DAD, Leadeship Week, Shabbat

Wow I haven't written in a really long time. I'll do the best I can to recount the past 17 days.

Thursday night, March 5th:
Idan Raichel Project concert in Jerusalem. The concert was fun, but there were too many people there so I was a little overwhelmed. Plus I only know two songs by them, so I was just waiting and waiting for them to play those. Then, about half an hour after dad was supposed to take off, he called and said his flight was delayed. Then he said he was taking off. Then he said his flight was cancelled. I cried. I waited and waited for him to tell me when his new flight was, and then the concert ended and I got a sandwich at Shnitzi's and went back to Misha's cousin's apartment to sleep, and dad still did not know when his new flight would be. I was so worried that he would not make it in time for shabbat. I went to sleep very sad.

Friday, March 6th:
What a day. I woke up really early and had a message from dad saying that his flight had taken off and that he would be landing at about 2 p.m. I had originally planned on going to the shuk and getting ready for shabbat with my dad (he was originally supposed to land at 6:40 a.m.), but instead I went to the shuk with Jake, got food for shabbat dinner and lunch, checked into the hotel room and put all the food in the fridge, took a bus to the central bus station, took another bus to near the airport, took a shuttle to the terminal, and then went into the airport just in time to see my dad walk out of the doors from security. Perfect timing. We both cried. We hopped on a sheirut back to Jerusalem, just in time to shower quickly, get dressed, and go to Shirah Chadasha for Kabbalat Shabbat. We came back and ate shabbat dinner in our hotel room with two of my friends, David and Laura. We went to bed pretty early.

Saturday, March 7th:
We slept kind of late, and then at 11 we went on a free tour of Jerusalem. It was 4 hours long, and was not a very Jewish tour. We got to walk the 14 Stations of the Cross, and visit countless sites in all 4 quarters. It was pretty fun but extremely tiring. We came back to the hotel room, ate lunch, and took naps. When we woke up shabbos was just ending, so we walked around Ben Yehuda Street for a little and then took a taxi to the central bus station (dad had a lot of luggage) to catch a bus to Yerucham. About 90% of the Nativers from Yerucham were on the bus, so it was fun. We got back and went right to the hostel and went to bed.

Sunday, March 8th:
Because the gan kids had off Monday March 9th for the Fast of Esther and Tuesday March 10th for actual Purim, March 8th was Purim in the gan. I dressed as a hula girl, dad dressed as a hippie, and my gan kids dressed as everything from policemen to moshe rabeinu to princesses to the monster from scream to indians to robin hood/peter pan. What a great day. After gan we rested for a little, then went grocery shopping, and then dad cooked dinner in my apartment for all of the Yerucham Nativ girls, staff, and Jake and Berdugo: Meat, Rice, and Peas. It took us almost 2 hours to cook. We needed a lot of food. Other people brought salad and desert, so it was great. Everyone loved it and even though it was really squished in our apartment, it was a lot of fun.

Monday, March 9th:
We didn't have much of a plan for this day except for it being Erev Purim, so on a whim, dad, Jake, Misha, Kesha, Kari and I decided to go to Be'er Sheva for a little for a Purim carnival. No bus to Be'er Sheva ever came, so instead we hopped on a bus to Dimona. None of us had ever been to Dimona before (except Jake because he gets MDA calls there). We walked around what little shopping they had, and got a yummy lunch of falafal/shwarma/shnitzel. Everyone was happy. We got back to Yerucham in time to get into costume and go to Kibbutz for Megillah Reading. My friend Michelle and I were Siamese twins. My dad was a hippie again. There were a lot of great costumes. Megillah reading was fun! Then we had a BBQ dinner and DJ dance party. That night I also found out that I was chosen to staff USY on Wheels this summer!!

Tuesday, March 10th:
Yom Nativ. We all went to services in costume. This time I was Tiger Lilly. We spent the morning making humentashen and mishloach manot for our bosses/neighbors/host families/whoever (I had already made mine but some people did not). It was fun. We ate lunch at some meat place, and then played a game where each group had to make a skit to try and make Beinart and Eyal laugh and spit water out of their mouths. It was very silly. After the skits, Jake and I delivered my mishloach manot by bike (we borrowed bikes from Beinart and Eyal), and then had pizza dinner with my dad.

Wednesday, March 11th:
Woke up pretty early, took a bus to Jerusalem, took a taxi, and then picked up our rental car. We parked the rental car and walked around Jerusalem for a little, had lunch at Sambooki, and then drove about an hour and a half to Nazareth!!! We went to a small place called Nazareth Village, a living farm to show us how life was when Jesus lived there. It was so much fun!! We learned all about how to press olives and squish grapes and herd sheep and pick wheat and spin wool into yarn and make yarn into blankets and how to use tools from the time of Jesus. There was a small synagogue in Nazareth Village. We happened to be in a tour with a Christian group, so when we finished hearing about the synagogue and how Jesus was Jewish, the leader asked if we could please sing a hymn. We sang Amazing Grace. It was beautiful. I was hysterical (I held it in, don't worry... okay I may have sang along a little). The tour ended with our guide giving us each a free oil lamp to remind us that Jesus is the light of our lives and if we walk in his path we shall never walk in darkness. It was very special and moving. We then continued driving to our hostel in Beit She'an, got dinner and walked around the mall there, and then went to sleep.

Thursday, March 12th:
Thursday morning we woke up, ate free breakfast at our hostel, and then drove to Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek, where dad lived during the summers of 1974 and 1975. What a day!! It was so much fun seeing the kibbutz and meeting people dad knew when he lived there. It's also really cool because it's one of the only legitimate socialist kibbutzim left in Israel. They kind of cheat though, because they get their money from their plastic factory which is now an international company with a contract with John Deere, which has something to do with farming. But still cool. And beautiful. After Mishmar HaEmek we drove to Kiryat Ono to meet with someone having to do with my dad's work. Then we walked around the mall there and saw The Reader. It was in English with Hebrew subtitles. My dad was very surprised when there was an intermission. Then we drove back and went to sleep.

Friday, March 13th:
Friday we drove back to Jerusalem, parked the rental car and walked around for a little, returned the rental car, took a taxi to the central bus station, and then took a bus to Ma'ale HaChamisha to spend Shabbat with Nativ.

Saturday, March 14th:
Shabbat with Nativ was a lot of fun, and the food at the hotel was great. There was also a swimming pool with a hot tub. Saturday night we had a really, really fun karayoke party.

Sunday, March 15th:
We took a bus back into Jerusalem, put our stuff down at Agron where we would be staying for the night, and then went to the shuk and had lunch at a delicious, very Israeli meat restaurant near the shuk called Sima's. We rested for a little, walked around the center of the city, and then ate dinner at Shnitzi's. After dinner we tried to watch Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but we were both falling asleep, so we went to bed.

Monday, March 16th:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY/bye bye daddy :(. What a terrible day. I had to say goodbye to my dad at 6:55 a.m. when his sheirut came to take him to the airport. Sunday and Monday I had some sessions for Leadership Week. Here are the ones I went to: Games in Hadracha with Mark Lazar, Being a Role Model with Eyal, Hollywood Leadership with Tanya, and Laughing as a Way of Life with Elkana. They were all pretty fun.

Tuesday, March 17th:
We left Jerusalem and drove to Nahal Benyamin to play some navigation games and play on a ropes course (it was all about teamwork/leadership). We cooked our own BBQ lunch there. Then we drove to Kibbutz Hannaton where we slept that night as well as Wednesday night.

Wednesday, March 18th:
We drove to a kibbutz called Lochamei HaGhetto. We learned all about leadership in the Holocaust. I was pretty bored. Then we drove back to Kibbutz Hannaton for dinner. After dinner is where it got interesting. The Ultimate Fighting began around 9 p.m. It included both Nativers and staff members. There must have been about 50 wrestling matches. It was extremely fun to watch. No one got too hurt. I originally did not want to fight, but then I remembered that a bunch of boys one time thought my friend Michelle could take me when I believed I could take her. So I fought her. And I beat her. Then I fought my friend Leah who plays rugby. I beat her too. I was the best girl fighter that night. I hurt my ankle a little though, not too bad.

Thursday, March 19th:
Woke up with a fever. And pretty achey. We left Hannaton and drove to IDC Herzilya for the day. We learned about the school, ate lunch, had a session on terrorism with the president of the international school there, and then had a session with Jules Gutin on Conservative Judaism. I hung out with some friends I know who go there. Still feeling horribly sick, I got on the bus to go back to Yerucham for shabbat.

Friday, March 20th:
Woke up not feeling well, and then I fainted. Spent the day in bed.

Saturday, March 21st:
Woke up not feeling well, didn't faint this time (thank goodness), and spent the day mostly in bed. I walked over to the girl's house for potluck lunch to get some fresh air, and then got back in bed.

Today:
No fever, but still lightheaded and achy. I didn't go to gan today. I think I'm going to try and go tomorrow, at least for half a day.

That's about it! Wow that took a long time to type. Since I wrote all that, can someone please comment? Thank you :)

-Sarah