We woke up to a huge homemade breakfast made by the owner of the camping site and his wife. They brought a long table right to the patio of our "Tent" so we not only had a pretty view of the grape vines and fig trees but the tent over looked the city below us and we were all kind of in awe of the view. Once we were all packed up we got on the bus and drove to the Jordan River. Today was supposed to be our water day, full of the Israeli version of kayaking and free time at the Kinneret. However because kayaking took longer than expected we had to cancel our kinneret time. But I am getting ahead of myself.
For the entire week before our trip we kept hearing that we were going kayaking but then it would change to white water rafting and by the time we got to the actual river no one had any idea what to expect. When we got there it appeared that our supposed adventure would be in a white water rafting raft with kayaking paddles and water that was far more similar to that of a lazy river. In summary it was literally everything in one mess of an activity. This is not to say that it wasn't fun though. The view was fantastic and we got into some water fights and got to just relax and sing on the water as we went. You see the point of the trip was to allow us to relax but also provide opportunities to have fun. This experience encapsulated both ideas. After our water experience we got back on the bus and drove to a strip mall for lunch. You would think with all the different restaurant options we had (froyo, burgers, mcdonalds, sushi, arabic, falafel, etc.) that we would try somewhere new but probably 75% of our group ended up at Aroma with the same salads or sandwiches we have had 4 times in the last two weeks. Although that could have also been a side effect of most of the other options being out of our price range. Either way though we were definitely all happy with our routine food break.
From lunch we drove to Kibbutz Ein Harod for Shabbat. It was gorgeous. Our rooms were huge, the staff was friendly, and there was a free pool. Basically Moshik (our director) had once again scored a perfect 100 with his planning of our trip. We had time to get ready for Shabbat and then had a brief group activity and kabbalat shabbat. We wrote our own shabbat service during the week and made it really pluralistic so that everyone would feel comfortable. People were allowed to suggest tunes to sing and I happily sang some Debbie Friedman and Dan Nichols for the group to enjoy. Being the only NFTY kid I was singing my songs alone but everyone seemed to enjoy it and I got a lot of compliments on my voice afterward which was really nice and unexpected so I was happy. That being said it is still difficult to get used to the more religious tunes and prayers involved in a service. When I think Kabbalat Shabbat it just means that there are more songs prior to the actual service but my experiences through NFTY and camp neglected to inform me that there are like 12 traditional psalms that are read/sang than I had never even heard of. But I sat there and enjoyed listening to everyone else despite my confusion.
After our service we had dinner and then I ran a short activity for everyone. When Jordana and I had been planning the service we wanted to make it more interactive. A lot of our group had mentioned that they wanted to have more bonding activities so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to include one in the service. Due to time constraints we had to move it to after dinner but I think it worked out better because standing outside after sunset provided a warmer atmosphere (if that make sense). The activity was one that our Kappa representative taught us when she came to our executive board meeting. Everyone stands in a circle and closes their eyes. A few people are picked to go into the center and the leader says something like "tap the shoulder of someone who made you laugh today". I chose this activity because I think it is always nice to feel loved and appreciated and even though you don't know who is tapping you on the shoulder it makes everyone in the group feel warm and fuzzy. I was thrilled when everyone seemed to have those feelings afterwards. Most of us wanted to stay outside after the activity and we sat down to have a massage circle/line for probably a good hour. After that we were all pretty tired and spent the rest of the night just talking or going to sleep early because that is a rarity in our lives. 
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