Welcome back to the Gefen blog! After arriving back at camp from our overnight we went about our regular schedule. Our afternoon included an early dinner and then buses to a surprise location. We went swimming in the UNH pool which included a diving competition, basketball, and floating around! Every member of Gefen slept soundly after an exciting, jam packed day and woke up the next morning for more exciting special events.
The following day was in camp Achla Yom run by Kerem known as Kerem Karnival. There were inflatables such as a spin off of hungry hungry hippos and a wipe out type game. There were also Kerem-run station with activities anywhere from dunk tank to blowing out a candle with a water bottle. The day ended with an early BBQ and Gefen heading to the Fisher Cats (a minor league baseball team) game with Kerem for Jewish Pride Night. For those that were at camp last summer they attended this same game with the same upper camp campers. It was a blast and when we arrived back at camp we received a late night nish nush of churros.
The next day was filled with every day camp fun and ended with an all camp dance festival known as Rikudiyah. Every ayda does a dance and Gefen exhibited a great group dance in which the boys danced first, then the girls, and then everyone together in the end. All the dances were fun to watch and we got ice cream at the end!
The next morning the whole camp woke up and it felt like we had been transported to Israel as an all day Yom Yisrael ensued. Before the fun could begin we sadly had to say goodbye to our Kaytana friends that were leaving. The activities quickly lifted our spirits and the fun ranged from making snowmen to learning and practicing desalinization. The night ended with a beautiful tekes in which Gefen performed a song with drumming.
Friday included regular chug, kitah, and instructional swim. The afternoon brought a boys Gefen vs. Kfirim baseball game while all the girls in the entire Machneh went up to Sde Yarok to watch the Leviim and Maalot girls have their traditional football game! There was sign making and cheering and lots of cross ayda bonding!
Although we brought in Shabbos with rain in the background the ruach throughout camp stayed strong. Sichot Shabbat (learning on Shabbat) taught us about the variety of Jewish values in our ayda. We ended Shabbos watching members of upper camp perform part of their dance for Arts Fest (an inter camp arts festival).
Sunday brought us to “Kululam” in which the whole camp sang together to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Yavneh. At the end of “Kululam” MACCABIAH BROKE OUT with a argument with the neighbors about the noisiness of camp and the “new statue of Bil”! Lemallah, Lematah (over, under) occurred right after break out. The next day Maccabiah was paused for trip day. Gefen went to the Stone Zoo and on a beautiful nature walk and everyone enjoyed the animals and outdoors.
b’Ahava,
Sam and Allie
