First Day in Israel!

The first day was packed full and it was exciting to go straight from the airport to the vineyard. One of the women soon lent me a linen shirt to change into, and we teamed up in pairs (one on each side of the row of vines), clipped each cluster off of the vine and tossed it into a plastic crate at our feet. The guys came through and took the crates and dumped them into a larger crate that the tractors would take to the warehouse. All the grapes were used -- raisins/green ones, etc... We were allowed to eat as many as we wanted! Lunch was pita bread, hummus, cucumbers/onions/tomatoes chopped together, and slices of turkey. We spread the food out on the hood of a car and without napkins, plates, or utensils, ate our very welcomed lunch. Water bottles were a necessity and were easily filled from the large water coolers that were usually brought out to the fields. It was a great way to start my two week adventure! There is a 10 hour time difference (Israel being 10 hours ahead of Alaska time), but with traveling so long with flights and lay-overs, my internal clock was so confused that jetlag really didn't come into play. By the time it was bedtime, I was able to sleep quite well regardless of what time it was in my head! :)