July 24, 2014
By: LEORA NASH
Thursday morning, at around 7 a.m, Diller Toronto landed in Tel Aviv. After a long flight we were all tired, but eager to arrive in Eilat and meet up with our Israeli counterpart. Prior to loading and boarding the bus, we had a short security briefing with our Israel Experience Staff. Once all of the fellows and staff were comfortable on the bus we began our drive to Eilat. As the bus moved along, we all looked out the windows to see the breathtaking Israeli scenery. We made a short pit stop for washroom breaks before stopping at a gas station to eat lunch. We enjoyed our sandwiches outdoors and relaxed before getting back on the bus. The remainder of the bus ride was exciting as we listened to music and talked about the upcoming two weeks.
When we arrived at the Eilat municipal library we were greeted with huge signs and lots of hugs. Now that we were all together again community week could officially begin! We played a few rounds of different icebreakers and then launched straight into our first coordinator-run program. During the program we discussed what it means to be a host and studied a text that explored different opinions on the subject. We then went to the Eilat museum where we learned about Israel's 1949 Ovda mission that secured Eilat as part of the Jewish state. Later we went to a pool were we were able to cool down and enjoy the water. The final event of the day was the welcome dinner for the Toronto fellows and Eilat-Eilot host families. Everyone enjoyed the delicious food and meeting their new Israeli families.
The first day of community week was amazing and we are all looking forward to an incredible week!
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