Eilat and Negev Trip
Day 1:
This is going to be the best trip ever!! Do you know why? Because there is no learning, all we have to do is have fun in the sun on the beaches of Eilat and go SHOPPING!!! Today we left at 7:15 and drove for 3 hours (I slept really well!). then we visited a kibbutz in the Negev called Kibbutz Revivim. It is not a kibbutz anymore but they were there during the 1930’s and 1940’s. plus later on for a while. They settled in the Negev because they wanted it to be part of Israel, and the British only gave us places where Jews lived. While they were there they faced many problems. First of all, it’s the Negev!! Desert, no water, no people, nothing grows there! They dug and found salty water that was still drinkable, didn’t have that many people, and grew Olive and Date trees. The soil is fertile if watered. So yeah, they lived there.
During the Independence day war they were on the front lines and they fought and survived! They lived in caves and we got to go into the caves. A bit small and funny smelling, but livable. We saw their dining hall/hospital/armory/meeting room. It was big so it was basically everything. The weapons were cool! We also saw the original farming tools they used there and it was so old and weird looking. Like, “What the heck does that do?” It was cool. Then we saw two planes from the Independence day war. One was Dakota, one of the two supply planes Israel had, and the other was this tiny, TINY fighter plane. It didn’t even have a gun! There was one behind the propeller but the Israelis never trusted it so they held and shot rifles outside the plane. We got to go inside Dakota. It was old and the cockpit was cool! So many levers and buttons and controls. They also had a small tracking station on the plane and a bathroom in the back. EW! It smelled!
After that we got on the buses again and went back to Sdeh Boquer……AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!! (BTW: the olive grove is still there today in Revivim and it’s pretty big and amazing!) When we were driving there we drove right past our Gadna base. (We had Gadna is Sdeh Boquer) I was screaming inside my head, “Don’t take me back!!!” NO!! I hated it! We then had lunch in the exact same spot we had lunch before Gadna. It was hell all over again! THEN, we walked to where we had our closing ceremony! It seriously was like, HEY, Weren’t we just here? We all had a discussion by Ben Gurion’s grave (in our core classes) about what an ideal Zionist/true Zionist is. Ben Gurion thought they must live in Israel to be a true Zionist. I agree but I don’t think everyone needs to be a ideal Zionist.
Then we went on a hike. It was ok, fun, and pretty. I was first! (Duh. Actually there’s this girl who likes to walk in front of me. She won’t let me pass! IT’S ANNOYING! She’s mean. Whatever. I’m thinking about starting to not care about being first.) We hiked next to this weird river. What is dirty, green, mossy water doing in the middle of the desert? It was weird and just an hour hike. Very pleasurable.
Then we drove here to the Bedouin Camp. It’s nice! The tent (Girls side, boy’s side) is really big! And they have bathrooms, soap, showers, mirrors, and lights! It’s nice but not exactly a true Bedouin camp. We met this guy named Salam (Peace). And then we met someone named Mohammad. (Haha funny name) they are really nice! They introduced themselves and then half of us went to ride the camels while the others stayed in the tent. I went to ride the camels. Two people to a camel, (Hanna was my partner) and we sit in between the humps. We were third in line. Hanna was a bit scared but I was excited. (A little, I had ridden camels before. It’s no big deal.) The camel got up and it was cool. We were really tilted because it goes up to its knees in front then in back then stands up all the way. But then we were up, it was pretty high! Camels are tall! Then we started walking, it was painful! So much worse and different than horses!
Many people named their camels, the first few were Avichai, Jeremiah, Sheldon, Ernie, Bobby, and Eugene. (There were more camels after that.) Plus there was Stanley and Fredrick. I was on Sheldon (He is totally named for the Big Bang Theory) and behind me was Ernie. He was a creeper and really liked me! He kept nudging me, walking next to me, and putting his head on me! It was creepy and scary! He’s a camel! He was scary and making mean camel noises! Anyways, we got some good pictures! Our shadows were so cool!!
After the camel ride we sat in a tent while Salam told us his life story, sang to us, and taught us about Bedouins. He was cool! Plus, we got cookies (yummy!), tea and coffee. Everyone was raving about the tea and coffee but I didn’t like it! It tasted like dirt. Whatever….. I learned that Salam was born in Israel, is an Israeli citizen, has one wife (even though his culture permits more than one), and is part of a tribe. He’s not hostile and doesn’t hate Jews and Israel! He is nice and welcoming. After that we had a bit of free time and then had dinner. It was AMAZING!!! So yummy!! We even got to sit on the floor like they do and we all shared the food from one giant plate. The best part was the bread! It was so good! I loved it! After dinner we had free time. So now I am writing this. As I write I think about today which was really fun, and the upcoming days. I’m so excited to go shopping, snorkeling, parasailing (unless I chicken out) and just have fun on the beach. Yet for some reason I find myself nervous or worrying about something. But I have no idea why in the world I am! Oh well!
(Later that night) We just had a bonfire. (We have been having a lot lately! At home in LA we never have any!) the funny thing was that this bonfire was bigger than the one we had on Lag Baomer. And that’s when we are SUPPOSED to have huge bonfires. But anyways, we had a fire and a ton of food. Chocolate, marshmallows, cookies, wafers, and yummy stuff! I saw the people from San Diego who were next to us looking at our food, they had none. Sucks for them! After the fire we got ready for bed and went to sleep, ready for a really fun day tomorrow!
Side Note: When Salam sang to us, one of the songs he sang was Od Yavo Shalom Aleynu. (Peace will come between us/there will be peace between us.) it’s hard to translate but it’s a really nice song. And it’s in Hebrew! That made me realize how great this guy is! He’s an Arab who just wants peace like us! So there you go.
Side note: When Hanna and I were on our camel Sheldon, our saddle was tilting to the right and I’m a worrier and I kept thinking it would turn and slide and we would fall off and hurt ourselves. We didn’t. But there really wasn’t time to! It was a huge flat circle we walked around that took about 10 minutes. Whatever, I’m glad it wasn’t uphill or downhill, that would be so scary! But a funny thing that happened was our camel pooped while we were riding it. Actually many camels pooped and peed while they were walking, but luckily I don’t think the one in front of us did! However it was hard to tell because Hanna was in front and she has a BIG HEAD!!! Hahaha. Jk.
Day 2:
Today was SO FUN!!! We woke up at 6:15 and packed our stuff. (I slept so well in the Bedouin tent! It was great!) Then we had breakfast. It was amazing! But only because of their great bread! I ate like 5 lafas! DELICIOUS! Then we drove for a while (I slept very nicely on the bus.) and we got to these really cool sand dunes.
The sand was impossibly soft and so incredible! It was really hot and the sand was burning under my feet. But I didn’t care! And if you dug down you got cold sand. I ran down the sand, rolled down, jumped down, put sand on my arms, legs, and stomach. It was FUN! The sand was really small and it just got everywhere! When you tried to walk it gave way under your feet. Walking back up the mountain was so hard! I had to take breaks because I got so tired. Plus I had to use my hands and bear crawl. We were there for about 1 hour. many people jumped off the dune and did flips, summersaults, rolls, or just jumped really high! Even Phil, Danny, and Nitzan! (Lots of good videos) the cool thing was while people were rolling down there was sand everywhere! A cloud of sand around them, and it covered their legs, arms, feet, and face! Any exposed skin. After the sand dunes, we walked to the buses (which was painful because I didn’t put my shoes back on L) and drove to our lunch spot.
It was pretty and we had lunch bought by our madrichim. Which was ok, but not as good as last time. The good thing about the place was the little organic store next-door. They sold stuff like homemade jam, bread, dried fruit (the dates were delicious!) nuts, and homemade ice cream. It was SO GOOD!! I got chocolate and it was amazing and really chocolaty. Plus, I tried the peach which was really good. (I should have gotten a fruity flavor.)
After lunch we drove to our hike. I must say the Negev is beautiful, there are rocks, cliffs, (which are colors like Black, red, orange, and some green) , different colored sand, some trees, and stuff. Just the vastness and hugeness of it makes me amazed. We passed along the way this natural crater thing and it was awesome. Mountains on every side and a HUGE ENOURMOUS valley in the middle. It was so cool! When we got to our hike, I was prepared but some people weren’t. they did not have the right shoes, cloths, or enough water. People claimed someone said it was a nature walk but it was not! It was in the middle of this awesome valley and there was just rock on either side. Plus at some points it was steep and we had rails on either side that we had to hold and slide down. Then halfway there we turned around and went back a different way. This part was hard and uphill, YAY!! I didn’t have a problem but some people were really mad, oh well. I was first back to the parking lot. It kind of sucked and ruined it that we ended at a parking lot without of a view. Yes we had nice views the whole time, but we didn’t get the same satisfaction we do when we conquer a mountain and get to look around at the top. Oh well.
After the hike we finally got to go to Eilat!! Finally, I had been looking forward to it all day! The first thing I thought when I got off the bus was, “WOW, Its really hot here!” I took a look around and basically it was a beach paradise. A huge shopping mall (and no sales tax in Eilat!), a boardwalk with lots of shops, endless perfect beach, lots of people and places to rent Jet skis and boats, food shops, and tons of ships on the port and everything to make it perfect. The first thing I did was change into my bathing suit and hit the beach. All day I had been asking people if they wanted to go parasailing with me. Finally Ariela said yes! I was so excited! The first thing I did was put my stuff down, grab my money and go wait in line for the parasailing. I was so excited but nervous! There were like three groups in front of us (Ariela and I) but they were going banana boating. So when we got to the front he told us to go right away!
I was a bit scared, I thought I would have time to mentally prepare myself but we just immediately got on the boat. We drove out really far away and put on our lifejackets and harnesses. Then we sat down on the back of the boat (which was open in the back)and started. I think I should mention that it was the perfect day. Warm and windy out on the Red Sea. So we sat down on the back of the boat, and then the wind caught us and we slid off the back into the water. Then right after the boat started going we were in the air. It was amazing! We were floating (they said 300 feet high) and we could see everything! The beach, the port, and the water was impossibly blue and sparkly. Then we were really high up and it would have gotten boring but we were going lower and lower and splash! We went into the water all the way, got completely soaked from head to toe (with salty water) and then back up. It was awesome! They dunked us like four times! And up we went again. We were screaming and cheering (not even holding on) then soon after they pulled us in. we skimmed the water and were on the boat. We were so wet and just dripping everywhere but we forgot our towels on the beach. So we air dried on the way back. (Which I regret because then I had white salt stains on my legs the rest of the day) Plus they took pictures of us which we can pick up tomorrow, so we will see if they are good….the whole thing cost 190 shekels each so like 48 dollars. But it was worth it! So fun!
Then we got back and our friends who had been in line before us still had not gone banana boating! (They had to wait like two hours and that was most of our free time. L) So Ariela, Hanna, Hannah, and I went shopping on the boardwalk. It was so cool! I bought a strawberry banana smoothie. (It was so good!) a black dress (for 30 shekels) , and a pair of black sandals for 100 shekels. Yay I have a new outfit! Ariela also bought a sundress and Hanna bought two pairs of shoes. It was so fun! Then we went back to the beach and finally our friends had gone! They (Sofia, Naomi, Karen, Cassie, May, Adi, and Jake) said it was really fun! They basically sat on a boat pulling them (Shaped sort of like a banana) and held on while the boat that was pulling them zoomed around. They fell off a lot and May got kicked in the head. L And Cassie kicked Adi in the nose and gave him a bloody nose. Yet they still had fun….
After that we had DOTS so basically we had 3 ½ hours of free time. (Not bad!) We went into the mall and ate kosher Sbarros. It was ok, but it’s just cool that its kosher here in Israel. We met a few Israelis (11 graders). They live on a kibbutz close to Eilat. (Aren’t they lucky?) They say they can tell we are American even before we talk. IDK how.. After that it was back to the boardwalk and I bought black sandals. They match my dress! J I got so many compliments on my shoes. It was great!
Then we just sat on the beach and chilled. We watched and listened to the water and threw/skimmed rocks. It was cool, since it was dark we threw rocks but could not see them until they hit the water. If you picked up a handful of tiny rocks it was even cooler!! They all fell and it looked awesome!
THEN AT 8:05 we walked back to our meeting place, got on the buses, and went to Kibbutz Yahel. It is, well…yucky! Our room is tiny, stuffy, and full of bugs! Really, we came in and they were crawling over our beds! I killed them! Apparently out of my room (Karen, Alex, and Celine) I am the least afraid of bugs. So we got to shower (it was a bad shower. The bathroom is gross, bug infested, and the sink is in the shower..) and then we went to sleep.
Day 3:
We woke up at 6:30 and had breakfast at Kibbutz Yahel. It was yummy. They have a nice dining hall. It must be cool to live on a kibbutz! After we got on the buses and drove to where our hike was. Today’s hike was awesome! We started out at the bottom of a valley/mountains. It was rock and sand everywhere! So we started hiking. It was hot and uphill and hard. But then we got to a park/the top and we had the most amazing view! We could see the Red Sea, Eilat, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia! It was so cool! It all looked so peaceful from up there. However it was so windy! People’s hats kept lying off so I just held mine. It’s been cool because the day earlier we were driving along the border with Egypt. It’s just a small barbed wire fence. So anyways, we kept hiking and all of a sudden I feel something coming out of my nose. It was blood! EW! I just randomly got a bloody nose. And I was in the front, but I had to stop, get tissues (Which Cassie gave to me. Thank you!) and hold them up to my nose. It was gross! I hate blood and it kept coming out of my nose! But like 3 minutes later it stopped. Phew! By then I was at the back. I hate being last. It’s like a pet peeve of mine. FRONT! So when we got to the next stopping/break point I maneuvered to the front. (Front 3. I forgot to mention that both Hanna(h)s did not hike, AGAIN! They are missing out!) then we hiked down for a while. It was really steep and rocky but I did not fall, although Adi E. took a pretty bad fall. Then we were at the bottom and at the Red Sea! We hiked for 2 ½ hours and made it to the Red Sea! Yay! It was awesome! We really felt like we accomplished something.
So we then got our stuff for snorkeling and went to the place. We got changed into our bathing suits and then had an orientation about snorkeling. How to wear the mask, what to do, and what fish to look for. So then we went in groups of ten. I was in the first group and really scared! I had never snorkeled before, had gotten a bloody nose 2 hours earlier, and did not want another, and we learned about two poisonous fish that lived there. I was scared! But our guide person got into the water and we followed. I didn’t have to do anything to stay afloat! The lifejacket did it all. So I put my head down and breathed through my mouth. It worked! And boy it was amazing down there! Coral, fish, sand, colors, so pretty. I’m so glad I did it. And the water was warm and relatively calm. Though I did swallow salt water a few times. I saw lots of parrot fish, clown fish that look like nemo but have two stripes, and tons of other fish. I saw schools of fish, big fish, little fish, and really awesome stuff. I did not even see any poisonous fish! And they stay at the bottom which was like 15 feet below us. Basically when we got to the end like seven minutes later I was like, WHAT? We’re done already? NO! But we got out, returned our snorkeling gear, dried off, got dressed, and waited for everyone else.
Then we drove to the beach again where we were yesterday with the mall and boardwalk. We got money and had LOTS and free time. We had like 3 hours. So first Ariela and I went and got our pictures from parasailing. Then on the way back we got lunch. I was not that hungry so I just got frozen yogurt. Then we went to a food place, then another, then another! Finally she was satisfied! Haha. So she ordered there and ate. Then I went to the mall to meet up with Hanna and Hannah, and she went back to the beach. So I got to the mall and called the Hanna(h)’s to find out where they are so we can go shopping! 13 phone calls and 30 minutes later they picked up. Apparently they thought I was not coming so they went to the beach and ditched me. I was angry! But they came back and we went shopping. I bought a white dressy shirt, a locket, and a Michal Negrin necklace. It was a good shopping day! But now I realize how stupid I was! I should have bought people gifts there! I am bad at buying gifts. L oh well. Next time! So we then went back to our meeting place and left.
On the way to the kibbutz we stopped by the Shoko (Chocolate Milk) factory. However we only had 10 minutes there! I really wanted ice cream but the line was so long! So I just got a bottled chocolate milkshake. It tasted like a bottle of chocolate milk with extra chocolate. It was ok. (But now I regret getting it because I am addicted to them!) then we came back to kibbutz Yahel and got a tour of it.
This guy who has lived there for like 30 years told us the history of the kibbutz. Founded in 1977, by Americans, British, and Israelis, farming is 70% of their income. Originally the Jordan-Israel border fence was made 1000 yards closer to Jordan so Israel got lots of fertile land in the valley where the border was. In 1994 Jordan wanted the land back and Israel was willing to give it back, land is replaceable but children’s and soldier’s lives are not! However in the final agreement the border fence was moved and the fields were kept. The fields jut out in the border. And we got to go to the Pamela fields and saw the border. It is a road, then dirt road, then fence, then no man’s land, another fence, another dirt road, and lastly a road. That’s it! It is all about 30 feet long. And there are no soldiers or patrollers or anything! Then the dude told us about how he used to give Pamela to the Jordanian and Israeli soldiers. And how they were nice and once their families even had dinner together. Bonding over Pamela fruit, yay! Then we got to taste the Pamela. It was so cool because he peeled the Pamela and explained how it was a Jewish fruit because (and then he cut the top off and put it on someone’s head) we wear kippas! And then he explained how it was fruit of the Negev because we have to wear hats here. (he put the rest of the peel on someone else’s head.) It was cool, and the fruit tasted like Grapefruit but sweeter. Then we went back to our rooms, showered for Shabbat, and had dinner.
After dinner we had free time and then there was a party! I was so happy I could wear my new shirt! But the party sucked. It was in this little room and it was hot, smelly, and stuffy. Plus there were like 10 people from the kibbutz. Oh well. At 12 we all went to sleep. Yay sleep!
Day 4-(Shabbat)
Today we got to sleep in and wake up at 11. Then at 12:30 we had lunch. (I forgot to mention that this kibbutz is 40 minutes outside Eilat and it’s the first Reform Kibbutz in the Negev.) It was ok, better than food in the Hod. After lunch we were allowed to go to the pool. It was really hot and humid outside but I didn’t go. SERIOUSLY it was like 110 degrees Fahrenheit outside! So I read my book Message in a Bottle. Then at 4:30 we had snacks and after I went back to my book until 6:30. It was really sad and cool because the people who are making our TIF t-shirts had a meeting today. I want the t-shirt but don’t want to leave! We have so little time here! At dinner we got a really horrible announcement! Our only remaining free weekend has been cancelled! First Milken took away our second to last free weekend and now our last one has been cancelled! Plus it’s Shavuot! I want to see my family! Milken is being really horrible! So now I am pissed at Milken.
After dinner we had an activity where we sat in a circle with our eyes closed while a few people tapped us on our heads for various things. They were like “tap someone on the head who makes you smile, has pretty eyes, pretty hair, you have bonded with on TIF, has good fashion sense, and so on. It was really nice! People surprised me about some things. J it was fun! Then we had havdallah, our last havdallah on a trip weekend. (This is our last trip weekend) it really made me realize how little time we have left. L Then we got on the bus and left on our 4-5 hour bus ride back to campus. So now I am on the bus, finishing my journal and about to fall asleep. I look around at people who are sleeping, talking, reading, doing homework, listening to music, or just starting out the window. It’s nice and I’m really going to miss it when TIF is over. Plus two people have birth days tonight on the bus. Happy 16th Birthday!
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