Hey Everyone!

We have had a very jammed packed schedule the past few days here in Israel. Yesterday we traveled around Jerusalem and saw many of the great sites. The really interesting thing was that because it was shabbat the roads were basically empty. I’ve never seen streets so empty. It was really fascinating to see a street that was packed just a day before now be completely empty. The whole town was basically shut down until sunset.

After Shabbat we had our first opportunity to shop in Israel. They took us to Benhihooda street which was filled with different stores and food! I stopped by McDonald’s and ordered a hamburger. They have 2 different sizes here! They have the normal size we have in America but also a burger similar to the size you can get at a diner. We did a lot of shopping and then headed back to our hostel.

This morning we traveled back to the kotel for morning prayer and then boarded the bus for Hiafa. We had lunch in Hiafa and looked at the incredible view. You could see the entire city from the observation deck we were on. After lunch we traveled to Rosh Hanikra and hiked down the coast there as well as exploring the caves. We then traveled to our hostel and got ready for dinner.

Dinner tonight was very interesting. We had dinner in Druze home. We had dinner in a persons house, shared stories from the trip and danced to different music. It was an interesting meal and it was VERY GOOD! I really enjoyed it!

Right now we are back the hostel preparing for tomorrow. We have another busy day ahead of us.

Speak to you soon,
Jason

Hey Canadensis,

Day 2 in Israel and I’m all ready to move here! I’m having the most incredible time here. There is so much to see and do here! This morning we got up had a great breakfast and then all headed off to different types of services. My service was held at the Hebrew Union College. The campus was beautiful! So many plants and trees.

After services we headed back to the hostel for a huge lunch! There was so much food to choose from. I had snitzel which is chicken. After lunch we took walking tours of Jerusalem. I saw a lot of really interesting sights and took a lot of great pictures. I will try and send a bunch in after my trip.

After dinner we held services at the hostels amphitheater (not as great as ours!) After services we went to the huge market place next to the hostel. I did A LOT of shopping!!

(I fell asleep in the middle of writing this post so I will continue now…)

Right now I’m standing at the Kotel (Western Wal). We are traveling to Haifa this afternoon a few other places.

Speak to you later!

-Jason

Gorgeous Saturday! Finally a break in the weather and these next few days should be absolutely beautiful. I think its close to 80 degrees out today (Saturday) so we are taking full advantage of the nice weather and doing as many outside jobs as possible. The term “we” right now include myself, Matt Unger, Tom (our caretaker), Val (she worked in woodshop), and Jimmy (our builder).

Yesterday Tom dug up a cracked water pipe coming out of the lake going into some of the lower boys cabins. You will be happy to know if you are a Lower Inter/Upper Inter boy, your water this summer will be coming through brand-new 2″ water piping as we dug up the entire old pipe near the kayak shed, past the gaga court, to the cabin closest to the gaga court. It was a big project, but all went well and now it’s all done and the water pressure is incredible! We also drained the girls pool entirely (all the water from the winter) in preparation for Saturday’s work!

Today we started bright and early as we had a full day ahead of us. Matt and I (see video below) entered the girls pool (it was dry now!) to completely clean it up. This meant scooping out all of the leaves, pine needles, and pine cones that accumulated at the base all last fall/winter to get it ready. We spent a few hours doing that, while Tom powerwashed it clean!

Tomorrow the pool company will be in as we need to be in compliance with a new safety regulation that was recently enacted involving the suction from the pool drains. Unfortunately, nationwide there had been many deaths over the years of kids arms or legs getting stuck in these drains. Of course we had been aware of this and had done whatever we could to make sure we kept our drains well covered so this wouldn’t happen at camp. Well now there is a new federal law called the Virginia Graham Baker Pool Safety Act which ensures this would never happen again. It’s a great act so that we can make sure we are as safe as could be. Our pool company will be in to install a new drainage system.

On Monday, the girls pool will be painted and if all goes well after a few days of drying, we will fill the pool!

Enjoy the video as Matt and I head out to dinner in the Poconos!

Cleaning out the girls pool video

Forti

Hey Everyone,

Last night I finally arrived in Israel after flying in from Poland. The flight we took was the most interesting flight I’ve ever taken. For starters, it was filled with only teenagers participating in the March. It was kids from the US, Canada and Brazil. The Brazilian kids were very LOUD from the second we took off until we landed at 4am in Israel. They were dancing and singing in the isles while we all tried to get some sleep, which none of us did. We all tried to get them to sit down, they just didn’t listen. The flight attendants even threatened not giving us dinner because of how chaos the plane was. Finally about 20 mins before we were about to land and they started to be quiet. BUT, the second we landed the noise started up again and we were on the move.

We left the airport around 5am and headed to our first destination which was a tree reserve. We each planted our own trees in the forest. The view from where we were was incredible. You looked out onto open farm land across the mountains. It was really something incredible. After we planted our trees we headed to Jerusalem where our hostel is located. We checked in and had a hot breakfast! (This being the first good breakfast in a week) After breakfast we had most of the afternoon free to relax because we were so tired. My trip leader though decided it would be nice to take a few of us out of the hostel and go visit the local market where we’d be spending Saturday night. There were so many shops and food stands. We then went back to the hostel and had lunch. After lunch we changed into our Shabbat clothes and headed to the Western Wall.

The Western Wall was incredible. There were so many people there for Friday Night services. The wall was massive, much bigger than I thought it was. I prayed with my group and then we returned back to our hostel for Shabbat Dinner. Our first day in Israel was incredible, and there’s still so much more to see in the upcoming days!

-Jaycal

Hey Canadensis,

This post comes to you from seat 12C on board my flight to Israel. I can’t begin to tell you all how excited I am for my first trip to Israel! You’ll know soon enough because I’m sure ill have a lot to write about in the coming days!

-JayCal

Hey All,

Well tonight is my last night in Poland and tomorrow night we head to ISRAEL! I’m so excited to go to Israel, a lot of my friends on this trip have already been and say how incredible it is. I don’t really have much to write about tonight but I just wanted to give a quick hello!

Tomorrow we are traveling to one of the oldest Jewish Cemeteries in Poland and helping to clean it up. Some of us are even going to visit a Polish school. Ill have lots to write about tomorrow and my flight to Israel!

-JayCal

So you know how I keep saying there is SO much to do up at camp right now to prepare for the Summer. Well today, Matt and I took one for the team and the really challenging, difficult, and most unpleasant of tasks- TASTING BREAD, PASTRIES, DOUGHNUTS, AND OTHER BAKERY TREATS!

The very famous Rockland Bakery now delivers up in the camp area and so look out this summer for some great breads and rolls, amongst other treats. We are really excited about our new vendor!

Good Morning All from Canadensis! I have “made the move” and am now up here permanently along with Matt Unger making our final preparations for our first precamp group/CIT weekend on May 2.

I wanted to share with you what I did last Thursday. I had the unique opportunity of organizing a local camp tour with 5 camps who are all within the vicinity of Canadensis. About 10 of us met at Canadensis first (of course because Canadensis is the best, right?? hehe) and spent about an hour at each camp. I absolutely love spending a day with other camp directors for a number of reasons. We “talk camp” the WHOLE DAY and they don’t even roll their eyes at me because they understand and share the same passion for their camps! I have to be honest and say that the other camps were also beautiful. Each camp has their own unique special place, like we have our dining hall deck, amphitheatre, (now the new canteen!!), and lake front which is absolutely stunning, while other camps have a lookout where you can see mountains in the distance, etc. The benefit of seeing other camps is that you get ideas. From simple things like trash can placement (I know- exciting, right??) all the way to large scale buildings and how they are designed. We also talk about programming, safety procedures, etc.

In any event, walking around 5 camps all day is just energizing and exciting. Did I mention WALKING?? We WALKED 5 camps- no golf carts, no mules, just 24 inches (2 feet, haha) and yes I was tired when I returned home at 9PM that night. Saturday morning I went to visit one more camp in a different area of PA, which was also exciting and fun. But now, I am back “home” where I belong at Canadensis ready for an exciting upcoming season!

Below is a posting from one of the camp professionals on this tour with me (David Minkoff) who also happens to be an alumni! Enjoy.

“I had the opportunity to go up to Canadensis on that beautiful day last Thursday with a few other camp directors. I hadn’t been there since maybe 1990; definitely 1988, which was the dedication of the Alumni Pavilion. I couldn’t believe how much has changed, yet how much has stayed the same. What really floored me was the all the bunk pictures from 1980 on are still in the dining hall (some of the people I was with weren’t even born in the early ’80s). I hope to get back this summer for lunch if I can get a Saturday or Sunday off from Pinemere. I’ll definitely be there for the 2010 reunion!”

I can’t wait to see all of you real soon. If you have any questions or requests of pictures you would like to see specifically, email me at eric@canadensis.com. Thanks to Jaycal for providing great updates on his trip overseas!

Stay tuned to more posts from both me and Jaycal!

Hey All!

What a day today! Today was the march, it was incredible! The amount of people from all over the world that gathered to walk together. I met people from literally every part of the world. I met people from Mexico, Germany, Hungry, Poland, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and so many more countries. This was an incredible day. The march took about 3 hours and concluded with a huge Holocaust remembrance Ceremony.

After the Ceremony we boarded the buses for a 5 hour ride to our hotel. The bus ride was a lot of fun because it gave us time to bond even more. We have a kid on our bus that plays guitar so we were singing different songs throughout the ride. I even told my new friends about my performance in 2007 at camp of High School Musical. They can’t believe that I was in HSM. I told them I will send them footage after the trip.

That’s basically it for tonight, its very late…2AM and I have to be up at 7am!

Goodnight from Poland!

Jaycal