Masada,& Ein Gedi- spring break part 2

Monday night Elana and I arrive in Ein Gedi kibbutz. We know that there is a guest house and so we walked all the way through the kibbutz and eventually we find it. We go to the reception and ask if we could get a taxi and the guy there orders a taxi for us which cost us 150 sheks since its was so late. We arrive at the Masada hostel and we encounter the guard. We tell him our names and he looks to see which room we were given, he can't find it. Elana tells him that we just need a room we for sure booked this hostel and we're tired. So he gives us a key to a room, but he doesn't know if the room is clean or not. We were at the point it didn't matter. So we go to our room and it is trashed, but we're to tired to care at 12:30 am. We went to sleep and at 4:30 am we woke up and went to hike the snake path to Masada. It was awesome, we saw the sun rise and everything. We are at Masada walking around, enjoying the beautiful history and all there is to offer. 2 hours after we got up we got on the cable car. We went back to the hostel, packed up and went to talk to the front desk about checking out and about the room. We complain and those complaints got us to pay less then half for the room which was great. After Masada we left for Ein Gedi, we checked into the youth hostel and went to the dead sea. I loved it, I floated in the dead sea for the first time. We came back to the hostel watched a couple italian movies on t.v. and then went to sleep and woke up the next day at 5:30 am to catch a bus at 6 so Elana was able to go to her intern. The rest of the day was laid back and then today was sports day. Three friends and I took advantage of being in Tel Aviv and we went shopping and chilled there for a while. Laina and I chilled at the beach till Arielle came back from France. Then we got back to Jerusalem and that my friends leads me to now. I am so tired, but if anything cool or interesting happens this weekend I will let you know here are some pics from break.

Masada Ein Gedi

Haifa- spring break part 1

This past Wednesday Elana and I left for Haifa. After checking in to the hostel we decided to walk around the area a bit. We went into a mall on Ben Gurion street we took some pics of some cool grafitti pictures. Here are a few of the pictures I took that day:

Thursday we went to a couple museums. We went to a Japanese art museum which was pretty fun. Got to see some ninja swords and such. And another museum of some Jewish artist I forgot his name. After that we went to a festival and also visited the zoo. Here are some pictures from that day:

Friday our friend Davita came to be with us. Elana and I were going to start our day at the Bahai Gardens going on the English tour, but it was rained out. Instead we walked in the rain, jumped in some puddles, and went to cafe and waited for Davita to call telling us she arrived. When she called we left the cafe and went back to the hostel and met up with Davita and together we went to the opening of the gardens we didn't get to see much but we got some cool pics of flowers and the building. Oh and while Elana was taking pictures with my camera, Davita and I were saying hi to random people that drove by it was really funny. We left the place already at this point and we were sitting near the street just waving it was a lot of fun, we put some smiles on peoples faces. Here is the building and some flowers:

Our Last day, Saturday we didn't do much we were going to try to go on the English tour again, but once again it got rained out. So we walked around chilled ate some oranges and headed back to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Here are some extra pics.

Mom I found two places in Haifa with your name. Also Santa was in town. And aren't those chickens funny?

First few days of Break

So Thursday I hung out with my friend from home, Fallon. We had dinner at the bus station. And we went back the next day with another friend Daniel Kotsias. After we ate we headed to Ben Yehuda. I got my mom shoes and I got a charm for my phone that says Chava but in Hebrew. After that we all left to go to our respective places. I went home. I spent shabbat in Jerusalem and just chilled, I went running Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It was great, I got bored so I just went running/walking. Monday I went to Tel Aviv for a bit to see my friend from camp, Ofek, we chilled for a while and then I came back to Jerusalem and I got ready to go the seder. I went to Maya's Aunt, Hilary's house for the seder. It was great, great food, great time, great people. I enjoyed it. Then today I chilled with another friend that I met at camp, Andrew, and we chilled in his apt along with his roommate Alex.

Jerusalem, if I forget you, then my right hand forgets what its suppose to do

Great song, right? So this week we had Hadassah day. It was a good day. We went to Ammunition hill and learned about Jerusalem and the 6 day war. We went there to learn also how Mt. Scopus was always in Israel's control. The first hadassah hospital on Mt. Scopus. We got to there later on. We got to hear from a few speakers and about why hadassah hospital has served such a big role in their life.

Also, this week was the end of mid semester so I had huge exam on Thursday. I pretty sure I got a B or an A on it. I studied for the exam for the first time without a huge packet to fill out. Oh, and I got to make a pita at volunteering which was fun and tasty. Thats about it. Now onto spring break.

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday

So Thursday was great! All of yearcourse came together in Jerusalem. We did a freeze for Awareness of Gilad Shalit's captivity. He's been captive for five years so we froze for five minutes. It was amazing. heres the site to watch it on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSNHGmFlnCY

Friday Elana came over and so did Gabe. <-- from home. He's on aardvark. We watched Batman Begins, (such a great movie :D) and ate Wacky Mac, (best food ever).

Saturday Harry, Elana and I went to the Israel Museum it was a lot of fun. But trying to get there was a bit difficult, we got lost several times. At least this time I was with p

eople ;). Here are some pictures

Last Week

So last week had two really interesting days. Last Sunday I went to volunteering. I volunteer at a farm which I will bring up later. So after volunteering I was planning on going to the shuk with Elana to get a snack. I get on the bus and I end up on Ben Yehuda, I know if its on Ben Yehuda then it isn't going to the shuk, so I get off. I call Elana and I tell her I don't know where I am or how to get to the shuk she keeps telling me that I can do it, she believes in me and corny stuff like that. It was funny. I keep walking a certain direction and then I ask a random lady how to get to the shuk, she tells me to go straight and turn left I say thank you and I go. I turn left and keep walking and I feel like I'm going nowhere.I'm getting kind of nervous at this point. Finally I reach the market Elana is unable to come so I buy the things and come home. Success, but barely. Next day is Monday and we have a seminar it was a holocaust seminar it was great we got to learn more about the holocaust I enjoyed it because I was able to relate better being that I went to Poland and have been to the concentration camps. And after that experience I was able to imagine stories a bit better that we got to hear. Anyways I get lost on this day too kind of. After the seminar I meet Hannah. I get on the bus to go to Mamilla and I miss the stop. I get off at the next stop and I ran to get to Mamilla. I get there I find her, we chill and soon enough we're on Ben Yehudah, we chill some more and then she has to go. So I say to myself, "hey why not go back to Mamillah?" Well some how I made my way back, but I couldn't find the bus stop to get back. I'm walking, I'm walking, and thankfully I run into more yearcoursers a couple being my roommates. I join them because they are also heading home. So I was able to take a bus and not walk all the way which was great. I think both days I got really lucky, but my roommate Natalie thinks I shouldn't go anywhere without another person, she is probably right. What are you going to do? At least now I know my way around better. Back to volunteering. I don't like it. I work at a farm and I sweep the outside, I clean the inside of the main building (I'm back to cleaning the merkaz like I did on the kibbutz, but not really) and I do whatever I'm told. Well yesterday I was given the job to do the compost. Oh, my, goodness I couldn't stand it. It smelled so bad and it was hot and smokey.....ewww. So I do it for a while and then I go to my boss and I tell him I can't do it anymore so he makes me weed, that was okay. I saw a lot of weird bugs, I guess that's kind of cool? Today I didn't get much sleep and so I was tired and he was getting mad at me for being tired. So I asked if I could go home since I also wasn't feeling well either. I told him I would get more sleep and work harder on the rest of the days. He said I better or else I should look for anoher volunteering place. I mean he has a point, but I'm volunteering. I had one bad day. But to end on a positive note the goat there had to babies. And they are so cute. I love the animals there, so I will work harder, because the animals are worth it to see.