Written by Gal Chen and Lihi Sela

"From the first moment that we heard about the Maccabiah program, we knew that we wanted to be there, because we also wanted to take part in the "most amazing experience of our lives," as other people who had already been there had described it to us.

When we heard that we had been accepted we had so many different emotions … enthusiasm, joy, excitement, and also fear …

Throughout the preparatory period we were given tools to help us manage in this different and wonderful framework.

Ultimately, after all the preparations, the meetings, the shopping and the tremendous excitement - the great day arrived!

"We're flying to America!!!" we cried, just before boarding the plane.
When we arrived in Omaha, after a very long flight, we received a warm and enthusiastic welcome.  We were taken to the JCC where we met the girl who would be hosting us over the coming week.
Her name is Tal-ya, and she's fantastic!

We became close with her … We spent a really fun week together, rehearsing hard for the performance, we made new friends, went to an amusement park, the zoo, restaurants, malls, and lots of other places …

It was an amazing week, and most of the credit goes to the warm and loving family that hosted us.
Thank you all - Mindy, Gadi, Tal-ya and Shiri!!!

And so the first week ends, we get on a plane for the fourth time this week, but this time for the real experience that we came here for - the 2007 Maccabiah Games, which were held this year in Houston, Texas.

We arrived in Houston, a totally different place from the relatively "small" city (by American standards) of Omaha …

We went straight to the Houston JCC and familiarized ourselves with the place where we would be spending the next week, along with 1500 other kids!!!

During this week we were hosted by another family that lives in Houston, together with two other kids who had come for the Maccabiah games.  The family was so sweet and thoughtful, we became really close with the other kids and felt like siblings for a week.

When I think back to that week, I just remember a time of total, endless fun!!!
The week went by so fast, and the experience was so different from the one we had in Omaha, and so exciting!  We met so many kids our age, and with all the adrenalin of the dance performances we were in total ecstasy!  But what amazed us the most, ultimately, were the huge and very impressive parties that we had at the end of each day.

So many nice kids, with good music and dancing, made each day a perfect experience!!
Another experience that we had there was winning competitions; we were very successful and that made us very happy, but it was like a drop in the bucket compared with all our other experiences.

We still can't believe it's over, that we might never see "our families" and all our friends again, and that we'll never again have "the most amazing experience of our lives…"

Our thanks to the wonderful families who hosted us with so much love, huge thanks to Estie who was there for us whenever a problem came up, thanks to Heidi who was responsible for the entire trip, and, of course, to our parents.