Nature Hike in Mansur El-Aqab and Community Service by Rosalie Whitehill

'My:Impressions' by Rosalie Whitehill:

Tuesday may have been the best day ever at school for me.....but I am truly enjoying each day with my happy students.

The wonderful time I am having at my school, the smiles and hugs of the kids, the high fives as they pass me......and the fun we are having with our activities are making this trip very special for me.  It is amazing how it keeps getting better as I know more of the youngsters.

They had an assembly, the second since I've been here and this was for family day....kids sang and danced, (and I loved the music)  read poetry and did some wonderful rhythm activities with drum sticks and the back of pails.....after which the principal introduced the other volunteer,

Gloria Kaufman, and myself to the audience and she, who is fairly good with Hebrew spoke to the kids, mostly in English and then we sang a bit of one of the songs that both of us are using with our groups.  The smiles on my kids were as wide as they could have been.....they make me feel so appreciated....nothing better than that.  After the assembly, I watched as the kids put the floor mats and chairs back in their place so that the auditorium became a gymnasium once again.....no custodian around here!!  And the groups I worked with were so responsive and seemed to enjoy themselves so much......a teacher in the room during my session said she enjoyed the singing and would miss me and the good times we appeared to be having.....I will, too!!!

After lunch, we went to the Ramat Hanadiv Park, (a beautiful park designed as a memorial to the great benefactor of Israel, Edmund Rothschild)near Zichron Yaacov, for a hike, which yours truly opted to miss in favor of reading my kindle on the bus......a smart move, I think, since the ground was not level.....and I had already seen the gravesites of the Rothschilds. You can read more about this wonderful park on Google.  Dinner was at a fun restaurant in Caesarea.

Much love to all of you,

rosalie

THE HIKE - Manzur El Akeb

CAARI participants hiked the distance from the the Baron Rothchilds' resting place to the Manzur El Akeb Arcaeological Site yesterday as the sun set. The hike was at the height of the winter wild flowers blossoming. white and pink Cycleman, red Anemones, wild Garlic, Hubesa (a green leafy local spinach and many other colorful wild flowers.

Once at Manzur el Akeb,  CAARI toured the large 2nd Temple period ranch with Olive Press, Wine press, a winnowing area, indoor mikveh and underground storage,  Manzur El Akeb was a Jewish family's ranch/estate apparently burnt in 70 CE

The ranch was in use about 1500 years ago when a larger house was built. CAARI met the bus in Ramat HaNadiv to eat dinner in the ancient Port of Casarea built by King Herod the Great between 22-9 BCE as the largest man built port in the ancient world.

CAARI visits Weizmann House by Rosalie Whitehill

Today, Monday, it was back to school.....which is really the best part of the trip for me, even though we are seeing so many wonderful things with superb guides........the smiles, hugs, and loving expressions of the kids is priceless!!!!

After lunch, we visited the home of Today, Monday, it was back to school.....which is really the best part of the trip for me, even though we are seeing so many wonderful things with superb guides........the smiles, hugs, and loving expressions of the kids is priceless!!!!

After lunch, we visited the home of Chaim Weizmann,first President of Israel. It is an absolutely palatial home, by any Israeli standard.....even today!!  Weizman was so special in so many ways......too numerous to write now.....and for those who want to know more, I again recommend Google, or I will fill in details when I am back.  Our guide was better than wonderful, a former New Yorker, who was full of facts and fun and spoke of how great living in Rehovoth was (that is where Molly Orens  (a Lasell resident) who winters in Israel every year stays).  It is about a 20 minute drive south from Tel Aviv.

Wishing you all warmth, and wellness, and happiness, too!!!

love,

rosalie, 

CAARI at work in neighborhood schools

Today Neil and I visited several of the schools -  The pictures reflect the dedication of the CAARI participants and the warm response from the students and teachers.  CAARI is making a difference!

Feb 7, Sunday - Park Canada, Ayalon Institute, Speaker

Today was supposed to be a forest day where we trim trees, etc. However, due to recent rain and we are still experiencing some rain, we only toured this lovely Park.    Park Canada located near the Latrun, overlooking the Ayalon Valley, became a park after the 1967 War.




CAARI viewed the Ayalon Valley and the community of Ayalon and part of Modiin from an old Jordanian military position. We viewed a number of wild flowers in bloom : red anemones, tulips, persian and common cyclamen as well as allot of fruit trees like carobs, pomegranates, figs, dates, olive trees, etc. The park is also an archaeology site and place where Canadian Donors recognition is located.  The Canadians recognized many of the names.


After touring the springs and 0live press at Park Canada CAARI drove to Rehovot where we ate lunch at the Weizmann Institute before visiting the

Ayalon Institute clandestine bullet factory from the War of Independence.

Our featured speaker last night was Miri Eisen who gave the second part of a two part series of talks.

ie many extremists Sunni and Shiite organizations and countries. Many people had questions.