Dead Sea/Ein Gedi

Alright faithless readers, you win, you have no reason to trust that I’ll actually post anything on this blog since… I haven’t in about a month. Things have been happening here in Be’er Sheva but unless I write about all of the excitement my times here will fade into that all-encompassing sentence when I describe my study abroad experience half a year from now, “Yeah it was really amazing!”

Last I left off I was going to spend the weekend at the Dead Sea and Ein Gedi with the overseas students. Our Madricha, Liat, led us on a gorgeous hike through the desert by the Dead Sea up and down some somewhat terrifying cliffs, which culminated at an abandoned Israeli bunker built for a war in years past. Afterwards, we bussed over to the Dead Sea and I went in! This is a major accomplishment of strength and perseverance on my part since my lone immersive experience concerning the Dead Sea occurred when I was around 8 and it burned so bad that I was traumatized for life… until now. Since then I’d only subjected toes and ankles to the hyper concentrated minerals, but I was inspired by and curious of the floating phenomenon, and did it! It was kind of gross though, the minerals are so concentrated it feels like swimming in oil.

That night we had Shabbat at the nearby kibbutz/guest house where we stayed then in the morning went on a day hike in Ein Gedi. Ein Gedi is a nature reserve nearby with naturally forming fresh water pools scattered through the sandy mountains. We hiked for about an hour, then spent an hour swimming and eating in the shade. It was so gorgeous, and amazing to swim after hiking. I had the chance to talk to lots of people in our group whom I haven’t been spending much time with, which is always one of my favorite parts of these hikes. We’re walking up and down these inclines on paths wide enough for one person, so we basically don’t have much of a choice but to chatter with the people right next to us. Of course, I suppose one could note that the walking order is somewhat self-sorting (in O(n) time, it’s a selection sort) (just kidding, I have no idea what I’m talking about) (if you got that, I’m really not that nerdy, let this one go) but I’ve always been inspired to get to know different people during the hikes.

Couldn’t sleep much on the bus ride back to Be’er Sheva after Shabbat since the bus driver was pulling some truly theatrical turns and we even had to stop once since one girl had to throw up on the side of the road. All in all, it was great to get outside for an entire weekend!