Ok so i am pretty sure i left off before we left for Eilat (pronounced eh-lat). We left Thursday after having class in the morning and eating lunch. We were told it was going to be a 4 hour journey on our tour bus, but instead took a scenic route and arrived 6 hours later. It was a long bus ride, I thought some of us were going to lose it. At one point in the journey we stopped at a coffee shop and got a drink called glasspresso. A combination of the words Glida (ice cream) and espresso. It was really good, I finished mine and proceeded to sample from everyone else's as well. We arrived at like 7 pm at night and walked into to town for schwarma. It was good, but the outside temperature was much colder than everyone had expected. I got a little nervous because I was afraid it was going to maintain this temperature, but fortunately it did not. That night we realized just how small the rooms at the hostel were. 8 girls were placed in one room with only one bathroom, I saw that disaster coming.
The next morning we were up early for a "hike" and some volunteer work. We went to a national park in the desert called Timna park. The bus pulled up to a replica Tabernacle and we were given a quick debrief and sent to work on the Tabernacle. Some people were re-doing the back of the outer fence, some were washing the temple, some were wiring some poles to their original positions. I was using wire on a gutter like thing that hid the wires that gave the holy of holies air conditioning. So basically the entire time we are here, I am laughing to myself. I mean, air conditioning in the holy of holies (a tent)? While we were being debriefed a dog wandered up and sat at the feet of the manequin high priest, I thought it was funny. Not only that but when I finished my job, I went to help clean the tabernacle, they had "We are Never Getting Back Together" by taylor Swift playing, but not just playing, they had the phone sitting on the altar of incense in the blood bowl to amplify the sound, so funny! I just couldn't get over all the funnies. What once was a very holy thing, is now a wood replica which holds only the symbolism of today's temple (our bodies).
After we finished desecrating the Tabernacle we got a cheap lunch at the restaurant there. Then we headed out for a "hike." Why do I keep putting hike in parentheses? Because Sigler doesn't know what a hike is. He thinks that short walks down sidewalks are hikes, so we never know what to expect when he says "hike" to us. This theory rang true when our hike consisted of driving up to Solomon's pillars (just a rock formation) climbing up to the top and going back to the bus. I was bored and offerred to race people back to the bus, hoping to get some actual exercise in. Once we were back on the bus, we headed back to the shelter to change into swimsuits for snorkeling. we spent a couple of hours on the shore of the Red Sea snorkeling. I had never snorkeled before besides in our pool for pennies, and was sooo excited about this. It was super fun, even though the water was kind of cold. And we even saw the poisonous fish that we were told to avoid, the Lion Fish. That night we went back to the shelter for a little service and some quick fellowship (which in the south means we ate together :) Afterwards, a bunch of us escaped to the park and sat and talked for a while.
The next morning we went to church in a little Jewish church, and sang in Spanish, hebrew, and russian. It was pretty fun, but I was so tired I was struggling to enjoy it to the utmost. Afterwards we went and bought some meat, whcih everyone was excited about since the Hostel/Shelter is Kosher. After that we went to the beach for an over the fire lunch. It was super yummy, and we got to snorkel again until 5 that afternoon. This day, the water was freezing and when I got out I had the shivers for at least another hour. after that we went back to the hostel to get ready for the Purim party. Purim is a Jewish holiday that celebrates when Esther saved the Jews from annihilation. For some reason they dress up like halloween (I didn't catch why they do that, sorry). We threw some last minute costumes together and headed to the party. The church had a group put on a skit, and two of our guys put on a skit, it was pretty funny. Afterwards, me and my friends once again slipped away to walk around Eilat and enjoy our small amount of freedom.
The next morning we went to the Red Canyon for a "hike" but this time it was a hike. We walked out on top of the rocks and came back through or underneath the rocks, it was fun because we got to climb and goof off and burn some energy. After that we went straight to the beach for just one more trip out snorkeling. This time we saw bigger fish, it was pretty fun, but I got out early because I had volunteered to help with lunch, and wouldn't have time to shower or dry off. It was so nice to spend some time in the sun, even if it was only a little bit of time. Afterwards we went to the hostel to pack up and have lunch. This time when we headed out we told four hours, we knew to expect more. This time we stopped at the Best Ice cream place in israel. I got chocolate and cherry, and it was so yummy :) We finally got back after 5 hours of traveling adn were actually happy to be back in a familiar and bigger place. Afterwards we all got to looking at how much homework we have and I personally freaked out a little. While everyone else skyped their parents, i was trying to do as much homework as possible before it got too late. Needless to say I am beginning to doubt the worth of that trip after getting up at 8am monday morning for 10 hours of class. It is hard to pay attention and get something out of class when I have so much to do and I am so tired. But we must go on, and so we do.
This week I am asking for prayer, I have the jerusalem 10k on Friday and we haven't been able to run as often because of how busy we have been. Pray for patience for everyone and stamina for those of us running. Love you guys, hopefully more info later this week. I believer we are leaving Sunday for our 10 day spring break trip/tour. Unless the bus has it we might have to go without good internet for a while. hasta luego!
No comments:
Post a Comment