Thursday, 30 January 2014

Overnight in the desert

The camel that I rode on!
Yesterday Morning we went to Tel Gezer which is about roughly 45 minutes away from Jerusalem. We hiked up the mountain while stopping periodically to sit in a circle and take notes about interesting points about the place. The outings that we go on are actually part of a course called ICC in which we get tested on the content and get a credit for. We then got back on the bus to go to beerotayim which was 2 hours away from Tel Gezer. We then went to a Beduin village called Beetotayim where we rode camels and we slept in beutiful Bedouin tents. We had a campfire at the end of the night, and everyone was singing and dancing, it was amazing. This morning we went on camels to make our way to the middle of nowhere in the desert. This serves its purpose because it was a time to reflect and make a connection to G-D. After we reflected privately we joined together and made lunch (in the middle of no where) with the beduins. We actually made cheese and pita, tea and salad all in the outdoors. I am just on the bus now on our way back to the Chava. When we get back we will be getting ready for our first free night where we will be going to the Jerusalem mall!

Monday, 27 January 2014

First day


After an eventful luggage experience at the airport I have finally arrived in Jerusalem. We all got on the bus with our luggages and headed from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. On our way we stopped to see a beautiful view of Jerusalem. From where we were standing we saw the dome of the rock, the Kotel and other historic landmarks. Our madrichim (counsellors) gave us instructions to close our eyes and listen to all the sounds in Jerusalem. Then, we turned around facing the Kotel and opened our eyes. It was an unbelievable view of all of Jerusalem!  A few minutes later we sang Yerushalayim Shel Zahev all together. This experience was a great start to a semester in Jerusalem!

Below you'll see a picture of a sunset that I took from the bus. The pictures of the scenic view of Jerusalem I took with my camera and will upload soon.