Israeli elections

The elections are in Israel today and for the first time in my life I am involved. I actually understand and can even explain to people about the elections, which parties are running, how the voting works, and even how to build a government. Unfortunately shlichim outside of Israel don''t have the right to vote. It doesn't really make sense, we leave the country to teach about Israel but cant even support our country by voting. I am frustrated for the first time when it comes to politics. On the other hand I am thankful, I had the opportunity to learn about the government of my country. I am sure that if I was home I would have known much less and just voted because I can.
As the Israeli "mishlachat" (group) we taught about the elections in the high school. I am very good at many things but politics is definitely not my thing. I had to learn A LOT for these classes and I am happy I did. We taught about the elections, how they happen every 4 years, how we vote in Israel, what happens after we vote, how the government is built, a coalition, an opposition, all the seats in the knesset, which parties are running ect.
Each student from the high school had the opportunity to vote and we held a vote from the school.
It was interesting to see how many kids in each class really did care about what was going on and felt a connection to Israel.
After we taught about 210 students we had an assembly for all of them and showed the results of the school. We spoke to them a bit about the current polls in Israel and bit of history from the past elections.
The feedback we got was amazing, the students loved the opportunity to be involved.
Even though I didn't get to vote, I got to learn and understand instead which is almost as exciting! 

The Kalpi (voting box) and the cards the students used to vote.

Assembly for the whole High School

The girl here with me is Mor the shlicha for the reformed youth movement

Me explaining about the current polls of the elections.

It's a good thing I like to talk =)

Just before class....

Even though is doesn't count, I could pretend!

Nadav ben Yehuda

Tuesday night I heard a really inspiring talk by a man named Nadav ben Yehuda and I really want to share some parts of his story.
Nadav is 24, he climbed mount Everest last May. He is a proffesional ice climber and has climbed many difficult mountains.
His story is unbelievable. Nadav didn't make it to the top because at about 300meters from the peek he saw a body (every body he saw he would go over and check if the body was dead or alive), this body was alive. With about a minute of hesitation Nadav decided that if he were to climb up to the peek just to stand on the top take a picture by a flag and say he climbed to the the top of mount Everest he would risk this man's life even more. It was now or never to save this man's life.
Nadav explained how impossible it is to carry someone down the ridiculously dangerous route. And that at times he had to drag the man behind him.
There is a lot more to the story but it was so in detail I can't really write everything.
Nadav saved this Turkish man's life, if he wouldn't have stopped, decided to give up on his goal, turn away 300meters before the peek of his 3 months dangerous adventure, the man would still be frozen on that mountain. 
Nadav risked his own life in so many ways by carrying the man. He is a true hero.
All the Israelis went out for a cup of beer with him after his speech. We got to ask our own questions and he was able to speak to us in Hebrew which was easier for him. He told us that he is still going through therapy and taking pills for trauma. He wears a glove because he got frost bite coming down the mountain and his hand cannot get infected or be exposed to the sun.
It was just so amazing to sit and listen to him talk and tell his story. He is a true Israeli though, has been up 3 more mountains since Everest even with no feeling in his hand!

I learned so much from his speech.The power he had to do the impossible and save a man's life is so incredible.
We must all learn from this story, whether its about making decisions, doing the right thing, believing in yourself. SO much we can learn from such a hero.

My friend was tweeting during the speech and wrote down some great quotes that he said so I wanted to share them with you.....

Fish Braai

A braai in South Africa is a BBQ.....What an experience !!

This was actually one of the best experiences I have had. I went to a place called Muizenberg, it's on the water and there is a fish market there. I have never seen such fresh fish in my life.
One of the sales woman told me that the fish are so fresh that if I were to throw it back into the water it would swim back to its momma!
Laying on the ground were HUGE bunches of fish just waiting to be put onto the grill!
My three friends and I bought a big yellow tail and a smaller salmon.

After buying the fish you can pay a bit extra for these women to go to the side and clean the fish for you, scale it, wash it, cut off the head, take out the insides, all right in front of your eyes!
They wore boots while i was standing there in my flip flops with fish juice on my feet!

I honestly couldn't get over how cool the whole thing was!

This story gets better! There were seals in the bay.....seals....not an aquarium REAL SEALS!

I felt like such a tourist, but it was so amazing to watch!

After our fish was cleaned and rapped, we drove to the closest super market and bought a grill and spices and when to the beach!

After half an hour, a bit a margarine, an onion, green pepper, garlic, salt and pepper, we devoured the most amazing fish i have ever tasted!

I am loving these experiences and even more so- loving sharing them with you!!

It's been a while

It is harder than i thought to take the time to write. I need to figure out a way to make it into a weekly task. I definitely will work on it because i really want everyone to stay updated.

Somehow time flies by so fast, I honestly don't know how its possible that i have been in South Africa for almost 4 months already. Crazy how that happens!

Last post I wrote about my job and what i am doing here in Cape Town. Most of it will stay the same but because it is the beginning of the year here in South Africa a lot will change. We are no longer in camp mode, now that we can start from the new year we are looking to kick off with power!

So while it is snowing in Israel and probably as cold in America it is summer here! So beautiful, sunny, hot summer! School ended in December and right away Cape Town turned into vacation mode. Cape Town becomes packed with Jews in December-January because everyone from Joburg comes down to spend there "holiday"in the beautiful city!!

December 5th was camp departure day. It was crazy finally packing my trummel (kind of like what they pack in in Harry potter- is what i lived out of for a month) and getting onto the bus after so much preparation. The feeling of arriving at the camp site, which is located 6 hours outside of Cape Town in Mossel Bay was worth it, I finally felt so accomplished after so many months of hard work!

The preparation for camp was hard and tiring but very worth it. Camp was an unbelievable experience. After all the build up that we had before we left for camp, school visits, camp launches, and just so many activities in order to get kids to come, the feeling of stepping foot on the camp site was so fulfilling.

I truly believe that it is the quality and not the quantity, and this camp had so much quality. In Cape Town everyone is always worried about numbers, that not enough people are coming to events but I think that even if 10 kids show up to an event, those are the kids who want to be there and will make it worth every second.

Camp was amazing, I was a madricha ( counselor) for the oldest grade, going into 12th. 17-18 year old kids. I was a little nervous in the beginning because most of their counselors have been with them for years and then I just come in and join their last camp.
I was wrong. It was so amazing to be there and experience camp with them! In 3 weeks i got to know 80 kids, their stories, talk, chat, argue and just enjoy hanging out with them. Most of the time I forgot that I was a counselor and just felt like a friend.

Camp reminded me a bit of Shoresh, non religious kids crying while they sing Shema Yisroel, craving new ideas about Judaism and just loving the fact that they are Jewish and can be proud of it! 

The most amazing part of it all was the last night these kids new how to come and say thank you for impacting their lives, changing there camp experience, thanking me for being there with them. Was one of the most fulfilling 3 weeks of my life! I loved every second, barely slept, didn't stop moving but has the best time!

Now that camp is over we have a lot to do. It is going to be hard to get back into routine but I am excited and motivated to start the new year.

Our goal is to make Bnei Akiva into an active youth movement here in Cape Town, activities every Shabbat, once a month on a Sunday and a Friday night meal once a month as well.
We want to get as many people involved as we can.

We have a good team! The Older kids want to work hard to make it happen so i am excited to begin the process!

Hopefully i will keep updating weekly.

I miss everyone so much, sometimes it is hard to be away but i am having an amazing time, meeting unbelievable people along the way and really just loving the experience! The challenges are what makes it all worth it.