Second Shabbat

     Our second shabbat was a... well, it was a very low point to close our last, yet fantastic week. In the morning we went to preschools to help children plant flowers for tubishvat (the birthday of the trees.. kind of like our Earth Day). They were ADORABLE. Haha, one of my friends was kidding around and told me to stop being so good with kids. This one girl followed me every where haha. She was so cute. I picked her up because she was crying... the hardest part about the experience was the 2 to 5 years olds could only speak Hebrew so we just smiled said shalom and asked them how they were and what their names were! Well, all she said was abba, abba, so obviously she wanted her dad. I picked her up and she finally cheered up. All the other kids were really cute too. I loved working with them! But, when we got back on the bus the madrachiem were speaking in hebrew with worried looks on their face. The announced that we NEED to meet by the bus once we got off. We all got worried thinking something terrible had happened. I had feared something in Gaza was the cause for worry. When we all grouped around they gave directions but then announced horrible news. One of the kids on EIE had left that morning because his father died. It was extremely upsetting. Quite a few people on the trip knew his father so when we went to services later that night, I have to admit it was eerily quite even with the loud praying and singing. The service was dedicated to the student and his father, which was very respectable.
     I have been enjoying the trip thus far extremely much, but with this hard-hitting occurrence, it also brought a sense of community about us. It's suspected that he will come back for the remainder of the semester... hopefully. Optimistically if so, he should be expecting many open arms.