WORST SHABBAT EVER...
For Shabbat, Wendy and I were being hosted at a friend of one of the Madricha's house. It was in a city/town called Elkana (east of Tel-Aviv). What should have taken one hour, took 3. We had to take 2 different buses. The first took an hour. We waited another hour for the second bus. The third bus came, we told the driver where we wanted to get off, but apparently he didn't understand us because he completely passed our stop and kept going. Then at the last stop (in Ariel), he told us to get off the bus because it was the last stop. So Wendy calls the host family informing them that we are stuck and we don't know where we are. Our madricha's friend said she'd meet us 15 minutes later. It was a good 30-45 minutes before anyone came to get us. Once we were in the car, she informed us she was speeding not because it's Israel (and that's what they do there) but because it was Shabbat. We made it before Shabbat with about 2 minutes to spare. It was a very awkward situation for us because the family barely spoke any English and they barely spoke to us at all. When they did it was very impersonal. Except for the one time (which was a very funny event)
-They have 4 children: 3 boys and 1 girl. The 2 oldest boys are married. Oldest has 2 kids, second oldest has none. The 3rd child (the youngest boy) is unmarried and 22. So he says he wants the 2 girls next to him. They notice Wendy's necklace (which is half a heart; her best friend has the other half). They ask our age (18) and if we have a boyfriend. We both feel awkward so we say yes and mention 2 different guys on our program as our significant other. That was the highlight of our night.
Because the family had made plans for lunch and informed our madricha of these plans, so she arranged for us to go to a different family's house for lunch. That was strange because not only because we were in a place nowhere near where we were used to, but we didn't know this family or the family where we were having lunch that day. It was slightly less awkward for us because they knew a little bit more English than our host family. We had to walk back to our host's house. We walked too far at first, but we got back. We took a nice long Shabbas nap until 6:10 (when Shabbat officially ended.) We knew we needed to head back to Jerusalem because we had to pack for the Tiyul aka Desert Survival. They hadn't done Havdallah yet, so it was holding us back even more. After Havdallah, the daughter drove us to a bus stop to get on a bus which would go straight to Jerusalem. Right as she pulled up, so did the bus. Our trip back to Jerusalem was an
hour. A big improvement as opposed to the way there.
BUT I SURVIVED THE DESERT
Early Sunday morning (about 6:00 am), all 93 of us Nativers were getting onto the buses to take us to where our desert survival was to begin. Originally, the plan was for two of the 3 groups to hike one way and the other to hike the opposite way. This, as it turned out, was not what had actually happened. We came to find out that our staff had to change the plans that morning. The Be'er Sheva and the Kibbutz tracks began at Ein Gedi (a beautiful nature preserve). We then got on the buses to a nature preserve for: what was supposed to be a hike turned into a 10 minute walk..with all 3 tracks in the same place. Yerucham and half of Be'er Sheva got on the jeeps to Ein Ekev (another gorgeous nature preserve). Our director, Yossi, told Yerucham to eat and the first half of Be'er Sheva to follow him. He led us on a path straight to...a natural spring/pool. None of us knew to bring our swim suits, so a few of us jumped in the water. It was quite refreshing. Oliver and Elana saved a kid from drowning in the water (go them). After we got out and dried ourselves out in the sun a bit, we went to the small little rock area where Yerucham had been eating and we were about to eat. Our half of the group began setting up lunch and waited for the other half to arrive (they had the rest of the food). We ate and the first half of Be'er Sheva got on the jeeps and headed towards the buses. We waited for everyone else (which meant we got a nice nap while it was quiet). When everyone was on their appropriate bus, we rode to the campsite. It was getting dark, and we were told to quickly set up our tents. We had a hot soup, davened Ma'ariv. Then ate dinner. After dinner, each track went on a night hike in the desert. [I will add in that I now know the true meaning of surviving in the desert. Go find a cliff, use the restroom, and burn the toilet paper (there is a story to this understanding)]. Once all the groups were back, we had a bonfire and then went to bed, knowing it would be an early morning (4 a.m.) By 4:30, we were up and dressed and beginning Shacharit. We got to witness the sunrise and it was breathtaking. After breakfast, Yossi gave each group a task. My group was literally given the shit job. We had to go to the cliff areas that people were using as a restroom and pick up the toilet paper that people had not burned. After we finished cleaning up the campsite, we began our hike. It was a good 1.5-2 hours. I felt more accomplished today than I had the day before. We hiked up a mountain (which was not a fun experience due to my fear of heights.) This resulted in a slight panic attack. Once on the mountain, it was a beautiful view (which I saw by sitting down in the middle and looking out) our guide had a surprise for us...Bubbles! Then came the hard part, getting down from the mountain (actually it was Machtesh Ramon...a crater but not really) Ariel was holding my hand as I was tearing up from fear. She and Allie were distracting me from thinking about the fear (which worked). We got on the buses and went somewhere for brunch. Each group sat in a circle. Our guide had a piece of candy. With the candy, we had 2 things to say. The candy part [the great part of the Tiyul] and the wrapper [the bad part of the Tiyul]. After brunch, we went to the mall for lunch. Once we got back to base, it was a race to the showers.
Now we are all clean and happy.
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