Tuesday December 21st | Shorashim - Israel with Israelis

Tuesday December 21st

Tuesday, December 21st Shorashim 2009 has begun! After a loooooong trip from Chicago to Tel Aviv, we finally arrived at the Kibbutz, met a fantastic group of people, and hung out with our Bus 208 crew. The Kosher meal on Lufthansa Air will not be getting any recommendations from me. After meeting Ashar our super guide for the trip and Dima, Shorashim security extraodinare, we took a trip to the Golan Heights. We all got a chance to introduce ourselves by letting everyone know what we do in Chicago, where we are from, and what type of animal we would like to be... and we played some theme music for ourselves that we thought was appropriate with Ashar's musical instruments. Animal of the day was definitely a Liger (Lonie's). Walking the Golan Heights for a couple of hours was sooooo nice, I got to take my first hike in about 15 years, talk with our group a little bit, and meet our wonderful Israeli's with us for the trip. Shlomi AKA Dexter who came on our trip and is almost done with his army services, told me a lot about life in the navy, how to approach Israeli women, and how expensive certain things such as cars, real estate, and name brand apparel are in Israel. Julia gave me the details on Tel Aviv's night life, as she said she is the life of the party and out 4-5 nights a week. The Golan heights were absolutely gorgeous, I have never seen views like this in my life! After the Golan tour we took a stroll to the Arab village and ate fallafel, along with hummus that is out of this world... We had a couple peoples stomaches act up later, but still worth it :) Arab dessert was also a treat as Ashar gave me no choice but to try this dessert made with goat cheese, and purple stuff, sounds gross, but delicious. Later we went to the volcano, also known as Bental. Great views, and the most amazing part in my mind is that this is where the border is between Syria and Israel. Bunkers that aren't active anymore were a sight to see, as many Israeli troops paraded around the volcano in Bental, I've never seen so many guns in my life (meanwhile up to this point we have Dima, with his ancient gun with some nice artwork, AKA stickers on it) love it! Only saw one Israeli girl soldier, but trust me when I tell you, good looking girls with guns are hot :) Hebrew word of the day from Jordan, "Fanan", which means it's all good! Kibbutz food was actually pretty good too. Met the LA Birthright group too.... def not as cool or fun! Night one at the bars was quite an experience too as instantly one thing was obvious- Israeli's love to dance the night away! Within seconds all our israeli's were on the dance floor. Drinks with our group was quality time all around. Hanging with Bus 208 was a phenom time that night, and I can definitely say I am very excited to spend this amazing trip with all of them!

 

Quote of the day: Andrea: "Pile, Pile, Pile" (Leigh didn't see the pile and was a victim of stepping in a gross pile of crap)

 

Story of the night: So we stayed at a large Kibbutz, however with everything looking the same, one problem happened... everyone got lost. My group that left found ourselves going in a giant circle and ended up back at the bar... good thing Masha led as back home where Danielle and I failed (Btw: I only had us lost for 10 minutes by making 1 wrong right turn and ending up back at the bar and Matt has not let me forget it!! - Danielle)search for about 2 and 1/2 hours, and had to get a ride back in the end....

 

English word of the day for tomorrow MAP!

 

By: Matthew Abeles