Israel!

Is it day 1, or day 2? Who cares, I'm here! We do our first soundoff in Israel: "1, 2, 3", I shout out 4. "5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13." 14? Where's 14? Jeff grumpily checks his list. "Adam Edgerly?" No response. He's not in the bathroom either. Jeff pushes past the last of the flight crew leaving the plane to check the crew list. He comes back panting. "Adam wasn't on the plane," he whispers frantically to Tamar. We waste no time in imagining scenarios. By the time 5 minutes has passed we've agreed that Adam is either sitting in the terminal back in Toronto or en route to Kyrgyzstan on a cargo plane. The truth is much less exciting as Jeff and Adam walk back from customs. The drama subsides and we carry on.

 

Our group of 42 shuffles out of the airport and pulls off the long pants and sweatshirts we wore to combat the chilly Canadian spring. Won't be needing these for a while.

Just outside the airport I get my first taste of Israel. Palm trees and a bright sun invade my view. We line up for the first of many group photos and take our seats on the grass. I'm wide awake as our speaker introduces us to the country we've been looking forward to for months. I immediately lose any doubts I had about this trip, they won't try to convert me, I won't be asked to join the army. Taglit truly wants nothing more than to show every Jew their homeland. They want us all to have a better understanding of Israeli and Jewish culture.

We head to the bus and see a towering figure. Meet Eilam, our 2 meter (6 feet, 7 inches) tall, ex-pro basketball player, Goliath of a tour guide. He gives us a big smile and picks six of the boys for bag duty. Crap, at 191cm and 98kg I'm going to be doing this a lot. I help stuff 40 bags under the bus and climb aboard. Finally we're off!

I jump off the bus as soon as the doors swing open ready to see the sites and feel the wind off the Mediterranean. We toast with shehecheyanu and run through our ice breakers (sadly no one knew all the words to Gangnam Style) then take a quick stroll to Jaffa.

Before entering the city we stop to admire the small rocks jutting out of the water. Supposedly, these islands were created when Perseus killed the sea monster Cetus and won Andromeda's hand. The islands are all that remain of the monster. Strange that my first lesson in Israel is about Greek mythology.

Finally we enter the city. The stone roads are hazardous but nothing unmanageable. We climb to find the statue of Napolean, created after his sacking of the city. A few quick pictures and we're done. My eyes shut as soon as we reach the bus.

When I wake up we're surrounded by greenery, bumping down a narrow dirt path. Our bus driver Slava keeps a steady hand on the wheel and delivers us safely to our first kibbutz. A few team building exercises and the forty of us start the real group activities. We slam back 20 shekel beers and I drink my first of what is to be many shots of arak. This is going to be a fun trip.

Hebrew word of the day, welcome: ברוך הבא (baruch haba)