The South!

We went to the South, the deep south! And in Israel it really is the deep south. Evene in Jerusalem it's the desert and once you leave the perimeter of the city, you enter the desert desert desert. We did lots of stuff, we went places and stuff but it's boring but we were activitied out from day one. We went to Sderot and talked a lot about the bombings and I know I should talk all about that but I won't because it gets all political and touchy and I just don't do that.

We went to Dimona at night which I thought would be the biggest dump in the world but it looks like it got a facelift since... it was a dump. Anyway we went to see the Black Hebrews who explained to us that their leader had a vision that the community of christians in Chicago needed to live in Israel. They were telling their story and I was very skeptical listening to their story that just seemed like the mormon story except that the Black Hebrews had to live in Liberia for a year before they were dumped in Dimona, it's definitely not a romantic story but you can google it. Anyway after some eye rolling they explained that they focus on music and dance so they sang for us and taught us to dance and it was amazing. AMAZING. Nothing like changing your opinion. But they do love the word ya! like Halleluya! as in god, as in We praise you ya! Don't get me started.

We also ventured to a REAL BEDOUIN TENT, AHHHH! But i do love the bedouin tents except that I was peer pressured to ride a camel and do a "spiritual sit" in the desert where I had to "think about my feelings and reach deep within" and as nice as sitting and thinking is i am really not into all of that uhh- feelings stuff, I'm just not.

But anyway we had lots of pita and hummus and kabobs and sang around the campfire and we all really bonded, even some of the weird music kids (We travel with group of international kids who learn music at a conservatory in Tel Aviv but only a few are normal).

Then we did nice activities, we filled sand bottles with colored sand, and went to an overlook where you can see Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and went snorkeling; it was well planned. All the touring and activities and discussions felt a lot like being in summer camp but hey if someone else is organizing a guided tour at the coral reef, Ill go along.

Finally, Kibbutz part 2. THE KIBBUTZ

So after I rallied everyone up for THE KIBBUTZ the tour guide said, "I really don't like Ketura, they're don't guests very well, they're pretty snobby," and so I said "watch it." But in reality when we got to dinner he asked the Keren Kolot people to bring more chicken and broccoli and dessert, so I guess as a hotel, yes the Kibbutz isn't that great.

But, here's the thing. HERE'S THE THING. The kibbutz kids were all away on a retreat to the Kinneret so it was just me and my group. No family, no friends, just Noa and Kibbutz. and it was NICE. The kibbutz, i mean. Without the distractions about worrying about how it would be socially and stressing out about not being there for so long, I really loved it- the freedom and independence, the community, the old house, the dinning room, the pool. It really made me appreciate that I had grown up there, and it put it back into a soft spot in my heart. Oy, that was too feelings-y.