thank g-d for host families

*FROM 9/22*

As usual wake-up this morning was at 7:30, the only difference was that by 8 we not only had to be at breakfast but we had to be completely moved out of our rooms! During breakfast we also had to make sandwiches to take for our bus ride (so I made pb&j in pita –but at dinner I learned that Israelis apparently don’t eat pb&j). At 8:30 we a had a program about sukkot and at 10 we all boarded our purple bus to be dropped off with our host families. At around 12:30 we got to the last stop, my stop, and Yael and I were picked up by our host mom and daughter (who were wonderful). The daughter, Shiri, and her friends are going to be joining us on Yam L’ Yam so it was nice to be able to meet them before they joined us on Sunday. When we got to their house (they live in Tel Mond- about 30 min from Tel Aviv) we had lunch. It was our first home cooked meal in a month and it was great! We had Couscous, meatballs, and veggies. After that we relaxed and got to know Shiri and her family. Then Shiri took us to meet some of her friends from the scouts (so of course Yael and I were excited-not only cause they were Israeli teens but b/c they were Israeli scouts!). Her friends were really nice and it was cool to actually talk to Israeli teens and see the similarities and differences between us and them. Around 5:45 we went back to our host home and helped our host family set up for the BBQ we were having that night (which obviously we were excited for b/c well it was real meat!). We also watched an American Show called “Wipeout” that is really popular in Israel but I have never heard off (but it was really funny). Around 7 their family friends came over for the bbq. The food was sooo good. There were hamburgers, chicken, kabobs, rice with pine-nutish things, challah, homemade baked French fries, and so much more! Both Yael and I ate so much! Then Shiri, Yael, and I went to aroma (which is like out starbucks just a lot better) and met up with some of the other EIE girls and their host girls who were also going on Yam L’ Yam with us. Another boy and girl who were also going on the trip with us came too. They are all so nice and spoke English with us most of the time. You could barely tell the difference between the Americans and Israelis. (incase you were wondering I got a hot choclate it was soo good!) Around 11:45 we went back to our house , relaxed, showered, and went to bed.

Overall it was a pretty spectacular day. Our host family is great and is exactly what Yael and I were hoping for (I mean a bbq-it doesn’t get any better). Plus Shiri and her friend are really cool (we are already fb friends) and they have all said we should come back on one off our off weekends.