Birthright

Ok, first off I think you can add your e-mail to the 'follow by email' field on the right and you'll get an e-mail when I make a post.

The past 10 days were crazy - we did so much all day, every day. It's exhausting but you get a great glimpse of different areas of the country. It'll be nice to revisit some of the places and have the time to wander about.

There were 40 of us on Birthright, 2 others our age who had been to Israel before and had a connection to the country (they were the organizers and did the grunt work basically), a tour guide, a bus driver, a guard, and for half the program we had 8 Israeli kids join us.

I think my favorite things were hiking Masada which we did starting around 5am - it was pitch black on the way up so we could see the sunrise at the top. We did the 'snake path' which I think is the hardest...there were sooo many steps. Then the next day we hiked in the Ramon Crater, which is all rocks and when you get to the top it looks like a painting - you're surrounded on all sides by desert as far as you can see. **Highly recommended*

The most beautiful places we went were definitely the Golan Heights and Jaffa. We did some hikes in the Golan and also went to a winery and an olive oil factory, but just watching the scenery was unbelievable. We even saw snow in Israel - on the mountaintops in the Golan. Didn't get to spend much time in Jaffa, but it's very close by to where I'm staying so I'll be back there.

We were in Jerusalem on Friday and Saturday, and it's unbelievable to see the difference. Friday, up til about 3pm, is bustling and trafficy, then just before 5 o'clock a bell sounds throughout the city warning it's nearly sundown and Shabbat's beginning. So walking around on Saturday is a different experience entirely. It's almost like a ghost town. Hardly any cars on the road, public transport doesn't run, no stores are open, it's actually pretty cool.

Other things we did: camel riding (so pointless), went to the dead sea (but it was super cold and started drizzling right after I got in...so I got back out), toured a kibbutz and got to pick oranges out of their grove, walked on a very wobbly chain link fence bridge in the Negev (there were too many people around for me to freak out like at the rope bridge in Ireland........though I wanted to desperately), Yad Vashem (it was extremely informative, but not nearly as emotional as the Holocaust museum in DC), National cemetery (where all the soldiers are buried, that was really upsetting), and strolling about the Tel Aviv market.

Well, that came out in no particular order...and although I only took about 10 pictures, I'll try and figure out how to post them later.

I left Tel Aviv yesterday afternoon and went to Ramla, where I'll be staying. Then jumped a bus earlier today and am now at Allan for the evening!