Well Machatz enters its first full day with a wide range of activities that transpired on our 8 Kibbutzim. In order to help you all better locate where the MBIers are now or at other times in the program I have found an even better map website where you can even search for places and cities. I have listed the website on the right side but I will put it here as well: http://www.atlasct.com/global/israelenglish/. The site uses transliteration for many city names and occasionally is not the same English spelling that you or I might be used to. Hopefully between these maps and the blog you should be able to keep pretty good tabs on where your MBIer is throughout the program.
As I started mentioning, the MBIers activities today were quite varied. First off most of the Kibbutzim have host families for the MBIers which definitely adds a special dimension to their experience. Today, for many of the MBIers, was their chance to do some avodah(work) for the Kibbutz they are staying on. One project today on one of the Kibbutzim involved working in the orchards doing fruit picking. Another group worked in a vineyard planting and working with the vines and grapes. One of the groups even got to plant trees for their Kibbutz.
One of the groups woke up from sleeping out and completed their hike of Nahal Yehudiya, which has beautiful trails and has five small rivers that each lead to waterfalls. It is located in the heart of the Golan Heights and is a great place to spend a day in nature. Another group is heading out to a different Kinneret beach to sleep outside with the Kibbutzniks their age and prepare for their own hike in the morning.
Another group got a full tour of their Kibbutz and got an in depth look at the history and changes that their Kibbutz had undergone. One of the groups got a treat in taking a field trip to Nazareth and where they walked around the shuk(market) of this beautiful and diverse city. Most groups will be going on their planned tiyul(hike) tomorrow while the groups who have already will be doing many of the activities the other Kibbutzim already have done. Machatz ultimately has been a great time thus far to relax and explore, with time at the pool, get togethers with the Kibbutzniks their age as well as those who have host families, and some time to soak in and reflect on their MBI and Kibbutz experience.
Tomorrow I hope to have more Kibbutz specific updates as the MBIers will be more settled and while Leon will be continuing his daily travels, he'll hopefully have some more updates specific to each Kibbutz. Leon during Machatz will be travelling around to all the Kibbutzim to check in on all the groups and make sure everything is going well. He has done a lot of driving in the past two days and has several more days of driving ahead of him but he was in good spirits and it seemed to him that MBIers were really having fun on their individual Kibbutzim.
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2 comments:
Michael, thanks for the great info this blog provides. It really enhances my picture of what the mbi-ers are up to. Speaking of "picture", could you post some photos to complement the wonderful text you're providing us?
Michael, I, too want to thank you for the insights provided by your blog postings. I can't imagine that I will get equivalent information from my son. Is it possible to fax in a visitor's permission form if I am able to arrange for my son to visit with friends of mine in the area? Would he be allowed to go to Ramallah?
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