Budapest! We woke up this morning to find out we will not be able to make it to Israel in time for Yom Ha'Atzmaut. This is a sad development for everyone in the program, but we are making the most of it. The bright side is I got to do some sight seeing of the city. I went to the market for souvenir shopping, saw the Danube River, and the castle. Breathtaking. We also watched the movie Blessed is the Match about Hannah Senesh. It was quite moving. For Yom Ha'Atzmaut, we all took a boat ride at sunset on the Danube. It was beautiful setting, and a lot of fun. There was singing and dancing, and everyone was happy. After the boat ride we went to the - not officially opened yet- Israel Cultural Center (we gave that place quite the inauguration this weekend!). there we had a Ceremony for Yom Ha'Atzmaut with felafel, and singing and dancing afterwards.
The more I thought about being stuck here the more I realized the importance of being here today. It is disappointing to me that I missed the ceremony on Har Herzl, (which by the way we had center stage tickets!), but here I am celebrating Israel's independence day in the birthplace of Theordor Herzl, in a city that has known a lot of Anti Semitism. We are still here, alive and well, celebrating our nation, our people. Theodor Herzl never had that opportunity and here we were over 100 zionists celebrating for him, because of him.
Mazal Tov! Chag Sameach!
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