The Camp Gilboa Blog

As part of our Shabbat Rotations - preparation for Shabbat - each week one of the kvutzot reflects on the week and shares their thoughts on Gilboa's blog. Here's what the Bogrim (10th graders) had to share. The First Day of 2 nd Session             The thrill of seeing the buses pull up to machaneh is one that can’t really be described. With everyone cheering for the new chanichim, you can’t help but be excited for the coming two weeks of machaneh. Hugging old friends is always a gift, but so is introducing yourself to new ones.             As we pulled up into the parking lot, we could see people preparing to welcome us to the 2 nd session of 2013. Many emotions were circling through our heads, both exciting and anxious, but as we got off the bus and walked through the tunnel of fellow chanichim’s hands, we all felt happy and welcomed. We found the kvutsa that we we...

On Friday morning our Amelim and Nitsanim were preparing to go to the zoo. They were all excited for the experience as the Big Bear Zoo is a rehabilitation center for wounded animals, and a learning center about the local wildlife. As you can see, the pre-trip photo shoot became a silly one pretty quickly. More about the trip in a later post.

  Second session hit the ground running. The earlier pickup time allowed us to finish all the trainings on the first part of the first day, and get right into camp activities. After the usual lice check, rules of camp, safety drills, swim test and archery and kayaking safety training,   chanichim watched presentations about chugim (electives) and Avodah (work groups) that they can choose from. Chugim choices this session are diverse –from Sports, “Artsy Fartsy”, and “Living Poets Society” to “Chugs and Kisses” and “Hippies and Hipsters” among others, chanichim had plenty to choose from. More about chugim in other posts. Later in the evening each kvutza (age group) sat together and decided which member will participate in which Avodah. So why is the first blog post of the session about Avodah? Why do we do Avodah at Gilboa, and why is this an essential part of camp?   At Gilboa, chanichim are encouraged to be creators of their communi...

The Sayalim             Working with the Sayalim has been a great experience. We have eleven amazing and unique chanichim, each one of them with something new and fresh to bring to Gilboa. Being the youngest kids means that the kvutsah is mostly made up of new faces, but they are adapting well and enjoying their time here. All of the Sayalim participate in and enjoy their avodot, chuggim, and various other activities. They spend their chofesh hanging out with their friends in and out of their shichva (age group), as well as playing in our new gaga pit and climbing rocks. We’ve played a number of get-to-know-you games, and have put a lot of effort into ensuring the chanichim make connections with each other.   In PISH (age group activity) they learn about various topics including avoiding stereotypes and the youth movement Habonim Dror.   These wonderful Sayalim have many youthful summers ahead of them and we ho...

This week Chanichim danced and played by the pool, talked about nature and philosophy, played volleyball and Ultimate Frisbee, improved their archery skills, played music, wrote and read their poetry, ate Funches (Fun Lunches), beautified Gilboa by creating  colorful designs and signs to hang around the site, learned more nature and scouting skills, worked in the gan (garden) and started to harvest herbs for the kitchen, and spent more time with their friends and their madrichim.