vacation from vacation

I'm in love with Israel. I'm in love with TRY. I'm in love with my community. Kibbutz Ketura truly launched TRY into full swing. We spent the five days hiking in the desert, swimming in Eilat, walking on the board walk, doing watercolor, praying, and relaxing. We all like to call it vacation from vacation. The one complaint I have was the weather. The first day we showed up and it was sunny and beautiful, leading us to expect pure desert bliss for the next few days. After waking up the next day to windy, raining hell, we were snapped back into reality very quickly. The tour guide told us that the rainfall we had during the few days was the amount of rain they get on average annually. That WOULD happen to us. Otherwise, it was a relaxing trip filled with great food and bonding. If six days in the desert can't bring a group together than I don't know what can. They mixed up the rooms so we all got a chance to live with new roommates. I absolutely adored mine and we had the greatest times turning our bathtub into a jaccuzi and having other people over for sleepovers. The food was also a nice change of pace with fresh fruits and vegetables, tons of meal options and the best bread ever. Shabbat was particularly windy and yucky outside, but we had an amazing time regardless. The service was the first one I really enjoyed since being here. It reminded me a lot of our synogogue at home and was filled with joy and good spirits. On the last day, we took a six mile bike ride to Yodvata, the kibbutz that makes all the delicious dairy products. It was pretty hot out which is funny since only the first and last days of our trip were sunny. The bike ride was beautiful and we even got to see the border of Jordan and Israel. After the ride we indulged ourselves in THE best ice cream and loaded the bus back home. It was sad to leave this utopian society, but I guess the reality had to snap back in sometime. Thank God reality ain't so bad when you're living in Israel :)