First Full Day of MBI!

The MBIers awoke today to face their first full day of MBI. They set off in the morning for the Sataf hike which is in the same region of Israel that they staying, which is outside of Jerusalem. The hike itself goes through an old Arab Village that was evacuated during the Independence war. As such it is both an beautiful place to hike through but has a clear historical relevance to the creation of the state. The hike also includes reaching a small spring which of course adds to the hike's beauty. The hike itself was not too strenuous and was a fun and informative hike for the MBIers lead, as usual, with the guidance of our very knowledgable Israeli tour guides.

In the afternoon the MBIers returned to Nes Harim where the day continued with peulot(activities) divided up by bus group. While the group was split into their 4 buses last night, they also have smaller bus groups that they were split into. Each bus has two groups and two madrichim(counselors) for their group. In doing so, it enables the MBIers to have activities in smaller groups as well as have madrichim(counselors) that they will get to know better and have someone they feel more comfortable to ask questions or talk to about anything.

In these smaller groups they had an educational activity starting to look more at the meaning of being on MBI both in the context of MBI being our 8th machaneh(summer camp) and being in Israel. A lot of good discussions and information was shared and the bonding of the smaller groups seems to be off to a good start. The madrichim also performed a Hatzagah(skit) before dinner that combined comedy and education and will be a recurring and hopefully appealing part of the day for the MBIers. A few good laughs were definitely had with more to come.

After dinner at Nes Harim, a great big fun Welcome to Israel activity took place. All the MBIers took part in the various aspects of the evening that was geared towards getting them to know some of the important cultural references they will come to learn as well as just plain fun. Activities included competitions such as making Israel out of various food items, a hebrew word relay-race and a "shoko b sakeet" drinking contest. Shoko is Israeli chocolate milk and sakeet(bag) is the how it comes for purchase. Many past participants clamor for the delicious chocolate milk so undoubtably the MBIers will be on the lookout for it as the summer continues.

Overall a fun mix of activities and then off to bed for the MBIers to prepare for day 2 of MBI. Tomorrow will see them taking part in a JNF day that has many components including an archaelogical dig and hiking through a cave. The excitement, fun, and learning will continue tomorrow!

MBI has arrived!

As some of you have already heard from you MBIer, the MBIers arrived safely to Israel to start the magical summer ahead of them. After a travel day that amazingly almost went off without a hitch, the Americans landed first in the mid-afternoon where they were greeted by the excited tzevet(staff). They took luggage their luggage to the buses awaiting them to take them to their first stop, the campsite of Nes Harim, which is located outside Jerusalem, near Bet Shemesh. The site is a lovely JNF/KKL campsite that has nice, air-conditioned cabins for the MBIers to stay in. Being in a beautiful forest, which includes the Habonim forest, it is a perfect setting to start off the summer in the camp setting they are used to being.

After having a chance to put their stuff down, they headed to the dining hall to have dinner while in the meantime the Canadians were landing in Tel-Aviv at Ben-Gurion airport. When the MBIers finished eating they headed to the to the Haas Promenade where they proceeded to meet the Canadian flight who had also arrived safely and boarded a bus with all their stuff and headed straight for the Promenade. The promenade is both a picturesque spot to view Jerusalem lit up at night and a site filled with history and meaning for Israel. Hidden under the Prominade is an aqueduct built by Herod the Great. It was also no-man's land between the creation of the State of Israel and the reunification of Jerusalem among the other interesting parts of its character.(For more information click here)

At the Promenade, with the united group of 136 MBIers and over 20 tzevet members, they proceeded to look out at the beauty of Jerusalem and the Old City. They also had and opening tekes(ceremony) to welcome them to Israel and MBI Yud Zayin. The tzevet sang the song Ein Li Eretz Acheret(There is no other land for me), heard some selected readings, and Leon gave a rousing speech to welcome them and to start putting the magnitude of the trip and their location in perspective.

The view from the Promenade.

Afterwards they came back to Nes Harim where they got to settle into their rooms where they will be for the next few days. The MBIers were split into their buses to start getting to know their smaller group and the madrichim(counselors) leading them. As I write they are all in bed, hopefully get some well deserved sleep.

Tomorrow should be a busy day with a hike in the morning, peulot(fun/educational activities) in the afternoon, and a night of fun together.

At the side of blog in the links you will notice I have added another link. It is a map website that allows you to search for any place in Israel so you can see better where the MBIers are at any point of the trip. Also unfortunately our website is down for maintenance. Once it is back up and running I will let you know.

More exciting news tomorrow!

Toronto Flight

The Toronto flight is on its way! So far so good for the start of MBI Yud Zayin 2008!

1 Flight in the air one to go

Today so far has gone exceptionally smooth. Almost all the flights were on time or early and only one lost bag that hopefully is on its way to Israel. The ELAL flight from New York did for some reason sit on the tarmac for 2 and a half hours but they are on their way. All signs are that the Toronto flight is on track. I will post again once that is confirmed.
Michael

Almost Flight day!

Dear MBI Families,

As many of you are putting together the final preparations for MBI a few last things of note. First off a couple of you many have noticed that our acceptance site is down. Our web guy is working on it but it may take a couple days to get the site back up. In the meantime if you wanted to access either the packing list or the expanded itinerary I have posted them here.

For the Expanded Itinerary click on the link or copy and paste the address: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhpg3npt_12c5t2dsgs.

For the Packing List click on the link or copy and paste the address: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhpg3npt_13g23r2qdx

Additionally for those curious about a mailing address during MBI please send any mail or packages to the below address.

Participant Name MBI
c/o Shira Moshkovitz
The Israel Experience
North American Division
Kiryat Moriah
3 Ha'askan St.
P.O.B 92
Jerusalem 91000

We are set on our side on for what we will hope will be a smooth travel day. The weather in New York is supposed to be mostly Sunny and the forecast in Toronto is supposed to be clear by evening. I of course will be reachable all day at 917-822-2330 should any issues arise in your MBIers flight day. I also will post updates to the blog once the Israel flights have successfully take off.

I look forward to seeing many of you tomorrow and I wish everyone a safe journey as you will be greeted in Israel by our wonderful and capable tzevet(staff). Here's to the start of a great trip!

Michael

Some relevant information

As the countdown to MBI Yud Zayin continues, things in the office are looking well in hand and energy will start to build more as we get closer to Sunday. I wanted to give some important information in the meantime.

First of all I want to make sure you all are aware of the possible issues with your domestic baggage. For those of you flying a domestic flight in the US,(Canadians flying to Toronto should be counted as an International flight and don't need to worry) there may be an added fee for your checked baggage. The only way to know for sure is to check what carrier your MBIer is flying with and what their policy is. I found a good reference sheet to clarify which can be found here: http://www.kayak.com/airline-fees. It still may be the best idea to contact your airline or read their website to make sure to avoid any suprises at the airport.

Many of you have been curious to see the list of Kibbutzim and they are as follows:
Ammiad
Alumot
Kinneret
Sha'ar Hagolan
Afikim
Bet Haemek
Kfar Blum/Amir
The MBIers will be split up between these Kibbutzim for the Machatz time period towards the end of the program.

Lastly for the free weekend of August 1st and 2nd. Times have not been finalized but the pick up and dropoff points are as follows.
Jerusalem Drop-off point: The Soldiers House/Yad Lebanim which is on Rehov Ben Tzvi(St) and is between Gan Sacher and Binyanei Haomah.
Tel-Aviv: Redding Terminal which is by Park Hayarkon on Rokach Rd.
Haifa: Lev Hamifratz parking lot
Again we will notify you soon of the times for the pick up and drop off. And if it was unclear, for those of you who will not be taking part in the free weekend, regular MBI programming will continue.

Thats all for now!

Short Reminder

By now just about all of you should receive your domestic flight itineraries. If not please let me know. The International flight information is listed for both the Americans and the Canadians on the Departure day sheet available on the MBI acceptance page which is linked to the right of this post. I will also be sending out on Monday a participant contact list for all of your records. As it is the July 4th Independence Day in the US, I will be out of the office until Monday. For those of you celebrating I hope you have a great holiday.
Michael