קבוצת 34 | New Beginnings

The new group arrived to Yechiam on March 8. There are three Americans (2 from Jersey, 1 from Manhattan), as well as a guy from Toronto, a girl from Buenos Aires, and a girl from Cape Town, South Africa. They seem nice enough, although I haven't gotten to know anyone particularly well as of yet. For the past week, we've had the standard opening activities: introductions and tours with Oshra and Yariv, sessions with Ofer (Oranim's Director of Long-Term Programs) and Momo (President of Oranim), etc.

I've gotten to know this place with a group of good friends, and it's very strange to be in the same place without those people, and stranger still to have different people occupying the same rooms. But as I mentioned, everyone seems cool and I'm sure we'll get along fine.

Last Wednesday, we took a hike through Nahal Yechiam, the valley adjacent to the kibbutz, and ended up in the village of Klil, on the other side of the valley. Last night, we went to Gaaton (the neighboring kibbutz) to have an "evening of traditional Israeli dancing," which wasn't actually what it was, but that's okay. We were with the new Gaaton MASA group, as well as a group that came all the way from Nitzana, a village way down south, next to Egypt.

Last week, I only had work on Sunday and Monday, because my students went on their טיול שנתי (tiyul shnati) or "annual trip." Each grade went on a three-day trip (four days for 12th grade) to a different place in the country. My 9th graders invited me to go with them to the Judean Desert (including the Dead Sea and Ein Gedi), but I decided to stay home, since the trip was at the very beginning of the new program, and I wanted to be here for their arrival.

This week at Ofek is pretty hectic because of various activities causing canceled classes and other disruptions, but after Thursday, that's it! I have two and a half weeks off for חופש פסח (chofesh pesach), or Passover Vacation! I'm taking a trip, leaving on Thursday and getting back next Tuesday. More details on that later. After that I have two weeks of absolutely nothing, except the kibbutz communal Passover celebration on March 29. Not quite sure how I'll keep myself occupied, but it'll be nice to have a break.

!לילה טוב