After my first full week of volunteering, it was time for another vacation. Sorry for such a long delay between post but I spent the week after the last post recovering from an exhausting trip traveling up north. I needed to spend the next week relaxing in Nes Zionna. Everybody from the Oranim program (about 150 people) went to Eilat for a 3 day vacation last Friday. The bus picked us up at 6:45 Friday morning so I was planning on going to bed early so I could be ready for the weekend. A few girls that Dan and I had meet invited us to a kibbutz party Thursday night about 20 minutes from our house. I’m starting to learn that some words have different meanings between Israelis and American’s. For example, the word ‘party” at home usually means somebody’s house so when I was invited to a kibbutz party I figured it would be out in a field, maybe bond fire with people drinking. “Party” in Israel means nightclub and that also means that parties here don’t start until 12 AM at the earliest. The nightclub was in the middle of a farm surrounded by nothing. The “Party” was a lot of fun even though I don’t understand techno music dancing. When we left the club at 3:30 in the morning because we had to be up in 2 hours, there were still people coming in and the club was packed.
That night pretty much summed up the entire Eilat experience. After my 2 hours of sleep, and a light nap on the bus it was time for a 4 hour hike before we got to Eilat. The hike was in the Negev in an area called Machtesh Gadol. This is one of five craters in the Negev and when we finally reached the top of the hill if you do a 360 you can actually see the wall of the crater. The hike was very challenging but once we got to the top the views were amazing and well worth it. After lunch and a smelly 2 hour bus ride, we were finally in Eilat. The nickname for Eilat is the “Israeli Cancun” and that’s a pretty accurate description of it. It’s made for tourist, both Israel and abroad with beautiful hotels on the water, packed beaches with DJ’s blasting techno music, scuba/snorkeling/Jet Skies… and nightclubs/bars galore. Needless to say, I had a blast going out at night, meeting other people from the Oranim programs and there was even a booze cruise Saturday night to start the evening off right. Having to be ready to leave the hotel at 7 AM Sunday morning did not seem like the best idea after another night of very little sleep and the 8 AM hike seemed like an even worse idea. Luckily for me I sweated all the alcohol out of my body by 8:15 from the desert sun since it was another tough hike. This hike just like the first hike was amazing and from the top of the mountain you could see Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. After that we stopped at Ben Gurion's grave for a history lesson and more views of the Negev. We made it home about 15 minutes before the Ravens/Bronco’s game so I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend.
The approximately 10 hours of sleep over 3 nights took a toll on me and caused my eyes to be very bloodshot and hurt so I took the last couple days to rest. I’m feeling all better now and am planning on going to Jerusalem tomorrow night. While Jerusalem has so many historic and Jewish things to do, it also has a great nightlife and restaurants. After the holidays, I’m taking a break from all the Jewish stuff and am just going to enjoy the night out tomorrow. I put some pics up on facebook from Eilat if you want to see more. Here’s a picture of me hiking up the Machtesh Gadol and of some Israelis we were hanging out with Friday night.
That night pretty much summed up the entire Eilat experience. After my 2 hours of sleep, and a light nap on the bus it was time for a 4 hour hike before we got to Eilat. The hike was in the Negev in an area called Machtesh Gadol. This is one of five craters in the Negev and when we finally reached the top of the hill if you do a 360 you can actually see the wall of the crater. The hike was very challenging but once we got to the top the views were amazing and well worth it. After lunch and a smelly 2 hour bus ride, we were finally in Eilat. The nickname for Eilat is the “Israeli Cancun” and that’s a pretty accurate description of it. It’s made for tourist, both Israel and abroad with beautiful hotels on the water, packed beaches with DJ’s blasting techno music, scuba/snorkeling/Jet Skies… and nightclubs/bars galore. Needless to say, I had a blast going out at night, meeting other people from the Oranim programs and there was even a booze cruise Saturday night to start the evening off right. Having to be ready to leave the hotel at 7 AM Sunday morning did not seem like the best idea after another night of very little sleep and the 8 AM hike seemed like an even worse idea. Luckily for me I sweated all the alcohol out of my body by 8:15 from the desert sun since it was another tough hike. This hike just like the first hike was amazing and from the top of the mountain you could see Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. After that we stopped at Ben Gurion's grave for a history lesson and more views of the Negev. We made it home about 15 minutes before the Ravens/Bronco’s game so I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend.
The approximately 10 hours of sleep over 3 nights took a toll on me and caused my eyes to be very bloodshot and hurt so I took the last couple days to rest. I’m feeling all better now and am planning on going to Jerusalem tomorrow night. While Jerusalem has so many historic and Jewish things to do, it also has a great nightlife and restaurants. After the holidays, I’m taking a break from all the Jewish stuff and am just going to enjoy the night out tomorrow. I put some pics up on facebook from Eilat if you want to see more. Here’s a picture of me hiking up the Machtesh Gadol and of some Israelis we were hanging out with Friday night.
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