Last Yom Ragil!

When the camp-wide speaker (romkol) went off this morning at 8:00, there were only a few early risers. Because today is the last normal day (yom ragil) of first session, everyone is pretty worn out. Luckily, we will have one last Shabbat together to relax and send off the four-weekers, as well as refresh the minds of our second session-ers.

Tzophot with two of their madrichot.

Both the chanichim and the rest of staff (tzevet) laughed along as other tzevet members preformed the second to last "helpful Hebrew" (ivrit shimushit) skit of first session. Next session, there will be a different group of (tzevet) members preforming different skits. After that, we all headed down to the dining hall (chadar ochel) for breakfast!

We ate breakfast for a while until it was time for our daily chore (avoda). At 10:45, we started age group activities (peulot). I walked all around camp (machaneh) to take a look at what everyone was doing. When I walked outside, I saw the Tzophim (post-seventh graders) sitting near their cabins (tzrifim), talking about what each of them will be doing next session and next summer. Similarly, the Bonim (post-eighth graders) were speaking about what they will be doing throughout the year and next summer. Next I found the Sayarim (post-sixth graders) in the art room (beit ominut) making arts and crafts, as well as songs and cheers for themselves. The Bogrim were having an important conversation about their responsibilities as the oldest chanichim at camp, as well as the meaning of kvutsa (a small, unified community). The Chotrim (post-fifth graders) were watching a movie together in the Moadon. Lastly I found the Amelim at the pool, doing instructional swim.

Some Sayarim with a Choteret.

After the peulot came to an end, it was time for sports! An hour after sports began, they transitioned into free swim. Some chanichim came to swim, while others chose to use this time to shower or relax before lunch. At 1:20, lunch was called.
The schedule for the rest of the afternoon has been packed (with a mix of fun and seriousness) as it usually is. Everyone had rest time (menucha) for a bit after lunch, which was followed by a fun elective (chugim) of their choice, a small break, and then the second set of peulot for the day. Many of the schavot continued their conversations from earlier, but a few switched things up. For example, the Chotrim were at the pool for instructional swim this time, and the Amelim were taking a scavenger hunt around machaneh. Peulot eventually transitioned into snack time (kibud). Tonight after dinner, our evening activity (tochnit erev) will be called "Howie Learns to Love." For those of you who don't know, Howie is our head of camp (rosh) this summer.

Chanichim at lunch today.

At the beginning of this tochnit, someone will throw water on Howie, who will be playing a robotic version of himself. The result of water being poured on Robot Howie will be that his ability to love has been compromised. The chanichim will go through various stations having to do with either love or robots (the two may seem very unrelated.. but we make it work) until the end, when the Wizard of Oz comes in and tells Howie that he's had the ability to love all along. It will be a very fun tochnit because of how goofy it is, which is a nice way to finish off the last normal day of first session.
So, until tomorrow, shalom and erev tov!