Shoshy Epstein and Aliza Walzman here! 

Efraim Wiener is making us write this, so here we go. Friday morning wake up was at 6:45 and the amount of people at davening on time was beautiful. We had a great Israeli breakfast of cucumbers, tomatoes, bourekas, and chocolate spread! Then we started making our way to our first activity- raft building at the Kineret! We were split up into groups and each team was given several sticks of bamboo, some barrels, string, and three wooden planks. After a short tutorial, we all got to building! After we all finished we got ready to race. Each team carried their own raft into the water except for one- who’s raft got “accidently” tied to a tree by Dovid Farrell. Everyone took their places, paddled to the rocks and then turned around. The water felt so nice! Once we made it back to shore, we took our rafts apart- definitely easier than building them! After changing into dry clothes and snacking on some watermelon, we drove to our next activity- and to get some lunch! We were all super excited when they gave out some shawarma and pita, which tastes so much better in Israel. After we ate, we got into some great ancient robes and turbans. Then we split into two groups. While one group was making and eating some pita with zaatar, the other was playing Shabbos songs on drums to get ready for later (then we switched of course). Chilling with the goats running around was fun too.  Let’s just say the goats did not appreciate it. After that, we started to make our way back to where we were staying to get ready for Shabbos! What a great first Friday in Israel for Yad B’Yad Trip 2!!