So yesterday we went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Mueseum in Jerusalem. It was a heavy but enriching experience. Although we already knew a good amount about the Holocaust, the mueseum really impacted us in a way that could not be achieved in a classroom back at home. We learned alot not only about stories of survivors from the museum, but also family experiences from others in our group. Following the museum, we headed to the Bedouin village which was an amazing and unique experience. We arrived and were immediately put on camels, which some thought were adorable, and others thought were the ugliest things. Riding on the first camel was I (Stephanie) and Leehey, and behind were Arnold (also writing this) and Daniel Hoffman. I kept wanting to pet Arnold and Daniel's camel, which they named Ace, because it was the cutest thing but consequently the camel kept brushing against Leehey's legs, since she was on the back hump. This greatly disturbed Leehey, frequently shreaking to show her discomfort. After the hot ride in through desert, we listened to a Bedouin talk about the culture, and were also able to experience the culture through native tea and coffee which were served to us, and he taught to us their meaning. Everyone seemed very interested and intrigued by the contrast in the Bedouin culture to our own. For dinner, we all sat on decorative mats in groups of four, around a steel stand where a platter of food was served. We indulged on traditional Bedouin food which included rice, chicken and lamb (soy meatballs for us vegetarians), and pita bread. Then after that, we pretty much lounged around and bonded with our group through various games and talking. We were supposed to be in "bed", several mats layed out in a tent which the whole group shared, by 10:30 because of our 3:30 wake up time, but of course the majority of us stayed up and stared at the constellations in the desert with its low light pollution; it was beautiful. Most went to bed at some point, but a rebellious group of boys (Arnold included) decided to pull an all-nighter. We woke up bright and early (not so bright), and hiked Masada to see the sunrise. After the sunrise, Don, our tour guide, taught us a PLETHORA of history.....Anyways, when it was time to hike back down the mountain, it was scorching hot, but Arnold still decided to run down the whole thing, not an easy thing by any means to do. We spent 6 hours total hiking and learning about the mountain. While others decided to take their sweet time, Arnold still continued to chug along. when people finially finished the hike down, they were greeted by our very cool bus driver, who gave us a coupon. It was cool... :]
Lastly we went to the Dead Sea and ate lunch. As we aproached the sea and finially entered the water, our pain surged through our bodies due to the cuts on our feet and irritated skin thanks to the hikes. As we got acclimated to the water we swam about 50 feet across the shore and splattered our sexy beach bods with miracle mud (Dead Sea Mud).
After the Dead Sea we went to the waterfalls that neighbored the sea by a 5 minute drive. As a scorching heat of 109F, the cool water of the waterfalls quickly broought us great pleasure and truly topped off the day.
-Stephanie and Arnold
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