Winding down...

Hello blog-readers, it's been awhile.

Where do I begin? Well Thanksgiving was fun. I made some really good gravys. I don't feel bad saying that either. A little fun went down in the kitchen that night, but you can ask Judy about that. All the food was REALLY good and we were all really full afterwards. We even had leftovers! It was all wonderful. We skyped our family too since they were all together for Thanksgiving, only to find out that my aunt had fallen down and broken her wrist right before all her guests had come. So I didn't get to talk to her or my uncle, I felt really bad. But it all worked out I guess.

The next day Judy and I went to visit David, Orly and Elad. It was so good to see them again after so long. It was great. My cousin is finally starting to learn Judy's and my names. He can even kinda tell us apart a little! Judy, Elad's other cousin, Gal, and I took him to a nearby playground. He love the Nadnedot (swings) and Maglesha (slide). He loved the carousel until he accidentally bumped his keppi (head). He still had fun though. He's so cute! On Saturday Orly and David and Elad took us out for burgers at "Black Burger and Bar". They were very very good. My aunt and uncle pretty much refused to let us take the bus home. They decided to drive us all the way back to kibbutz, but only after giving Elad a bath and putting him to sleep. We left Ramat Hasharon at ~11 or so and we didn't get back to kibbutz until ~12:30. It was a sweet gesture and really incredibly nice of them, but it was pretty late when we got back and I was exhausted.

That week we had our Habonim History seminar. Basically we travelled around northern Israel visiting Habonim kibbutzim. We spoke to the founders of the kibbutzim (mostly) and they basically told us that the kibbutz movement is dead because the kibbutzim are now pretty much all privatized. That was the first few days. A couple of Hanoar HaOved (our Israeli sister movement) Kibbutzim were really interesting. One of them had a boarding school for Ethiopian Jews. The big thing about Ethiopian Jews is that they have a lot of trouble integrating into society because the culture that they come from is not as "modern" I guess. It was really cool.

The next few days we went to visit Habos who made Aliyah in Kvutsot. They were really interesting. Their basic idea is that "Irbbutzim" (Urban Kibbutzim) are the new "Kibbutzim". We visited a couple of my madrichim's kvutsot. It was really cool to see.

That weekend I went to visit our family friends in Jerusalem. The Oppenheimers lived in Ann Arbor for a year during my Junior year. We met them how my Mom meets most people- through shul. They're the sweetest family, we had lots of fun. We went on a couple of walks around Jerusalem which was nice. They kept talking about how excited they were that we were there and that they couldn't wait to see our parents when they visit. I love them.

This week is our last week on Kibbutz. My kvutsah is going to be living in Acco and Judy will be living in Karmiel. Judy's kvutsah also chose their name- Advah. It means ripple. My Kvutsah hasn't chosen one yet. My last day of work was fun but sad. We bought our "boss" chocolate as a good-bye gift. I'm going to see my host family for the last time before I leave tomorrow. I have to remember to ask about my family visiting.

That's about it. I'm still hungry. I can't wait until we're cooking our own food.

All My Lovin'
-Phia