Galil Blog

Shalom Galil families! 

Tuesday started out just like any other day. After waking up at 8:00, we all headed to the toren (flagpole) for hitkansut boker (morning raising of the flags). Ivrit shimushit (skit to learn a Hebrew word) taught us all that the word “dag” means fish in Hebrew! With a new word in our Hebrew vocabulary, we all headed off to have a wonderful breakfast of bagels and cream cheese. Once we were energized, everyone split off to do their avodah (work). From cleaning up after our meal to chopping wood, kids got to know each other more and learned the value of hard work. After everyone was done taking care of the camp as a whole, it was time to clean up our tzrifim (cabins) during nikayon tzrif. For 25 minutes, we swept, wiped, and put away clothes to make our personal space tidy. When every tzrif was immaculate, we all went to sadna’ot (specialist/mitbach/madatz time). The shichvot (age groups) either went to the chadar (dining hall) to cook something with tzevet mitbach (counselors that work in the kitchen), the gan (garden) with the teva (nature) specialist, the mini mo with the comms specialist, the kikar (field) with the madatz (CITs), or the beit-o (art room) with the beit-o specialist. For the comms sadna, the amelimot (youngest campers, going into 4th and 5th grade) dressed up based on different themes and strutted the runway. Then we did a stop-motion-esque activity where we tried to tell a story through photos. Can you tell what’s happening?

At 11:30, we transitioned from sadna’ot to pish alef (first age group activity). Each shichvah had their own educational discussion/activity ranging from topics like kupa (a collective fund that each shichvah decides how to use) to gaining a deeper understanding of consent. All that learning made us hungry so we headed off to lunch! We fueled up with a delicious meal of grilled cheese and tomato soup at the chadar. To finish the meal, we sang a ton of camp songs/cheers. There’s always so much ruach (spirit) at Galil meals! 

We had a post-lunch menucha (rest time), then went off to chuggim (clubs). Chanichimot worked on a mural, wrote Valentine’s letters, and more. Machaneh (camp) is filled with fun activities.

Next on the schedule was pish bet, but it was a little bit different than normal. Instead of breaking up by shichvah, there were numerous pride-related discussion/activity options the chanichimot could pick from. We gathered at the toren to hear the choices then went to the topic that most interested us. We discussed queer history, the riot grrrl movement, queer feminism, and made decorations for the upcoming pride themed tochnit erev (night activity).

We were feeling a little peckish, so we gathered for kibbud (snack), which was cups of orange slices. Yum! We had a little free time to eat and digest, then went off to zman sport (sports time). The sports of the day were running, frisbee, and basketball. Every chanichol is encouraged to join, even if they’ve never tried the sport before. It’s so important to be active and try new things! All that running around made us really hot, so we cooled off with an optional dip in the pool during schiya chofshit. After swimming, we had to clean and get all the chlorine off, so we had rachatza (shower time). 

Once we’d washed up, we went to shira (singing), where we learned another special camp song. With so many unique cheers and tunes, we need to have a time where we can learn or refresh ourselves to the words. 

After shira we stayed at the toren for hitkansut erev, where we sang even more (are you sensing a theme?) and brought the flags down. Next on the agenda was dinner, which, as always, was incredibly tasty. We ate turkey (or tofu) with rice. 

We all got changed into an outfit that makes us feel good and each shichva made a dance to a different song. 

When the dances were finished we all met at the pavilion, where we were greeted by Ms. Asia Monroe, who performed a song for us and then emceed as each shichvah did their own dance.

We ended the night with a camp-wide dance party and had a nighttime snack of rainbow cupcakes. Sweet dreams Galil families!