Story
On Saturday night, we had a cross-dressing Purim party with Noar Telem, Netzer Machon, and Noam. It was lots of fun and filled with hot dogs and dancing and lap tag, and then washing machine drama ensued back at the Etgar Flat. We got news that our tiyul had been changed around (understandably) so we all packed appropriately and got some sleep (stam, we barely slept at all).
We headed off to the bus at a disgustingly early hour of 8am. One rest stop (where we bought ice cream, like always) and a few hours of sleep later, we had arrived. We got off and met our tour guide and split off into two tiyul groups: boys and girls. We learned the basics, made lunch, and got our first taste of using the great outside as a toilet. The bus took us somewhere even more remote and dropped us off with our backpacks and left, leaving us on our own. We walked and walked, had a peula and walked some more, and eventually made it to camp. At camp, the girls made dinner (burgers, pasta, and salad), the boys cleaned up, and I made the fire. It was indisputably the best fire anyone has ever made on Shnat, and even the boys agreed. We had an asefah, and played Truth or Dare for hours eating junk food and trying to distance ourselves from the creepy medic/guard. Although I don't even want to talk about how Shmirah went, I do want to mention the 'sandstorm.' Basically, I was awake at 4am running around tying down wind covers and stopping the tents from blowing away, all while being pelted with sand.
The next day, we got to navigate ourselves around the desert more independently. While splitting the boys and girls into two teams caused many heated arguments and ill-feelings, we as girls bonded so much. We even made matching gimel friendship bracelets to commemorate the time we spent together. We started that day with a hike to the top of a mountain and learned how to navigate from there. After a few distance mistakes and walkie-talkie failures, we finally made it to our destination: lunch break. We navigated some more and got to camp, where we ended the hike with some stretching. We had dinner and built a fire, and then our guide took us on a solo experience, where Naomi broke her arm and I did some more deep thinking, to be explained later. We all had happy time together sitting around the fire and talking, and then some more Shmirah drama went down and the night ended badly.
The next morning was tense, but we split up quickly into different groups and started to hike again. We were one hundred percent on our own this time, with only one madrich with us, but who was supposed to stay silent if we made a mistake. I was with the three slowest walkers in the group, which was difficult for me. It was as hard for me to slow down as it was for them to try to keep up, but we eventually made it to the breakfast spot first. We had breakfast together out in the middle of nowhere and learned about filtering water, and then walked on. Yet another section started with a huge climb, but it soon leveled out and was all easy from there. Most of our journey was interrupted with frequent walkie-talkie chatter and hearing Noa speak American-Hebrew. We finally finally finally made it Sdey Boker. We handed back our equipment and received our certificates of graduation from a Desert Survival Course. And then it was shower time... until we found out we had no hot water. About ten minutes of desperation ensued, and then we learned that in order to get hot water in the desert of a country that has a severe water shortage, we had to run the shower for fifteen minutes first. Having not showered in days, having lived in the desert and rolled around in the mud, and having had hiked for twenty kilometers, we decided that we would be really careful with the recycling to make up for the fact that we were wasting all that water to take hot showers. Very un-Netzer of us, we know, but we were desperate. We had yaldasefot and drank tea and coffee and discussed the pros and cons of all the boys; we decided we hated them all just for being boys, but we love them all for it too. We had a peula on Sderot and another on the development of the Negev, and then it was dinner time. After dinner we had a maamad which inspired more deep thinking, and then some frivolous guitar playing, food eating, snack stashing time that gives Netzer our stereotype. We stayed up late singing and talking together, and then Kitty and I went to prank the boy's room. Unfortunately, the door was too loud and we were caught, so we ran back to our room. We got a visit from Jeff telling us not to try it again, so of course we did. We threw a note into their bathroom window and ran back. Alyson had fallen asleep on top of our key so it took us a while to find it, but then we finally got some sleep.
The next morning we all packed and got on a bus to Yerucham (party city, woo!). We learned about it's controversial beginnings (more deep thinking) and played around a bit. We met other Americans and had falafels and saw the youth center there. We visited a machtesh and then headed home, stopping on the way for a maamad and for even more humuus.
Today, I accompanied Naomi to the hospital for her x ray. First, we debated the weather. In the morning I was convinced it was summer already and insisted upon wearing shorts, until I heard the temperature in Fahrenheit. I gave in and change into jeans and we set off. We were told to go to Ammunition Hill, so we did. Emily was certain of one direction, so we got on the train that way, but I pointed out again that she was wrong so we got off and got on again the other way. When we were almost there, the train was stopped and we had to wait a while. We didn't know why, but we were stuck there for about ten minutes. We finally got to our stop and looked around, but we couldn't find the clinic. We finally just caught a taxi to get there on time. We waited a while for her to see a doctor, waited for her to get an x ray, waited for the x ray to develop, waited for her to get the cast. At the cast 'queue' (I can call it that because I was there with Brits), there was almost a fight about who's turn it was. While waiting, we saw a few people walk in perfectly fine, without a limp or anything, and be rolled out on wheelchairs in leg casts. Curious... Anyway, Naomi got her cast, I got a pretzel, and we went home. When we found the train station, We checked the map: Ammunition Hill is the exact opposite direction from where we went from. On the way back we got gimel beads and I got earrings.
We got home and made ourselves lunch and coffee and changed into even warmer clothes. Dan A told us that a female soldier had been stabbed on the train that morning, which explained when the train had stopped for a while. As of now, the man has not been identified or caught, and there is no other information.
We made beautiful gimel bracelets with the hemp and beads that all seven of us now wear. An HUC student came and taught us about the events that led up to today and the current events that are happening now. Naomi made us all a lovely pasta dinner, Dan A and I fought to the death, and we played Mash.
Pictures
These barely represent even a minuscule amount of the memories I have. No plethora of pictures could do justice to what I will remember from this tiyul.
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| Just climbed a mountain |
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| Delirious with accomplishment |
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| Cooking in the desert wearing a Beduin style head covering and party shades |
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| Josh, Jake, Dan A, Dan R, and me: we made it to the top! |
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| Looking out over the machtesh, I'm fifth from the right |
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| Etgar 2012 at the machtesh |
Merch Ideas
- Gimel spot sweaters
- Tiyul Darom shirts (might actually happen!)
- Yerucham, party city woo! t-shirts
- 'I pooped in the desert' shirts
- 'Party *rock* is in the house tonight' shirt
- Sweatshirt with all the 'remember that time when...'s
- Gimel spot sweatpants
- Gimel bracelets (a reality!)
- Yaldasefah t-shirts
I can't say if this is a good thing or not, but this is only a small amount of the ideas I came up with.
Other
The Parts I Purposely Left Out:
- The Fighter Jets: During the entire duration of the tiyul, we saw fighter jets and helicopters. From day one in the morning until leaving Yerucham, we saw the air force flying over us in a westwardly direction: towards Gaza. We knew there were increased attacks into Israel and we knew Israel would not just let that stand, so we watched the jets fly over us in their solemn groups of threes. Knowing that they were there to protect us was comforting, yes, but knowing that we needed to be protected was worrying. I wonder if we would had been this concerned if we had seen no jets. Being so close to 'all the action' was mind blowing. During a peace maamad, we sang all the songs we have, all the petitions and pleas for peace and freedom, all while standing in a war. The sounds of people praying for Shalom should drown out the sounds of the jets, not the other way around. In fact, people singing Shalom should end the need for the jets. Standing in a circle of my friends, wrapped in a blanket, looking out over the desert at night, looking at the moon, the stars, the clouds, listening to the guitar, hearing my friends and myself pray for peace under the drone of the jets. What does praying for peace even mean if the jets are still flying? Does it mean more or less? Who is in that airplane, why is it going towards Gaza? Is is recon or carrying weapons? Who is in that jet? Whose son, brother, boyfriend is in there? Whose son, brother, boyfriend is he going to attack? Shalom, shalom, tikvateynu.
- The Solo Experience: One night we spent a good forty minutes out in the desert completely alone. Isolated not only from camp, but from each other. We had spent all day every day together for quite a while, never really getting alone time. But now we had the entire desert to ourselves. I sat and watched my friends walk on without me. After Naomi broke her arm, there was silence. I could hear the jets, I could always hear the jets, but I couldn't hear anybody talking, laughing, giggling, coughing. Just my own thoughts. For forty minutes I could think. Think without thinking about it. Without aiming myself towards creating a solution to something. Without directing myself towards anything. I could just think. I found myself drifting quite easily from very superficial topics to very deep topics. From how my hair felt to how I felt about those planes over my head. They came and went and came again. Forty minutes of solid thinking to myself and I had accomplished nothing; it was perfect. As a result, I have decided to give myself some time to think freely without any productivity often.
- How I Feel About the Situation: Oh man, I have a headache already. What do I think about it all? I think too much. Hamas needs to stop, obviously. A terrorist organization that uses fear to control and manipulate others should stop sending rockets into Israel. That one's easy. But if it's not Hamas, and the Jihad is not connected to them at all (which is highly debated right now), then they, as governing power in Gaza, need to reign them in. Whether or not they are the parent organization, Hamas has the responsibility to stop what the Jihad is doing. And how should Israel act? You know the phrase: 2 Jews, 3 opinions. I think that Israel most definitely has the right to defend itself, especially from Hamas, the Jihad, and Iran. But to what extent? Is it okay to kill a civilian as a by-product of killing five top terrorist officials? Is it okay to strike a kindergarden if there's a weapon factory underneath it? Is it okay? Is it moral? Is it Jewish? As of right now, I agree with the actions Israel has taken. Although I am sure I do not know everything there is to know, I think Israel has acted correctly. Tensions are building and no one knows for sure what will happen next; anything from another Cast Lead type operation to an attack on Iran to a massive air strike has been predicted. I don't know. Where will I be in a month? In Jerusalem, or back in California because WW3 has broken out? Would Israel attacking Gaza cause a major war? Would Israel attacking Iran be beneficial? How would the US respond? How should they? When did I start referring to Israel as 'we' and the US as 'they'? Regardless, I believe that Israel has the right to defend itself in any reasonable way.
- Any other topics you'd like me to cogitate on and write about?
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