New Beginnings

Shalom from New Jersey!

For the last five days, I have been locked in a hotel in Somerset, NJ, hidden from daylight and frozen to the bone by fierce air conditioning. I have sat in session after session after session about what the Torah has to say about the teacher/student relationship, how to stop teenage girls from sending teenage boys inappropriate text messages, what to say when a kid wants to x, y, or worst of all, z. I have been labeling, decorating, lifting, sorting, sweating, and snacking to get everything ready. I have been spending every waking moment with the same four people, working as a team to prepare and getting to know one another at the same time.

All of this for 46 sixteen year old Jews.

Tomorrow begins USY on Wheels 2010 for Bus C. We are starting in NJ and driving across the country and back over the course of six and a half weeks. We are going to pray every morning, and maybe in the evenings too. We are going to eat frozen dinners, we are going to stay in a new hotel almost every night, we are going to play games and learn stuff and study religion. We are going to create a culture of our own, have one million or more inside jokes, hate each other and love each other more than anyone in a long time. We're going to share germs and shampoo and clothing and secrets.

We are going to have the time of our lives.

From a personal perspective, this is really coming full circle for me. On June 25th, 2007, I met all the members of Bus D 2007 at a similar, mid range hotel somewhere in New Jersey, and we set off on an amazing journey together, and that has changed everything for me. Those friends are still the deepest in my heart, those songs we learned can still draw tears, those weird sites and museums are still conversation starters. My hope is to create something totally new this summer, with the help of my amazing co-staff (these names will be coming up a lot this summer!! Tali, Jake, Aaron, and Andrew--all amazing incredible beautiful lovable perfect human beings), but keep the feelings of belonging and happiness the same as my own summer as a 16 year old.

Tonight, less than 12 hours before the Wheelniks arrive, I am a bundle of nerves and a heap of tired bones. It all begins again tomorrow.