July 24th 2007

Well as you read this update you'll notice that it is quite different from what I wrote yesterday about the plans for today. The reason for this is that I told you the plans for tomorrow rather than the plans for today. Somehow Leon and I mixed signals on the days events so I prematurely told you about Wednesday. In any event the day's activities match the planned activities you all have on your itineraries and the description I gave of tomorrow still stands though I will copy and paste it to make everything clear.

So on to the actual activities of today. In the morning the MBIers hiked through Jilabun which is a great hike in Golan Heights. You can see a picture of it above and more are soon to come of the MBIers themselves.(Full Disclosure:The picture is not of the MBIers but from another trip) The hike took a few hours and involves some waterfalls and pools as pictured. It definitely affords the MBIers a chance to escape into nature on this hike and see more of what the country has to offer.

Afterwards they went to Ein(Spring) Tina which is a short water hike. The hike follows the spring to a small pool where the MBIers got a chance to splash around and cool off from the heat. Due to the need to stagger the buses, most the groups afterwards had a siyur(tour) of Rosh Pina. Rosh Pina is a wonderful city in the north situated on the side of the hill the Tzfat(Safed) resides and is lovely artist colony as well location of many bed and breakfasts that Israelis escape to for a weekend vacation. It has great historic connections as one of modern Israel's oldest cities dating back to the first aliyah.

After dinner everyone piled into the buses for a dose of Canadian culture as they head to Mercaz Canada(Canada Centre) which is located near Metulla. It was a fun night as the place has an ice-skating rink, indoor water slides and pool, and it even has a bowling alley. It was a great night to escape the heat and enjoy some good fun as a group.

Tomorrow(for certain) the MBIers will be departing from Tel Hai and heading south a bit with a stop on the morning in Haifa. There they will stop at the Ha'apala(Illegal Immigration) Museum and also get a tour of the Bahai Gardens. They will then head down to Jerusalem for an Israel Experience(our program provider) Mega Event with participants from all their programs in Israel. They will get to meet other participants their age, get see a little bit of the Old City, and as part of the event there will be a concert with the Israeli band Gaia, who sings among other songs Yahad, which is sung at many if not all the Habonim Dror camps.