Passover Seder

This Pesach, I went to my first ever Yemenite Seder. It was the first time I ever ate Yemenite food. I take a cab to my aunt's sister's house in Karmiel. Once I get dropped off, I find out that he dropped me off at the wrong place because he didn't quite understand me. Eventually, I get to the right place. Not too long after I arrive, we leave for Moshav Elyakim (where my aunt's parents live). I meet the rest of the family and we sit down to begin the seder. It was a slight culture shock. During the actual seder, the men and women were not sitting together. During the meal, we were drinking wine instead of grape juice (which we were using for the 4 cups) and men and women could sit together. I knew it was a Sephardi Seder, but that still surprised me a little bit, especially as I was putting rice on my plate. Well all I can say now is: "Kitniyot". After the meal, women and men separated again and we finished the seder. The family (that didn't grow up speaking English) attempted speaking to me in English so I would feel comfortable while I was speaking in Hebrew to improve my speaking skills. It was an interesting mix to say the least. Once the seder was over, the family left, and the dishes were done, I went to sleep. The next morning, I wake up, get dressed and have a Yemenite breakfast. I ate a Yemenite dish called Fatoot which was quite tasty and I also had a dish that was described to me as Matzah French Toast. Not as good as the fatoot. Throughout the day, extended family came by and I learned that another one of my aunt's sisters lives in Karmiel also and teaches at the religious high school that I used to work at. She told me there were 3 American boys there whom she would ask if they knew who I was (which they do because they're on my program). At one point, my cousins and I took a walk around the moshav and talked for a bit about the army and when we were each going to visit each other. We chilled around for the rest of the day then once chag was over, my oldest cousin (who's a sergeant in the army) and his father (yes Dad, that would be your oldest brother) drove me back to Karmiel.

Closed Shabbat on Kibbutz Channaton

This weekend was a closed weekend. The Karmiel track went to Kibbutz Channaton. We arrived Friday and found out there was another group there who were doing this hollistic type process in silence for 10 days which meant we couldn't be very loud. We went to our rooms and about an hour later, we had a program about what type of leader we are. We took- what I would call- a leadership personality survey which, once we added up the scores, showed us what kind of leader we are. There were four types of leadership personalities: Directors, Supporters, Creators, and Analyzers. My leadership personality type was: survey says: Creator. What a surprise, right mom?

About Creators...
Effective Traits: imaginative, creative, visionary, idealistic, enthusiastic, innovative
Ineffective Traits: unrealistic, unreliable, inconsistent, hasty, impulsive, impatient, fragmented
Possible Majors: Art, English, Design, Hospitality, Travel, Theater, Communications
Possible Careers: Writer, Politician, Travel agent, Hotel manager, Cartoonist, Musician, Composer, Artist, Journalist, Craftsperson, Florist, Costume designer, Sales, Scientist

We then split up into personality groups and had to design something and be able to market it to the kids of Nativ 31. It was a fun experience to do this. After this activity, we got ready and had Kabbalat Shabbat. After Kab-Shab, I went to a shiyur (lesson) on the parsha of the week. We had an interesting discussion. After the shiyur, we went to dinner. Saturday morning, we had davening and then lunch. After lunch we had free time. I sat in the sun for a bit. After free time, we had a tour of the kibbutz. After the tour, we had mincha, dinner, ma'ariv/havdallah. After that, we had about 5 minutes to get on the bus and head back to Karmiel