August 26

Day 2: Our day started nice and early with a 6:00a breakfast of crackers and Bedouin tea before we loaded onto the bus and were off to our first hike of the week. There are some great upsides to waking early in a desert, and I caught most of them with my camera (they one thing you cannot see is the much lower temperatures).

The hike we took was through Nachat Tamar, and we encountered some interesting terrain along the way. While this hike does not cover a lot of distance, it does take a few hours to finish because of some unique obstacles.

Our tour guide standing next to car that fell into the canyon we climbed down into.

A three part ladder scaling the canyon wall.

This is where we stopped for a brunch meal to supplement the tea and crackers before continuing on with the hike. Of course there were some spectacular views like these:

After brunch the hike started up again.

Rope used to repel down wall.

Second series of ladders down wall face.

While my fear of heights did make this particular hike a bit of a challenge, it was definintely worth it in the end. This next photo shows the area we hiked out of from the end of the trail.

Once again we loaded up onto the bus, this time to head down to the Dead Sea. We arrived at a wonderful spa where we had a swimming pool, the sea and showers to choose from for our choice of cooling off methods after the hike. (I of course chose all three during the afternoon we spent there.)

What I did not choose to do was get locked in my shower room for 25 minutes. (Nope, no pictures of this one). After trying to get the attention of someone outside, preferably who spoke English (this was not the case), I then started the tedious process of waiting for help. Apparently they needed to find the maintenance guy and a chisel to get the door open, but at least I did pick up a few new Hebrew words.

Our last stop of the evening was at the Eastern lookout in Arad. This spot juts out along the dividing line of the Negev (top) and the Judean desters (bottom). This is also the town I will be living and teaching in for 8 months later this year.

We finally retired to the Arad Youth Hostel where we had a few "getting to know you activities" and spent time talking to each other. When I went to bed I knew I had another long day ahead of me, but if the experiences were going to be as wonderful as today's (well, maybe minus the shower), I knew it would be worth it.

August 24/25

Since I am only now getting the chance to go on the internet, I will be playing a bit of a catch up game for the next day or so as I put up the entries from the last week. I have now been in Israel for 6 full days, and as our madricha puts it -we are no longer tourists. That being said, last week was all about doing the tourist activities and getting in touch with the land of Israel.

Day 1 (24-25/8): This day started out like any other trip - last minute packing and getting out the door later than anticipated, but that only hightened the sense of excitement! At 11am I met up with the group and got onto the dauntingly long line for check-in at the El Al desk. If you have not gone through this before, it is quite the experience. The line winds around and around, and you can actually enter from both ends. About halfway through the line an El Al agent will come up to you with a music stand and paperwork and start asking questions that you would not expect. My favorite was "what is your Hebrew name?" followed up by "why?" After the questioning ends they place tags on all the bags you are checking- although I am not sure what purpose they serve since they do not have the flight number or my name on them- and waive you on to the rest of the line.
After getting out of the line the 16 of us that had assembled so far went through security, also tricky with such a big group, and into the boarding area. Once in the boarding area we picked up the remaining 3 people that would join us (out of the 22 that were supposed to be on the flight) and headed onto the plane. I won't bore you all with the details of a 10 hour flight that included delayed take off and an overtired 9 year old in the seat next to me, but I will put a few pictures of our flight path.
 

We finally arrived at Ben Gurion airport at 7:30a with 19 of the 36 Otzmanikim - having made up our delayed time in the air. We then waited around in baggage claim for a few hours while Elissa and Rachel searched for and finally filled out forms for their lost baggage. (As of today 30/8 one of the girls still has no luggage, but we are hopeful it will show up eventually.) From there it was off to the Jewish Agency campus and our first orientation meeting!

Fast forward through a few hours of paperwork and important information and the whole group loaded up our 1st week bags onto the bus and were off. Our first stop was Tayelet, a plaza with a beautiful view of Jerusalem.

We had an opening ceremony where we said the שהחינו‎ (Shehecheyanu) for the start of our new adventure in Israel, all the while looking at this view and then got back on the bus. From there we had a long ride that took us through Arad (my future home) and down to a Bedouin settlement where we rode camels,

had a traditional Bedouin meal, and were taught about historical and modern Bedouin culture.

 This was followed by a star gazing walk in the desert with a large bright moon and stars for miles. Finally, after being awake almost 35 hours, we all got into our sleeping bags in the large Bedouin tent and drifted off.

Pre-trip post

Hello all!
As I am sure you can all see by the blog name, this is where I will be writing about all of my adventures over the next 10 months while I am in Israel.  I  plan to update the blog frequently, though by no means daily. I think it is important to spend more time living your life than writing about it. That being said, I do want to remember and share this experience, so check back often for updates on my life overseas!


 At this point packing has gone into full swing, and it is a little daunting to think that I have to pack everything I will need or want to have for the next year into 2 suitcases.

On the other hand - I think I could fit myself into my suitcase, so maybe this will not be as hard as I think.