Day Three

We awoke very early (this is a theme...) and had a working breakfast workshop as a group at Kibbutz Lavi and then rode the bus over to Kibbutz Tuval (I'll include a link once I find a decent one) for a day of team building and leadership exercises.

I have to admit, this was a day I was dreading. I don't typically enjoy this stuff and I wasn't looking forward to it all.

But it was a beautiful windy warmish day and we were going to be outside which was a real treat.

After a small indoor warm up about what we'd like to learn about ourselves and our leadership capabilities, we headed out onto the grounds at Tuval. Tuval feels as if it's at the top of a hill. Beautiful views all around and even views of the Mediterranean in places. It's grassy and shrubby and filled with team building outdoor exercise stations. This is what they specialize in at Tuval.

My team was ushered first to a long log supported on either end with a smaller log that held that end up off the ground. We were lined up on the log, 1 through 14 from left to right and then told that we had 20 minutes to figure out how to get from 14 to 1 from left to right. Oh, and our feet cannot touch the ground. Filled with panic and terror we lept off the log and spent the next 20 minutes trying to figure out how to get OVER each other on this log. When our 20 was up, we hopped back on the log and had to work it out. A TRUE test. We did it though (with a few minor touches down) and we felt GREAT about how well we worked together.

After a lovely exercise recap, sitting amongst the bushes and trees in a little parting in the woods, we moved on to the second exercise...the Spider Web. Ugh.

I "led" this exercise very poorly I think. We, as a team, had to get each of the 14 of us through this virtual spider web of rope connected between two trees. There were several openings in the web and once someone went through, that hole was then closed to anyone else who had to get through. Some holes were close to the ground or virtually on the ground and some were about 6 feet in the air. We had people of all shapes and sizes so this took some thinking and planning. In the end, we did it successfully but none of us really felt that way. I'm sure part of it was because my leadership was maybe not what it was cracked up to be, but also because it made each of us VERY aware of what our proportions were and it was terrifying for some to be lifted and uncomfortable at best.

We had a little regroup after this event too and I learned a lot about myself in terms of my leadership, both good and bad. All comments were respectful and helpful and I guess that was the point of the day.

We all had lunch as a big group (Mexican food!) and then gathered as a group to hear from Tuval residents what it was lilke for them during the war. We gathered near their bomb shelter which was covered with a beautiful mosaic that was done after the war. I guess if you have to have a bomb shelter in your backyard, it should be beautiful.

We then boarded the bus to make it back to Jerusalem in time to change and clean up so that we could go meet Eliza Olmert, the Prime Minister's wife, at their residence. We were after all, all in sweatpants, some of us dirty, from our day on the grounds (literally) at Tuval.

But we hit some traffic. A lot of traffic. A lot. We never made it back to the hotel and it became apparent that we were going to meet Mrs. Olmert in our sweatpants. NONE of us were happy about this but we'd never give up the opportunity to meet her either.

So we made a pitstop at another hotel, close to the PM's office so that we could freshen up with whatever we had on us at the time and then we headed to the PM's office, went through security there and then rode with our armed guards on our "clean" bus to the PM's residence where Mrs. Olmert greeted us each, smiling and quite pleased with our appearance. She commented that she had been intimidated with the idea of these women donors from the US coming to her house but when she saw us all in our sweats she felt more comfortable and was able to relax. Whether or not this is true doesn't matter, but it made us feel somewhat better about our appearance.

We talked with her about what we do and she spoke to us about an initiative she was starting in Israel ( a much more robust version of what is similar to Head Start here). It was a lovely evening with her and we were all just amazed to be there, chatting with her. She was so very accessible and lovely to speak with. It was truly an honor to meet her and we were grateful for the opportunity.

Exhausted, we walked from the residence to a local Italian restaurant where we all had dinner together (sans Mrs. Olmert) for an end to a wonderful and very exciting day.

Two photos:

Hmmm...this is the glorious blue sky we had that day. Close to the land is a skim of Mediterranean sea we could see from Kibbutz Tuval.

Here is part of the mosaic on the side of the bomb shelter. At the top were some mirrored tiles which were beautiful in the sun and shone brightly. Amazing.