Thursday 25/12/08

Wake up early as usual, have some veggies for breakfast, and headed to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum. It was very emotional for most of the people in the group. I almost felt like I was watching a movie today. I don't know why. I got a little teary eyed when I saw a map of where my family came from. That lasted about 3 seconds and I went back to being numb. It was very weird. It was also weird how they had us take our group picture at this place. Not cool. Everyone was exhausted and then we had to sit and listen to a survivor which I am sure would have been interesting any other time but I slept through it. Most of us did.

We went to the old city after and grabbed some lunch. I got a free bagel (not the first) and then we took a short tour. The rain really put a damper on the day. If there is one thing that makes me miserable is being wet and cold and seeing no end in sight. I found out the hard way that my shoes were not waterproof. We went to the Kotel and saw the Menorah lit which was cool. Just when we thought we were done, we find out we were going to Divon's house.

This was nice and bizarre at the same time. They fed us all soup and had us watch a video about an American who joined the IDF and died in the 2nd Lebanon War. There was no notice for the video and after an already emotional day, this just put a lot of people over the edge. The trip was doing really well about not preaching too much but today was way cult like. The good thing was that most of the participants were old enough and mature enough to realize this. They knew it was just part of the nature of the trip and knew enough to not fully believe everything they say. For instance, "You are making the wrong decision if you stay in the USA."

We made it back for dinner and then went out in Jtown. The big thing there is getting beer and a shot for free and free hookah. There was some miscommunication and Big Mike and his friend Jared got wasted and stumbled in way past curfew. I had to wait up for them and Hallel refused to leave David and me alone which was kinda funny. Daniel didn't even care at this point cuz his family was there for Shabbat. But when Big Mike came tumbling in, I think it may have been the funniest thing all trip. He was panting, hands on his knees. Telling us some Jamaicans gave him the wrong directions and he was lost and then there were kids throwing CD's at him from their balcony. You can't even make this shit up. I think I went to bed at 4am.