Shnat Nof 20th January 2017

Ilana Braham  

 This week we met our new Hebrew teacher, Ella, who is helping us fulfil many of our Shnataims of learning Hebrew. As part of our Hebrew this week, Ella showed us around her kibbutz whilst explaining the area in Hebrew. We ended the tour at the kibbutz café where we ordered ice cream, chips, and coffee in Hebrew.

Some people used the weekend to explore other parts of Israel, such as Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Netanya, while others had a relaxing time here in Meona and in the surrounding areas of Nahariya and Tarshiha.

 Following the weekend, we all returned to our respective Jewish volunteering placementson Sunday morning. Those volunteering at the Jewish secondary school ran their activity again in which the children are given an ‘English experience’. This activity went down so well that the volunteers were asked to return the following day to run the activity for a different group of children. Whilst this was being run again on Monday, the rest of us went to the Arab high school. This week we worked in English classes for 10th and 12th grade, having conversations in English to help the students improve their speaking skills.

 Youth at risk is an amazing project that some of us volunteer at once a week. It involves going to a youth club for children of a relatively lower socio economic background who are given a hot meal, help with their homework, and fun activities. For many of us this is themost rewarding part of the week and the children are always excited to see us when we arrive.

 For this week’s tiyul we took a trip to Akko. We aimed to begin the day at the Akko Baha’i gardens but when we arrived we found that on Tuesdays they only opened at 12pm. Amir did not make a fuss and simply switched the order of the day. We instead explored old Akko, the underground tunnels from the crusader city, and the beautiful port. After a picnic lunch we headed back to the Baha’i gardens to enjoy the first hot day we have hadin a while! The gardens were beautiful and we learnt about the Baha’i religion and the significance of the gardens to the Baha’i faith. As it was such a beautiful day we headed down to the beach where some sunbathed and others dipped their toes in the sea.

For tea on the border this week we went to the moshav of our madrich, Amir. After playing football and interacting with the youth of Mitzpe Hila, we were paired off with host families for lovely meals and company. We all met to sikkum this week in the moshav pub, owned by the one and only Amir. This was a lovely end to the week and we are excited for our final two weeks here in the North!