it starts.

“Hey, I’m Daniel. I’m from Asheville North Carolina.”

“Hey, I’m Daniel. I currently live in Asheville North Carolina but originally I’m from Israel”

“Hey, I’m Daniel.  I’m from Israel but I currently live in Asheville North Carolina.”

“Hey I’m Daniel.  I’m from Israel, I just moved to the US a couple of years ago and now I go to UNC Asheville.”

“Hey, I’m Daniel.  Where I’m from?  That’s a tough question, I was born here in the states, but I’ve lived in Israel my whole life.  I just moved back to the states two years ago.  I go to UNC Asheville now. “

In 45 minutes I’m going to go downstairs, to the lobby and meet my new Christian friends for the week.  We’re all going to the holocaust museum together, how appropriate.  At this point what I’m thinking about the most is how to introduce myself.  Usually I would just approach the situation and see what comes out, but on this occasion it also symbolizes what my approach towards this whole conference is going to be.  This is what I must decide in the next, now 35 minutes I have left (it took me a while to decide how to start this post).

The main difference is how much I want to reveal about myself, and how vulnerable I will be through each introduction.   Highlighting my “Israeliness” is bound to get me into some awkward questioning right at the beginning about why I’m here and what my opinions are, which I have chosen to try my best not lie about.  But not mentioning it at a conference that is about “supporting Israel” would be not only overly nonchalant, but would incur further questioning on the other participants part as to why I hadn’t mentioned it earlier.  So it seems like the middle path would probably be the best approach, in which I share my origin but I do it intentionally nonchalantly and try to lay low for the first two days. 

The only problem is that I don’t know how to lay low.

I guess I’ll wing it then.