In the wilderness, Negev Desert- Bedouin tent
We pulled up to the Bedouin living quarters after a fairly long drive and a very emoptionally draining day. A long morning at Yad Vesehm and an afternoon walking tour of Barsehva had given everyone the chance to get a quick nap on the bus. As we were approaching the Bedouin tents, we had been told that our schedule was being changed slightly and that we were getting to ride the camels today and not tomorrow.
As the bus pulled in this little developement in the middle of the desert I don't think any of us quite knew what to expect. Every direction you could see was just vast emptiness; rocks, hills, and shrubs. People eagerly started shouting out names to find a partner for the camel ride. Rumor on the bus was that all of the Israeli's were experienced Camel riders and seeing as how Chicago is a pretty far landscape from a desert, most of us had never seen, let alone rode a camel before. Needless to say everyonhe was fighting to have one of them as a riding partner, myself included.
HUGE. Absolutely huge. Tall. Ugly. Smelly. These we're mine and I'm sure most of our original thoughts upon intially seeing them up close. We were led to the Camel's by the Bedouin "staff" and were told to make sure that we get on at the exact same time. As soon as both people were on, the Bedouin men would hit the camel with a wood-like stick and they would stand up. Backwards. These animals get up with their back legs first, shooting the person sitting in back high into the air, and only then they would pick their front legs up to balance things out again. As we rode in three seperate groups, each group with about 15 people and 7 or 8 camels, the Bedouin men would grab a rope that worked like a leash and would walk them alongside a trail that was mild and had rocky terrain. As the bumpier parts approached grunts and hollers could be heard by all the men, immediately followed by laughs from all the girls. The ride was short and over soon, but not before enough pictures to fill an album were taken.
As the ride ended we headed back to the bus to pick up all our luggage. This was an exciting time as we had not yet learned that our entire group, all 45 of us, were going to be sharing one big tent. the beds were small, but the tent was plenty big. After everyone set up their beds, with no strategic thought, which later played into funny momments with their being no lights and no paths to get to ones beds, we headed to the "dinner tent." You know how they say never judge a book by it's cover, well this Bedouin dinner had the worst cover of the trip and the best story inside. We all sat on the floor, with 5 gathered to a "table". The Bedouin brought us out these giant trays with loads of food on them. Delicious. Flavored rice, all the Hummus you could want, chicken, freshed baked pita, salad. You name it, they had it. A very pleasent surprise to us all.
We then had the honor or circling around in yet another tent, and again on the floor. We were treated to traditional music by the head of the Bedouins at this Bedouin camp. He talked to us all about his life and the life of his people and how they have evolved as a people with technology over time. He then treated us to a small glass of coffee and some more music.
We then, as a group, headed back to our tent and had one last group activity before we were left to be on our own the rest of the night. This activity was set up by our Israeli peers. One of the things that they have pushed hard on us this trip is trying to learn a new word or two in hebrew each day. For the game we got broken into teams of 4 or 5 and each group was given a list of 3 words or phrases in hebrew that our commonly used in the Israeli culture, along with their meaning in English. Then, as a team, we had to come up with a skit in english, while using the new words or phrases, and only being allowed to say those words in Hebrew. The idea was to have the other groups guess what the Hebrew word meant, through the content of the rest of the skit. I could write a whole blog on the skits alone, but needless to say, they were a lot of fun for all of us.
After all of this, the night was still just beginning. We then had the night to ourselves. But we've come to be a pretty close knit group and so we all, for the most part, stayed together the rest the night. We walked off abhut 25 yards or so into the open landsdape of rocks. Everyone crowed around talking and enjoying a beautiful night, in quite literally the most seculded place I've ever been. One of the Israeli's, who has been come to be known as snail, had brought his guitar out with him. There are about 5 or 6 kids on our trip that are, well significantly more musically blessed than I am, and they took turns passing around the guitar and playing songs that we all knew and sang along with. But the highlight could have been our very own staff member himself, Yoni. Yoni, as all of us on the trip have come to know, is quite the wordsmith. Every adjrective is picked out more carefully then the next. What we didn't know about Yoni though, is that he is a free style rapping king. After going on and on with his lyricist, Judaism infused rap people eventually began to start and scather. Some to bed, some on nght hikes. Me personally, I had one last treat in store.
One of our Israeli peers on the trip, Chen, knows more about the stars than anyone I have ever met. Being in the desert in Negev, the stars are second to none. A lot of the training that Israeli soldiers have to do deals with orienteering and being able to navigate with very little. Chen can do this with the stars. He has tricks on hand to find the North star, how to distinguish which way is south, even if he can not locate the North star. As well as seemingly everything in between. And for each conselation, he had a story to go with it. This was a treat that not all birthright groups are as lucky to have.
