Hi guys,
so i just spent holy week in Bogotà getting to know my family from Cali. It was really nice enrique, ester, rami, and alberto, and thier children: yaniv, tali, linor, itai, shani, yohav, and gilad.
On sunday i got to bogota, and i was greeted by alberto, who gave me a tora from the sinagoge in cali. later on in the day i met ester and enrique and i had a really nice dinner with them. tney told me about their family in cali, and i told them about my family in israel and how we are related. i also had the opprotunity to meet rami and his family. the next day on monday i took the bus to the carmen club. the main event in bogota this week was the macabi games. this is a very special occasion when jewish children from jewish communities all over colombia come to a sports club to compete in activities such as soccer, basketball, volleyball, swimming, golf, dancing, and more. the places which participated this year were, two teams carmen and federacion from bogota, cali, medellin, baranquilla, and also costa rica. From Monday through friday i took the bus everyday from the hotel cosmos 100 to the sports club. at the club the children had games, many of which i saw, and there were also many activities for the adults. there was a guy teaching rikudei yam, an israeli dance, in the gym they offered pilates and spinning classes, there was the israeli music of sarit hadad playing in the background, and there were israeli snacks such as bisli and bamba being sold. it was like a mini israel in Colombia.
i also got to spend some quality time with my family. this year was special becuase the macabi games fell on pesach. the two night of pesach took place on monday and tuesday. on monday night i had a really nice pesaj sedech with rami's family at the hotel, and on tuesday night i had a pesaj sedech with alberto's family at the carmen sports club.
On wednesday there was also a very nice cultural night, wherein the kids from all over colombia has to make up a musical and dance piece based on a children's story. Cali did the theature, musica, and dance piece about the three little pigs. Also included were linor and tali, rami's kids. the best part of the night was when rami's daughter linor won the award for the best actress out of over 500 children!!
more to come....
lots of love,
Neta
