Cuppacafe

After my son, Dylan, came back from The March of the Living (where he along with 10,000 other Jewish teens traveled to the Death Camps in Poland for Holocaust Remembrance Day, and then to Israel for Independence Day), he, and his friend Michael made a slide show which they not only presented to their youth group (Kulanu), but Michael then posted to Youtube.

You don’t need sound for this — however, the music does add to the 9+ minute experience. The first half (when they are at the camps in Poland) is very hard and depressing, however the mood does brighten up when they reach Israel. (Apparently the Israel half of the trip was added into the original Poland trip some years back when it was discovered that the kids had some trouble adjusting back to the world after viewing the camps.)

After watching the slideshow, I’m sure that you’ll understand why.

The Perfessor

After my son, Dylan, came back from The March of the Living (where he along with 10,000 other Jewish teens traveled to the Death Camps in Poland for Holocaust Remembrance Day, and then to Israel for Independence Day), he, and his friend Michael made a slide show which they not only presented to their youth group (Kulanu), but Michael then posted to Youtube.

You don’t need sound for this — however, the music does add to the 9+ minute experience. The first half (when they are at the camps in Poland) is very hard and depressing, however the mood does brighten up when they reach Israel. (Apparently the Israel half of the trip was added into the original Poland trip some years back when it was discovered that the kids had some trouble adjusting back to the world after viewing the camps.)

After watching the slideshow, I’m sure that you’ll understand why.

The Perfessor

My son Dylan has returned home. He arrived on Sunday morning at around 5:30 in NY, and was back with us by 7:30. He was not tired, but wired (he had slept on the plane), and then spent part of the day at his friend Michael’s house working on some project that they were given to the kids by their group leader.

Later on, he joined the rest of us as we visited both sets of his Grandparents for Mother’s day, (a belated happy Mother’s Day to all of you moms) and to a party at a neighbor’s. He regaled all of us with stories of his travels, and presented many of us with very cool gifts. Later on he began the arduous task of catching up on two weeks worth of back homework (from which he was not excused), eventually succumbing to jet lag and crashing out on the lounge chair.

I’m so glad he went, and very happy that he has returned to us. Needless to say, my beautiful daughter is now making noises about being allowed to go on a family trip that the Temple is offering to Israel for next February. While we are not certain that she will be able to go, we are beginning to seriously consider it.

Some of the posts that they made were on a special web page that the youth group put up to document the trip, while photos of some of the gifts he brought back are here. Among the things (and gifts) he brought back were a Polish McDonald’s Happy Meal (I wrote a book about fast food toys back in 2001, so it is fun to collect foreign toys)

He also brought back some coke bottles and cans from Israel, as well as a Spider-Man Dredel for me. Now how cool is that? Anyway. While I’m glad that he went, I’m equally glad that he’s back, and I’m certain that his journey around the world is just beginning. Of course, now my daughter is looking at a family trip to Israel that the Temple is offering next year...