Hello from the holyland!
I have been having a little bit of an up and down week.....
Since the last time I posted I went to the dentist (last Tuesday) and got a good bill of health...she said my gums/tooth cleared up and the medicine did its job. I still worry about my tooth a little bit here and there but hopefully it doesnt give me anymore problems until I return to NYC. The rest of that day I relaxed ran errands...went to the gym lived my daily life.
Wednesday was more of the same...went to work...ran errands and then came home and packed for Eilat/Ketura. Thursday morning I woke up early to prepare to leave for Kibbutz Ketura (which is a half hour north of Eilat) in the Negev. A coach bus picked us up and the Tel Aviv Wujies and Jerusalem Wujies were off on our first overnight together. The bus ride wasn't too bad and before we knew it we were in the middle of the desert!
When we got there we had time to find our rooms and then get ready for our first activity...I picked the hike. I was super excited to hike through the desert so I changed into shorts, a tank top and sneakers and packed a bottle of water for this adventure. The hike was amazing...we climbed cliffs that literally if I looked to my side the ground next to me was wayyy far down...wouldnt have been a fun drop..lol! What was supposed to be a 1.5 hour hike turned into a 3 hour hike and needless to say I was starving!! We finally made it back to the Kibbutz and prepared for our BBQ dinner which was amazing after that long hike. We then had a talk from the events coordinator of the Kibbutz about kibbutz life etc.
We made sure to get to bed early that day because we had to wake up at 4:30am to leave for our hike at 5:30am the next morning. We went to hike really early because by the time we finished at 10am it was already scorching!!! I was not used to that type of dry heat...def not fun! This time we hiked through the Red Canyon. It was amazing! It reminded me of the hike I did on Birthright in Mitzpe Ramon...amazing natural scenery!! After the hike we went back onto the bus so that they could take us to Eilat! I was super excited to go to Eilat since I have never been there before but unfortunately it wasn't all I think people make it to be! I had fun lounging and getting my tan on but def glad we didnt spend more time than a bunch of hours there. We then went back to the Kibbutz to prepare for Shabbat. When we got back we went to the pool...they have such an amazing pool and it felt amazing to jump in after being the heat the whole day. That night we had shabbat dinner (which was ok) and then a moonlight walk through the kibbutz.
On Shabbat we didnt have an early wake up call..we could sleep in and the first activity we had was at 11am....then lunch and then free time which we spent at the pool. I literally was in and out of the pool for a bunch of hours. The minute you got out of the pool to dry off...10 minutes later you needed to cool down..lol! The rest of the day and evening consisted of eating dinner and then packing up and getting ready to leave that night. The bus ride back was really annoying....no one would be quiet from Jerusalem and everyone from Tel Aviv had work the next day and wanted to get some rest...finally fell in and out of sleep...but my butt killed from sitting on the bus for 4 hours!!! (All in all the overnight was amazing! The Kibbutz was great and super nice compared to other kibbutizm I've stayed in and I think it really helped all of Tel Aviv to bond with one another.)
We got back to the apartment I unpacked and went right to bed. I woke up an hour later than normal the next morning and made my way into work Sunday morning only about a half hour later than normal. It was a pretty busy day at work but it was good...I wanted to be busy! That evening I had the last of my training sessions at the gym and took another great kickboxing class.
Monday was also really busy. I got into the office we went to visit an old project and then went to the current construction site and sat in the construction meeting and looked at my boss's family's apartments. Then while I was in the construction meeting I got asked to help one of the project managers with something on AutoCAD. It felt good to be back on the program...its been soo long! The rest of the day was pretty quiet...then went home...went to the gym and skyped with my parents and then one of my good friends from back home!!! It felt soo good to talk to her...it had been soo long and def made me miss her and nyc!! I also almost cried when I saw my parents on skype...for some reason I have been super emotional these past few days and just seeing them "in person" made me miss them even more than usual! Then I went to bed super early...I was exhausted...I slept so sound that even when my roommate came in to go to sleep she didnt wake me...and I'm a super light sleeper.
Tuesday began with our typical group meeting at 8:15am and then at 10am we started our bike tour to the Olympic Museum. We met at the TLV Port (where I got an amazing pastrami sandwich..mmm) and then started off on our bicycles. We rode through the Yarkon Park (Tel Aviv's Central Park) and made our way to the Olympic Museum. The museum was amazing...the design was very futuristic...my kind of design...and the museum was great in general...I love the olympics so it was nice to see a museum just for that. One part of the exhibit explained to us who has competed and won for Israel. One of the competitors only won bronze but during his story he mentioned how he was overwhelmed by the amount of Israelis who came to cheer him on that after the medal ceremony they all started to sing the Hatikvah (Israeli National Anthem) at that moment I had a tear in my eye. I have noticed that everytime I hear the Hatikvah I have such a sense of pride for being Jewish and for Israel...I def dont feel that as an American when I hear our national anthem but now I feel that for the Hatikvah and I truly treasure that feeling!!!
Another exhibit was about the Munich Olympics when 11 Israeli athletes were killed in a terrorist attack. The museum has the original torch from that Olympics...the only original torch that they own!
After we finished our tour through the museum we rode our bikes back to the TLV Port. Instead of stopping at the port we wound up riding all the way to the Tel Baruch beach which is the northern most beach of Tel Aviv. It was amazing...to be riding by the beach on this Tuesday afternoon. It really helped to put things into perspective...I felt truly blessed to be here in Israel...having this amazing adventure!!! I decided to not go to kickboxing that night and instead we had a celebration on the beach for one of our fellow Wujie's birthdays. We got to the beach right before sunset and had a wine and cheese party in the middle of the TLV beach...life can't get much better than that!
However when I got home I kind of got a little depressed...I was feeling really down and a little homesick..I spoke with my mom about life...boys...adventures etc and was just upset...she helped me talk through it but this morning I finally realized that life is too short and I am here for my own adventure no one else's and I have to start getting back to what I was doing and how I was feeling prior to last week! I want to be excited to be here and not upset about trivial things! So from this moment on I am back to putting me first and being in Israel for me!!!
This morning I went online and had an email from my high school reunion committee with our 10 year reunion yearbook. It was crazy to see where everyone is currently in their lives...10 years after high school. It was soo crazy to see that some of my old classmates have 3 kids or are super religious..living in Israel and some are just married and others are just like me. I was a little annoyed because they didnt use the picture that I gave them but se la vie! (hope I spelt that right...lol)
I'm super excited to go to Petra this weekend and Greece next week...so that is what I am focusing on! Then once I get back I'm spending Shabbat by one of my cousins who I haven't seen in 20 years (I was a flower girl at her wedding :) ) and then is my birthday and then my family comes to visit!!! Ahh I can't wait to see you guys!!! I miss you more than words can say!!!
Although it was a little bit of a rough week I am that much stronger for it and I'm realizing more and more how much my gut really tells me and how I have to really listen to it more often and not to what other people say! I am a good judge of character and I should never doubt that! I'm slowly getting back to my old-new self and am happy for all good and bad experiences here because it is helping me grow each and every day!
Can't wait to tell you all about Petra in my next post!
Love u and miss you all!!!
<3 D
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