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Today, we had Morning Celebration, and then left for a tiyul.  This tiyul consisted of going to a sand dune near Kibbutz Samar and learning about how a business is taking the sand from Israel's largest dune and using it for development elsewhere.  We saw first hand the destruction it caused and even met with students who stay at the dune almost all the time to try to stop the devastation.  Then we rolled down the dunes and got sand everywhere.
After that, we went to Timna park and saw a piece of land that is going to become a gigantic conference hall/ hotel/ theme park.  We heard about the mining there and what changes the development will have on the land.  We got to see a huge crack in the ground where developers where looking for a certain kind of element (but didn't find).  It was just left there as a crevice, with piles of dirt and sand sitting next to it.  When we were done with that part of the walk (we took a 'tour' of the hotel that was going to be built.  Our guide would point out a rock mountain and introduce it to us as the water park, etc), we were taken to a huge sand dune.  Hopefully I'll have pictures soon, so you can see just how humongous this is.  We got maybe a fourth of the way up and collapsed from exhaustion.  Eventually we made it to the top, but it took a while.  Our thighs and lungs were burning, but rolling back down was much easier!
When we got back, we had a class with Mark about Sustainable Communities and the Economy, which was depressing, to say the least.
From the class, Ariel and I (joined later by Ben, Benjy, and Dan), ran to join the soccer game, which our friend Mitch had set up as his last game on Lotan.  The kibbutz has regular games on Sunday, but Mitch and the rest of the Southern Shnat group leaves this Friday.  About 12 of us played until it got too dark to see the ball.  Of course, I was the only girl, but after Weight Training at Colfax, I'm used to being, 'The Girl.'
Then, the Shnatties, along with other kibbutzim and volunteer groups, got on a bus to go to the regional center for a memorial service for Yitchak Rabin.  It was a ma'amod entirely in Hebrew, with discussion groups after.  It was interesting, but freezing cold, despite being in the desert.
Back at Lotan for now, we're about to improvise some food and hang out with the Southerners before they go in a few days.  But not for too long, because we have an 8 am class tomorrow morning!