May 30/31

The day we flew out! I got up early and arranged my bags so the things that I wanted for the flight were in my carry-on bag. I had two bags, the one I used as my purse for the trip and my purple on, which I checked. I did very well as far as space I must say. Anyway, I arranged my bags, got dressed, ate breakfast and Grandma and I left for the airport. We got there and found everyone congregating around the Delta check in area. Dr. Appold handed out our books, T-shirts and tickets. We got our luggage checked in and made sure that everyone was there. We were all assigned numbers so we would make sure to stay together while we were abroad. I was number 7. We then waited around before boarding the plane to Atlanta. I sat next to Nate on this flight, and it was short and pretty boring. The cookies were good though.
When we got to Atlanta, we had about a two hour layover. Several of us got lunch at Wall Street Deli. The sandwiches were good but very big. Most of us saved the other half to eat later. We waited around and then found out they changed our gate so we ran to the new one just in time to get on and fly to New York. (Don’t ask me why we had to fly from St. Louis to Atlanta and then to New York. It’s cheaper for some reason…). I didn’t sit next to anyone I knew on that flight. I was next to a lady and her daughter from Alabama, who were on a family vacation to New York. This little girl was a very good traveler. She sat quietly and didn’t disturb anyone. I wish I could say the same for the children sitting behind me. There were a boy and girl who were really loud and kept hitting the back of my chair. Oh, it was annoying…
The view when we flew into New York was absolutely stunning. The clouds were pink with the reflection of the sun and the water was shimmering and there was a small strip of land visible in the distance. It was so beautiful.
We had another layover of about 2 hours in New York. I finished my sandwich and studied my Hebrew phrasebook. We talked to a couple from Tel Aviv while we were waiting. Laura Beth and I decided to fill up our water bottles also. That turned out to be a bad idea because we had to go through security again before getting on the flight. We had to drink our water fast. So much for drinking less to keep from having to go to the bathroom…
It turned out to be okay, though, because I was on the aisle. I sat across from Nate and next to Jordan. The flight was long and boring. I did finally get to see Slumdog Millionaire. It was really good. Dinner was okay. I had chicken. I then tried to sleep, but it didn’t work out to well. Eventually I figured out that it was okay to stand in the back, which was good because my legs were starting to hurt. I went and stood with Lauren Greenspan as she talked to two people, one girl and a guy. The guy was interesting to listen to; he was very well educated. Not going to lie, I didn’t follow their conversation very well, but it sounded like it was interesting. There were snacks in the back, so I had a little something for breakfast. They fed us a second meal just before we landed. It was pizza, I think, and was not very good. Oh, I had a glass of wine with the dinner, and it was disgusting. The bottle was cute, however, but I did not keep it.
We finally landed in Tel Aviv. We got in a long line to get our passports stamped and then went to retrieve our luggage. DELTA RIPPED MY BAG! And it got pretty beat up. I was annoyed. Dr. Appold thought that his bag had been lost and went over to talk to the Delta representatives, but we found while he was gone, and Nate took it over to him. Why he didn’t just leave it and go get Mappold, I do not know, but whatever. It was fine.
Customs was a joke. We just walked through. (We did pass this really cool fountain after we got off the plane. I didn’t get a picture of it unfortunately, but it had water that dripped from the ceiling into a pool of water at the bottom.) After breezing through customs, we had to wait for a while before the bus came to take us to the Kibbutz. We also had to wait for Justin who was coming in on another flight to join us. This was the first I had heard that someone else was coming along. We each changed $20 into shekels (exchange was about 3.8 or 3.9) and debated about whether or not to get SIM cards for cell phones. It was really expensive to get them at the airport, so we decided not to get one. Laura Beth bought a phone card for NIS 50, but I decided I didn’t want to. I wasn’t quite ready to spend money yet, and I didn’t plan on using 300 minutes. I didn’t plan on calling home too much.
We all just sat around after that. I emailed my parents, talked to Laura Beth, and noticed there was a boy wearing a KU shirt in the Tel Aviv Airport. (Turns out he was a boy who would be working on the dig with us: Johnny Dunn). It was fun times.
Eventually we got all of our people plus a few more. A girl from Georgia who was going to be working on the dig join us for the bus ride to the Kibbutz. Her name was Ingrid, and she had been granted a fellowship to work on a couple of projects in the Middle East for a while. We got our own bus to the Kibbutz and did not have to share with the other groups who apparently came in on Justin’s flight.
We all piled on to this little tour bus and began the two hour drive to Kibbutz Ginossar. I tried my best to stay awake to see the scenery, but it just wasn’t happening. I listened to my MP3 player for a little while and took a couple of pictures, but I kept dozing off. The billboards made me laugh. The Pillsbury Doughboy was on one, and there were Smurfs on another one. The scenery was pretty cool; it was a lot different than at home. There was a lot of trash and the buildings looked run down, but maybe that was just because I wasn’t used to the architecture they have over there. Anyway, we drove. The cacti were fun to see. They looked exactly like the cardboard cut out ones that people use for school plays.
We finally got to the Kibbutz and went to have dinner. I was really tired; I was kind of dizzy during the meal. I wanted to try new food, but I wasn’t feeling quite up to it yet, so I stuck with stuff I recognized. I did not eat the St. Peter’s fish at all on the trip, though I found out later it was tilapia. It still looked too fishy. They pretty much just bake the fish. Don’t skin it (scale?) or anything. Just bake it. It still has eyes… I did enjoy the salad that night at least. I also remember seeing a guy in a cowboy hat and having less than positive thoughts regarding his choice of attire. I changed my mind later on…
Our group had made the decision not to stay in the dorms at the Kibbutz. We stayed in 3 person rooms in a two story building. The rooms were nice. 3 beds, a fridge, a desk, a closet, a sink and a bathroom. The shower was a bit ridiculous and flooded the bathroom every time it was used. I was in a room with Laura Beth and Anna. We were all pretty exhausted so we went to bed.