Shalom Parents,
I would like to start by introducing myself: My name is Adi, and I’m the Aardvark Coordinator for Tel Aviv. The field of informal education has always been a significant part of my life. I was a “Madrich” (counselor) for many years in an Israeli youth movement, “Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed”, a movement that sponsored the gap year in which I participated myself, at the age of 18.
In my military service I served in the “Nachal” infantry unit. After a meaningful service I started to work as an educational coordinator in a Kibbutz. After 2 years I came to Aardvark to work as a counselor. It was so great for me so I decided to stay and start my role as a coordinator at Aardvark Tel Aviv.
Every week I will be sending you next week’s schedule along with information regarding what’s next to come. The schedule will be sent as a jpeg table which divides the days into different activities such as classes, tours, and volunteering.
This coming Monday your children will be joining me and the rest of our staff here in Tel Aviv! We are using the little time we have left before the beginning of spring semester to prepare the grounds for our new participants, AKA, your children. We have a staff of four madrichim (counselors) that will be taking good care of your kids throughout the semester! Their names are: Naama, Noga, Elad and Daniel.
I’m guessing that you are wondering how your child’s first week on Aardvark will look like. Attached you can find our schedule for the first week of the program. It will be filled with orientation activities that are meant to teach basic “how to’s”, the security and health codes, introduce the key points in the neighborhood such as the nearest grocery store and pharmacy and of course, have some fun and get to know the new group. Expect another email from me on Monday, after the rest of the staff and I meet your children, telling you that everyone arrived safely.
Here are some of the things we will have this semester:
- An overnight to Midbar Yhuda
- A trip to Haifa and a trip to Caesaria
- “Dialogue in the Dark”- a glimpse of how it’s like to not rely on your eye sight
- Ayalon Institue- an underground bullet factory from the days of the British mandate in Israel
- A tour to Zikhron Yaakov
- Tours in Jaffa and Neve Tzedek (first neighborhood in Tel Aviv)
- Yom Haatzmaut Barbique
- Hummus Workshop (In the best Hummus place in the of the city!)
- Meeting with the Haredi community in Bnei Brak.
And the list is going on and on…
As always, we welcome your questions, comments, and concerns. This is going to be an amazing semester for your children, as well as for us. Expect them to grow, learn, and thrive in the Holy Land.
Looking forward to meeting your children (and maybe even see some of you here in Israel!),
Shabbat Shalom!
Adi
