It has been said for a while that our cohort was like one big family. But, it wasn’t really true. We barely saw each other and had no knowledge of each other’s deepest, darkest secrets. Now, however, we can honestly say we get along just as well as your average family (a.ka. really well). J We have gotten sick and tired of seeing each other all day and then cried after being separated for a two hour activity. We have complained about what was served for dinner, fallen asleep on each other’s shoulders, and “borrowed” each other’s everything (shirts, dresses, food, towels, etc.)
But what truly makes a family close is celebrating together. Lucky for us, we have had three opportunities on this trip to really become “family”, both in the form of birthdays. Jessica’s birthday was on Sunday, July 17! She was serenaded multiple times throughout the day (in English) by her Los Angeles family before being surprised with a cake and congratulated by her Tel Aviv family (in Hebrew) as well. The celebration spanned about a third of the length of Israel as we started in Jerusalem that morning and then made our way down to camp out in the desert that night.
The second celebration was yesterday, Tuesday, July 20, when our amazingly talented medic, Shaylee, turned twenty-one! She was visited by many of the fellows as well as some “real” family later in the day. The third family party was the birthday of our fantastic JC, Emmanuelle! In honor of her eighteenth birthday, we surprised her with singing and cheering at every possible moment. At our evening circle, we celebrated with a yummy, Israeli cake, and presented her with a huge poster of our best wishes. We miss you all, but it is just so great to have birthday cake and sibling rivalry away from home…
Racheli Schuraytz
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