First 2 pics were from the shul in Aco.Last three are taken in Tel Aviv with Dror.
Talk about busy... from beginning to end, Chol Hamoed was a whirlwind of fun activities!!
Sunday night P'ninim took us to the old city to celebrate succos with a Simchat Beit Hashoava on the roof of the Heritage House. There was music, lots of different styles of dancing, and of course- food to feed an army. It took me some time to warm up but in the end we all just let loose and had fun!!! We also had a speaker (and this is for Meyer) who used the Word 'LeMafreah' which, for all you people who don't learn Gemara, means 'retroactively'... and i knew what it meant!!! Overall we had a blast!
On the way back there was so much food left over that every single one of the nearly 50 girls in attendance had to carry a box or pan the 20 minute walk to where the bus was parked. Me and a friend found an easier way than struggling under the weight of our boxes and put them on our heads. We marched through the streets of the old city with conspiritorial smiles and confident steps. An old man even begged to take a picture with us!! lol, we did it and the whole sem was laughing. Right before we left on the bus a man with a little kid asked us if he could have a drink because he was thirsty... there was so much left over that I was able to give him almost a full bottle of fruit juice. Again we all laughed and shrugged... only in Israel.
Monday I went to Tel Aviv to meet my cousins. Dror picked me up from the bus and took me to Yafo, the old city of Tel Aviv, to sightsee. We got to look at all different kinds of cool art and the area itself was beautiful. Dror explained to me that a lot of it was just newly redone in order to attract tourists. We visited the old train station and even got free shwepps flavored bubbly water samples.
When we were no longer able to stand the heat, we went out for lunch. Dror bought me my first Felafel in Isreal. Which was surprisingly good since I really never liked felafel in America. Although everyone did warn me that its better here. For desert we both got 2 gigantic scoops of icecream. :D
After lunch I went with Dror to pick up his two daughters, Hadar and Ohr, from Gan. Hen Col Cach Chamudot! At the Gan we also met up with Karen (Dror's wife) and her sister Anat and then we all went back to their house to hang out. Dror took me to go see Michal for a few minutes at the fancy Salon she works at.
For Supper Chaim and Chava joined us and we ate in the succah. :) After dinner Tante Chava took me to a really fun program called (in english) "Invitation to Silence". It is an hour and a half program to help you understand deaf people and the world they live in. We had to wear headphones and not talk or make noise the whole time. There were about 14 people in the group and we all had to work together to complete tasks and communicate messages to one another. I could talk about the experience from today till tomorrow but i'll suffice it to say that it was a lot of fun and very educational.
Tante Chava drove me to the bus station and even bought me a beautiful white sunhat that I can't wait to wear on the beach!
And so ends my day in Tel Aviv..... Todah Raba L'Tante Chava, Dror, V'Karen Al HaCol!!!! I had a really great day!!! Love you all!
Tuesday the Madrichot (dorm counselors) woke us up at 6:00 am to get ready for a super all day tiyul to Aco!! Fortunetely we had a few hours to sleep on the bus.... unfortunetely it was like trying to sleep in a cheap movie theater seat. Needlesss to say, not much sleep was happening. But its okay because seminary girls don't need sleep... (and this ones for Reuven) 'its part of the brainwashing process' lol.
We stopped breifly for Breakfast and then visited this amazingly beautiful shul in Aco.... some of the decorations were actual silver and gold. They probably spent millions of dollars on it. Then we headed to the docks for lunch. One half of us ate while the other half boarded a speed boat. I was in the second group to go on the boat so naturally it was time to kick up some trouble..... :-P actually it wasn't even my idea. lol
I dont' know what that big metal thing is called... the one that fishermen use to attach a net for catching mass amounts of fish. It swings out into the water from the boat and then back in when they want to bring in the catch. So a few girls were hanging on on of those when it was over the docks, myself included. The tour guide came over and asked who would be brave enough to swing out over the water and jump, naturally I volunteered. And that is just what I did.
The water was really salty but not too deep, and despite my long skirt and knee socks :} i made it easily back to the dock. The weak tour guide wasn't strong enough to pull me up on a rope (no offense to him but i'm really not that heavy...). So I swam under the dock and climbed up from the other side on some rocks. I then took a bow and everyone on the dock cheered.... hehe.
Although the stunt on the dock was my star moment the actual speed boat ride wasn't at all anticlimatic. It was actually a blast. It felt like a roller coaster. The captain told us all to sit up front and then he revved her up to full power which pitched the nose of the boat into the air... hence all of us. Then we'd come crashing down after a huge wave and get soaked.
Afterward we drove 2 hours to our next activity..... Grape Picking. We spent the last half hour until dark picking delicious green grapes. We brought the grapes to a location 10 minutes away and the guide showed us how to make grapejuice... in the dark. Luckily flashlights were on the packing list. A bunch of girls smushed the grapes with their feet in a baby pool but the more sensible girls took the time to do the process by hand. Me, hanving no interest in swimming in sticky grape pulp, didn't join in these activities. Rather I stood by the side taking pictures and laughing at all the funny things that were happening around me. In the end everyone got a little bottle of grapejuice... and I also got to keep my grapes. *Win Win*
On the way to our final destination... the Sand Dunes of Ashdod... the bus discovered that small enough girls can fit in the overhead baggage compartment. So next thing I knew I was being shamelessly stuffed into it. :-) It turned out the be the most comfortable spot on the bus. The girl that had been put into the opposite compartment and I both fell into our first good sleep since the trip started.
(I have pics of this 2 but just so e/o knows what the hold up with pics is.... It's been really complicated working out blogging in general on account of not having my computer. unfortunetly the pic sitch has been a bit frustrating to work with. But I'll get it worked out and have them posted as soon as I can. )
In Ashdod a few girls stayed behind to work the BBQ and the rest of us climbed a huge sand mountain and had a race rolling down it. It turned out to impossible to breath while doing said rolling so we all had to stop a few times on the way to spit sand and take a breath. :D But we made it down alive and then the tour guide told us a cool story from the gemara... which, incidently i don't remember. Then we rejoined forces for the BBQ and finished our evening with a not too long bus ride and cat-fights over the showers. :}
Wednesday I put up the calendar bulliuton board I had been working on for a few days, as per my job in Seminary.
I then did some shopping in the school's hefker room and packed a yom tov bag to bring with me to the Trager's.
Which brings me to Shmini Atzeret....
So I had a thought.... So you know how Chol Hamoed is smushed in the middle of the 2 yomim tovim?? So succos here was kind of like a Whole weat, crunchy peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The Chaggim were thick and yummy like whole weat bread, but chol hamoad had all the action!! lol
Talk about busy... from beginning to end, Chol Hamoed was a whirlwind of fun activities!!
Sunday night P'ninim took us to the old city to celebrate succos with a Simchat Beit Hashoava on the roof of the Heritage House. There was music, lots of different styles of dancing, and of course- food to feed an army. It took me some time to warm up but in the end we all just let loose and had fun!!! We also had a speaker (and this is for Meyer) who used the Word 'LeMafreah' which, for all you people who don't learn Gemara, means 'retroactively'... and i knew what it meant!!! Overall we had a blast!
On the way back there was so much food left over that every single one of the nearly 50 girls in attendance had to carry a box or pan the 20 minute walk to where the bus was parked. Me and a friend found an easier way than struggling under the weight of our boxes and put them on our heads. We marched through the streets of the old city with conspiritorial smiles and confident steps. An old man even begged to take a picture with us!! lol, we did it and the whole sem was laughing. Right before we left on the bus a man with a little kid asked us if he could have a drink because he was thirsty... there was so much left over that I was able to give him almost a full bottle of fruit juice. Again we all laughed and shrugged... only in Israel.
Monday I went to Tel Aviv to meet my cousins. Dror picked me up from the bus and took me to Yafo, the old city of Tel Aviv, to sightsee. We got to look at all different kinds of cool art and the area itself was beautiful. Dror explained to me that a lot of it was just newly redone in order to attract tourists. We visited the old train station and even got free shwepps flavored bubbly water samples.
When we were no longer able to stand the heat, we went out for lunch. Dror bought me my first Felafel in Isreal. Which was surprisingly good since I really never liked felafel in America. Although everyone did warn me that its better here. For desert we both got 2 gigantic scoops of icecream. :D
After lunch I went with Dror to pick up his two daughters, Hadar and Ohr, from Gan. Hen Col Cach Chamudot! At the Gan we also met up with Karen (Dror's wife) and her sister Anat and then we all went back to their house to hang out. Dror took me to go see Michal for a few minutes at the fancy Salon she works at.
For Supper Chaim and Chava joined us and we ate in the succah. :) After dinner Tante Chava took me to a really fun program called (in english) "Invitation to Silence". It is an hour and a half program to help you understand deaf people and the world they live in. We had to wear headphones and not talk or make noise the whole time. There were about 14 people in the group and we all had to work together to complete tasks and communicate messages to one another. I could talk about the experience from today till tomorrow but i'll suffice it to say that it was a lot of fun and very educational.
Tante Chava drove me to the bus station and even bought me a beautiful white sunhat that I can't wait to wear on the beach!
And so ends my day in Tel Aviv..... Todah Raba L'Tante Chava, Dror, V'Karen Al HaCol!!!! I had a really great day!!! Love you all!
Tuesday the Madrichot (dorm counselors) woke us up at 6:00 am to get ready for a super all day tiyul to Aco!! Fortunetely we had a few hours to sleep on the bus.... unfortunetely it was like trying to sleep in a cheap movie theater seat. Needlesss to say, not much sleep was happening. But its okay because seminary girls don't need sleep... (and this ones for Reuven) 'its part of the brainwashing process' lol.
We stopped breifly for Breakfast and then visited this amazingly beautiful shul in Aco.... some of the decorations were actual silver and gold. They probably spent millions of dollars on it. Then we headed to the docks for lunch. One half of us ate while the other half boarded a speed boat. I was in the second group to go on the boat so naturally it was time to kick up some trouble..... :-P actually it wasn't even my idea. lol
I dont' know what that big metal thing is called... the one that fishermen use to attach a net for catching mass amounts of fish. It swings out into the water from the boat and then back in when they want to bring in the catch. So a few girls were hanging on on of those when it was over the docks, myself included. The tour guide came over and asked who would be brave enough to swing out over the water and jump, naturally I volunteered. And that is just what I did.
The water was really salty but not too deep, and despite my long skirt and knee socks :} i made it easily back to the dock. The weak tour guide wasn't strong enough to pull me up on a rope (no offense to him but i'm really not that heavy...). So I swam under the dock and climbed up from the other side on some rocks. I then took a bow and everyone on the dock cheered.... hehe.
Although the stunt on the dock was my star moment the actual speed boat ride wasn't at all anticlimatic. It was actually a blast. It felt like a roller coaster. The captain told us all to sit up front and then he revved her up to full power which pitched the nose of the boat into the air... hence all of us. Then we'd come crashing down after a huge wave and get soaked.
Afterward we drove 2 hours to our next activity..... Grape Picking. We spent the last half hour until dark picking delicious green grapes. We brought the grapes to a location 10 minutes away and the guide showed us how to make grapejuice... in the dark. Luckily flashlights were on the packing list. A bunch of girls smushed the grapes with their feet in a baby pool but the more sensible girls took the time to do the process by hand. Me, hanving no interest in swimming in sticky grape pulp, didn't join in these activities. Rather I stood by the side taking pictures and laughing at all the funny things that were happening around me. In the end everyone got a little bottle of grapejuice... and I also got to keep my grapes. *Win Win*
On the way to our final destination... the Sand Dunes of Ashdod... the bus discovered that small enough girls can fit in the overhead baggage compartment. So next thing I knew I was being shamelessly stuffed into it. :-) It turned out the be the most comfortable spot on the bus. The girl that had been put into the opposite compartment and I both fell into our first good sleep since the trip started.
(I have pics of this 2 but just so e/o knows what the hold up with pics is.... It's been really complicated working out blogging in general on account of not having my computer. unfortunetly the pic sitch has been a bit frustrating to work with. But I'll get it worked out and have them posted as soon as I can. )
In Ashdod a few girls stayed behind to work the BBQ and the rest of us climbed a huge sand mountain and had a race rolling down it. It turned out to impossible to breath while doing said rolling so we all had to stop a few times on the way to spit sand and take a breath. :D But we made it down alive and then the tour guide told us a cool story from the gemara... which, incidently i don't remember. Then we rejoined forces for the BBQ and finished our evening with a not too long bus ride and cat-fights over the showers. :}
Wednesday I put up the calendar bulliuton board I had been working on for a few days, as per my job in Seminary.
I then did some shopping in the school's hefker room and packed a yom tov bag to bring with me to the Trager's.
Which brings me to Shmini Atzeret....
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