Tsofim Tiyul

This weekend was our last in Bat Yam and with the Tsofim (Israeli Scouts) who live with us as part of their shnat sherut (year of service) before they go into the army. And so over 50 of us piled onto a bus Thursday night and headed to Kibbutz Tzora (the kibbutz of one of our Tsofim).

When we got there we immediately started cutting up carrots and potatotes and onions and zuccini for our dinner: poyka. If you have never had poyka I strongly suggest you try it. Essentially, it is a huge combination of vegetables, meat, a form of grain and a sauce composed of anything you have lying around, the entire concoction is then cooked over a fire for a couple hours in a poyka pot (like a cauldron). Some of the sauces that were dumped in together into the pots included but were not limited to: tomato sauce, duck sauce, wine and coca cola. It was deliciously yummy, definitely worth the long wait. What was so much fun was how each of the pots tasted slightly different because of the variations in sauce combinations.

The next morning we took a short hike up the mountain behind the kibbutz to where we were going to go for a bike ride. I like bike riding. However, when it's on an extremely rocky and bumpy dirt road, your feet can't touch the ground when you stand on the bike, and it is a lot of up and down hills, you don't have as much fun as you hoped you would. I fell multiple times and twice scraped up and cut the same knee. The helpful guide wrapped it over and over in one of those gauzy bandages that made my scrape look like a very impressive battle wound.

When we returned to the youth house that we were staying in we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing, playing games and talking. Early evening we attended Kabbalat Shabbat, which consisted of our entire group plus around six kibbutzniks. (In case you didn't already know, kibbutzniks are mostly secular.) After services we made hamburgers and kebabs for dinner. As an evening activity we did some Israeli dance with some members of the kibbutz. After that the Tsofim ran a small oneg that was like mini maccabia with various games and challenges for the teams to compete in.

Around 2am we were getting ready to go to bed, in our sleeping bags and everything when the Tsofim decide that since it was our last weekend together we had to have a dance party. So the room we were sleeping in was magically transformed into a dance floor with a disco ball and strobe lights and the mattresses became excellent material to jump on.

The next day was very laid back with nothing very substantial besides a tour and peulah about the kibbutz. It was a fun bonding experience for our section and a final chance for us to spend time with the Tsofim.