Thursday, July 19, 2012 - Floating in the Sea!

We started the day early at Sde Boker, where we enjoyed a very hot night the night before. After breakfast, we headed to Ein Ovdat, where we hiked through the canyons of the Negev. We found that it was really easy to make echoes in the desert, and screamed by enunciating the syllables of “We-are-Dil-Ler-5!” and listened as it echoed throughout the canyon. Afterwards, we took a ride down to the Dead Sea, which unfortunately was much hotter than the hike we had just completed. The water was about 48 degrees Celsius and the sand wasn’t much cooler, however we all spread mud all over ourselves and had a great time floating in the sea while trying to avoid burning ourselves in the process. Afterwards, we took a drive over to the Bedouin tents, and learned about the Bedouin culture. We also met a ton of cool people, all from various European countries, staying at the tent, too. On top of that, we got to ride camels and donkeys, which was definitely interesting and sort of a painful experience. We had a really cool Ma’agal Laila/Night circle in the desert, where we got to stare up at the stars, which was sort of like an IMAX theatre. Afterwards, we chilled by the bonfire and instead of making s’mores, we went the Israeli route and roasted potatoes, but it turned into a sort of hot potato game, while we drank some really good Bedouin tea. My favorite part about yesterday was wearing the leader of the day sombrero, which gave me shade all day.

-Jack Greenbaum

P.S. - Hi mom and dad! Didn’t have a chance to talk to you since I left, but it’s only been a few days. I’m having a great time in Israel with everyone else! Say hi to everyone for me and I will talk to you soon.