I'm back and busy

I have never seen before what I had seen in Eilat and on the way there...

We loaded at 5 am and left around 5:30. It started to get light pretty soon after we left, so I got to see the sunrise on the way down. It was beautiful! We had to drive through the Palestinian-controlled West Bank on the way down. I think it's like a novelty to say that we drove through a hostile part of the country but really it did not look like you would imagine. I think people think DANGER, when really it looks like any other settled area in the country, it was safe feeling.

It later rained. We were coming up to the Dead Sea. And the mountains surrounding the sea had muddy water coming down them (water the comes down from Jerusalem) and it was flooding out the road. We drove through some water, but (we didn't know it at the time) were ahead of the "flash flood" and had stopped to take a pictures of the muddy water falls along the MT range. We can see how God was protecting us that time because we pulled over at one spot but decided to pull up to another point ahead on the road. After taking some pictures we looked back and saw a huge flash flood coming and trap a small car against the railing. Crazy!The Dead Sea is super long! I mean it makes sense looking on the map, but I was getting used to how small the country is and how things are really not that far apart. It only takes 6 hours to drive from the Kinneret (which is very close to the top) to Eilat, that southern most tip. It was a beautiful blue-green color.We stopped at Timna Park on the way down. They have activities for the groups that come to do. So we paddled-boat raced in a little pond, made sand bottle art from the natural rock (ground up into sand) in the park. Four colors: White, Black, Red, & Yellow. We did some hiking. I have never seen rocky sandstone mountains like this before, it looks like pictures of Petra, or like in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, when he goes for the holy grale. We climbed on the rocks, and through the rocks, and around the rocks. So amazing! There are carvings on some of the walls of the mountains. There are Egpytian as well as other people groups that carved. There are pictures of chariots, ostrages, and ibex. At Timna Park there are also ancient copper mines of Solomon. They would dig the holes big enough for a person and then notch foot holds along each side so you could get to the bottom. Also at the Park a Believer group had set up a replica of the Tabernacle. We had an Israeli Believer as our guide through it. She told us all about how Yeshuah has fulfilled the Tenach (OT) requirements that God set up for the Jewish people. I learned so many things that I didn't know before and that are so cool. What all I learned will be saved for my next post, because there is just so much!
We camped out the whole week. In Israel there are cats everywhere, so many cats that they are like pests. There were cats at the campsite that were nice and really cute. But the first morning a cat got into the girls tent and sprayed! We aired it out really good and then sprayed someone's deodorant in it. Gross!

1st Day: Beach! Snorkeling/Tanning
2nd Day: 11 miles of hiking
3rd Day: Beach! Snorkeling/Tanning. And at night eating at restaurant/shopping
4th Day: Making our way home/stopping a lot, and checking out a Moshav

The beach didn't have very good sand...bummer! I bought this really handy beach mat (the deciding factor was the attached blow-up pillow) that folds up nice with handles. The snorkeling was so cool. So many color fish! They say that the reefs in Eilat are second to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. At night when I was on the pier 4 lion fish came up to the surface. They are those poisenous fish with all the prickly fins everywhere. I had an underwater camera and am hoping the pictures turn out.
Hiking was incredibly amazing and tough. I had never seen so many different types of rock in one area. The hike was tough because we went for so long on rocky, steep ascents and the a lot of descents as well. We drove out and April dropped us off because she has a bad ankle and hiked back to the camp site. We had to make two trips because we met three new Israeli friends at our camp site that we invited to come along. It was really nice to have them hanging out/hiking with us. The trail was called the Israel Trail and it goes from the top all the way to Eilat (it's like the Appalachian Trail or the Pacific Trail in the States). The marker for the trail is white/blue/orange stripes. One bummer but good part of the hike was when we took a wrong trail. The wrong trail was a dead end after 15/20 mins. of hiking and at the Egyptian border. There was a cement thingy that said 89 on the Israeli side and then 89 in Arabic on the other side. Really it was a buffer zone but I'm going to say that I've stepped in Egypt! My feet were so sore that it hurt to walk for the next couple days! That night we had a nice campfire and smores on the beach.
The last night we went into town for dinner and shopping. We all went to Giraffe. It is Asian-type food. Really really good. Soni, April and I shared three things: Spicy Thai Soup, the Malaysian, and the Spicy Philipine. The soup was super tasty good! I wrote down all the ingredents I knew and the description in the menu so I can try to recreate it. For shopping there is a mall that we popped into for a few minutes at the end, and there is the Prominade. A long street on tent market stores with a bunch of fun stuff. I bought some cool pants for people, but nothing really for me...I ran out of cash.

On the way home we stopped at a Moshav that a son from one of the guys on the Kibbutz lives and works. His name was Matan and he grows peppers. Red, yellow, and green peppers! A Moshav is like a Kibbutz but where the people own their own land/homes/etc. On a Kibbutz everything belongs to it and everyone shares. But this particular Moshav is famous for its peppers. It is in the middle of the desert! And the peppers are PERFECT! It was really amazing to see all the technology (but it was like practical technology if that makes sense) they used to grow them. I learned a lot! We made lots of bathroom/Aroma ( ,ארומהthe Israeli equivalent to Starbucks). Made it home for a late dinner (8:30) and then I went to bed. But now we are crazy busy! Lots of homework and there is a huge thanksgiving party we are throwing and are preparing for! Right now we have to guests from Oregon here to stay with us. Jeanie and Elaine (or something with an E...but I can't remember it now), but they are two woman who come and help out and cook us students lots of super good homemade food! They are such a blessing!

If you have any questions just post!