Alex demonstrates his excitement for Israel.

My new family and I made our way down the cracked sidewalks of Bat Yam, heading toward our new home. Our madricha (female counselor) was telling us about our apartment. “It’s on the fourth floor,” she said. My longtime friend and now roommate, Jonathan, blurted out, “That’s going to be so annoying to get to on Shabbat when we can’t take the elevator.” She paused and then said: “It’s going to be so annoying every day. You don’t have an elevator.”

Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore.           

As if that weren’t enough to prove to ourselves our spoiled American-ness, the next few days of excruciating heat, broken air conditioners and showers, tired feet and strange food would certainly do the trick.

Fast forward a few more days and we’re finally starting our volunteering assignments. I was assigned to work at a local elementary school and I was cautiously excited. I got to the school and was immediately bombarded by what seemed like a thousand sixth-graders asking a thousand questions in Hebrew. I can speak some Hebrew and I’m always looking to improve, so I decided to engage them.

They wanted to know how old I was, so I told them 18. They asked why I wasn’t in the army. Uh oh, now we’re getting into murkier territory. I said that I wasn’t from Israel—I was from the United States (can you say, “Duh?”). They were confused. “There’s no army in the U.S.?” I explained that there was a military, but that I didn’t have to enlist. Their next question left me completely flabbergasted: “So there aren’t wars in America?” All I could muster was, “There are, but it isn’t the same as in Israel.”

Never have I spoken truer words. Israel isn’t the same as the United States. This goes for the political situation and so much more. I think that’s what has made the last few weeks here so interesting and fun. Every single detail of our cultures is different. Our ketchup is their hummus. My madrichim (counselors) and I are still struggling to understand each other’s worlds. This cultural barrier reaches so much further than merely language. Slowly but surely, though, we’re beginning to “get it.”

I love my life back in the States, but I was there for 18 years, which is no short time. A friend and I recently realized that by the end of our year here, we will have spent over 5 percent of our lives in Israel. That may not seem like a big deal, but for a kid who spent his entire life in the same small town in New Jersey, it is.

I had been to Israel before, but never like this. The family vacations I went on here didn’t involve much travel and mostly consisted of spending time with family members who speak fluent English. I was here two years ago for a summer teen tour, but our counselors did most of the legwork for us. If we needed to speak to a store owner, they would be our translators. Not so on Year Course.

My roommates and I found ourselves in a predicament the first time we did our grocery shopping. You see, we hadn’t thought of how to get all of our groceries home. We ran into our madrich (male counselor) and asked him to speak to a cab driver for us. His response? “No way. You do it.” We did and, trust me, talking to cabbies in broken Hebrew ain’t easy.

We are definitely not in Kansas anymore. We have completely left our comfort zones. Nothing here is going to be easy. Volunteering has been and will continue to be a challenge. Our ulpan (intensive Hebrew study) is difficult. Taking the bus and dealing with our neighbors is hard work. But this is what we signed up for. The way I see it, college would have been easy; this isn’t. But all these challenges are what’s helping us discover what this wonderful country has to offer.

I absolutely love learning about this whole new world, and I can’t wait to see what the coming months hold—even if we do have to walk up four flights of stairs every day.

Alex Baskin hails from Highland Park, N.J. He graduated from the Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School. He enjoys chillin’ with his homies and throwing around a Frisbee. His friends say he argues too much, but he completely disagrees. Alex will be attending Tufts University next year.