the most amazing place in the world...
I was going to try a basic rundown of the trip, but unfortunately there's just too much I don't want to leave out for this not to be a novel. So, here is as short a rundown as I can make it...
Day One
* staying at Kibbutz Tzubba just outside of Jerusalem
* find out during orientation that there was an attack in Jerusalem
* none of the staff seemed all to concerned about said attack and we move on
* take a 2 hour hike down Mt. Tzubba
* after dinner we go out on the town and relax in a bar on Ben Yehuda St. in Jerusalem (driving right past where the attack had occurred...you could barely tell anything significant had happened there)
* I smoked my first hookah, which tasted like apples and was quite tasty!
Day Two
* we all wake up with no sign of jet lag...amazing!
* spend the morning in the Old City of Jerusalem
* tour the Church of Zion, shop in the Jewish quarter, see the Roman ruins
* visited the Wailing Wall and I put my note in
* drive up into the Golan Heights
* hike down Mt. Carmel (origin of the Carmelite order)
* stay at the Hermon Field School (for the next 3 nights)
Day Three
* inadvertently volunteered to be part of an impromptu skit telling the story of the life of the goat-god Pan
* act out the skit at the beginning of our hike through Banias (at the base of Mt. Hermon)
* take a breathtakingly beautiful hike with everything from 6 ft tall cacti to rushing waterfalls and leafy overhangs
* hiked to the top of a bunker overlooking Syria and Lebanon and got a history lesson
* toured an Olive Press, one of the best in the Golan Heights
* rafted down the Jordan River (Assaf sneakily flipped us!)
* got ready for Shabbat and had a very mini service
* relaxed with a free evening and played cards with some of the girls
Day Four
* slept in!
* yoga lesson with Kim
* 3 hour history lesson about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and origins (VERY interesting...wish I could have taped it)
* played frisbee with the guys
* Havdallah service that night
* party cruise around the Sea of Galilee with another Birthright group from Canada
* hit a bar in Tiberias with the Canadians
* got several free drinks and dances out of one of them :-)
Day Five
* toured Tzfat, part of the center of Jewish mysticism (Kabbalah)
* went to a very cool gallery of Kabbalistic art
* drove down towards Tel Aviv, stopping at a rest stop with the best lounge bar ever (Inigo Montoya), and lots of very handsome soldiers
* stopped at Caesaria to see the Roman aqueduct and the Mediterranean Sea
* get to Tel Aviv and see where Rabin was assassinated
* a completely free night out in Tel Aviv - we go to the Whiskey Go Go dance club and have the night to ourselves
Day Six
* 8 soldiers join us
* we spend the morning at the beach in 80 degree water
* we all get little jellyfish stings from tentacle residue in the water
* go to Independence Hall and see a presentation on where/how David Ben Gurion created the nation of Israel
* Assaf's favorite shawarma shop for lunch!
* shop at the flee market in Jaffa - I bought a hookah!
* drive south into the Negev Desert
* stay in a Bedouin tent
* relax around a bonfire toasting marshmallows and drinking beer
Day Seven
* WE GO CAMEL TREKKING!!!!!
* we hike up Ein Avdat, an extremely gorgeous desert canyon...probably the best hike of the trip
* drive to Masada and stay in a very cool hostel at the base of the mountain
* swim for a few hours at the pool
* I'd never been a chicken fight before!
* Ron and I were a great team and kicked chicken fight ass :-)
* Watch a very strange movie about the poorest city in Israel
* went to bed early
Day Eight
* we woke up at 3:45am
* hike up the 2 mile snake path of Masada in already 95 degree heat at 4am
* watch the sunrise from the top of the mountain
* tour the ruins of Masada
* hike back down the snake path
* then we ate breakfast :-P
* swam in the pool for a bit to cool off
* drove to Ein Gedi, an oasis with natural springs
* hiked through Ein Gedi and swam in the pools
* drove to the Dead Sea
* spent several hours experiencing one of the strangest sensations ever
* drove to Jerusalem
* we were put through a surprise boot camp by the soldiers in the courtyard of our hotel, much to the amusement of the locals
* had an interesting discussion with the soldiers about the 2nd Lebanon War from 2 years ago, the prisoner trade for the bodies of the Jewish airmen, and the differences in military tactics between our countries
* celebrated Jess and Rich's 2nd anniversary with them...they'll have a hard time beating it next year!
Day Nine
* we went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum
* the museum guide wasn't very good so Gil and I walked around on our own and talked about our families
* after lunch we went to Mt. Herzl, the Israeli equivalent of Arlington National Cemetary
* saw the graves of Theodore Herzl, Yitzhak and Leah Rabin, Golde Meir, and several other important Israeli leaders
* heard the stories of several soldiers whom our guides personally knew who had died for their country (one was an American who felt a calling to join the Israeli army)
* went to a part and lightened the mood by sliding out of a monster's head
* sat on a lawn at the university and reflected on our trip as a group
* went to a restaurant for dinner and celebrated Rich's birthday
* enjoyed one last night out on the town (Ben Yehuda St again)
* drank, danced, and smoked hookahs till late into the night
Day Ten
* one last group meeting to close the trip
* the soldiers came to the airport with us
* those who were extending their trip went off in their own directions
* we made it through security JUST in time to board
* had a pretty miserable trip home
A few points I left out of my previous post about the trip...
* 3% milk is quite tasty!
* I'd never liked hummus before, but the real stuff is really good
* not only are chicken fights awesome, but 3 person high chicken fights are even better (I was on Ron's shoulders and Yael was on my shoulders...tricky, but doable)
* you don't know what you're capable of until you hike up the snake path of Masada (and down it)
* Rich, one of the guys on the trip went to high school with Tom, my ex-boyfriend
* Mark, another guy on the trip, went to college with Moha, my best friend in 7th grade
* SMALL WORLD!
* two things that Israel does NOT do well at all are napkins and toilet paper
Ok, if you were really interested in my trip I hope this gave you an idea of just how amazing it truly was. If you have no interest in it at all, why the hell did you read this far? :-P
Day One
* staying at Kibbutz Tzubba just outside of Jerusalem
* find out during orientation that there was an attack in Jerusalem
* none of the staff seemed all to concerned about said attack and we move on
* take a 2 hour hike down Mt. Tzubba
* after dinner we go out on the town and relax in a bar on Ben Yehuda St. in Jerusalem (driving right past where the attack had occurred...you could barely tell anything significant had happened there)
* I smoked my first hookah, which tasted like apples and was quite tasty!
Day Two
* we all wake up with no sign of jet lag...amazing!
* spend the morning in the Old City of Jerusalem
* tour the Church of Zion, shop in the Jewish quarter, see the Roman ruins
* visited the Wailing Wall and I put my note in
* drive up into the Golan Heights
* hike down Mt. Carmel (origin of the Carmelite order)
* stay at the Hermon Field School (for the next 3 nights)
Day Three
* inadvertently volunteered to be part of an impromptu skit telling the story of the life of the goat-god Pan
* act out the skit at the beginning of our hike through Banias (at the base of Mt. Hermon)
* take a breathtakingly beautiful hike with everything from 6 ft tall cacti to rushing waterfalls and leafy overhangs
* hiked to the top of a bunker overlooking Syria and Lebanon and got a history lesson
* toured an Olive Press, one of the best in the Golan Heights
* rafted down the Jordan River (Assaf sneakily flipped us!)
* got ready for Shabbat and had a very mini service
* relaxed with a free evening and played cards with some of the girls
Day Four
* slept in!
* yoga lesson with Kim
* 3 hour history lesson about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and origins (VERY interesting...wish I could have taped it)
* played frisbee with the guys
* Havdallah service that night
* party cruise around the Sea of Galilee with another Birthright group from Canada
* hit a bar in Tiberias with the Canadians
* got several free drinks and dances out of one of them :-)
Day Five
* toured Tzfat, part of the center of Jewish mysticism (Kabbalah)
* went to a very cool gallery of Kabbalistic art
* drove down towards Tel Aviv, stopping at a rest stop with the best lounge bar ever (Inigo Montoya), and lots of very handsome soldiers
* stopped at Caesaria to see the Roman aqueduct and the Mediterranean Sea
* get to Tel Aviv and see where Rabin was assassinated
* a completely free night out in Tel Aviv - we go to the Whiskey Go Go dance club and have the night to ourselves
Day Six
* 8 soldiers join us
* we spend the morning at the beach in 80 degree water
* we all get little jellyfish stings from tentacle residue in the water
* go to Independence Hall and see a presentation on where/how David Ben Gurion created the nation of Israel
* Assaf's favorite shawarma shop for lunch!
* shop at the flee market in Jaffa - I bought a hookah!
* drive south into the Negev Desert
* stay in a Bedouin tent
* relax around a bonfire toasting marshmallows and drinking beer
Day Seven
* WE GO CAMEL TREKKING!!!!!
* we hike up Ein Avdat, an extremely gorgeous desert canyon...probably the best hike of the trip
* drive to Masada and stay in a very cool hostel at the base of the mountain
* swim for a few hours at the pool
* I'd never been a chicken fight before!
* Ron and I were a great team and kicked chicken fight ass :-)
* Watch a very strange movie about the poorest city in Israel
* went to bed early
Day Eight
* we woke up at 3:45am
* hike up the 2 mile snake path of Masada in already 95 degree heat at 4am
* watch the sunrise from the top of the mountain
* tour the ruins of Masada
* hike back down the snake path
* then we ate breakfast :-P
* swam in the pool for a bit to cool off
* drove to Ein Gedi, an oasis with natural springs
* hiked through Ein Gedi and swam in the pools
* drove to the Dead Sea
* spent several hours experiencing one of the strangest sensations ever
* drove to Jerusalem
* we were put through a surprise boot camp by the soldiers in the courtyard of our hotel, much to the amusement of the locals
* had an interesting discussion with the soldiers about the 2nd Lebanon War from 2 years ago, the prisoner trade for the bodies of the Jewish airmen, and the differences in military tactics between our countries
* celebrated Jess and Rich's 2nd anniversary with them...they'll have a hard time beating it next year!
Day Nine
* we went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum
* the museum guide wasn't very good so Gil and I walked around on our own and talked about our families
* after lunch we went to Mt. Herzl, the Israeli equivalent of Arlington National Cemetary
* saw the graves of Theodore Herzl, Yitzhak and Leah Rabin, Golde Meir, and several other important Israeli leaders
* heard the stories of several soldiers whom our guides personally knew who had died for their country (one was an American who felt a calling to join the Israeli army)
* went to a part and lightened the mood by sliding out of a monster's head
* sat on a lawn at the university and reflected on our trip as a group
* went to a restaurant for dinner and celebrated Rich's birthday
* enjoyed one last night out on the town (Ben Yehuda St again)
* drank, danced, and smoked hookahs till late into the night
Day Ten
* one last group meeting to close the trip
* the soldiers came to the airport with us
* those who were extending their trip went off in their own directions
* we made it through security JUST in time to board
* had a pretty miserable trip home
A few points I left out of my previous post about the trip...
* 3% milk is quite tasty!
* I'd never liked hummus before, but the real stuff is really good
* not only are chicken fights awesome, but 3 person high chicken fights are even better (I was on Ron's shoulders and Yael was on my shoulders...tricky, but doable)
* you don't know what you're capable of until you hike up the snake path of Masada (and down it)
* Rich, one of the guys on the trip went to high school with Tom, my ex-boyfriend
* Mark, another guy on the trip, went to college with Moha, my best friend in 7th grade
* SMALL WORLD!
* two things that Israel does NOT do well at all are napkins and toilet paper
Ok, if you were really interested in my trip I hope this gave you an idea of just how amazing it truly was. If you have no interest in it at all, why the hell did you read this far? :-P