San Diego Trip: Day Six

Today on our trip we completed our amazing tour of duty at Habitat for Humanity. While some of us remained working on the house, four of us worked at the restore office putting in wires for their electronic devices. After finishing the work at 12:15, we were treated to a big lunch from Subway and a meaningful closing ceremony, where Habitat gave each of us a hand written card thanking us for our three days. It was an emotional experience I am sure none of us will forget. From there we went back to SJDA where we met up with our host families for the night. We settled in and got acquainted, the cleaned up for Shabbat. We thank the amazing parents for their warm hospitality throughout. To finish off the night, a group of us met up at Tali, one of our hosts house, where we hung out for a couple of hours. Many of us made new friends, and we cannot wait for today, where we get to attend the SDJA winter snowball.

Until next time,

You stay classy, Montreal!

San Diego Trip: Day Five

Today was one of our most anticipated days of the trip, as we drove to Anaheim to visit the happiest place on earth, Disneyland! For many of us, this was a trip down memory lane with nostalgia at every corner. Because it was a Thursday during the winter, the lines were incredibly short. Usual wait times of 1 hour, 1 and a half hours and even 2 hours were replaced by 20 minute, 10 minute and 5 MINUTE waits. Needless to say, it was a day packed with fun. Some of the more popular attractions were Big Thunder Mountain, an outdoor railroad coaster, Splash Mountain, a log ride with a big wet vertical drop, and Space Mountain, a futuristic indoor thrill ride! After a full day of rides and shopping in Downtown Disney we congregated at the Rain Forrest Cafe after splitting up for most of the time. We then jumped in the car for a late ride back to San Diego but not before picking up a very special surprise. It is trip member's Lawrie Frankel's birthday tomorrow, and we couldn't go through without giving him a little midnight fun. When Avi called Lawrence in to tell him that he was in trouble and he needed to search his bag, he could only hope for the worst. Little did he know that we were all waiting in his room for a midnight rendition of "Happy Birthday!" It was an incredible day that brought the group together in the common cause of wishing one of our fellow students an incredible birthday.

Until Next Time,

You stay classy Montreal!

San Diego Trip: Day Four

Today was our second day at the work site, and we came together as a group to help make affordable houses possible for at least a few less fortunate families. We put up the roof, dug a garden and did major cleanup around the site. Monsieur Methot might have found his true calling as a California Gardner. We got back to the Hotel with three hours to burn before we went out for dinner and a night in the Gas Lamp district. A couple of students went out for a jog with our dean of students, Mr. Avi Satov and found out that San Diego is bigger than they thought. It took them two and a half hours and a pricey cab ride back in order to get to the Hotel in time. We now appreciate our surplus of "Miscellaneous Expenses" cash. We ate dinner at an All-You-Can-Eat buffet and made our way downtown to get a little taste of the San Diego nightlife. From trendy shops, to delicious cafes, it was quite an experience! Tomorrow, we will embark on a trek that will take all of us back in time to our childhood. No, we have not purchased a Delorean by Doc Brown, we are going to Disneyland! We cannot wait for this massive highlight of our trip.

Until next time,

You stay classy, Montreal!

San Diego Trip: Day Three

Sorry for the techincal difficulties folks hope you found this site alright.

Today marked the first day of our community service and we had no idea what a meaningful experience it would be. We woke up at 7:00 and arrived at the work site at 8:00. We met Mike & Greg the volunteers in charge of the site, and we got to work right away. Some of us nailed down the foundations on the roof while others were working away at the floorboards and a new wooden fence. One of the houses were being built for a Somalian couple who escaped a war torn nation trying to start their lives as Americans. We took our lunch break and some of us tried the famous In-N-Out Burgers. It was worth the drive. After finishing up for the day at around 3, we were all tired, dirty and sweaty. All things Mike told us we would be. We got back to the Hotel in time to clean up and get ready for an impromptu night of shopping and a indoor movie. After raiding the shops most of us congregated to see the Post-Apocalyptic thriller The Book of Eli. Tomorrow we get ready for our second day on the job.

Until next time,

You Stay Classy Montreal!

San Diego Trip: Day Two

The first full day of our trip was filled with fun activities and great adventures! We started the day off bright and early on our way to the San Diego Jewish Academy. We were blown away by the school campus, located on a mountain overlooking a beautiful valley. The campus itself was spectacular,as there were no hallways, only outdoor entrances to the class rooms and lockers. We all went to different religious services, where we were amazed by the level of discussion even with the middle school students. The extra curricular activities are out of this world, from an award winning football field to their initiative to send boxes of important supplies to Haiti. Their greatest endeavour however, is the Zicharon b'Tikvah project, where students are trying to paint 1,500,000 ceramic butterflies in memory of the children murdered in the Holocaust. After we added our 25, their count came to over 22,000. The students are diverse and dynamic, coming from all around the world, from Capetown, South Africa to TIjuana, Mexico. We met the Junior class and realized that they were more like us than we could ever have imagined! After saying our goodbyes for the day (or so we thought) we headed to the San Diego Zoo. To our dismay, the Pandas had already gone to bed by the time we arrived at about 2:30 PT. Many of us took an amazing bus tour where we saw all kinds of exotic animals. One of the fan favorites were the meerkats, as many of us have fond memories of Timon from the Lion King. After picking up some vital hotel supplies (a.k.a Powdered Dougnuts and Microwave Soup Bowls) we went to Dave & Busters for dinner, only to find some of our SDJA colleagues waiting for us! It was a fun night of arcade games and bonding with our new friends. We hit the hay tonight absolutely fried, but excited for tomorrow's first day at the work site.

Check out pictures on the web page.

Have a great week in school.

You Stay Classy Montreal!

San Diego Trip: Day One

The kickoff to our amazing trip to San Diego might not have started off on time, but ended off on a high note. When we assembled at the US Departures office, we realized that one member of our group was missing. Due to technical difficulties at home, Michael Sayegh delayed our group's customs time by about 35 minutes. This however, ended up being for the best as we entered the customs line to see John Lu, TSN correspondant for the Canadiens, on his way to the AFC Championship game in Indianapolis. Lu wished us well on our trip and thanked us for the support every morning which according to him "kept him in a job". Group Member Lawrence Frankel remarked that John "brightened up his mornings". After arriving at our first stop in Dallas, TX, we ate lunch at the foodcourt and admired the Cowboy's new $1 Billion Stadium. We arrived in San Diego welcomed by sunny weather. We then went to Seaport Village on the Pacific Ocean for some dinner as many of us watched the Saint-Vikings game at a local restaurant. We ended the night at Coronado Springs after taking a Ferry Boat ride. For many of us, it was arguably the longest day of our lives but we look forward to visiting the San Diego Jewish Acadamy tomorrow and of course, meeting Ling-Wan the Panda at the San Diego Zoo!

Stay tuned for pictues and news from tomorrow,

Have fun in school.

You Stay Classy Montreal!