DONKEY RIDING, PITA BAKING, KIBBUTZ LAVI, AND ANOTHER GREAT WATER HIKE! by Adam Rosenblatt
Awesome day with advisors, activities, and the great state of Israel!
It was such a blast having the opportunity of riding on a donkey… I never felt so connected to my heritage. The water hike was superb fun, the whole group broke into a water fight which was exhilarating! The pita baking was so interesting because I never actually knew how to make pita… NOW I DO!
And, at the end of the day, we switched to a new hotel – The Kibbutz Lavi Hotel – which had awesome food, an awesome basketball court and really nice rooms.
Safe to say its was an incredible day worth every moment.
A Really, Really Nice Shabbat
This weekend we had a great Shabbat experience at Savyonei HaGalil!
Shabbat began with kabbalat Shabbat outside, overlooking the mountains, then we headed over to the dining room for a great Shabbat dinner. Then we had an outdoor oneg with snacks, some singing, and a lot of chilling.
Shabbat morning was a really unique experience – one that you could only get in Israel! A big Sephardi family from Ashdod was staying at our hotel for their son’s Bar Mitzvah. They invited us to take part in their simcha and sing, dance, and even throw candy with them! It was very nice to be able to connect to our fellow Jews in a way that most of our teens have not been able to before!
As Shabbat came to a close, we once again sat outside in a circle and ebbed Shabbat away with songs and inspiration, then had a great havdalah, overlooking the mountains, with Hal on guitar. We sang, we danced, then we topped off our day with some motzei Shabbos ice skating at the Canada Center!
CELEB GUEST BLOGGER: ALYSSA FUCHS #ICE #AWESOME!
Wow! What an amazing start to the BEST. SUMMER. EVER.!
Today we went to Schytopolis, the ancient ruins in Beit She’an National Park, and saw how they lived back then. I must say, it was much different than how we live today – props to them for making it work. #notechnology #whaaaat?!
Afterwards, we went on the COOLEST. WATER HIKE. EVER. Being 5 feet tall it was a struggle, but that’s what swimming lessons as a child were for! With the help of Hal and my new friends, I conquered my fear and went down the water slide. Lastly we finished the day with a refreshing canoe trip down the Jordan River. That was awesome. My friends and I were flipped out of our canoe, so we did what all teenage girls would do, started screaming… #iknowyoujustlaughed
When we got back to our hotel we had dinner and an awesome night activity. I cant wait for all the exciting things to come!
Celebrity Blogger: Jonny Zughaft. ANOTHER CRAZY AMAZING DAY!
Another amazing day!!
Tons of exciting activities happened, like we hiked and splashed though the Majarassa River and had a blast! It was a great, wet time – can’t get better! Actually, it did!
We went repelling down a 50 foot tall cliff… BUT it wasn’t too scary. Then, to make the day even better, we went horse back riding. The thrill of our rides were crazy crazy, I say!
Yes, and after, the food was crazy delicious – a BBQ at the horse ranch! An amazing tasting thing – can’t wait for what may happen next time!
BEST. NIGHT ACTIVITY. EVER.
The NCSYers played a night activity that we like to call “Scavengar Stunt,” which is basically a scavenger hunt… only with a few twists!
The players had to find items, solve riddles, and complete challenges, BUT, there was more –
Some players had their hands cuffed to each other, some players could only “moo” or “cluck” the entire game, some became the “Earl of Manchester,” and could only speak in a British accent the entire game, and at any point in time, an unsuspecting NCSYer could be given an “impromptu challenge” for bonus points, which included things like demonstrating what it means to be a water fountain through interpretive dance and humming their favorite tune with a mouth full of lollypops!
The winning team would get an ice cream party one night after curfew… who will win? You’ll have to log back in and see!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ARYEH AND REBECCA STEINFELD!!!!
Wishing a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Aryeh and Rebecca Steinfeld! We had a little birthday party tonight to celebrate and are looking forward to a great four weeks together! You guys and everyone else are AMAZING and have been making this totally the BEST.SUMMER.EVER!!!
What a First Day!
What a first day for that 2014 icicles! After a restful and relaxing (yeah right!) plane ride, we battled jet lag and set on our journey!
Our first stop was a BEAUTIFUL look out point over the Kinneret, where we made a LeChaim to our journey on some of Israel’s finest grape juice. We then took in the beautiful view and headed riverside for barbecue where we found aravot – the kind that we use in our lulav growing naturally. After a great first day, we now settle into our hotel for a little (but not too much) well deserved R&R to refresh for tomorrow!
THE ICICLES HAVE LANDED!
Hey Everyone!
The 2014 Icicles have landed at Ben Gurion Airport and are PUMPED for an amazing day!!!
More updates coming soon – keep following the blog for more!
KNOW YOUR STAFF: DIRECTOR AND CROWN PRINCE OF THE ICE KINGDOM, HAL LEVY!!!!!!!!!!
Hey Everyone!
CONGRATS TO CALIL, OUR FINAL CONTEST WINNER!!
Congrats!
To Calil from Cali on winning our final “Getting to know you” contest on the facebook group… he is the raffle winner of a very precious “Get out of curfew free” card, which our amazing director Hal Levy totally agreed to before I made it the prize… hehe… 😉
We are lookin’ forward to meeting everyone tomorrow!!!