SUNDAY:
Boaz had to be at the Kotel for the army, but he didn't have to get there extremely early so we got to sleep in until 8 or so. On my walk back to Katie's (because I thought I would go to biet ar-el, but then i decided not to), I bumped into Steve Copland! In case you forgot, he was my genesis parables teacher! I had had a feeling he wouldn't remember me, but when I said hi he started speaking to me in hebrew, so (i understood him!) and would just answer him in english and then kind of hint that i am now in arad and it is different than beit ar el. Such a cute man! When I got to katie's after some indecisiveness, Naomi, Julia, and I walked to Beit Ar-El. We decided to try and go a different way by taking side streets and only got a little lost. We ended up right where Boaz's grandparents live! hahaha. Once we got to beit ar el, we hung out with the madrichim (or, emma, moran). Moran helped me with my Tanach final. It was fun just hanging out and messing around. After getting such a good sandwich with Naomi, we heard moran and or's stories about their army experience for yom hazekaron. It was really sad, but crazy how common it is.

Then we went back to katie's after hanging out on the grass for a bit and being confronted by this poor lady with a huge basket on her head. After being at katie's for only a little, we all got dressed and all of us walked to emek refiem to go to this ceremony for yom hazekaron. That was my 4th time walking back and forth that day. It is not a short walk either. There were so many people. After the flag was lowered the alarm went off and I saw some soldiers who were there saluting. I thought about how many people there knew people who had died or know of people who know of people who know someone who had died. Also, this day isn't just to commemorate and remember fallen soldiers, it is also to remember people who were victims of terrorist attacks. The ceremony involved children singing different songs and playing instruments and with everyone there singing softly along and speeches. I feel like I would have gotten more out of the ceremony if there was some english, or if I was fluent in hebrew so I could understand what was being said. It is cool to be able to go to events like these on my own and having the real experience, but it sometimes is hard to get that experience if I don't know what is going on.

After the ceremony, some of us decided to walk to the kotel. When we got there we bumped into a few people we knew and then saw the soldiers guarding the torch. It was really meaningful to see these soldiers. The kotel was pretty empty, which was nice. I like going there at night. On the walk home we bumped into the same people and some others. Katie and I bought some food for the next day and walked so so sooo slowly home because we were so tired. When we got back we went to bed quickly after. It felt so good to have my feet elevated!



-beit ar el, moran and paper, yom hazekaron stories, emek refiem, kotel

mon: