Thursday, December 30, 2010

Toronto Take Over

*FROM 12/25-12/28*

Ok, so I wrote a long entry in my journal for these past few days but I do not have the energy to write them all up. So I am going to summarize.

After my last post we had havadalah. Which came complete with a lot of tears. Then we had time to get ready for banquet. At 7:30 banquet started in the Belmont with all the staff. We ate dinner and then had the ceremony thanking teachers. Yael and I were the “MCs” so we opened up and did the general studies thank yous. Then other students did Hebrew, upper staff, madrachim and JHist. we also watched the short version of slide show. After Banquet we had time to go change for after party. Which was in the Tzuba Pub (we weren’t aware there was such a thing). We had talent show and then watched the long slide show. Everyone loved it! I was so happy! Then the madrachim surprised us with a video they made for us about their “super powers”. It was so cute! Then we had a dance party. After that I went back to my room to finish letters and relax. Eventually my roommates and I went to bed at 4.

We woke up at 8, went to breakfast, cleaned our rooms, and packed up the bus. Then we met up with out Jewish history teachers at Mt. herzl. I found it really interesting and special that no matter what rank you are, all soldiers are buried the same way and in the same place. After we toured the cemetery we went to the old city for lunch. Then we went to the Kotel. When we went back in aug. I didn’t feel any connection to the wall, but I guess there is something about learning all of Jewish history that creates a connection. After the kotel we went to a look out and had our final few moments with our teachers. Then we went to Ben Yehuda for final shopping and dinner. After that we got on the bus and drove to the airport. Despite the snow on the East coast our plane took off on time. I luckily found myself with 2 seats and was able to sleep for a great amount of the flight. However, we never landed in NYC. We landed in Toronto b/c JFK was closed. We were all in a panic. The kids who had connecting flights has no idea what was going to happen and none of our phones really worked. By the time we got off the plane, went through customs, and got our bags, about half of our group had found a new way to get home. So Judy (who was our staff member) had to deal with making sure they got to the right place, the rest of us got to the hotel, and had to work with the staff in NY. Somehow it all got figured out but we then had to say bye to half our group. The rest of us went to a hotel in downtown Toronto; where we would be resting and relaxing for the rest of the day until we could go back to the airport. While we were at the hotel, a few more kids were able to get flights home and one by one we were dropping like flies. It wasn’t safe to shower, or nap b/c if you did you would miss saying bye to someone (I would know first hand). At 8:30 we met in the lobby with the rest of our flight and got buses back to the airport. We went through the entire check in process again and eventually got on the plane.

I am not really sure what time our flight took off b/c we all fell asleep the second we got on the plane. Because we had lost half our group, there were a ton of seats for us to spread out in. We landed at 4:15 in new york, but had to sit on the plane for another hour and half. It then took 2 hours to get our bags from baggage claim. Once we all had our bags, the 17 surviving kids (all northern east coast kids and one CA girl) walked out to the parents….finally! As much as we loved each other, all of us just wanted to get out of the airport as fast as we could b/c we had been traveling for so long. Mom and I took my bags to the car and went on our way to winter kallah. It only took 48 hours to get back the U.S.

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