Big Hike #1

We started at the top of a small mountain/butte/cliff thingy. The view from up there was great. It overlooked the Sea Of Galilee, as well as the surrounding farmland and several small towns. One of the towns in the distance to our left, we were told, was a small Arab village. Then we were told we were going to hike there. So, we started out, hiking along the ridge. The whole ridge was very scenic, with great visibility, cool plants, etc. Everyone was having a great time, taking lots of pictures, etc...

Then our Ya'ara just started down the cliff, and we were supposed to follow her. We were climbing down the cliff in a big incropping (opposite of outcropping) valley thing. It was quite steep at times, requiring actual climbing, and finding hand and foot holds. At times, there were grip wires driven into the rock to assist everyone, but it wasn't all that easy. And some people were terrified and ridiculously slow, so I was left waiting a lot while hanging on. It was a lot of fun, for me. For one kid who was afraid of heights, it was terrible, and he kept crying and our guards basically had to force him down the mountain.

Once we climbed down the cliff, it was a very long and comparatively flat descent down and out to the town. On the way, I mostly walked alone, away from everyone else, and took my time taking pictures and observing. I saw some little miniature antelope looking things, as well as a bunch of birds and one snake. It was very scenic, with the sun starting to go behind the mountains. The area, with its formations, as well as its plants, looked a lot like the Grand Canyon or Big Bend National Parks. I got some beautiful shots of the sun behind the mountains.

The morning before Big Hike 2, we had some group discussion stuff, which turned out to be crazy. First, Ya'ara made this weird show of Kendra's hot body, having Kendra model and act like she was a map of Israel. Then Ya'ara placed little sticky tab things on the parts of Kendra's body to represent landmarks like the Dead Sea, the Red Sea, Eilat, Jerusalem, etc. It was weird.

The whole time we were having this discussion and the next one, we were facing a fenced in area about the size of a football field that was maybe ten yards away from us. On the fence were posted signs saying "Caution - Mine Field." This shows the still militarized nature of the Golan, which has long been a big area of fighting. The funniest part about that was that our leaders kept warning us again and again not to throw rocks or anything into the mine field. And then some group of Israeli middle schoolers came up and all started throwing rocks into the mine field. Ridiculous.

Then we split up into two groups, one with Gary, our leader, and one with Amy, the leader from UCF. I was with Amy's group. This turned out very bizarrely.

There was this one girl on the trip, Gabrielle (on the right), who was from New York City but went with UCF because the NY trip was full or something. She was about a year or two older than any of the others on the trip (ages on our bus ranged from 18-24), and she was completely weird and awkward. She also was the girl who always kept a padlock on all of her bags (including the one she was carrying all the time).

So, the discussion turns to how some people have felt offended and discriminated against when people stereotype Jews, or refer to being cheated as being Jewed, etc. So then they asked the group if anyone else had felt that about something other than being a Jew. So, I said, "Well, actually, I was very offended on the bus. Gabi keeps saying things she doesn't like are 'gay,' and I think that's ignorant and damaging." I had brought it up with Gabi at the time, but she was dismissive, and kept doing it, and I'm very confrontational, so...

Then Gabi completely freaked out and got really mad. She kept arguing with me about how it wasn't bad to say that, etc, and she kept getting more and more frustrated. Finally, she blurts out, obviously not wanting to let this out, "Well, what if I told you that I identified as a lesbian for three years? Would you still feel the same way about it?" Cue the entire group gasping and feeling very embarassed for he. It was completely ridiculous. I replied something like, "Of course I'd still feel the same way. You being a part of a group doesn't give you the right to demean them and perpetuate negative terminology." This just made her even angrier. Finally she turned straight to me and said something like, if you have a problem with me you better bring it to my face instead of in a group.

This whole saga also got a lot more hilarious when, at the next group meaning, she kept going on about how it's tough for her on the trip because she's so much more mature than everyone else. And then she said she doesn't like the group meetings because they force people to reveal things about themselves that they don't want anyone to know because some people are too immature and force it.

Oh, and Gabi was kinda the sidekick (at least for the first half of the trip) to a girl named Alyssa [last name redacted] (make sure you look at this picture of she and I dancing later in the trip, cause it's hilarious). Alyssa inexplicably went by the name "A-Town." A-Town was an insane racist hoochie rapping kook, who was nevertheless a lot of fun and pretty cool. She was such a character. She was so strange, and often wore a full matching jumpsuit (say, for instance, pink and black), and then would wear matching shoes (pink and black), and matching Armstrong-style message bracelets (pink and black). She wore all designer clothes, but went to Valencia Community College. So cool and weird, despite accidentally saying things that were horribly racist. She kept trying to freestyle rap, and she'd try so hard, and be so bad, but yet be completely unashamed. She was so much fun, but she said things like:

"It's so dark in here. Do you think, if a black person was here, and you took a picture of him, would he even show up? ...Would it even help if you used a flash?" - Alyssa "A-Town" [last name redacted], racist floozy, said while on a tour bus at night.

Ah, ridiculousness.

Big Hike 2:

So then we went on the second big hike, which wasn't as long or strenuous. And this one had a huge waterfall and little lake/pool at the bottom. We hiked down to the bottom, again with great views, and then walked through a little jungle type thing at the bottom that the river runs through. Finally we came out in front of the waterfall.

I and several others swam in the little lagoon thing to the waterfall, and then stood on the rocks behind and under the waterfall. The waterfall succeeded in driving water farther into my ears than it's been in a very long time, which sucked. It didn't come out till the next day. But it was amazing, and beautiful. It was easily the biggest waterfall I've seen. Next would be Laurel Falls in the Smoky Mountains (the Smokies, by the way, are my favorite place in the world).

Israel McDonald's

I had my first experience going to McDonald's in Israel. Here are my thoughts:

Food: exactly the same
Prices: much more expensive... around $7 for 6 nuggets, fries, and coke
Sizes: smaller. as if all the sizes were bumped down by at least one. Medium was Small, Large was Medium, etc. Funny seeing the menu in Hebrew.

We also went to the Israeli equivalent of Burger King, called Burger Ranch. They had a really weird poster, and some soldiers eating there, so I took a couple pictures.