Sunday, May 10, 2009

Day 1


The day has finally come! After 4 months of preparation and 16 hours on a plane...two more than normal because of external power problems on the plane, WE'RE HERE!! In Israel! 
We left Amarillo at 1:05 Saturday May 9, got to Houston about 2:45, left there at 3:55, and arrived in Newark at around 9:00 est. Our was supposed to leave at 10:50, but we encountered some electrical problems. It took the system 5 reboots, and two hours to start working properly. Our plane arrived in Israel at 5:55pm Israel time, which was about 10:00am central time.
I sat next to a guy named Tom, he had be traveling around South America for the last 11 months. He was on his way home to Hafia. He was 23 and had gotten out of the army at 21, because all Israelis are required to go into the military when they are 18. He explained to me how he worked for 1 year after the military as a bar tender, and then he took a year off to travel.This is common for Israelis, he said about 90% do the same thing after the military. I thought that was interesting. We chatted about music, and where to go. It kind of reminded me of Will and I, he has a sister that is 25, and she was the only one who knew he was coming home early. I think it is because the day will was walking across the stage to get his diploma, Tom was going home to see his family.
When we arrived at the airport we were greeted by Yael Lazarus D2490's governor, Menashe Livnat the Israeli GSE chair, and their recording secretary as well as D1600 from the Netherlands. From the airport, our bus driver got a little lost, and we made a few back tracks, but we made it to our hosts homes, that's all that matters. John Kanelis is also rooming at the same host family's home as I am. We are staying in the village Lahevim, it's 10 minutes from Be'er Sheva. John and I and two members from the Netherlands team are staying in the same area. Dinner was excellent. We ate at our host family's best friend's/neighbors house which is literally right around the corner from our home. It was wonderful, and a lot more normal than I thought. Some scalloped potatoes, veggie salad, bread, wine, a tomato pasta, and rice! I have been trying to take it easy on the on my tummy because it wasn't so happy with me on the way here. I think it was just nerves and there was a bit of turbulence on a couple of our flights. The conversations were interesting, and all of the culture that was sitting around that one dinner table. It's quite a lot to get into right now, because I am SO tired and need to get some rest. 
I will fill you all in more tomorrow!
I get to visit NETAFIM tomorrow! I am so excited they got me a visit! 
Love to ALL!!
~katt
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In the Beginning....

In about mid September Beth Duke of Center City Amarillo called me at work and said "I've been thinking about you." Naturally, my response was, "Really, what did I do this time?," after a few chuckles she explained to me the Rotary International Group Study Exchange, and how she thought I would be great candidate to the team, and that my dad would let me have my job back after four weeks of being away.
I thought, WOW this would be so awesome! Then, she told me where they were going this year....Israel....my first thoughts were " I would love to go, but not with what's going on, where will I stay ....in a manger...because the first thing I think about when I think of Israel is of course God, then the song "Away in a Manger."
So I applied, wrote my essay and interviewed. In January I was invited become a part of the 2009 Rotary International Group Study Exchange to Israel.
There are 4 of us and a team leader.
Me,
Aida Almaraz a social worker from Boys Ranch
Fernando Valle, an assistant professor of Education at Tech
Shirley Davis, an assistant professor of Mathematics at South Plains College in Levelland.
John Kanelis and editor at the Amarillo Globe News.

We have been working hard to put together a presentation about ourselves to present to the different Rotary clusters through out Israel. We will spend 4 weeks there exploring our vocations in their country while were share a bit about ours with them.