Hello From Camp!

Galil's Top Chef!

Last night, the whole machaneh (camp) gathered into the chadar ochel (dining hall) for a special tochnit erev (evening activity): a food making competition, created in the style of the reality TV show "Top Chef".

galilchef1 All of the campers were divided into teams, and were given certain ingredients with which to impress our judges. The madrichim (counselors) gave each team the same ingredients, which usually do not go together. For example, one of the rounds featured crackers, soy nut butter, cheddar cheese, and sprinkles.

galilchef2 The challenge was for the campers to create something both edible and aesthetically-pleasing with what they were given.

These kinds of activities are a tradition of camp -- we love to provide an education for our campers, but we value having fun together as a community just as much. Through these activities, campers of different ages meet each other, work together, and create life-long friendships. This is what we strive to create in our community.

galilchef3 Our lovely judges can be seen in the photo above -- a mix of counselors, summer directors, and counselors-in-training. They were lucky enough to get to taste the amazing concoctions our campers made!

Happy 19th Birthday to our lifeguard Shira Scott!!

Lailah Tov,

Molly Bernstein

Last Edited by ilanagoldfus@gmail.com at 9/12/2011 9:06 AM Comments (0)

Weekend Catch Up

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Hello readers!!

Today I'm going to spend some time catching you up on what's been going on this weekend. As I explained in Friday's post, we at camp do Shabbat differently than every other day. On Shabbat morning we all woke up after a needed sleep-in, and had some delicious banana bread for breakfast. By 10:30 we were all awake, and started our day with "Bogrim Chugim" which are elective activities coordinated by our oldest campers. This allows our different aged campers to interact, and gives our oldest kids an opportunity to learn how to be leaders.

Once the Bogrim Chugim are over, each separate tzrif or cabin gets together to spend some time on their own and check in about their week. This rolls right into lunch, which is usually acombination of different salads and sandwiches that we have picnic style.

After lunch, all the counselors run elective activities for the campers called "Chugim Retzinim" where campers have the opportunity to do a educational activity of their choosing. For example, many of the activities include reading articles from newspapers, going on nature hikes, reading short stories, or discussing music lyrics.

Following this more relaxed time, the Madatz (Counselors in Training) run a fun and upbeat activity for everyone at camp, leading into free swim and optional sports.

As night begins to fall and the end of Shabbat is near, we do one of my favorite traditions at camp. After dinner, the whole camp gets together to listen to Musicale, an opportunity for anyone to perform their musical talents for the whole camp (singing songs, playing instruments, reading poems, etc.). Last night we had an impressive amount of acts, including many of our Amelim (the youngest age group), and lots of the younger boys at camp sharing with everyone. At the end of musicale we all hold hands and spiral into a circle, where we lay down on the grass and do Havdala, the end of Shabbat prayers. Havdala ends with a round of the song "Everybody Loves Saturday Night" which we do in over 10 languages!!!

After Havdala, the whole camp walks down to medurah (our bonfire), which one of the work pool time 7.3 groups prepares throughout the week. In front of the fire, we sing songs, people present acts, and the whole camp spends time laughing together.