Camping!

I'm overwhelmed by the amount I have to say and the little time I have to post. I guess I'll divide things up by topic and accept I can't really cover it all. Here are highlights from our camping trip last week! We went up to the Golan Heights, a gorgeous area in the very North of Israel.

A field of dead sunflowers on our way north

I some how ended up being the only one who brought toilet paper.  And bugspray.  Jewish mother jokes abound.

We stopped in the excavated ancient city of Zippori.  Here's the group strolling along the Roman main street.

Grooves in the street from Roman chariots

An amazon in a floor mosaic of one of the villas

There was a common motif of this alligator thing with rabbit ears.  I'm a big fan.

Ro and Me at the top of a Roman fortress thing.

Next we went on a water hike, on which I could not take my camera.  A bunch of is bought water shoes at the kiosk at the entrance... they were crocks.  Dear God, may that be the only few hours of my life during which I wear crocks.

The water hike was really cool.  I think the area was called Madrassa, something like that.  It was basically a big stream that goes about up to my waist, with lots of low hanging branches and HUGE CATFISH.  GIANT ENORMOUS CATFISH.  They come up and kiss you.  It's half fun/half creepy.  A highlight was a water fight we had at the end of the hike.

That night we camped out.  We cooked our own food, poike, in which you toss lots of ingredients like meat and veggies and stuff, plus beer, and put it in a big iron pot, and put the pot in the fire.  It was delicious!  Then we slept in sleeping bags. Well... I slept ON my sleeping bag since I have an aversion to crawling into things that dozens of people have slept in before me, and I used my blanket from ROI (Dad, you told me to hold onto it... you're so smart.)  There were decently warm showers on the site, which was nice.  Apparently in the middle of the night a bunch of foxes came right near me sleeping and ate our food.  I'm glad I slept through it because I would have screamed probably.

The next day we went hiking in a ravine near the campsite.  Parts of the hike were challenging but it wasn't so bad.  One thing I noticed was that we're all in reasonably decent shape.  Usually in groups there's that one person who can't do it or who gets stuck, but we all did pretty well.

We hiked to another spring.  

As you can see, this time I swam in my clothes, and I regret it. Peer pressure is, no other way to put it, fucking stupid. Bathing suits are for bathing. Other people can deal with it, from now on, my solemn vow to myself.

Jonah and Gabriella

I'm really starting to like the people in my program. They're all really smart and from very different backgrounds.  Jonah is an American but he's basically fluent in Hebrew and has really nuanced thoughts about living as an American in Israel. I really want to talk to him about that more.  He's a really natural leader and I think a lot of people in the program, including myself, look up to him and look to him for direction. I'm really excited to see what he does with his life.

Gabriella is one of my absolute favorites in the group.  She's only 21, which I can't believe.  She's brilliant and beautiful and a feminist with really well-thought out ideas which she is amazingly good at articulating.  When I was 21 I had a lot of older friends and I didn't understand what they saw in me, but now that I'm friends with Gabby maybe I understand.  I forget her age most of the time and it really doesn't matter.  We really click and get each other and I hope we're friends long after the program is done!

This is Merav

Merav is one of the program coordinators.  She's really awesome. She was a gymnast and then she worked with troubled girls as her national service.  She's also really smart and upbeat and inspiring.

This is Yedidya

Or as I like to call him, "Deeds."  He's only 23 and he's accomplished so much!  He's my favorite person to pair up with for Torah study because his understanding of the texts is very nuanced and he's very wise.  He's from Efrat and studied in yeshiva for years and years and years before doing the Israeli navy.  He's also an ordained Rabbi.  And he's starting law school in the fall.  We've had a lot of good talks.  One of the things we've talked about a lot is first impressions, and he's made me think about how important is to get to know people before deciding things about them.  Honestly I wonder now if you should ever decide anything about anyone at all.

This Gili

Gili is Israeli but she has a British accent because she went to Cambridge and spent many years working as an Israel Advocate in the UK.  She doesn't realize how cool or beautiful she is which is a total tragedy, because she's really cool (and obviously very beautiful).  She's also really thoughtful and a really good cook.  She makes the best salads ever.  She also happens to be the grand-niece of the founder of Reform Judaism.

This is Justin

Justin goes to Yale Divinity School.  He actually attended an admissions event at Harvard that I helped run.  Small world!  We can relate to each other as fellow Div students.  He's probably the best read person in the group and asks the most thoughtful questions.  He's also the only non-Jew in the group. We affectionately call him our token goy.  He's a Christian gentleman and he always holds doors for the girls and when we were talking in Jerusalem he held my hand on some tricky steps.  And he always volunteers to carry the heavy things.  Really nice guy.  He knows a lot about philosophy and theology and we had some great discussions in Jerusalem coffee shops about Satan, the nature of evil, and prayer, among other things.  Yay Justin!

The next day we stopped at a lookout point on the way back to Ein Prat.  The lookout was over the Kinerret, or the Sea of Gallilee, and it was gorgeous.  We ate sandwiches and talked a lot about our feelings.  We do that a lot in this program, get in circles and talk about our feelings.  It bothers some people more than others. I'm kind of indifferent.  The only thing is that how honest are people really going to be in front of everyone when asked to share the most challenging moment of the week for you?  I think most people make up answers to that kind of question.  I know I for one would not have publicly shared what was most challenging for me.  Still, it can be interesting to hear what people DO say, even if they're really sharing something that's only the 4th or 5th or 10th most challenging thing they dealt with.

We took lots of goofy photos at the lookout...

This is Theo.

Theo has an enormous, good heart. He's such a kind guy, and very open minded too.  He's working for Teach for America and applying to law school.  I don't know him as well as I'd like to, but I do know how easy he is to talk to and how kind he is to everyone around here.  He's also the most secular person here, perhaps, which makes him touchable.  Which means Gabby and I like to kiss on him for photos.

Gabriella is also a yoga instructor.  Can you tell?  Then Gili and myself.

I can't help but love dorky lookout poses.

I felt pretty accomplished after.  I was nervous about the camping and hiking but I made it!  And it was fun.  I'm generally a city girl, but it's good to get out, especially to see more of beautiful Israel.

Right now I'm in Tel Aviv with Gabby for a girls weekend.  I have a ton more to post about and I will attempt to do so more regularly.  I love you guys!