Ein Gedi (if I can even remember that far back!)

I had my first peek at the Dead Sea on the way to Ein Gedi. The bus ride there was so utterly beautiful. I sat next to Suzanne and we listened to Israeli music as we squealed at the palm trees and the crystal blue water. Israel gives you a sense of fullness. I'm full of happiness. I'm full of spirit. I'm truly filled with Israel. It finds a way of seeping inside of you... I can't even explain it. We finally got off the bus and the air was dry and warm. Looking up at the huge cliffs surrounding me, I felt small... but not insignificant. We set off to conquer the hills. After about 10 minutes we were all huffing and puffing and whining about how out of shape we were. A hike on its own can be strenuous, but try doing it in the middle of the desert! BAH! As we always do on tiyuls, we broke into our ICC groups and did some activities and took notes from a few lectures. ICC can be a bit of a struggle for me. All of us come from different religious backgrounds and a lot of things people/he says really irritates me. Personally, I don't think a lot of things legitimately happened in the Torah, in fact I think most or even all is fiction. It's been a challenge seeing it taught more as history and embracing it with an open mind. It's easier to just shut it out and scoff at it, but I've been working on being more accepting and valuing the story, not taking it as history. Anyways, after learning, we sort of meandered about and hiked through Ein Gedi. There are beautiful springs and waterfalls all over and everyone was in awe of the sheer beauty of the place. Nearing the end of the hike when we were all dusty, sweaty, and cranky, we met at the nearest "watering hole" or however you can explain it, and jumped in and splashed around. We were all in good spirits after cooling off and hiked back towards civilization for some ice cream. One ice cream sandwich later, we were back on the bus and heading towards home again. It was an incredible trip and if I wasn't so tired I would have explained it in more detail and a lot better I'm sure. Sorry these are getting less coherant as time goes on.. the lack of sleep seems to be getting to my head :). I'll write about my free weekend in Nes Ziona after a relatively decent night's sleep.