MOSH CHOREF DAILY BLOG 2011
Day 1
Hello winter camp families!
I am glad to announce that we arrived safely and happily at Mansfield today at 11:30am. We took the time to settle in and get oriented with our new surroundings. Everyone seemed to feel immediately at ease with the space, running around, making noise, and having a good time. We’re excited to share that there is about half an inch of snow over the grounds... it may be small but its snow nonetheless and it’s definitely getting everyone excited! After getting settled, the staff here helped explain about some of the rules and customs with the space before we all sat down and ate our first meal together. Our small but lovely group seems to be getting along well and I look forward to the days ahead! At this moment each kvutza is enjoying zman kvutza together. With many more hours of the day to come, there surely will be more to share with you all at home! Visit the website blog again tonight to hear more about the events of today and see pictures from day 1 here at winter camp!
Miriam (Rosh Mosh)
Our day has continued with lots of exciting activities! The familiar winter camp atmosphere is once again all around us! The full camp participated in a fun scavenger hunt together to get to know the new location and surroundings. After dinner we sang shira songs which included Chanukah songs before lighting the Chanukia! This winter we are telling the story of Chanukah through skits performed by the chanichim (campers) in three parts... one for each remaining day of Chanukah. Tonight’s skit was fun! Finally, everyone enjoyed the funny erev (evening play) performed by the hadracha called the Pticha. Now, we look forward to a good night’s sleep in preparation for ski day tomorrow. We are all looking forward to it! The first day at winter camp was a success! Please return for tomorrow’s update! See you then!
Miriam
(Apologies for the lack of photos! Internet access seems to be very slow here and uploading photo's has become quite an endeavor. We'll try to sort out the problem and put up all our photos as soon as we can!)
Photos day 1: Click here
I am glad to announce that we arrived safely and happily at Mansfield today at 11:30am. We took the time to settle in and get oriented with our new surroundings. Everyone seemed to feel immediately at ease with the space, running around, making noise, and having a good time. We’re excited to share that there is about half an inch of snow over the grounds... it may be small but its snow nonetheless and it’s definitely getting everyone excited! After getting settled, the staff here helped explain about some of the rules and customs with the space before we all sat down and ate our first meal together. Our small but lovely group seems to be getting along well and I look forward to the days ahead! At this moment each kvutza is enjoying zman kvutza together. With many more hours of the day to come, there surely will be more to share with you all at home! Visit the website blog again tonight to hear more about the events of today and see pictures from day 1 here at winter camp!
Miriam (Rosh Mosh)
Our day has continued with lots of exciting activities! The familiar winter camp atmosphere is once again all around us! The full camp participated in a fun scavenger hunt together to get to know the new location and surroundings. After dinner we sang shira songs which included Chanukah songs before lighting the Chanukia! This winter we are telling the story of Chanukah through skits performed by the chanichim (campers) in three parts... one for each remaining day of Chanukah. Tonight’s skit was fun! Finally, everyone enjoyed the funny erev (evening play) performed by the hadracha called the Pticha. Now, we look forward to a good night’s sleep in preparation for ski day tomorrow. We are all looking forward to it! The first day at winter camp was a success! Please return for tomorrow’s update! See you then!
Miriam
(Apologies for the lack of photos! Internet access seems to be very slow here and uploading photo's has become quite an endeavor. We'll try to sort out the problem and put up all our photos as soon as we can!)
Photos day 1: Click here
Day 2
SKI DAY!
Today was ski day! We woke up earlier than usual so we could fit all the skiing we could into our day. The ski hills are right across the street from our accommodations which made getting everyone there a much easier and faster task than usual. We arrived at the chalet at around quarter to ten. The conditions were great, it wasn’t too cold, the sky was clear, and four of the hills were opened for use. The camp spent the day skiing and hanging out in the chalet. It was great and the hills were really nice. At four o’clock we headed back to the camp where after our long day of skiing everyone had some time to relax before dinner. We continued our evening with chugim (choose your own activity). The activities included an outdoor adventure, origami making, board games, and plaster mask making. It has been a busy adrenaline filled morning and a calmer and mellow evening. The Chanichim are about to go to shira where we will light the Chanukah candles once more and sing songs before our Erev begins. This winter camp has provided a space where everyone seems to be comfortable with everyone. When walking through the building during activities it’s been nice to see our youngest Chanichim laughing and joking with our oldest Chanichim.
Happy Chanukah to All!
Photos day 2: Click here
Today was ski day! We woke up earlier than usual so we could fit all the skiing we could into our day. The ski hills are right across the street from our accommodations which made getting everyone there a much easier and faster task than usual. We arrived at the chalet at around quarter to ten. The conditions were great, it wasn’t too cold, the sky was clear, and four of the hills were opened for use. The camp spent the day skiing and hanging out in the chalet. It was great and the hills were really nice. At four o’clock we headed back to the camp where after our long day of skiing everyone had some time to relax before dinner. We continued our evening with chugim (choose your own activity). The activities included an outdoor adventure, origami making, board games, and plaster mask making. It has been a busy adrenaline filled morning and a calmer and mellow evening. The Chanichim are about to go to shira where we will light the Chanukah candles once more and sing songs before our Erev begins. This winter camp has provided a space where everyone seems to be comfortable with everyone. When walking through the building during activities it’s been nice to see our youngest Chanichim laughing and joking with our oldest Chanichim.
Happy Chanukah to All!
Photos day 2: Click here
Day 3
Good news everyone! It snowed today! The day started out wet and rainy and turned into picture perfect snowflakes and excellent packing snow. Our Zman Sheleg (Snow Time) began as a fun game of predators and prey. This is a classic game where teams are divided into "herbivores", "carnivores", and "omnivores"...everyone has a part in the food chain and must save all their life tickets to stay alive. It was great to be able to run around the grounds and enjoy the outdoors. When the game came to an end everyone was so amused by the snow conditions that no one wanted to go inside. This resulted in the making of an epic snowman! Everyone was involved, chanichim and hadracha, and the snowman was enormous! It was wonderful to be a part of the building of the snowman... we saw teamwork from all ages and such creativity! It truly was a group building experience! If the internet allowed it, you'd be able to see a photograph of our wonderful snowman equipped with hat, scarf, gloves, and a happy grin!
Overall today was a really lovely day. It was nice to have the entire day together here with our traditional activities from morning till night. The chanichim participated in two zmanei kvutzot as well as a full mosh music video competition. Each kvutza performed a dance to a different music genre. They were all hilarious! It's been great to watch as the days continue how comfortable everyone feels in our winter camp environment.
Another nice thing about our new location is toranut (doing the dishes). At summer camp each kvutza has their time to be responsible for doing toranut together. It's good to be able to take responsibility over the place we live in. Although its always hard to believe, at camp shomria we like doing the dishes and here at Mansfield we can. Every meal time a different kvutza has done the dishes. We're a small group so it isn't a big task but it has been a nice addition to winter camp this year.
Tonight, along with the play hadracha has prepared to perform for the chanichim, we will be lighting the Chanukah candles for the last night. Every kvutza has prepared a candle dedication that they will say as they light a candle on the chanukia. We are looking forward to it!
To another great day at winter camp!
Miriam
Photos day 3: Click here
Overall today was a really lovely day. It was nice to have the entire day together here with our traditional activities from morning till night. The chanichim participated in two zmanei kvutzot as well as a full mosh music video competition. Each kvutza performed a dance to a different music genre. They were all hilarious! It's been great to watch as the days continue how comfortable everyone feels in our winter camp environment.
Another nice thing about our new location is toranut (doing the dishes). At summer camp each kvutza has their time to be responsible for doing toranut together. It's good to be able to take responsibility over the place we live in. Although its always hard to believe, at camp shomria we like doing the dishes and here at Mansfield we can. Every meal time a different kvutza has done the dishes. We're a small group so it isn't a big task but it has been a nice addition to winter camp this year.
Tonight, along with the play hadracha has prepared to perform for the chanichim, we will be lighting the Chanukah candles for the last night. Every kvutza has prepared a candle dedication that they will say as they light a candle on the chanukia. We are looking forward to it!
To another great day at winter camp!
Miriam
Photos day 3: Click here
Day 4
Hello all!
It's hard to believe we have already completed our fourth full day here at winter camp! And it's even harder to believe how much we have done during our short stay! Today was another exciting day. Last night the yedid kvutza (grade 10's) ran a great ashlayla for the rest of the camp. Ashlayla is a winter camp tradition of running a surprise late night activity. It gives the oldest kvutza the opportunity to take on a leadership role and it's always fun and exciting. Therefore, we started our day today with a relaxing sleep-in.
Our morning then began with an orienteering expedition run by our very own shaliach, Carmi! Mansfield has an orienteering route set up on its grounds. The chanichim were divided into groups and set out to find the different check points on the Mansfield site map. Chanichim used compasses to find their way around the grounds and race each other to find all the points first. Shortly after this we all loaded a bus with skates and hockey gear and traveled to the hockey arena in the near by town of Alliston. We spent the next few hours free skating on the ice.
When we returned the evening continued with dinner and a zman kvutza.
Our erev tonight was very special. We made a bonfire outside in a fire pit situated along the path that winds around the building. It was beautiful to walk through at night with all the snow on top of the trees. We have been very lucky these past few days to have gotten to experience some true winter weather and snow. The grounds are so breath taking and sparkling white. The bonfire was cozy and everyone was able to share their thoughts on winter camp thus far and their personal stories from home. It was lovely to hear that everyone has become very fond of Mansfield and is regarding it as our new winter camp home. And of course, we couldn't leave a bonfire without marshmellows!
Now the evening has come to an end, everyone is settling in for the night. It doesn't look like anyone wants tomorrow to be our last day here! We've been having such an amazing time!
Photos day 4: Click here
It's hard to believe we have already completed our fourth full day here at winter camp! And it's even harder to believe how much we have done during our short stay! Today was another exciting day. Last night the yedid kvutza (grade 10's) ran a great ashlayla for the rest of the camp. Ashlayla is a winter camp tradition of running a surprise late night activity. It gives the oldest kvutza the opportunity to take on a leadership role and it's always fun and exciting. Therefore, we started our day today with a relaxing sleep-in.
Our morning then began with an orienteering expedition run by our very own shaliach, Carmi! Mansfield has an orienteering route set up on its grounds. The chanichim were divided into groups and set out to find the different check points on the Mansfield site map. Chanichim used compasses to find their way around the grounds and race each other to find all the points first. Shortly after this we all loaded a bus with skates and hockey gear and traveled to the hockey arena in the near by town of Alliston. We spent the next few hours free skating on the ice.
When we returned the evening continued with dinner and a zman kvutza.
Our erev tonight was very special. We made a bonfire outside in a fire pit situated along the path that winds around the building. It was beautiful to walk through at night with all the snow on top of the trees. We have been very lucky these past few days to have gotten to experience some true winter weather and snow. The grounds are so breath taking and sparkling white. The bonfire was cozy and everyone was able to share their thoughts on winter camp thus far and their personal stories from home. It was lovely to hear that everyone has become very fond of Mansfield and is regarding it as our new winter camp home. And of course, we couldn't leave a bonfire without marshmellows!
Now the evening has come to an end, everyone is settling in for the night. It doesn't look like anyone wants tomorrow to be our last day here! We've been having such an amazing time!
Photos day 4: Click here
Day 5
Hello again,
We are all cherishing every minute of our last full day here at winter camp. And of course, we have had a wonderful day. The day was spent at Mansfield with all of our own programming. This morning we had a hilarious game of "minute to win it" which consisted of mini games that needed to be beat within a minute's time. Teams cheered for their team's representatives and competed in some very funny games including "junk in the trunk" where a kleenex box was strapped around a chaniach's waste and filled with ping pong balls. Using only his hips he had to shake all the ping pongs out of the box within a minute. It was great!
The mosh participated in chugim again today (choose your own activity). Chugim has been another great winter camp time this year. The malechet yad chug (arts and crafts) were using plaster strips all week making great face masks and other molds. Today everyone was able to paint their projects. Other chugs like outdoor adventure has been consistently popular. Kids have been getting really excited to bundle up, explore the grounds, and enjoy the snow!
Something that I never have been able to get into on this blog is the great things kvutzot get to do during zman kvutza (This is mainly because I am not able to attend the zman kvutza of the different kvutzot as this is private kvutza time). But, I would like to stress how wonderful and important the zmanei kvutzot have been this week. I hear little details about how they went and know of the chanichim's positive experiences. Tz. Bet made a ginger bread synagogue yesterday, Tz. Gimmel had a great team building exercise where they had to build a fire outside while tied together in a group, chalutzim had a great time playing spoon olympics today, and yedid have been learning about different developmental stages and how that relates to running peulot and other activities for different age groups.
Today we took our last full mosh chance to use the outdoors and snow by playing another winter camp classic "mosh ball". This is a team sport with a ball, goal keepers, and net. The game gets super competitive and fun, especially when played in the snow.
Tonight we are about to have our official mifkad ceremony, do some fun rikud (Israeli dancing), and then each kvutza will go off and enjoy a last night messiba (party) with lots of candy and games!
This winter camp has been a wonderful experience for everyone involved! Not a day has gone by without something exciting happening and no one is ready to leave! We will make the most of our time that is left here! I hope all the chanichim will go home and share their great stories with you all! See everyone tomorrow!
I hope this blog has been enjoyable! (and we promise to put all the great pictures from the week up as soon as we're back in the city)
Miriam
Photos day 5: Click here
We are all cherishing every minute of our last full day here at winter camp. And of course, we have had a wonderful day. The day was spent at Mansfield with all of our own programming. This morning we had a hilarious game of "minute to win it" which consisted of mini games that needed to be beat within a minute's time. Teams cheered for their team's representatives and competed in some very funny games including "junk in the trunk" where a kleenex box was strapped around a chaniach's waste and filled with ping pong balls. Using only his hips he had to shake all the ping pongs out of the box within a minute. It was great!
The mosh participated in chugim again today (choose your own activity). Chugim has been another great winter camp time this year. The malechet yad chug (arts and crafts) were using plaster strips all week making great face masks and other molds. Today everyone was able to paint their projects. Other chugs like outdoor adventure has been consistently popular. Kids have been getting really excited to bundle up, explore the grounds, and enjoy the snow!
Something that I never have been able to get into on this blog is the great things kvutzot get to do during zman kvutza (This is mainly because I am not able to attend the zman kvutza of the different kvutzot as this is private kvutza time). But, I would like to stress how wonderful and important the zmanei kvutzot have been this week. I hear little details about how they went and know of the chanichim's positive experiences. Tz. Bet made a ginger bread synagogue yesterday, Tz. Gimmel had a great team building exercise where they had to build a fire outside while tied together in a group, chalutzim had a great time playing spoon olympics today, and yedid have been learning about different developmental stages and how that relates to running peulot and other activities for different age groups.
Today we took our last full mosh chance to use the outdoors and snow by playing another winter camp classic "mosh ball". This is a team sport with a ball, goal keepers, and net. The game gets super competitive and fun, especially when played in the snow.
Tonight we are about to have our official mifkad ceremony, do some fun rikud (Israeli dancing), and then each kvutza will go off and enjoy a last night messiba (party) with lots of candy and games!
This winter camp has been a wonderful experience for everyone involved! Not a day has gone by without something exciting happening and no one is ready to leave! We will make the most of our time that is left here! I hope all the chanichim will go home and share their great stories with you all! See everyone tomorrow!
I hope this blog has been enjoyable! (and we promise to put all the great pictures from the week up as soon as we're back in the city)
Miriam
Photos day 5: Click here
Day 6
_To all winter camp families,
It's 12:45pm and we are currently loading the bus. It looks like we will be right on schedule and expected to arrive back at the ken for pick-up at 2:30pm like planned. For further updates while we're on the road please contact Miriam at 647-993-0173.
It's 12:45pm and we are currently loading the bus. It looks like we will be right on schedule and expected to arrive back at the ken for pick-up at 2:30pm like planned. For further updates while we're on the road please contact Miriam at 647-993-0173.
Hashomer Hatzair - Camp Shomria Canada: mail@campshomria.ca; 416 736 1339
