Throughout our Israeli trip, each one of us has seen so many unique people and places. There is no way to recreate once-in-a-lifetime experiences. This afternoon, Assael Romanelli had the difficult job of teaching our group how to explain our personal stories and visits to friends and family back in America.
Our previous session with Assael was only the second day of our 10 day trip and now, our meeting on the last day shows our new knowledge and connection to Israel. Today, Assael Romanelli started by asking, “How can you portray your story?” There are four different levels of a story: hyper-conscious (the message), conscious, (the details), subconscious (the feelings), and archetype(the essence when the speaker is able to resonate with others). We created the memories and have the stories, and now we can use them to engage others and connect Israel to America.
After warm-up activities of stating our names and feelings after a long morning at Yad Vashem, we made five “teams”. These groups allowed each person to improvise and recreate another American’s story from the past few days. These planned stories are good practice, but real conversations are not prepared and not the main goal of the ICNext program.
One amazing conversation with an Israeli family at the Kotel or a smile to a child on a Kibbutz does not have as much importance as one shared with everybody. After thinking back on our trip, and most especially on the activity with Assael, I have learned to express myself more and really interact with strangers to learn more about them. Pictures capture the scene, but memories and conversations make the setting come to life with relatable ideas.
In the upcoming year, each member of our group will use the techniques learned today to share their stories and memories with people in Cleveland. Hopefully, more Americans will be able to feel a similar connection to the land everybody has come to love from our trip.