Big Step

My flight leaves KC at 9 tomorrow morning. Am I ready? Physically speaking, I'm packed, I'm healthy, a little tired, but I am ready. But am I really ready mentally? Its a big step. First time I am really on my own.

I think I'm ready.

I know I'm ready.

It will be hard. Things like this are never easy.

Goodbye Kansas City

Hello Israel!

So Close!

Sammy made this countdown for me at camp. Each day has a word of advice or a tid bit about getting excited. Today's is a little misleading. "Let the countdown begin..." Well, the countdown has been going since before I signed up.

Yesterday was fun. Nick and I spent all day on what started out as a normal ride, but we ended up going all over OP on our bikes. Mary Glen tagged along for a little. We had lunch at Chipotle with Reed cause he was leaving for college. Hopefully we will go on more crazy bike adventures before Nick leaves on Friday. Next time I will try to bring a camera.

Last night we got a very exciting call from L.A. I have a new cousin! Mazel Tov Aunt Yael (Bob) and Uncle Craig! Get Skype set up so I can see her!

That goes for the rest of you guys too. You all should get this wonderful program called Skype. It is an online phone and videophone service. ITS FREE and take a total of about 5-10 minutes to download and set up. This is how I will be talking to everybody back in the states because calling is simply expensive and I can't see all of your faces on the regular phone. http://skype.com/

One More Week

It's so close! I packed today, correction my mom packed, to make sure it would all fit. It does, and it is under weight. Only 7 more days!

Indroducing Your New Eagle Scout!

Had my board of review last night. I'm offically an Eagle Scout!

Night Ride

I was bored, so I decided it was time for a bike ride. It was about nine at night when I decided i would do this. So put on my helmet and lights and went. I need some more lights. I can't really see much without the help of the street lights. Riding at night is such a different experience. You can only see what is directly in front of you. The streets are empty. I could look into just about any window and see someone planted on the couch watching the boob tube. Just an observation.

The whole time I was riding I had this song stuck in my head.


The chorus is just so catchy.

Bye Jon and Justin!

Jon leaves tomorrow for Drake and Justin leaves for Arkansas. It was sad to see them go, but I know we will all stay in touch. Trumpets FOEVA!

I made Jon a little something.



I put it in a magnetic frame I had laying around. (It looks better than this. I accidentally didn't save it on the computer, so I had to take a picture of it.)

My turn to leave is coming up pretty soon here. Can't wait!

Home

I've been home for about a week and a half now. It has been pretty good. The mifgash kids came and went. Hopefully I will see them in Israel. Most of my friends have all moved in to school by now. (Good luck guys. Have fun, but keep it all in moderation.) I got to see most of them, which was good. The Stolls had an Arab night at his house on Friday and a lot of people were there. I put up a seudo Bedouin tent in their backyard and it looked pretty cool. I think its still up, I should probably go take that down.

Yesterday I went to the lake with my grandparents, their best friends the Carrs, who I call Aunt Marsha and Uncle Al, and Marsha and Al's daughter Cheryl along with her husband Kenny and twin daughters Ashley and Brittney. The girls and I are the same age, we are pretty much cousins. We have been good family friends since we were all in uteoro. Anyways, we all went down to Clinton lake were my grandparents and the Carrs each have a boat. Well the grandparents were fishing, I went and rode my mountain bike on the trails that surround the lake. It was the first time I have ridden off road with my clip-in pedals. It was a little nerve racking at first. I came back from my first ride and the girls, Kenny, and Cheryl showed up with a jetski in tow. Kenny showed me how to drive it. The thing is a blast. It is very easy to learn how to drive. Kenny also took me and Ashely tubing on it. He couldn't knock me off. I'm too used to how James takes people tubing. Kenny had me on there for a good twenty minutes before my arms gave out. We came back in after a couple hours on the jetski messing around and the Choikits left. I went on another bike ride. When I came back we left for dinner at Montana Mike's. I managed to eat a 20 ounce ribeye with mushrooms and garlic, a whole sweet potato, a salad, and a large roll. Amazing how hungry I can get. We went back to the lake so the grandparents could fish some more. Needless to say I was beat, so I slept in the car. I woke up this morning and my shoulders and arms are killing me! It was a great time at the lake. Thanks Bubbie and Grandpa.

I forgot something really cool! Ashely and Brittney are going to be in Israel for a year also. They are going on Nativ, a program run by USY. I will be really cool to hang out with them in Israel. I can also tell their parents all the trouble they're going to be getting into ;)


Tonight I was invited to a local Hadassah meeting. They all wished me great luck and gave me a journal as a gift. Thanks!

Even more important, they were honoring Sybil Kaplan as she is making Aliyah just a day before I leave. Sybil was my hebrew school teacher in 8th grade and is the one responsible for getting my involved in Young Judaea. She came up to me before the meeting and said, "Well you certainly have come a long way from when you were an 8th grader sitting in my class with a backwards baseball cap on." I look forward to seeing her in Israel. Her and her husband Barry are getting an apartment in Jerusalem.

In other news....
I don't think I have mentioned this on the blog yet, but as most of you know my family is getting a Korean exchange student. He arrives tomorrow. The house is a little messy, so that's my task tomorrow before he gets here. Its kinda weird that I will only get to know him for a week and a half before I head off.

Speaking of heading off....

Thirteen days before I leave!!!!! I'm more excited than a five year old waiting for the family vacation to Disney Land.

Packing is gonna suck though. El Al has crazy restrictions. My luggage of only two pieces cannot exceed 107 inches of combined length, width, and height. And each piece can't weigh more than 50 pounds. Otherwise it is an extra $100. Such crap. I can't imagine how much this sucks for girls.

Altogether there are thirteen people from the Kansas City area going for a year in Israel. That is a spectacular number. Check out the article in the Kansas City Jewish Chronicle. Written by none other than Sybil Kaplan.

"This year, four young men and one young woman from Kansas City will be on this course, including longtime Young Judaea activist Daniel Siegel. Your reporter was able to speak with Daniel personally while he was a counselor at Camp Young Judaea Midwest. Daniel is 18 years old, a 2008 graduate of Shawnee Mission South and son of Lisa and Steve Siegel. Daniel has been involved in year-round Young Judaea activities since middle school; attended national conventions during high school; was the local chapter president; and served on the region and district boards as well as on a steering committee for National convention."
Click Here for the rest of the article.


I have some Olympics to catch up on.

B'Shalom....YO!

P.S. Look what I found today, it's so stupid, but still funny.

Sweaty

I rode a good distance today. 12 miles in about 45 minutes. It felt really good to be sweating under the hot sun. I think I really needed it just to clear my head.

Tonight is the big Goodbye Bash. Even though I'm not leaving until the 31st, most of my friends leave next week for school. Hopefully more than a dozen people show up. It was kinda late notice because my mom only reserved the park last week. Still, It will be fun and it will be good to see people.

Gleb our friend from Israel is here! My brother went on a Mifgash trip last summer through the Jewish Federation of KC. Ten teens from KC and Ten from the Ramla/Gezer area in Israel were paired up. The Israelis are here until next Thursday. Last night we had Kabbalat Shabbat with all of them. It reminded me too much of camp. We did some of the same tunes including the niguns, I played yaniv with a few of the Israelis, and we even said Birchot! I miss camp a lot.

Nir, the KC shaliach, was there last night too. It was good to see him. He will be in Israel for about a week once I get there. Hopefully I will get to see him.

B'Shalom

Camp Wrap-Up

I feel behind on the blog. I'm here to make up for it.

Camp ended on Thursday and I rode home with some campers who live in Kansas City. Thanks guys!

The last half of second session was good. I got to know my kids really well and was very comfortable with dealing with them. All the hard work and stress paid off when one of the kids, who was a big problem through the session, came up to me on the last night and said "Thanks for the summer Daniel." Even though there were times in the last month where all I wanted to do was scream because that particular child was acting in an absurd manner, I put on a huge grin and said "I hope to see you next summer." Which I could regret in the future, but whatever...

Staff activities the last part of camp were a blast. There was the night swim (I went skinny dipping for the first time!), the meetings where we complained about our campers, the Friday night Onegs, and the tsevet(staff) banquet. It was themed "The Oscars" and people were paired up with dates. You and your date had a theme. Elisse and I were Danny and Sandy from Grease. Those pants were really comfortable...NOT.



As camp was wrapping up I realized how much a part of it I was, and how much a part of camp and Young Judaea are of me. I had my closing meetings with Robin and A-ron. I'm not trying to honk my own horn here, but they had really good things to say about me, and it was really good to hear. Being a counselor was very natural to me (ma'ap 2!) and I hope to be a staff member at CYJ midwest for several years. I could care less about the pay. It is more about how I have grown as a person, and more importantly that Young Judaea continues to grown and kids have great experiences from it. It will be interesting to see what happens to the movement in the next few years.


I have a going away party on Sunday. Email me if you want some info, or check out the facebook page.

Tomorrow I am going dirt bike riding!

22 more days until Israel! HINE ANI BAH!