so this sunday and monday, we had an amazing ISC group trip. it was really fun actually. even though we had to wake up early AM, then drove 50 hours to the negev desert to do this really tough hike in the hot hot heat. menashe was our tour guide and we even had an israeli guest (yakov, AKA coby). after the hike, we drove to this beautiful, quaint little hostile, restaurant thing place on top of a desert mountain. they make their own food there, and we could gaze upon the breathtaking landscape while we sipped our tea and ate a delicious meal. i think dad and joan would love to stay here. there was even a little spread to lie down on after eating. really cool. after this, we drove on to mamshit and the beduin camp/camel ranch. the sun was going down as we arrived, so we put our stuff away, grabbed some mats and just chilled out and napped before dinner. after we woke up, we decided to play a bit, so jade, jen, al, and i tied some bandanas on our ankles and pumped up some three-legged race action. al and i dominated OF COURSE, while jade and jen totally busted ass. go us. after this race, we got a SURPRISE, when out of nowhere, naama, zvi, ofir, tessa, and buffy showed up to eat dinner with us. buffy and tessa didn't come on the trip because they were sick, so it was nice to see them all. we retired for a wonderful beduin meal, complete with beduin tea, which is the best shit EVERRRRRRRRRR. it was kind of interesting, however, because joining us at the beduin camp was an oranim tour group of christians from oklahoma. hits pretty close to home for me, being from texas and having gone to a christian university. but it was just really strange that i haven't encountered a southern christian since i've been home. hmmmmm.
after dinner, we produced a bonfire an zvi presented a mission statement which he'd written for ISC. we all signed it, and sat around the bonfire playing songs on the guitar that ofir brought with him. then, we escaped to the 'love tree', which is a weeping willow that is a sort of fort-like thing, hiding all inside from view. we all told stories about how we've broken the law. i had a couple. al had a couple. let's just say, we all had a couple. it was pretty funny. eventually, we all retreated back to the bonfire and hung out until one by one, we returned to the tent to sleep. al and i stayed up for a long time, whispering and laughing about stuff. i laugh like an 80 year old man, i discovered. actually, we also discussed what life will be like when we are no longer living together. it's a strange thought. i can't even imagine not being around her 24-7 anymore. she said the same. we'll just have to figure something out. whoa. we finally passed out.
the next morning, we woke up to a bombass breakfast. even interacted with the christian group a bit. one of them asked if we spoke arabic, thinking that israelis all spoke arabic. i think we were all just dumbfounded. after breakfast, we rode camels. al and i rode one together, as we didn't get to on our first trip here. we named ours pat the ice cream man. it was the best ever. we rode a camel up a hill. yeah, that's right. and my ass is still sore. cest la vie.
we left the beduin camp and drove to yet another hike, but this one was mostly downwards using metal handles and ropes and cool stuff. i really liked this hike a lot. we then drove to the dead sea for a float. i talked to my mom on the way and got to tell her what she can bring with her that would make my life. mostly food things, like mac and cheese and tortillas and face scrub. well, we don't usually eat the face scrub, but times get hard, you know? we floated in the dead sea, which was lovely of course. i ran in place. it was sweet. this was actually a different beach than i'd visited both time i'd been to the dead sea. after we'd dried off a bit, we left for ein gedi, a nature reserve with animals and waterfalls. we hiked for a minute to one of the waterfalls and fresh water pools. it was fucking freezing, but i manueuvered a brillz cannonball. there's a video somewhere. swam there for a bit, then hiked to another waterfall before driving back to ramla. ein gedi was probably my favorite part of the trip. the fresh water swimming was a dream. i really loved that. beautiful place and the ibex (goat kinda things) were everywhere.
i was dead tired and really needed to go to the bathroom urgently, but once we got home, we had a meeting with naama before anything else. that was kind of annoying after having such a long trip, but naama is a doll. it was just kind of unexpected and not really about the most pleasant subject matter, especially after such a relaxing couple of days. after the meeting, al and i retired to our room and hung out until we passed out super early to wake up refreshed for ulpan this morning.
this morning, (or haboker in ivrit) we went to ulpan, which i very much enjoyed. we like totally learned the past tense of verbs and stuff. i also ran into the woman whose class i'll be teaching photography tomorrow, so we made a plan to meet up early to go over the lesson. after ulpan, al and i were driven to the yesh market by our ulpan teacher michal to shop for lunch foodies. it was fun. i also met a really nice woman named sharon that is israeli and just moved back from arizona because of the shitty american economy. i asked her if we could interview her for our documentary. she agreed, so i got her contact info. we came home and made yummy sammiches before walking to the TV station. on the way, we saw one of the israeli volunteers from kadima. the one that helps me translate to my photo students. she told me that they miss me. and i'm really sad because i have only had one lesson with them. every other week we have a trip or a holiday or something so i haven't been able to go. and i look like a total asshole. lame. but once at the TV station, we finished our movie and showed it to keren, our director and she gave us a project. the best project EVER. really exciting, she actually appointed us to make a movie for the TV program about ISC. so we storyboarded the whole thing and planned all the scenes that we will shoot together to compile into a 3 minute clip that will be aired on ramla TV. i'm gon be on TEEVEE mama! keren will give us a camera in the next couple of days to start filming. i think we'll do a really good job, since we already have ideas. i CAN'T WAIT. it'll be something really cool to put on my resume in addition to the psychology experiment that i designed and had published, but i can't fucking remember where it is. oh well. at least you know about it.
after TV, keren drove al and i to the indian restaurant (maharajah). FINALLY. it was really good. we met some guys with a sick ass huge video camera, but they were rude so we didn't get much out of them as far as what they were DOING with the camera. we drank some yummy tea and had a lovely walk home. even saw some cute guys (unheard of in ramla), one ethiopian with a sick afro and some indian guy that was watering a lawn. he totally sprayed us with his hose. water hose, people. get your minds out of the gutter. sheesh. we finally made it home and are just chilling out until bedtime. tomorrow al and i have sharet and then i actually have a photography lesson with five 7th graders at this other school, so i have to get books from the library again. super sweet. got really sweet pictures all weekend by the way. edit soon. i know, i know. you don't believe me. well, nighty night.
love,
sally
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