Day Ten, by Rebecca B.

Posted on 07/06/2011 @ 06:05 PM

Working as regions outside

This morning, after breakfast, we split up into our Blueprint meetings. My group presented our Shabbat weekend programs that we had planned earlier. I was so glad everyone took it seriously because I felt that we ended up with some great ideas that I would love to take back to my region. We also started to plan our own Leadership Training weekend, which as a group we planned every aspect of to be presented and voted on the best by the participants. It's amazing how quickly we can plan something so huge, since we only had a few hours to plan our weekends. Our theme was "Jungle" and I can't wait to present tomorrow. After Blueprints, we split up into our regions to discuss things we wanted to take back home and implement in the real world. Since it was such a beautiful day, we met outside and enjoyed the sun while we discussed. Not only are the people from my region some of my best friends, but we work so well together that I know this year is going to be amazing because of ILTC. After lunch, I went to my creative arts elective, "Shabbat In A Box", where we learned about the symbolism behind wine at Shabbat and decorated our own Kiddush cups.

After dinner, the staff gave us an opportunity to ask them questions so we could benefit from their past experiences. Later, we participated in a teen led program that showed us the how important AZA and BBG are to one another and how synergy can make the two entities into a better BBYO. After sunset, we gathered around a campfire to roast marshmallows, make smores and to bond with our fellow participants. It was an amazing end to an outstanding day and, as always, I'm excited for tomorrow.

Gathering around the campfire

Next, we learned about an international initiative to "Stand Up" for each other. We had several different rotations, each teaching us different aspects of acceptance. We ended the day with a competition of making origami stars with out blueprint groups. Although at first most groups struggled, most were able to get into a groove and successfully make a good number of stars. This day was one of fun and learning, and I cannot wait to see how ILTC ends up.

Written by Rachel Baer, Mountain Region

As always, feel free to check out our other sources of ILTC Updates, Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/user/ILTC2011 ), Twitter (@ILTC2011 or #ILTC2011), and Smugmug (bbyo.smugmug.com/2011/ILTC-2011/ ).

Post Color War Return to Normal, by Andrew A

Posted on 07/05/2011 @ 06:00 PM

Learning about religious freedom from other participants

Greetings from Camp Perlman! For all those keeping track back at home, we have just finished day 8. The day started off with breakfast, where the room was incredibly exhausted from yesterdays color war escapades. Shortly after breakfast, participants met up in their blueprint groups to learn how to plan meaningful events for their chapters and regions. The boys and girls then split up to make a BBYO bucket lists. These lists were done reflecting back on our experiences in BBYO, with both our past and future in mind. The ultimate goal was to see what our bucket list in BBYO would have been years ago given the knowledge we have now.

Pasta for lunch set the mood for the second half of the day. Creative arts rotations got us back into the creative planning and thinking mode. Leadership classes then continued, where the theme for the day was the elevator pitch. We were given 1-2 minutes, the time it takes to travel in an elevator, to sell BBYO and what it offers to someone completely new and to sell ourselves as leaders.

Cheering on the yellow team

After dinner, we watched a few short videos featuring BBYO members from around the world and heard our Bulgarian participants speak on their experience with BBYO overseas. Then, everyone split up again by region and council and received a first hand look at the globalization of BBYO and how their regions can get involved with regions far away. To wrap up the night, the StandUp! committee held an event to help raise money for the StandUp! campaign, while the participants went through rotations to lean about religious freedom and what we can do to help promote it. Events included a soccer game, which used small trashcans as a goals. The ultimate message of the game was that you can fight and cause wars over religion all you want, but all you are doing is wasting time (the soccer ball didn't actually fit into the goal, so even if a team did somehow manage the near impossible task of scoring a goal, they still ended in a stalemate). Overall, the day was amazing and everyone can't wait until tomorrow!

Written by Andrew Arbogast, Eastern Region

As always, feel free to check out our other sources of ILTC Updates, Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/user/ILTC2011 ), Twitter (@ILTC2011 or #ILTC2011), and Smugmug (bbyo.smugmug.com/2011/ILTC-2011/ ).

Color War!!!!

Posted on 07/04/2011 @ 06:00 PM

Cheering on the yellow team

Everything has erupted at ILTC! Every single year, ILTC presents an all out Color War and this year was no exception. Last night, we all gathered together for what we thought was a normal evening program. All of a sudden, the world of Mario came to life as Bowser kidnapped Princess Peach in front of the whole ILTC body! We were all divided up into teams and started right off the bat. We immediately changed into our team colors and started a game of Find the Staff Member. We devoured Perlman trying to find every staff member. After that, an all camp capture the flag game was started. After the night we had, I was incredibly excited to see what would happen the next day.

Waking up this morning was difficult, but decked out in all Yellow, I ran to the dining hall for our first challenge. We had to sit at our tables with our hands tied to our teammates. It was actually a lot harder than it seemed. The rest of the morning was full of Water Challenges, cheer sessions, and an all out relay race. Lunch was a silent one. The team who kept quiet the most won the points. Post-lunch challenges were all sports all the time. I played dodgeball and soccer for my team, along with swimming in the wet clothing relay. We were given a chance to change, then reported to the dining hall for dinner. At dinner we presented our team banner and songs.

Cheering on the yellow team

Our day ended with Fireworks and a dance to celebrate the Fourth of July. At the dance, it was announced that the Green team had emerged victorious. All in all, I had a ton of fun at Color Wars, although I was completely exhausted and sore when it ended.

Written by Nate Schloss, Michigan Region

As always, feel free to check out our other sources of ILTC Updates, Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/user/ILTC2011 ), Twitter (@ILTC2011 or #ILTC2011), and Smugmug (bbyo.smugmug.com/2011/ILTC-2011/ ).

Day 6, By Hilary B

Posted on 07/02/2011 @ 06:00 PM

Creative Arts groups headed outside to enjoy the weather

Shalom from ILTC! This weekend we had our first Shabbat! Everyone was running around our dorm getting ready for Shabbat. It was crazy! Girls were sprawled all over my dorm trying to straighten each other’s hair and perfect their makeup. Then everyone congregated to the small quad where we took pictures. On Saturday we continued the exciting Shabbat atmosphere with three different choices of Shabbat services. I attended the “Creative Service” where we listened to music from our childhood and shared memories. It was fantastic! I continued my Shabbat with electives where I attended Genealogy with Glenn. It was so interesting to talk about where all our families are originally from. Most of us were from some of the same places too! I continued my day with Leadership 202 where I learned all about my leadership style. It was so cool! I found out I am “Human Resource.” This means that I care a lot about everyone else’s feelings. I thought that was so cool because I’m Regional MIT-Mom of Gold Coast Region and this will help me so much for this year! I have learned so much here at ILTC and I can’t wait to bring it back to GCR. Everyone here is so friendly and I can’t believe I have met so many new friends! From Los Angeles to Bulgaria there are people from EVERYWHERE! It is such a diverse and spirited group of teenagers! I can’t believe we only have 9 days left! The friends I have made here will last me a lifetime and I truly believe some of these girls will be bridesmaids at my wedding.

Written by Hilary Blank, Gold Coast Region

As always, feel free to check out our other sources of ILTC Updates, Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/user/ILTC2011 ), Twitter (@ILTC2011 or #ILTC2011), and Smugmug (bbyo.smugmug.com/2011/ILTC-2011/ ).

Day Five, by Nate S

Posted on 07/01/2011 @ 06:02 PM

Singing the Canadian National Anthem during lunch

Nate Strauss here on the ILTC blog! In our Fourth day here at Camp Perlman, we are now in the grand swing of things when it comes to our Programming, Sleep Schedule, and Making new friends! Today began with Shacharit and Breakfast. Blueprint Groups met to discuss the aspect of Membership in our Regions and Chapters. Our morning ended with a meeting of our Committee Planning groups. Shout out to the Media Committee for running our awesome blog and Twitter accounts! After lunch, we had a planning session with our Creative Art selections to find out what we would be doing. My group is technically called the CRIBS group (like that show on MTV) but as a group we decided to break into two semi-groups and each choose our own idea. It was decided that my group would create our own video on the tips and tricks of Camp Perlman. Right before our daily break, we met with our Leadership 202 groups. I personally didn’t find the topic to be too interesting, but was willing to learn what I could. Friday being the day to start Shabbat, the whole camp was rumbling with excitement to get all dressed up and celebrate Shabbat with our newly formed ILTC family. Surprisingly, I actually enjoyed taking pictures with all of my new friends (I’m not normally a fan of taking pictures). We had a Friday night service and enjoyed a great dinner. Right when our Shabbat evening program was announced, I know I was going to love it. Matt Bar from Bible Raps came to visit us and lead a program about his raps, his take on portions of the Biblical stories, and overall create a great atmosphere. All of our Shabbat planning committees did an amazing job with all of our services, the dining hall decorations, and the Israeli Dance session we had to finish our night. I had an incredible Shabbat experience this week. It was definitely something I could only find here at ITLC in Perlman, and I wouldn’t have traded the experience for anything in the world.

Getting ready for Shabbat

Written by Nate Strauss, Michigan Region

As always, feel free to check out our other sources of ILTC Updates, Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/user/ILTC2011 ), Twitter (@ILTC2011 or #ILTC2011), and Smugmug (bbyo.smugmug.com/2011/ILTC-2011/ ).