With the summer machanot now over, we are all finalising preparations in eager anticipation of the shnat group's arrival. I wanted to take this opportunity to let you know and maybe go over a few things.
Upon arrival, the Australian group will go straight into the joint AZYC movement's seminar until Sunday 1st February. In this time they will staying in various locations around the country - the South, Zichron Ya'acov and Jerusalem and will be accompanied by both Israeli tour guides and Australian madrichim, including Gabe Freund. Upon arrival on Tuesday morning Israel time, they will receive their mobile phones before leaving the airport. Please note that the time difference between Australia and Israel is currently 9 hours for the East Coast and 7 hours for the West.
The New Zealand group will go straight into their own orientation in Jerusalem, after arrival on Thursday the 29th and will be accompanied by some of their Shnat madrichim. They will receive their mobile phones on Thursday during the day. If you haven't yet ordered a phone, you can still fax the form the israelphones before departure. Please note that the time difference between New Zealand and Israel is currently 11 hours.
On Sunday 1st February, the Australian & New Zealand groups will unite and have a week of Shnat orientation. During this week we will be staying both at Nes Harim (near Beit Shemesh) and Ravid (near Tiberias) and there will be lots of peulot and fun activities with the 4 Shnat madrichim - Samo, Hana, Aviv & Amit (who will be introduced to you all soon!)
On Sunday 8th February, the Machon group will depart for Jerusalem and the Boneh group for Kibbutz Ein Gev; where both the Machon and Boneh
tzvatim (teams) have been busy finalising all details for both the programs. Both groups have special programming that week regarding the Israeli general elections which will be held on February 10th. The shnatties first free weekend will be that of February 13-14th and they will have their first chance to visit family or friends that live in Israel.
I wanted to also take this opportunity to update all families on our security regulations which in light of the current Gaza conflict coming to a close, have since been reexamined. Most activity in the south can be resumed for all groups, bar for a 10km zone around the Gaza strip where at present we are not allowing any activities to take place. This of course may change at any point in time throughout the year and we continue to constantly monitor the situation throughout Israel together with the Jewish Agency Security Forum.
Lastly, if you wish to receive blog updates throughout the year direct to your mailbox, you may go to this site http://www.feedmyinbox.com/ and simply enter the url https://shnat2009.blogspot.com and your email address. At the prompt to choose between ATOM or RSS feed then you may choose either (it doesn't make a difference) and you will be sorted!
Looking forward to meeting you all very soon!!
Vered & the Shnat tzevet 2009
The New Zealanders at the lovely hour of 4am, at the airport together with 2 of their madrichim, Samo and Hannah.
Some of the Australian shnatties with David Broza, who gave an incredible private performance at the AZYC offical opening ceremony. Other speakers included MK Isaac Herzog, Zev Bielski the head of the Jewish Agency, and the Australian Ambassador to Israel, James Larsen.
Some of the Australian shnatties with David Broza, who gave an incredible private performance at the AZYC offical opening ceremony. Other speakers included MK Isaac Herzog, Zev Bielski the head of the Jewish Agency, and the Australian Ambassador to Israel, James Larsen.
