A quick note while in Jerusalem

Hello! (That's me in a cheese-pose in the Baha'i Gardens above Haifa.)

Today might have been the most packed-full day we have experienced yet here. Last night, after riding camels, hearing the Bedouin lecture, and eating tasty Bedouin food and drinking delicious Bedouin sweet tea and fresh-roasted coffee, I hung around the camp and met a group of Indian Jews. Jews from India! Apparently there are about 8000 of them, but most have already made aaliyah (emigrated) to Israel. Anyhow, I got some nice pictures of the camels at night (not to mention other great pictures) and got about two hours of sleep, because we all got up at about 4:15am to go climb Masada and see the sun rise over Jordan and the Dead Sea. All that in only a twelve hour period!

I do wish that I had the ability to update more easily and frequently, but I will catch up with what I can. I am glad to report that presently my computer is working, so maybe I'll be ok in Russia after all.

Anyhow, after learning the story of Masada and exploring the site, we traveled toward the Dead Sea, but not before having breakfast and stopping at a gift shop of sorts (where they make the Ahava cosmetics). The Dead Sea was definitely one of my favorite parts of the trip, but pretty much everything has been so amazing, really. So for one thing, it's impossible to sink! And it's incredibly good for the skin, especially with the soft clay mineral mud. And of course, lots of Russian tourists there. If you look across the Sea (it's called the Salty Sea in Hebrew), you are looking at Jordan! It was a lot of fun, and I've been learning a TON about political situations too.

The Israelis are awesome. I've made good friends with one of them, an officer named Dean who is my age. At this point, I will most definitely use my finally-working internet connection to look at the possibility of extending my trip further to reopen the possibility of visiting Bulgaria and also planning to visit Dean in his hometown of Eilat, squeezed between Egypt and Jordan on the Red Sea.

There's so much more to say, I've barely scratched the surface of only a few hours, but I have to head out with the group now--we're going to explore the catacombs underneath the Kotel (the Western Wall), and I can't be late!


The picture on the right is me about four days ago at Kibbutz Afik in the Golan Heights region, watching the sun set over the Sea of Galilee. The minefield is a topic for the next post. Off to the Old City!