Meet Me, the Communications Specialist!

This morning, the Bogrim (post-ninth graders) were up and at it as soon as the rest of camp (machaneh) woke up. Can you guess what for? If you said, packing for tiyul, a hiking trip, then you'd be correct! The rest of machaneh, however, took their time making their way to the flag pole (toren) this morning.

Happy Amelot after lunch.

By 8:30 though, everyone was there and we raised the flags. Today during ivrit shimushit, the skit to teach the useful Hebrew word of the day. The word of the day was chizar, which means "alien," which is also the persona of one of the counselors (madrichim) who preforms the skit each day. After ivrit shimushit ended, we all walked down to the dining hall (chadar ochel) for breakfast. This morning, we had scrambled eggs with cheese on top, as well as cereal and yogurt options. Then, everyone split off into the groups for their chores (avodot)! After about half an hour of avoda, the chanichim had time to clean up their cabin (tzrif) before it was time for their age group discussions (peulot). Today, each age group (shichva) was in a different place than they were yesterday. The Amelim (post-third and fourth graders) were in the Moadon, or the "clubhouse," writing messages to each other and drawing pictures. The Chotrim (post-fifth graders) were in the Mini-Mo (which is somewhat of a mini-moadon), talking about Judaism and eating fruit. The Sayarim (post-sixth graders) were at the pool today for instructional swim. When I arrived, they were using kick boards to swim across the pool. The Tzophim (post-seventh graders) were in the refet, or "barn" (it's not really a barn though-we don't have animals living there or hay on the ground!). The Bonim were in the chadar ochel, playing games before beginning a more serious conversation about their kvutsa (small, united community).

A Bonim boy with a Tzophot girl after playing sports during chofesh.

 The Bogrim, of course, were not here today, but I'm sure that they are having a blast hiking and camping somewhere in the Poconos. I can only hope that it won't rain on them, because outside my window the outlook is not promising. Earlier today, however, the weather was perfect, especially for sports, which happened right after the peulot came to an end. It was so warm during sports, in fact, that a (delightfully) overwhelming amount of chanichim participated in free swim today. Free swim has always been a particularly fun part of machaneh, in my opinion, so it was great seeing the surge of kids who were interested in it today. When free swim came to an end, everyone had a chance to wash up before lunch, which was, *drumroll please,* latkes!
How can one attend a Jewish summer camp and not like latkes, am I right? Truth be told, actually, I never would have eaten them my first summer at machaneh (picky eater, what can you do). Along with the latkes, we had green beans, applesauce, and a salad bar. When lunch concluded, everyone spread out around machaneh to enjoy some rest time (menucha). I walked around and saw many different things going on at once. First of all, menucha is usually when the chanichim get their mail, so those who received letters, emails or packages were very excited to see what they said. Other things happening at that time included basketball games, a soccer game, the use of musical instruments, and a few frisbee catches too. Menucha transitioned into electives (chugim) after a little while.

The yoga circle during sports.

Today, some of the chanichim visited the art room (beit omanut), while others played in the new sand on the volleyball court. The second set of peulot for the day came after chugim, and many of the age groups (schavot) continued with the same conversations that they had begun earlier in the day, except of course the Sayarim did not go back down to the pool, but started a new peula instead. Kibud (snack time) came next. Apples can usually be expected during kibud, which isn't a bad thing because they are always crisp and cold when we get them. In a little while, everyone will come together again to sing and lower the flags for the evening. Then, we'll head down to dinner. Last night, we had lasagna, so I wonder what tonight will be! After dinner, there will be some free time (chofesh) before the evening activity, tochnit erev! I was invited to hang out with the Tzophim tonight during their tochnit erev, which will include getting into pijamas and playing board games all together, so that's what I'll be doing!

Me (right) with the second session Comm. Specialist!

Also, before I forget, I haven't introduced myself yet! My name is Eve Haklay, and this is my first year working on tzevet, however it is my seventh summer at Galil. I have five other family members at machaneh this summer, which makes us the biggest family currently here! I just graduated high school, and next year I'll be going on Habonim Dror's nine month program to Irsael, called Workshop. After that, I plan on going to college (although I don't know which one yet) and then eventually going to med school. I will not be the Communications Specialist (blog writer and photo taker) during second session, instead I will be a madricha. I plan on working at Galil for many years to come, and maybe one day I will run it, like my dad and my grandpa both did when they were younger.
Anyway, I'll wrap this up so you all don't have to read pages and pages about who I am, because what happens at machaneh is way more interesting. Thank you all for reading, make sure to check out a new update tomorrow!