I have never felt so much love from people I had only known for 10 days.

Israel is the only country in the world with a rising number of trees and our efforts at planing trees today contributed to that positive statistic, which was very cool!

We had spent 11 days and 10 nights with strangers who had become best friends, in new lands learning so many new things about ourselves and our heritage, and experiencing more than any one of us had ever hoped or dreamed.

After visiting the playground, we headed over to Kfar Hanokdim to ride camels and learn about Bedouins in the desert! The Bedouin hospitality included tea, coffee, and an amazing feast. 

I am a teacher at home, and my students ages range from 3 to 13 years old. Like the children I played with in the playground today, their noses are runny, they sometimes fall but always get right back up, they have beautiful, infectious laughs that warm every part of our soul, and they believe that the world around them is good. 
 

Seriously, these past ten days have flown by. It was an incredible, life changing experience for Bus 818 and we can't wait to see our friends back on campus in the Fall! It's not goodbye, it's see you later, Israel. 

Our hike was called Ein Ovdat and we were not the only group who had the same idea. At the waterfall we were lined up with a few other groups but we are pretty sure we got the best pictures of the day. We could've stayed there for hours trying to capture the beauty and by the time we got back, there were definitely a few of us Floridians who had fallen in love with hiking in general! 

The hike was incredible. A few minutes after starting we reached a small oasis at the bottom of the valley. I felt so small looking up above at the walls of the valley and wondering how far up this hike would take us if at all.