It all began two years ago, when Jennifer spent time in Israel as an intern with the Career Israel program. The program took all the participants to a weekend seminar at Ein Gedi (by the Dead Sea) in order to facilitate discussions with Israeli university students. Yoni happened to be one of the participating Israelis. When Jen heard Yoni speaking in French, she got very excited to find someone with whom she could speak in French and said: “Salut, je m’appelle Jenny et moi aussi je parle francais!” They began talking, continued until 4 am that morning, and haven’t stopped since…Exploring the Israeli-American relationship on the academic and personal level
When Jen had to leave Israel to begin her masters in International Relations, she and Yoni decided to do everything to make their relationship succeed long-distance, while planning how to be in the same location in the future. This resulted in lots of long-distance flights (Mark, you are our hero!), a very full passport, and hours and hours on the phone…
We did it!
After one year and nine months together, spending lots of time in both Israel and the States, Jen was in Israel during her winter break from school. She flew to Tunisia for a school research project, and Yoni spent the week she was away looking for something special… When she came back, they had a full 24 hours together before Jen had to again return to DC to complete her last semester. They decided to go to all their favorite places in Tel Aviv. So after eating Yemenite soup in Kerem haTeimanim, they took a walk on the beach. It was cold and rainy, but Yoni wanted to keep walking and walking and walking…. Finally, he told her he had a “1 year and nine month anniversary present,” and said many other beautiful things that both of us no longer remember, but most importantly, he ended with offering her a ring!
