24 Hours of Pure Bliss

The past 24 hours have been a whirlwind of fun! Actually, this whole trip has been a whirlwind of fun. I never knew that it was possible to fit so many "once in a lifetime" activities into one day, let alone ten.

Yesterday, we started the day with a trip to the Mediterranean Sea in Tel Aviv. This was one of the prettiest beaches that I have ever seen. Since these past days have been so hectic, it was nice to spend some time relaxing and continuing to get to know everyone on the trip. After the beach, we went to Neot Kedumim. During this time we planted trees into little pots. Normally, they plant them right into the ground, but it was the seventh year in the agricultural cycle (shmita in Hebrew), it is the law in Israel that we have to let the land be. It was a very cool experience, especially to hear the statistic that Israel is one of two countries world wide that has more trees in the twentieth century than in the nineteenth.

When we were done there, we went to the Bedouin tents in the Negev Desert. It was amazing to see the way that they live their life. It really gives perspective. We then split up and did different activities with other Taglit groups for example, yoga, meditation, and I did acrobalance. Acrobalance was very fun to learn. There were many different positions that they did that I was sure I would not be able to do because I did not think I was strong enough, but it was all about balance, and I was able to accomplish this!

When it got darker, we went out into the desert itself and stargazed. This was something that I really did not expect to be as spiritual as it was. There's just something about being in the middle of the desert with the only sound of silence that makes this very meaningful.

This morning, we rode camels. Riding camels is something that I have always heard about when people talk about birthright. However, it's more fun than you could imagine. We named the camel that we rode, Cyle the Camel (Kyle with a C). Everything that we have done on this trip is absolutely amazing and you could not even imagine all that Shorashim has to offer without experiencing it yourself!'