Our days- Wednesday and Thursday - 26- 27 Jan.

Ah, what a few days we have had. The weather has been superb! Our community service work continues every morning. During lunch at the hotel we talk about our morning experiences ... what the kids did ..what happened in rehab.. we all have something to say. Usually Susan comes in to say...time to go and we begin our afternoon touring adventures. On Wednesday we had a special treat. None of us really knew what to expect, except that we were going to Beit Guvrin. What was that? On the bus and off we went. The same for Thursday - we were going to Israel Aircraft Industries - would that be boring? Here is Rosalie's Whitehill's description of these 2 days!

"Wednesday was another marvelous day with the students....singing songs, chatting and laughing.....and they are so happy, their smiles and cheery thank you are priceless.

In the afternoon, we went by bus to Bet Guvrin....close to Jerusalem again....where we had an archeologist guide take us through some caves on Tel Maresha....we saw some caves that had what appeared to be pigeon cubbies cut into them, and then some bell shaped caves that were absolutely beautiful.....huge and colorful striations....and after that we went to the Valley of Ella, where the battle of David and Goliath took place....and our guide read from the bible as we were standing there. In the evening we had a speaker from the IDF - he is in public relations - now that is a challenging position!

Yesterday, Thursday, after school, we visited the Israel Aircraft Industry plant near the airport......saw many different models of drones that are developed by Israel for the rest of the world......also saw Gulfstream business jets that are built here before being sent to U.S. for glamorous finishing touches. Israeli technology and expertise in developing new products is awe-inspiring. "

Friday was a FREE day and the group enjoyed a variety of activities, some went to the symphony, others a museum, others shopped at the crafts market - it was a lovely day to enjoy the sunshine and warm temperatures. A group went to a neighborhood synagogue for a wonderful Shabbat service - what a way to welcome Shabbat. Dinner back at the hotel followed by the Oneg Shabbat.
Shabbat Shalom to all.
CAARI 2011