Eilat

wall of the red canyon

Alfonso told us our brains would cook so we had to cover them

Border with Egypt

Hyena Prints

This weekend I went to Eilat with some friends in celebration of the end of Ulpan. We took the five hour bus from Tel Aviv and stayed at the Eilat Youth Hostel and Guest House. It was pretty nice for a hostel, but a little bit on the expensive side. From the balcony of the hostel I could see the red sea and the mountains on the other side of it which is Jordan. The weather was so hot the whole time--about 90 degrees and sunny. I made sure to reapply my sunblock many times every day. The first highlight of the trip was a hike that some friends and I did around and through the Red Canyon. The drive to the canyon was along the boarder with Egypt, and we ended the hike on Mount Yoash with a view of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. Our tour guide, Alfonso, moved from Switzerland to Israel in 1960 and served in the '67 war. He still serves in the civilian sect of the Search and Rescue. He was so knowledgeable about the rocks and plants and animals of the area in which we were hiking that it made the hike really interesting. Later that day, my friend Lauren and I went tubing and banana boating in the Red Sea. Besides the fact that I thought I was going to die the entire time on the tube (the crazy Israeli driving the boat thought it was funny to make me fly 20 yards away from the tube with every sharp turn at 80 mph) it was a great activity in the hot weather. Eilat is a fun town to visit for a day or two if you're interested in water sports or fish, but I was reminded how trashy the boardwalk is and how touristy the entire city is. It was a nice feeling to return to Tel Aviv. Today, we started classes at Tel Aviv University! Finally, there are Israeli students swarming the campus and the exciting first week of school feeling is definitely in the air.


Alfonso






Alfonso taught us how to make soap in the desert

Jerusalem for Shabbat

Marzipan about to go into the oven

A few weeks ago, I went to Jerusalem for Shabbat. My good friend from Camp Ramah, Yaela Garr, invited me to stay with her. It was a great Shabbat. She and her friends are shomer Shabbat, which means that she does not work, drive nor use electricity (among other things) from Friday at sundown until Saturday night. I haven't observed Shabbat like this since camp, and it felt so refreshing to be observant for one Shabbat. I took the hour long bus from Tel Aviv (only 19 shekels!) and easily found the bus from the Jerusalem station that took me to Jabotinsky street to meet a good friend for coffee. I then took another bus to meet Yaela at her parents' house and helped her bring the food she prepared for dinner back to her apartment. We did some pre-Shabbat cleaning and as the sun set we welcomed in the day of rest. We walked about 10 minutes to her friend's apartment for a great dinner. All of her friends were very welcoming to me, and I was proud that I followed most of the conversation in Hebrew! The following day we woke up late and walked to Yaela's sister's apartment for lunch. At lunch was Rabbi Loren Sykes, the new head director of Camp Ramah in Wisconsin. It was nice to meet him; he'll be a great addition to camp. This meal was even more delicious than the previous night's, with a yummy baked pear pie for dessert. After lunch we went on a long walk from Yaela's sister's to the David Citadel Hotel. Although chillier than Tel Aviv, I thought it was still beautiful weather to go on a shabbos walk. We saw some camp friends at the hotel and eventually walked the 45 minutes back to Yaela's apartment in time to make Havdalah with her friends to close shabbat and welcome the next week. It was a great feeling to turn off my cell phone for the entire Shabbat and really feel like I was observing the holiday. I hope to return to Jerusalem for Shabbat soon.




Kotel

Side note: the pictures in the post were taken on a day trip to Jerusalem with my program.