From New York to Israel!

Day 1: The saga of the misplaced luggage has finally come to an end! Due to a three hour delay in New York City, we made the connecting flight from Kiev to Tel Aviv, but our gear did not. And all the Boris look alikes from the James Bond movies were absolutely no help. Luckily, everyone's things were waiting for us at the kibbutz upon our return there this evening. Our itinerary got switched around a bit because of our lack of luggage, and we spent the day in the Galil. The morning was spent in Tzfat, a quaint little city with a religious population that has a rather violent history and whose rule has changed hands numerous times over the years. Everything we learned in Tzfat was soooooo aweessssooooommmmeeee (remind us to tell you about Avraham when we get back). From there, we went to visit the graves of Rachel Bluwstein and Naomi Shemer, the two most important women in terms of Israeli poetry and music. They both also played a big role in the start of the kibbutz movement. One of our Israeli comrades read some of Rachel's poetry and we listened to a song written by Naomi called Jerusalem of Gold, which has been internationally acclaimed! Now, we are back at Kibbutz Afik prepping for dinner. More to come tomorrow!