Shalom everyone,
Boy, has it been a busy few days! While the first part of our trip has been dedicated to touring, these past few days we’ve been working more with the Israeli community. On Sunday, we visited The Jaffa Institute, an educational facility for Jewish children under the poverty line. We played sports and talked to the children… Even though we didn’t speak the same language, we all felt a connection to them and we left with many new friends. Afterwards, we visited a museum that simulated the experience of being blind–the rooms were entirely dark and we were forced to rely on touch, smell and sound to find our way. After dinner that night, we attended a lecture by Israeli economics researcher Assaf Luxembourg, who explained to us the reasoning behind Israel’s important place on the entrepreneurial map of the world. Yesterday we again began with some volunteer work, this time spending a few hours with children in the care facility at Save A Child’s Heart, the organization which we will be raising money for on our bike race later (everyone should donate!!) It was so fun meeting kids who can remain so optimistic and have so much hope even in the face of congenial heart disease. Afterwards, we met up with our favorite tour guide Kayla, who gave us a tour of an old kibbutz harboring a bullet factory, which was used by the Israelis to defend themselves during the British occupation pre-1948. After we were able to shop around the shook and enjoy some delicious falafel. Eating authentic Israeli cuisine did not stop there – we had shakshuka and lamb and chicken kebab for dinner. For evening activity we were visited by Puzzle Time Israel. We split up into teams and solved a series of challenging puzzles, a great work out for our brain. http://www.campmicah.com/a-busy-but-fun-week-in-tel-aviv/Overall, we have been so busy exploring Tel Aviv and trying new activities that we never thought we’d ever be able to do. Can’t wait to embark on our next chapter of Micah In Israel 2015.
We miss you so much!!
shalom,
Noah and Joelle