Day two: Krakuf, Casmier Writer: Maddy Oppenheim

We all woke up at 6:15 in the morning. Had cereal, hard boiled eggs, clementines, bananas andorange juice. We were all really tired, and we tried the whole day to keep our eyes open because we stayed up late the night before (in addition to our jet lag). Our first stop was an old castle and a church. Phillip (rabbi) and Mr. Mitchell (could be a rabbi) gathered us in a circle near the courtyard between the church and the castle. It was built really high like all castles used as a fortress.The structure even had cool gutters the shape of dragons (dragons were a believed-in creature at the time). They related the Jews to this castle by a few things. First of all, the Jews were not treated very well by the king because the king and the priest of the church which was right near it made decisions mutually. Second of all, at one time Poland was more friendly to Jews than neighboring countries; they allowed Jews to be a part of society. Last of all, there was one man that had a relationship to the king and persuaded the king to be nice to the Jews and to be a part of the army. The, we visited three synagogues. Three is just a lucky number today. You would think that Poland is a ghost town Jewish wise, and you're right. However there are so many synagogues. How come? Most of them are abandoned. The first one we went to, we never went in but it was important I think because it is the go to place whenever an event happens. Notice that I never said whenever there is a Jewish holiday or Jewish classes available. The second temple we went to was definitely influenced by the Renaissance era. It is so cool how old these places are! If you like ancient artifacts that tell of life before, or antiques to collect, you will be glad you sent your kid/s on the trip. This temple looked like a mosque with lots of gold on the walls and those Roman high ceilings. The last synagogue was the smallest (I am into miniatures so I thought it was really cute) synagogue that was commemorated to Moshe Rama, a renowned Talmud scholar. O.k. So if you didn't just get bored or feel sick by feeling like you are at school, I have an interesting fact about Poland. Since it is so cold up here, the Polish never mind about smelling and thus, don't use deodorant. (May not be true for sports). One other, I have never seen so many paper towels - in the form of tissue paper, but nevertheless. Then we returned to the first synagogue I mentioned (from the first day that has lasted from the 1600's). The madrichim ElEran and Sheemreet introduced us to Pew Pew, an ice breaker game that we knew as BangBang. Alex Meline was really funny during it because he would stand up when he wasn't supposed to. I even surprised some people for having fast refluxes. And many people had really embarrassing songs to share that dated all the way back from the '90s that they said probably as a joke. I forgot to mention that we visited a labor camp, that had a huge monument which was propaganda for the Communists. Communists really? But tomorrow is, really, a cool day. Stay tuned.

P.S. They fed us, don't worry.