Etgar Beginnings

Yesterday I and thirteen fellow Shnatties got on a bus (at way too early in the morning, in my opinion).  We drove to the desert, but missed most of the ride because we all slept.  When we got off the bus, we were still tired.  However, a hike was soon to begin so we got excited and set off, carrying helmets, water, and harnesses.  We walked up into the mountains off to the side of the Dead Sea, played games galore, and then commenced the real reason for this adventure: rappelling.  We rappelled down a cliff (they told me the height in meters, which, as an American, I mostly ignored because I don't understand it.  But I'm fairly certain it was around 40 meters.) had coffee and tea the Israeli way, and rappelled a different cliff.  I'm sure I'll never forget Jemma double- and triple-checking that the anchor was watching her as she rappelled, and Alyson having a huge freak out half way down the second mountain.  There was a ledge that you could stand up and walk around on, and she was hanging less than a foot above it, screaming her head off in terror, despite being perfectly able to just stand up.  Needless to say, those of us on the ground below her were doubled over laughing.  And yes, we recorded it.

After, we stopped off at the Dead Sea because we had extra time.  When people say, 'Don't drink the seawater,' they really mean it.  It tastes terrible.  But the whole place was so interesting because you can see the salt deposits in the sand and on the rocks.  We also saw some Russian celebrities.

Our next stop was our last that day: the hostel.  We had a successful asefah, showered, played games, and hung out until dinner, after which was another asefah with a tragic game of Mafia, and Dan R accidentally offending some Israeli boys.  I then proceeded to make a fort out of Ariel's bunk bed, and was joined by four other people.  At one point we had six people in that fort, but alas, it did not last and we realized that you can't even fit four or five people in there comfortably, so we abandoned the idea and went to sleep.

Today we got up even earlier than yesterday, but couldn't sleep on the bus because of certain people *couchRSY* chanting camp sings loudly.  We finally got to Masada, took the easy way up, and met up with our guide, Amy's husband.  We had a short, personal morning service on the mountain, and then started our tour. It was so interesting and I loved learning about all the events that had happened there, from the great and fabulous to the tragic.

Another interesting cool thing that happened was seeing the Israeli Air Force.  In Kibbutz Lotan, every once in a while a plane would fly over the mountains next to us.  In Karmiel, we heard the planes because of the Air Force base that was quite near by.  Near the Dead Sea, where we were today, the Air Force has special permission to fly even lower because it is the lowest place in the world.  We could actually see the planes doing formations and maneuvers in the air right over us.  We watched the Israeli Air Force in action, how cool is that?

After we finished on top of Masada, we hiked down the Snake Path- the hard way.  I realized something about myself today.  I always thought of myself as someone who follows the rules, but after hearing, "Rebekkah, stop running," over and over again I changed my mind.  I am someone who will follow the rule Do Not Eat on Masada and the rule Do Not Litter, but if someone tells me not to race down the treacherous mountain path as fast as I can, I'll consider that a warning and after the guide lets us pass him, we sprinted off.  Luckily, no one was hurt and we finished the hike and had lunch.  We then went to Ein Geti, had a wonderful time in the springs by the beautiful waterfalls and then went home.

This brings us to Now.  Sitting in the only comfortable sofa-chair in the Etgar flat, surrounded by 13 people I really enjoy being around, people who make me laugh and smile and happy, with dinner cooking and a soccer game later, I couldn't be happier.

And to top it all off, it turns out I pull off a Beduin-style head wrap really well.