a long but fun couple of days. I arrived in Israel yesterday afternoon after 14 hours in the air. My friend Nevo, who I met last summer on the NFTY in Israel program, picked me up from the airport and we drove to his house in the nearby suburb of Shoham. Shoham is a very modern area with large, American-style houses and nice public parks. Most people here are upper-middle class and gainfully employed and kids attend one of the best public high schools in the country. I think it would be fair to say Shoham is the "San Fernando Valley" of Israel. My experience here so far hasn't been a whole lot different than my day to day life in Santa Barbara. Yesterday, I played pickup basketball with Nevo and his friends, something I do a few times a week back home. Today we spent most of the day at his friend's private pool, simply relaxing and staying cool in the summer heat. We did hear a few "booms" off in the distance that my Israeli friends quickly pointed out as the Iron Dome intercepting a Hamas rocket. I guess it was comforting to know that it was doing its job and protecting us but there was definitely something troubling about the thought of someone firing a rocket toward you and hoping, or even praying that it hits you. But that's the reality here and life goes on. The mood of the people here isn't any different from the previous summers when I came during relative peace. Other than the occasional siren or Iron Dome intercept, you wouldn't even know anything had changed. I did have my first siren/rocket threat experience just about 30 minutes ago. We were sitting on the couch and a loud siren rang. I followed my friends into the basement where we remained for about 10 minutes as is protocol. We didn't see any material land, nor did we hear the Iron Dome. It didn't seem like a big deal to me, more of an annoyance than anything. However, in towns closer to Gaza where the Iron Dome has less time to react, the threat is much more real. But, after the 10 minutes we continued on with our day and are currently hanging out by the pool again with some friends. Like I said earlier, everything feels completely normal and safe and I am very glad I did not postpone my trip. I am having a fantastic time so far.

Thank you to everyone at CBB for making this experience possible and I look forward to beginning my volunteer work. I promise I'll have pictures to post later this week and plenty to share about Leo Baeck. Bye for now!

Also, feel free to use the comments section to ask any questions. I'd be happy to answer!