Today on the Yahoo group message boards, there was an Israeli student, Yael, who was responding to a Lebanese, Roy. Yael said to Roy:

and yes - i'm from the other side of the fence (Israel) glad to know you're safe and sound...

I was pretty stunned they greeted each other like that, especially using such a casual expression as "the other side of the fence". Even though their countries were at war this summer, and their governments basically would rather that the other didn't exist, the actual normal people of the country do care for each other and want peace. Over here, with nothing to rely on but our news outlets, we get no representation of the average people there, only the inflammatory declarations from their governments.
I just wanted to write about this one remark. Just hearing this has given me even more confidence and positive expectation about this program. I can't wait to meet so many international people.