This week consisted of many general studies classes and two fun tiyuls. We were in Hod Hasharon up until Wednesday, then the fun began. We left for Jerusalem to have a Tikkun Olam day. We basically went to a few different places and volunteered and learned more about how Israel tries to help the world. First, we went to this place where the elderly worked and made beautiful art. This office, or art studio had many different sections to it from paper mache to jewelry to blankets and paintings. It was incredible to see how these people were so talented when starting their artist career at an old age. After interacting and getting to know some of the artists, we went to the gift shop and purchased their work. It was a good feeling because I knew that by buying something from them, I helped the people inside who made the art. All of the money that they make from selling their work goes back to them and their supplies.

Our next stop was to a food bank. We watched a video on how this organization helps Israelis throughout the country and then split into group and helped out with this organization. The groups each had certain jobs to fulfil and took beans from a big bucket, bagged them, then boxed them. We made this into a competition to see which group could produce the most boxes. It felt really good to have packed over 100 bags of beans which will go to families in need of food. After this stop, we went back to campus for half a day of school and then left again for Shabbat.

This Shabbat was a fun tiyul because we got to go to the hometown of Aubrey, one of the core teachers. We hiked in the desert before Shabbat and had Kabbalat Shabbat out in the open in Arad. It was a beautiful view during the service and we went back to the hostel for dinner. Dinner was interesting because some of the food wasn’t too good. We ate quickly and went to Aubrey’s house for discussions about anything we wished to talk about. It was nice to just speak what was on our minds about this trip so far and get questions answered that we had been waiting for. Everyone walked back to the hostel and went to bed.

Saturday was nice because we all slept in and recovered from the week we just had. I got to spend some time with my friends without stressing about school work and upcoming tests. Many of my friends and I went to a park across the street and hung out outside for hours. The weather was beautiful and I couldn’t have been happier. This week was a tough one regarding school work but had a blast during the tiyuls. Cant wait to see what next week brings!