Tzofim Caravan Show!

After spending a weekend with the 2013 summer delegation of the scouts during one of their seminars, I went to go cheer my new friends on during their farewell show. Soon, they will be leaving for the US and before they do so, the Caravan has a huge performance in Hayarkon Park! So my friends and I went and had an amazing time. We all wore our yearcourse shirts which are very similar to the scout uniforms and at least ten people came up to me asking about my shirt. In the beginning of the show, there was a video and I had a short cameo! The caravan show is and will always be my favorite night of camp and I'm so happy that I got to see them perform in Israel!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jkPwZ2Uif9g#!

The scouts coming to my camp: 

Lag B'omer in Israel!

One of the things that I love most about Israel is the celebration of all of the holidays. Back at home, I definitely do not make a huge effort but in Israel, it's hard to miss! A prime example of this is Lag B'omer. This is the holiday that commemorates the death of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai and in order to remember him,  everyone has a bonfire on this day (to symbolize the light that he shined onto the Jewish people). So that means that literally the whole country was out having bonfires! At the site of the Rabbi's grave, thousands of Orthodox Jews had a HUGE bonfire celebration. As a section, we had a bonfire on the beach and we were not alone. The whole place was packed with tons of bonfires everywhere. The whole city smelled of smoke! Celebrating Lag B'omer in Israel was so fun because I really felt united with the country. Just like me, people all over the country were doing the same exact things!

bonfire gone wrong......(not ours)

Volunteering at Leket!

A group of kids on my section are a part of the Activism track and they work on fundraising and volunteering for victims of terror. They got all of our group an opportunity to volunteer at a food bank called Leket and we went to go pick vegetables that will be distributed to poor families. We came for about an hour and picked enough radishes to feed over 400 families! Go us!

Yaarot Menashe Music Festival!

After a fun night in Beer Sheva for the Glow Run, about 40 yearcoursers from my section and the others went to an awesome music festival called Yaarot Menashe! From Friday to Saturday, we camped out in the woods and listened to awesome music. The festival was located in the north at a kibbutz called Ramot Menashe near Afula. A bunch of us had also attended InD Negev which was back in October, but I enjoyed this one better.
Just the fact that this festival was in a forest was SO cool! The whole area was surrounded by trees and beautiful views of the North. There were three stages so that means that there was always a choice of what band to listen to. I didn't really know most of the music that was playing but it didn't even matter! There were so many different kinds from electronic to rap to rock! And on Friday night, Hadag Nachash performed (my second time seeing them)! I had so much fun hanging out with my friends and even got to see a few camp friends as well. I love the atmosphere at music festivals because everyone there is so chill and just there to have a good time listening to great music.

Hopefully the next music festival I will be at is Coachella 2014 ;)

Beer Sheva Glow Run!

My section on Yearcourse has an activism track that works to support victims of terror in Israel. As a fundraiser, many of us decided to raise money and run/walk in the Beer Sheva Glow Run. I decided to walk the 5K (anyone that knows me would know that I hate running).
We got there and received our nice white shirts. On the back of each shirt was a story of a terror victim and people always stopped us to ask what "Tzeva Kachol" is (the name of the activism campaign). With our "Cranergy" (cranberry energy drink) in hand, we painted our faces in neon colors and spray painted our shirts. Before the race, there was a huge pump up party which was PACKED. Once the race started, I hung out with my crew and we finished the 5K in an hour and ten minutes!!! We then celebrated and danced together at the mini-rave (just kidding). I am so happy to have had the experience to be in a race and I'm happy that I raised money and awareness for a good cause while doing so!

Snorkeling and a beautiful weekend in Haifa!

According to some ancient Jewish tradition, there are certain snails that can be found in the sea that are used to create the blue ink found on Talits. Yearcourse provided us with an opportunity to go snorkeling for these snails at a kibbutz next to Zichron and we all jumped on the chance! So we got to this kibbutz and learned all about the history of these snails. Then they showed us how the dye is made from snails that have already been found. We had to mix the "snail blood" with all of these chemicals and once we soaked the wool and put it in the sun, it became blue. The whole thing felt like a third grade science project....

We then got the chance to go snorkeling to looking for the snails but it is illegal to take them according to Israeli law so we just found them and put them back. It was a gorgeous beach and really nice water to snorkel in though!

After this exciting day, I got a chance to go home with one of the scouts on my program who lives in a beautiful city in the north called Tivon. There, I had a yummy lunch and hung out with her and another scout. She took me to her old scout "shevet" and showed me around and introduced me to all of her friends. We then went to a gorgeous overlook and from the point you can see Afula, Haifa, Alonei Abba and Beit Lechem Haglilit. SO BEAUTIFUL. The north really takes my breath away.

From there, my friend drove me to Haifa where I was staying with some friends at an old counselor's house. We had a lovely Shabbat dinner and then had a girls night out on the town in Haifa! I also got to see a friend from camp this summer who lives in Haifa and that was really fun. The next morning we had brunch on the beach and laid out all day! We then made a stop the the Technion which is the university that my dad went to! I was so excited and made sure to take a picture in front of the architecture building. Yay!!!

Weekend=Success!