It's been a trying few days leading up to Poland. Yesterday we watched "The Pianist" and went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum. Feelings were already triggered from those 2 things so far. This week is going to suck in both a good and bad way. It'll also be incredible memorable and apparently even life changing, but what on this program isn't? We're leaving tomorrow morning at 2 AM and going to Warsaw, Krakow, and Majdanek over the next 5 days to see the concentration camps and have different ceremonies at each. Wish us luck!

L'heat

So things didn't go exactly as planned on Tuesday due to the מזג אויר (weather) and we only found out minutes before we were suppose to leave that we were not going to go to Tel Aviv beach. This pissed off some people not just because we were weren't going to the beach, but because people had spent the majority of the morning deciding which bathing suit looked best.

But there was no need to fret, we had a good old יום ספורט (Sports Day) and each JHIST CLASS competed against each other doing different maccabia games. There was wheelbarrel racing, ultimate frisbee, balloon popping, passing balloons covered in vasaline, you know, the classics.

Of course who be better to win יום ספורט than David Adom's class! 1st prize was a Jewish star medal, glory, and first in line to get lunch. I'd like to thank the academy...

Afterwards we took a good hour long bus ride to Tel Aviv. We walked along the port, getting soaked by the waves and eating from our chocolate syringes that we got from Max Brenner's. All in all, not such a shabby day!

A week has passed, I'm a little older, I'm a little wiser...

These previous days have been hectic with homework, tiyulim, midterms, new roomates, papers, IT JUST NEVER ENDS! We've been studying the types of Zionism in JHIST which led us to a trip to a museum, Kibbutz Kineret to visit the graveyard of famous zionists including Naomi Shemer who wrote "Yerushalim Shel Zahav," and Israel's famous date store. We went absolutely nuts at that store, dates this dates that. I kid you not when I say everyone had tamar fever! Where do we go to study cultural zionism but the modern, cultural city of Tel Aviv the next day. We journeyed to Independence Hall where Israel was born and from there, continued to be tourists and spend money at the Shuk (market). So zionist, I know.

Today is Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day) and it's much more meaningful here than say, oh, I don't know, the US! We've gone to several ceremonies and heard many stories of fallen soldiers in battle. One vivid ceremony that'll stick with me forever was going to the Kotel along with half of Israel to hear  the President speak and see soldiers salute him. I could see tears streaming down people's faces as Hatikvah was sung. Tomorrow will be a better day as we retreat back to Tel Aviviviviv to have an "Al Aish" or BBQ on the beach as we celebrate Yom Hatzmaoot! Aka another Israel snow day: No school.

L'heat!

Yams and Lambs

When your first Israeli Passover seder involves you reading hebrew like a kindergardener from a feminist Hagadah, YOU'RE GONNA HAVE A GOOD TIME!

If you're a former Mosh camper from OSRUI and have gone on Yam L'Yam, you and I both know that it's a complete Joke. Sure there are beautiful views along the trails, and the seas are fun to take a dip in, but you don't actually start from the Kineret, and you bike the last part, which with 85 people going 0.2 mph is so completely frustrating. Along the way, we slept on rocks, but with mats and in tents that were setup for us. We carried backpacks weighing less than 15 lbs. Sure we made our own food on the road, but at camp it was all matzah and chocolate. Now, I dont if you know anything about matzah besides the fact that it tastes like crap, but it's worse for you than bread, and does certain things to your digestive system that is making Tzuba this week a very stinky place. Our tour guide was pretty chill. I wont tell you his name, but our cheer was SHARK BAIT HOO HAHA and.... we found him.....  Idea you can get from my tales: If you come to Israel for an extended period time, do Yam L'Yam, you get a certificate at the end.

I spent 2 days after Yam L'Yam in Haifa shopping around Druze villages and being stuffed into a room with 7 other girls with a desperate need to shower but only given cold water. I guess you could say I'm pretty happy to be back at Tzuba where there's real food, showers, and mattresses.