Sunday 21/12/08

After the typical breakfast of veggies and dips, the bus gets packed with time to spare and we drive to Mt. Arbel for a morning hike. You can see almost all of the Southern Galilee and the Kinneret (the lake where Jesus walked and the source of much of Israel's water, which is in a drought at the moment). I had to sit this hike out originally because one of the participants has a leg condition but then Big Mike and Alisa decided not to go as well. Well, Big Mike didn't really decide, he was told to turn around. So the bus drives around a bit, slightly hits a car, and then we pick up the group at the bottom of the mountain. I was kinda sad I missed this one, it looked really fun.

We head to Tsfat (Safed, "Air City"), which I was really excited for cuz it's such a cool little town. It is one of the four holy cities of Judaism, located in the hills of the Galilee, and the center of Jewish mystical study and the Kabbalah. Everything is in turquoise blue there and I think its a beautiful place. Unfortunately, it was rainy and cold so we didn't do much there and then the candle factory was so packed we skipped it. This place was one of my favorite parts of the last trip and I felt like the group kinda got gypped out of it this time. Also, when we got off the bus, one of the girls wasn't feeling well so I had to escort her to a bathroom, where she was miserable and I had to buy a drink so she could use the restroom and wait in the cold and rain for her, miss Daniels speech in a temple, and she didn't even say the slightest thank you. Then we poured falafel down our throats cuz I couldn't bare the thought of another homemade Sachlav sandwich for lunch.

We stopped for lunch at this forest on the way to Dalton Winery. It was this huge playground and was a really beautiful park. It's crazy how driving 15 minutes in any direction of the country and the landscape changes so drastically. The north is very rocky, from the old volcanoes. Drive 15 minutes south of Jerusalem and you are in a desert. It's pretty cool. The winery was OK. I liked the one I went to last time better. It was a quick trip, a quick tasting, and we were back on the bus, rushed as usual. I never felt rushed on the trip, but Daniel always apologized for pushing us. It kinda became one of the jokes of the trip.

I took a nap on the 3 hour bus ride down to Tel Aviv. When I woke up, I was eye to eye with a cow. There was a truck full of cows right next to the bus. It was hysterical to wake up to that and I started laughing so hard I woke up half the bus.

We get to the hostel at Tel Aviv which we were dreading but it turned out to be one of the nicer places we stayed. David M. and Divon met up with us and since it was Hanukkah, we all sat down and had the typical donuts and read a passage and Melissa sang while lighting the candles. Then we all went upstairs to get ready for a night out in Tel Aviv. I was pissed off because I got booted out of a real bed and onto a cot so I tried to just distance myself from certain people that night because I would lose it if I didn't. It's really cool how Daniel lets us kinda do our own thing. I was not expecting that at all. After waiting for Big Mike because he fell asleep in the tub (apparently he's become narcoleptic on the trip), a bunch of us walked down to the water, I got harassed by a drunk Arab, and then we went to dinner at this place on the beach. Daniel ordered us hookah, I ate french fries, sat with great kids from the group, and listened to awesome songs like Valerie. I couldn't be happier at this place. It was perfect. After a couple hours of just chillin, Ben, David and Justin walked me back. Daniel and I did room checks, and then I stayed on the phone way to late cuz I still was dealing with jet lag.


Group at Red Bar on the Tel Aviv Beach.