A week ago our Israeli guests arrived in Chicago. It was both exciting and awkward meeting the Israelis, before this we had only chatted with them over the internet and meeting them face to face felt like an entirely new experience. However, we had a lot of fun. A group of both Israelis and Americans led us in a number of ice breakers. The first one was called Connected and involved one person standing in the center of the circle with a bag of candy that person then said something about themselves for example, that they have two cats, and then someone else for whom that also applied, so in this case someone who also has two cats, would yell connected and then they would get a piece of candy and become the one standing in the middle. Then we played another ice breaker called חבילה עוברת Pass the Package, which is an Israeli game involving passing around a pillow thing made of newspaper while music was playing. When the music stopped, whoever ended up with the pillow pulled open the top layer to find a post it note with a question for them or a task for the group. It was a very fun game. After playing a few more games, the parents joined us and we had dinner together. Then we took the Israelis to their Chicago second homes.
The next day, the Israelis spent the day downtown where they learned about
the Federation and they went on a gangster tour of Chicago. One of the
Israelis, Yahalom, told me, when I asked her the next day, that it had been her
favorite part of the trip so far! Then the Israelis came home and we had dinner
together as families. My family took Hadar, the Israeli staying with us, to a
Vietnamese restaurant near our house. A couple of other families went to Windy
City Sweets and also made a snow man!
On
Tuesday, the Israelis came to school with us. My school, Northside College Prep, is not nearly as big as some of the suburban schools that a lot of the
other Chicago Diller Fellows go to, but even so, Hadar said it was much bigger
than her school, so it was quite an experience for her. I also talked to some
of the other Israelis afterword and they said the same about the schools they had
gone to with their Chicago hosts. They also found bringing lunch to school to
be a novelty as that is not something they do in Israel. After spending about
half the school day with us, the Israelis left and went to Chicagoland Jewish High School to learn about
the school and about Judaism in Chicago. After school, we joined
them there for a scavenger hunt in the mall which was a lot of fun. Finally, we
all went out to dinner at Mizrahi Grill, allowing the Israelis to get a taste
of home and us to get a delicious taste of Israel. We had some very good
conversations at the restaurant as we got to become still better acquainted.
Then we sang the whole bus ride home!
By: Karen Weiner
