To your left, a pile of rocks. And to your right, another pile of rocks.

After almost not making it to the bus, I spent the better part of the weekend in the Negev Desert.
Thursday night, I stayed out late with a friend, and got home at three in the morning.
What I have learned: That when I'm told "we're going to a party at Kibbutz Yagur", we're not actually going to sit around and chill out, like most post-adolescent-on-a-kibbutz-parties I know of, we are in fact going to Ultrasound Dance Club
What else I have learned: No matter how much I enjoy dance clubs, I will not go to one wearing a sweater. Also, not at two thirty in the morning on a day where I have to be up and packed by 6:45.

Instead, I made them drive me back home, where I threw what I thought I needed for the Negev Trip, organized by the Overseas Office, into a small duffel, fell into bed at 3:30, and was rudely awoken by my alarm at 5:45. Quick shower and dress, and then to make food for the trip.
At which I am apparently inept, because I burned my hand, rather severly in fact, on the toaster oven.

Whatever. Finally got on the bus, and slept the whole way to Be'er Sheva, where we shopped for a bit more food in the open Bedouin Market, and I bought my first ever pear, because I am sheltered and also didn't think I liked pears until this weekend, when I decided to try New Things, which I generally don't do. But, yay pears.

We then went to this very interesting vineyard called Kerem Avda(t?), run entirely by a single family. It's part of a privately run project where they set up thirty families with vineyards across the Negev desert along the ancient Nabatean Spice Route, because surprise! The Nabateans actually grew grapes and made wine along their Spice Route, and the project has relocated the terraces upon which the Nabateans actually grew their grapes, and upon which modern Israeli families are now growing their grapes, using a mix of ancient Nabatean water-gathering technology (the vineyards are planted at the bottom of 'valleys', so water can collect during the rainy season), and modern drip-irrigation. It's all very interesting. The visit was concluded by a wine tasting of red merlot and a red cabernet sauvignon.

I couldn't tell the difference. But very nice.

The group separated into English-speaking tours and Hebrew-speaking tours for the rest of the day, and I am proud to say that not only did I attend both Hebrew-speaking sessions, I understood them both perfectly. Though, it should be noted, that the level of Hebrew was aimed at the non-israelis, but I'm still a bit proud of myself.
Back on the bus, we were taken to Kever Ben Gurion (Ben Gurion's Grave), just outside Kibbutz Sdeh Boker. While we listened to the tour guide speak about the importance of the fact that Ben Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Israel, was buried in the Negev Desert and not on Har Hertzel with all the other dignitaries (okay, fun fact: The answer is not "because he was the first so he could be buried wherever because they hadn't started the tradition yet", as I suggested. It was in fact because he wanted to underline the importance of living in the Negev and "making the desert bloom". Also, he spent the last few years of his life on Sdeh Boker. But whatever), a family of ibexes (ibices?) trotted through the area. Of course I ran to photograph them, leaving the tour guide, but so did a few other people, so it wasn't like I was completely rude. Or if I was, at least I wasn't the only one.

We spent friday night at a touristy camping ground disguised as a Bedouin camp, though of course you know that a) they're not real Bedouin running the camp and b) oh my, what a tourist trap.

And it gets you to thinking: If a bear suddenly storms the tent in search of the food that we all had packed in our bags for the next day, is it really a bear, or is it a bear pretending to be a bedouin? Thoughts? Comments?
(Disclaimer: okay, this sounded better in my head than on paper. I in no way intended that a bear will steal my food "just like a bedouin". It was supposed to be an allusion to the fact that we were in a camp "pretending to be a bedouin camp", and therefore whatever we met at that camp that was not in our group was perhaps "pretending to be a bedouin" just like the good folks running the place. Though they were probably of the real-live-bedouin persuasion, I assure you, their camp most definitely was not. I hope I cleared that up.)

But it was still fun.

Saturday, the group split into two eight hour hikes around Makhtesh Ramon. A makhtesh is a geographical formation unique to Israel, and there is apparently no english equivalent for the word. It is a "crater" of sorts, but in fact, the crater used to be a mountain, that was eventually eroded away, to create a bowl-formation called a makhtesh. There are three in Israel, named the "Little Makhtesh" and the "Big Makhtesh", and then the third, "Makhtesh Ramon", which is in fact larger than the Big Makhtesh, so they gave it it's own name instead. Kind of like an "oops....let's just hope no one really notices..."
I went on the hardest one, even though I have never hiked before and even though I had never worn my hiking shoes before that (bad idea. Very bad. Breaking them in before the hike is a much better way to go.), I didn't complain or whine even once. Except maybe just a very little bit right before we got back to the camp, but only because my feet hurt a whole lot. But on the whole, I was very good.

On the way back, we dropped some people off in Tel Aviv for the Rabin Memorial Peace Rally, which we listened to on the radio (those of us who hadn't gotten off the bus), and it was really very interesting. Except the musical interludes between the speeches were terrible, surprisingly so, because they were actually very famous singers (Aviv Gefen, David Broza, Miri/Mimi Agnon), but they all sang really bad and off key. Oh well. You can't win them all.

I MUST sleep, mainly because I'm exhausted and haven't slept more than ten hours in the last three days, but also because I have to be all awake for my speech-therapy volunteering. When I have more time and more alertness, I will write all about that, but for now,

Lilah Tov (goodnight)
-J