Day 13

The cold weather saga continues. It is still raining, windy and bitterly cold in Jerusalem. And…..it might snow tomorrow. Woooooo! Snow in the holy land.

Today we had classes for the first part of the morning and then headed out for the afternoon. Ulpan, our first class of the day, was an immersive Hebrew training class. We played shimon says as a group and learned around 40 new Hebrew words. Everyone in the group can confidently say “I have to have a large tree, not a small chicken.” Our next class was taught by Rabbi Klatzko and talked about why bad things happen to good people. It was a very interesting discussion and definitely taught the idea of perspective to a lot of people.

After classes, we were set free for lunch before our journey to Shalva. The center works with disabled children throughout Israel. It is completely free of charge for the participants and is all volunteer run. It was an absolutely incredible experience and I know that I speak for the group when I say we had an amazing time. At the center, we were given a tour of the facility and then got to paint flower pots with the children. The painting soon devolved into them sticking stickers and painting all over us. Soon enough, we were all dancing together to some solid Israeli tunes. They have some moves!!

Everyone in the group is starting to come to terms with the fact that we are departing from the holy land and each other in a few short days. It is a hard thing to face, but we are making the most of the time we have left. Love from the holy land!!