I only have 3 songs stuck in my head right now, Comin home (p diddy, feat. dirty money and skylar grey.)Home (michael buble) Home (daughtry). and i put my medley on youtube. link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku57trj4m0M\
overall, I want to thank my parents for giving me the oppurtunity to have this trip, ms. moore for helping me set up this blog, and my friends for being there for me the whole time.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
We are illegal?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
About a month ago we realized that we were staying in Israel for four months and our tourist visa only lasted three months. Once those three months were up we realized we needed to go to the visa office to get them extended. So for about two weeks we did own the title "illegal immigrants." But today, instead of going to camp, we had to go to the visa office to get it extended. The first thing we had to do was get the papers and fill them out before we could go up to the actual person and talk to them. When we went to the person, she asked us if she had called our name, and we said "no, but we're ready" and she said "no, sit back down until I call your name." Later when we got called Jonah and I were sitting in one chair, and dad was sitting in the other but she said we all had to sit down. But my dad said there are only two chairs. So she said "well, then, the children can just go sit in the waiting room." So me and Jonah went back to the waiting room and about ten minutes later our parents were done getting the visas extended. Luckily, we didn't get a fine for being illegal immigrants. And now we're legal.
Before my dad got to go up to the counter, a woman who had come from Ethiopia and was trying to get a visa for her daughter, and my dad was talking to them and found out that they had come here on foot and he helped them fill out the forms. He later took a picture with them:
signed,
Before my dad got to go up to the counter, a woman who had come from Ethiopia and was trying to get a visa for her daughter, and my dad was talking to them and found out that they had come here on foot and he helped them fill out the forms. He later took a picture with them:
signed,
Shabbat on an Israeli Settlement
On our trip as a congregation, we had two tour guides and three kids counselours. Wen have already seen one of the kids counselours, and for shabbat one of the tour guides invited us to come visit his settlement. I don't know very much about how the settlement was made, but here is an article I found online. (just skim it, if its too long)
"Ofra's establishment was part of a struggle between the Gush Emunim settlement movement, which was founded in February 1974, and the Israeli Labor government, which opposed Israeli settlement amid densely populated Palestinian areas. The establishing group first obtained jobs at a nearby military base on Mount Baal Hatsor, then in April 1975 got permission to sleep over in the abandoned barracks of a Jordanian army base, but then brought in their families and raised an Israeli flag. Though opposed by then Prime Minister, Rabin, and perhaps because of his opposition, Ofra was given the political backing by Shimon Peres, then a leading member of Rabin's government. After the Labour Party was defeated by the Likud Party in the 1977 Israeli election, the new government recognized Ofra as a community and paving the way for expansion into the surrounding hills.
Most of the now built-up land in Ofra was non-inhabitable rocky terrain belonging to absentee landlords who controlled much of the territory including that now occupied by nearby Arab villages of Betein (Biblical Bet El), ‘Ein Yabrud (Moslem), Silwad (Moslem), and a-Tayba (Christian). Building is in accordance with a government plan for regional development. Haaretz reports in June 2007 that 179 of the 600 buildings in Ofra are considered illegal by the Israeli administration, a somewhat surprising statistic since the infrastructure was provided by the government, which also provided preferential mortgages."
At about 3:00, Yishay, the tour guide picked us up at our house. When we got there it was about 4:00, a few hours till shabbat, so we just got ready for shabbat, and met the family. His wife is from Canada, so she works in the translation business, English and Hebrew. That night, my dad and I, along with Yishay, went to services.
The next day, we went to services, and after, when we went home and changed, we decided to go to the park. So we played on the structure for a while and then I decided to take a walk by myself. While I was walking a few boys asked me who I was and how old I was, in Hebrew of course, and where I was from, also in Hebrew. I told them my name was Micah, I was 11 years old, and I was from America, but after that they started saying things that were too complicated for me to understand so I had to call my dad who speaks better Hebrew than me. He helped me understand and from there the conversation branched out to music and movies. They like a lot of the same music as me especially the Black Eyed Peas and Akon. But they also like some Hebrew music that I don't know and the few Hebrew songs that I knew, they don't know.
signed,
"Ofra's establishment was part of a struggle between the Gush Emunim settlement movement, which was founded in February 1974, and the Israeli Labor government, which opposed Israeli settlement amid densely populated Palestinian areas. The establishing group first obtained jobs at a nearby military base on Mount Baal Hatsor, then in April 1975 got permission to sleep over in the abandoned barracks of a Jordanian army base, but then brought in their families and raised an Israeli flag. Though opposed by then Prime Minister, Rabin, and perhaps because of his opposition, Ofra was given the political backing by Shimon Peres, then a leading member of Rabin's government. After the Labour Party was defeated by the Likud Party in the 1977 Israeli election, the new government recognized Ofra as a community and paving the way for expansion into the surrounding hills.
Most of the now built-up land in Ofra was non-inhabitable rocky terrain belonging to absentee landlords who controlled much of the territory including that now occupied by nearby Arab villages of Betein (Biblical Bet El), ‘Ein Yabrud (Moslem), Silwad (Moslem), and a-Tayba (Christian). Building is in accordance with a government plan for regional development. Haaretz reports in June 2007 that 179 of the 600 buildings in Ofra are considered illegal by the Israeli administration, a somewhat surprising statistic since the infrastructure was provided by the government, which also provided preferential mortgages."
At about 3:00, Yishay, the tour guide picked us up at our house. When we got there it was about 4:00, a few hours till shabbat, so we just got ready for shabbat, and met the family. His wife is from Canada, so she works in the translation business, English and Hebrew. That night, my dad and I, along with Yishay, went to services.
The next day, we went to services, and after, when we went home and changed, we decided to go to the park. So we played on the structure for a while and then I decided to take a walk by myself. While I was walking a few boys asked me who I was and how old I was, in Hebrew of course, and where I was from, also in Hebrew. I told them my name was Micah, I was 11 years old, and I was from America, but after that they started saying things that were too complicated for me to understand so I had to call my dad who speaks better Hebrew than me. He helped me understand and from there the conversation branched out to music and movies. They like a lot of the same music as me especially the Black Eyed Peas and Akon. But they also like some Hebrew music that I don't know and the few Hebrew songs that I knew, they don't know.
signed,
A GREAT summer camp
In my last post, the worst summer camp EVER, I talked about the first summer camp that I went to for the first two weeks of my summer. This post will be about the summer camp that I am going to currently and will be going to for a total of four weeks.
On my first week there, I had SOOOO much fun playing sports non-stop all day. And I had lots of friends. The sports we play very often are soccer, dodgeball, and basketball. The sports we play sometimes are football, softball, and netball which is also known as handball.
The second week a few of my friends left but a bunch of them stayed. Other than that it was basically the same. Twice a week we go swimming and almost every other day except Tuesday which is trip day, we do slip-n-slide. Slip-n-slide is really fun. Sometimes they try to keep it organized but usually it is a big hullabaloo.
The first week trip day was to the Bank of Israel where we learned and played games involving money and saw a movie about money. The second week we went bowling and they surprised us by, in the middle of a movie, starting color war which at Camp Ramah is called Maccabia. Basically they separate everybody into two teams and the teams play each other in every sport. My team lost in the end but we put up a good fight.
Today is the third day of the third week and tomorrow is trip day except the trip is coming to us so we're going to have a water and bounce houses day.
The camp is called All Star Sports Camp. One of the great things about it is that almost everyone in the whole camp speaks either English and Hebrew or just English. But there are a few kids who only speak Hebrew.
signed,
On my first week there, I had SOOOO much fun playing sports non-stop all day. And I had lots of friends. The sports we play very often are soccer, dodgeball, and basketball. The sports we play sometimes are football, softball, and netball which is also known as handball.
The second week a few of my friends left but a bunch of them stayed. Other than that it was basically the same. Twice a week we go swimming and almost every other day except Tuesday which is trip day, we do slip-n-slide. Slip-n-slide is really fun. Sometimes they try to keep it organized but usually it is a big hullabaloo.
The first week trip day was to the Bank of Israel where we learned and played games involving money and saw a movie about money. The second week we went bowling and they surprised us by, in the middle of a movie, starting color war which at Camp Ramah is called Maccabia. Basically they separate everybody into two teams and the teams play each other in every sport. My team lost in the end but we put up a good fight.
Today is the third day of the third week and tomorrow is trip day except the trip is coming to us so we're going to have a water and bounce houses day.
The camp is called All Star Sports Camp. One of the great things about it is that almost everyone in the whole camp speaks either English and Hebrew or just English. But there are a few kids who only speak Hebrew.
signed,
The lamest summer camp EVER!
I haven't been keeping up with my blog, But this post will be about the first summer camp I went to this summer.
On the first day of this camp, I didn't know what to expect except that most of the kids would probably only speak Hebrew. Well, I was right! On my first week out of three weeks, I sort of figured out what happened each day which started off with playing an Israeli dodgeball game called Chaye Sarah. Here you may have played the same game except called Hamomo. Then we sang songs - BOOORING! Then we would have one activity which was different each day. I'd have to say the coolest one was trying to pop each other's balloons with toothpicks. The activities were generally lame. Like on one day we were supposed to be making pizza. But making pizza was taking a hot dog bun, putting ketchup on it, putting cheddar cheese on it, and then putting it in the microwave for two minutes. YUCK!
All of the instructions at the camp were in Hebrew so we had to get one out of four English/Hebrew speakers to translate for us or we had to ask the counselors. After the activity, we would swim in the pool for three hours and then go home. Lame-O. Plus there was one water slide but it was so slow that you had to push yourself along as you slid. And the line took forever!
Instead of having a third week at this camp I decided to switch to the other camp that I was going to go to a week early so I would go to that camp for four weeks instead of three. The camp I went to was called Camp Shelanu which in English means Camp That Belongs To Us.
signed,
On the first day of this camp, I didn't know what to expect except that most of the kids would probably only speak Hebrew. Well, I was right! On my first week out of three weeks, I sort of figured out what happened each day which started off with playing an Israeli dodgeball game called Chaye Sarah. Here you may have played the same game except called Hamomo. Then we sang songs - BOOORING! Then we would have one activity which was different each day. I'd have to say the coolest one was trying to pop each other's balloons with toothpicks. The activities were generally lame. Like on one day we were supposed to be making pizza. But making pizza was taking a hot dog bun, putting ketchup on it, putting cheddar cheese on it, and then putting it in the microwave for two minutes. YUCK!
All of the instructions at the camp were in Hebrew so we had to get one out of four English/Hebrew speakers to translate for us or we had to ask the counselors. After the activity, we would swim in the pool for three hours and then go home. Lame-O. Plus there was one water slide but it was so slow that you had to push yourself along as you slid. And the line took forever!
Instead of having a third week at this camp I decided to switch to the other camp that I was going to go to a week early so I would go to that camp for four weeks instead of three. The camp I went to was called Camp Shelanu which in English means Camp That Belongs To Us.
signed,
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
People from Oakland? YAY!
A couple weeks ago, a few people from my synagogue (and by a few I mean about 65) came to Israel for a tour.
On the first day, my family waited in the lobby for everyone and at 5:30, we met everyone for dinner, then went to a place where we could view the Old City, which is the old part of Jerusalem that David built, althought there are four sections of it: Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Armenian.
We started the next day with the same view over the Old City, and then the kids got to draw whatever we wanted from the view. Next we went into the Old City, and all the kids got to see a movie about the Holy Temple which got destroyed and how the Old City got built. Then we walked through Hezekiah's water tunnels which are tunnels filled with water that used to send water to the city, but the water isn't drinkable anymore. But it's still fun to wade through it and look at the walls. Then we went to an archeological digging site where they are uncovering artifacts from the Old City and I found a bone! Then we went back to the hotel and swam in the pool.
The next day, all we did was explore the Old City and have a scavenger hunt. And then we went to a street called Emek Refaim which is very near my house where we could go wherever we wanted for lunch. Then we went back to the hotel and swam in the pool. Later that day we went to the holiest spot in the world for Jews because it is the closest spot to where the Holy Temple used to be.
The next day we went to the Holocaust Museum except for the younger kids like my brother went to the Biblical Zoo. Then we went to the big market called Machane Yehuda but it is sometimes just referred to as "the shuk." That night we had Shabbat, Friday night services in the spot that overlooks the Old City.
The next day we left early so that we could travel to a few tourist spots in Israel. First we went to Masada which is a fortress that King Herod built as his summer home. Then we went to the Dead Sea which is the saltiest body of water in the world, and we floated! It was fun but it stung a little bit. Then we went to Ein Gedi which is a place where you hike but there are also waterfalls that were fun to play in. Then we went to the Kibbutz Gonen and we had dinner there.
The next day we went to the city of Svatt where we went to the synagogues and saw some artwork. The synagogues were pretty cool and ancient and mystical. I bought a star of david necklace for 25 shekels. Then we went to a winery where the kids played some games and the adults tasted wine. After that we got to meet some soldiers who protect and border and we got to ask them questions.
The next day we went to the Golan Heights which is the top right corner of Israel. First we looked in some bomb shelters which were actually bunkers which means it's a bomb shelter but it's a place for soldiers where they communicate through radios and they have weapons there. Then we went to a chocolate factory called de Karina where the chocolate was REALLY good. Then we went to a place where we got to see a little movie about the Golan but it was really cheesy and lame. Then we saw a map of the Golan and we got an audio presentation about the Golan's history.
The next day we went to Tel Aviv, but before that we went to a Roman city that is in ruins and we got to see a little bit of the Roman lifestyle. After that we went to our hotel and swam in the Mediterranean Sea. I got three jellyfish stings! But they didn't hurt that much.
The last day, we explored Tel Aviv. The first thing we did was we went to the place where Israel was declared a country. Then we got to make sculptures in the dark. Mine was supposed to be an elephant but it came out looking more like a skull. I hated it so I threw it on the ground and then it looked like a sailing ship. What an odd trio. Then we went to Old Jaffa and we had a walking tour of it. And then we got to shop in the markets. I bought two bracelets and a necklace, but at this point, both of the bracelets and the necklace are already broken. But luckly one off the bracelets is still usable. After that, we had dinner and then said goodbye. The whole group went on the bus back to the hotel except for my family and a few people who had to go to the airport or Jerusalem. On the bus I was really sad and I cried because I was really sad to see all my friends leave and I would have to go back to not having very many friends close by.
pics from the trip:
On the first day, my family waited in the lobby for everyone and at 5:30, we met everyone for dinner, then went to a place where we could view the Old City, which is the old part of Jerusalem that David built, althought there are four sections of it: Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Armenian.
We started the next day with the same view over the Old City, and then the kids got to draw whatever we wanted from the view. Next we went into the Old City, and all the kids got to see a movie about the Holy Temple which got destroyed and how the Old City got built. Then we walked through Hezekiah's water tunnels which are tunnels filled with water that used to send water to the city, but the water isn't drinkable anymore. But it's still fun to wade through it and look at the walls. Then we went to an archeological digging site where they are uncovering artifacts from the Old City and I found a bone! Then we went back to the hotel and swam in the pool.
The next day, all we did was explore the Old City and have a scavenger hunt. And then we went to a street called Emek Refaim which is very near my house where we could go wherever we wanted for lunch. Then we went back to the hotel and swam in the pool. Later that day we went to the holiest spot in the world for Jews because it is the closest spot to where the Holy Temple used to be.
The next day we went to the Holocaust Museum except for the younger kids like my brother went to the Biblical Zoo. Then we went to the big market called Machane Yehuda but it is sometimes just referred to as "the shuk." That night we had Shabbat, Friday night services in the spot that overlooks the Old City.
The next day we left early so that we could travel to a few tourist spots in Israel. First we went to Masada which is a fortress that King Herod built as his summer home. Then we went to the Dead Sea which is the saltiest body of water in the world, and we floated! It was fun but it stung a little bit. Then we went to Ein Gedi which is a place where you hike but there are also waterfalls that were fun to play in. Then we went to the Kibbutz Gonen and we had dinner there.
The next day we went to the city of Svatt where we went to the synagogues and saw some artwork. The synagogues were pretty cool and ancient and mystical. I bought a star of david necklace for 25 shekels. Then we went to a winery where the kids played some games and the adults tasted wine. After that we got to meet some soldiers who protect and border and we got to ask them questions.
The next day we went to the Golan Heights which is the top right corner of Israel. First we looked in some bomb shelters which were actually bunkers which means it's a bomb shelter but it's a place for soldiers where they communicate through radios and they have weapons there. Then we went to a chocolate factory called de Karina where the chocolate was REALLY good. Then we went to a place where we got to see a little movie about the Golan but it was really cheesy and lame. Then we saw a map of the Golan and we got an audio presentation about the Golan's history.
The next day we went to Tel Aviv, but before that we went to a Roman city that is in ruins and we got to see a little bit of the Roman lifestyle. After that we went to our hotel and swam in the Mediterranean Sea. I got three jellyfish stings! But they didn't hurt that much.
The last day, we explored Tel Aviv. The first thing we did was we went to the place where Israel was declared a country. Then we got to make sculptures in the dark. Mine was supposed to be an elephant but it came out looking more like a skull. I hated it so I threw it on the ground and then it looked like a sailing ship. What an odd trio. Then we went to Old Jaffa and we had a walking tour of it. And then we got to shop in the markets. I bought two bracelets and a necklace, but at this point, both of the bracelets and the necklace are already broken. But luckly one off the bracelets is still usable. After that, we had dinner and then said goodbye. The whole group went on the bus back to the hotel except for my family and a few people who had to go to the airport or Jerusalem. On the bus I was really sad and I cried because I was really sad to see all my friends leave and I would have to go back to not having very many friends close by.
pics from the trip:
 |
| digging for artifacts at a place were the dirt from the holy temple was dumped |
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| after walking in the water tunnels, we played in a little pool outside |
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| me floating in the dead sea, a sea that has so much salt, that u always float, but it stings your cuts |
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| at the top of masada, a huge mountain, i was silly |
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| a police officer studying, in svatt |
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| me with some soldiers |
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| me and jonah with some soldiers that someone from the comgregation gave to them |
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| us on our HUGE balcony at the king solomon hotel |
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| me and my friend aviva acting cool at the kibbutz (farm community) |
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| all the kids from the trip |
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| the ark at the western wall |
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| the two youngest and cutest kids on the trip, the girl is 3 the boy is 5 |
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| me playing in the water at ein gedi, a hiking and waterfall place |
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
the progress of the trip by pictures.
throughout this post, pay attention to lenght of hair, and other small details like that.
Fiji:
Australia:
sorry to have only one picture. we dont have many of my parents
China:
Dubai:
Israel:
and me from the beggining to the end......
Fiji:
China:
Dubai:
Israel:
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