First Shabbat in the Holy Land

This weekend, with it being our first Shabbat and all, we travelled to Ein Geti, which is about an hour and fifteen minutes northeast of where my campus is. About ten minutes from Massada and located on the shore of the Dead Sea, the hostile we stayed at overnight was perfect. The best part of it all for me though was bringing in Shabbat.
Since I was raised in a reformed synagogue I am not exactly familiar with the orthodox movement. I have dovenned a couple of times with my Bubby at a conservative synagogue, but even that is a new experience for me each time. I am used to the singing, the sermons, the room for change each service. And yet, as I sat next to Gali behind the screen that separated me from my male counterparts, I couldn't help but think about how interesting it is that the orthodox movement interprets tradition differently from the modern orthodox movement, the reformed movement, the conservative movement, the kabballah movement, the reconstructionist movement, and so on...
An epiphany: I recognized the prayers though they weren't sung. I knew to stand though no one told me to. I knew to pray silently or pray out loud even though I was not directed to do so.
Without a minyan (ten male Jews needed in order to pray together), it was up to us to welcome in Shabbat individually. And I knew how to do it without any instruction whatsoever.
Which is why I am in love with the new Reform Sidur (prayerbook). Without any "please rise" phrases or "read together" phrases, this particular Sidur leaves room for every service to be different than the one from the previous Shabbat.
Not that I am going to find the Mishkan T'Fillah in Israel. But it just prooves that maybe faith is truly what you interpret it to be and how you carry it out. No one intructed Gali to sit with me for an hour and a half Saturday morning and not only read from the Torah but translate it for me so I can understand either. I mean here she is, an orthodox woman trying to bring in Shabbat, and she is sitting with me to help me bring it in too. How cool!
I couldn't be happier to launch myself into my future filled with culture, tolerance, responsibility, and spirituality. After my first week in Israel I am going to keep my expectation high--apparently these Israelis can meet them.