The Golan

I just came back from a two-day, one-night trip to the Golan. Several different groups from my program went - my group and the other group in Ramla, two groups from Tel Aviv, and one group from Ashdod. We left on Thursday morning at 6:50am, which meant that we had to wake up around 6am. Luckily, it's about a four hour drive to the Golan, so we had plenty of time to make up for lost sleep. We also had the same tour guide that we had in Jerusalem, Ron, who is absolutely hilarious.

We arrived in the Golan around noon, and immediately went on a six hour hike. That makes it seem much more hardcore than it actually was - if we were a smaller group it would have taken us 4 hours or less. It was rather easy hiking too, although it was very hot. Half way through the hike was a huge waterfall that ended in a nice pool. I jumped in, and it was amazing. Some of us sat right under the waterfall, and there was even a little area where we could climb into a rock crevice and be looking out through the waterfall. It was gorgeous, and very cooling.

After our hike we got back onto the bus and went to the hotel, where we all promptly showered. I was staying in the same room as Olga and Geula, two other girls from my program. We went to dinner around 8pm, and I was really hungry! I hadn't even realized how hungry I was until I sat down and started eating. I also hadn't realized how tired I was until I was lounging on my bed and fell asleep!

On Friday morning we had to be up at 6:45am, in preparation for another hike. This one was in water - we mistakenly assumed that meant we needed to wear watershoes, not that at some points we would practically be going swimming. But it was a blast, and I really enjoyed the hiking, although I wish there had been more history of the places that we were visiting incorporated into the tour. We also were going to visit the Syrian border, but ended up not having time to do so. I definitely want to do another trip to the Golan by myself to see the border, and also to see the place where people from Syria and the Golan yelled across to each other.

Now it's Shabbat, and I have no special plans whatsoever. I'm having a blogging party with Andreas, but I'm going to walk back to my apartment and go to sleep very soon. Tomorrow I plan to sleep more, and on Sunday we start our volunteer assignments! I'm working at an Arab after-school program, a senior center, and at a college teaching English. I'm pretty excited, and I will give a full report once I've started!