I can't hike

How many Jews does it take to change a lightbulb? That's what we're trying to figure out, as the light in my bedroom is out and we don't know how to fix it. So far we're on 5.

Anyway, the reason I didn't post yesterday was that we spent yesterday and today in the north. Yesterday, after stopping at this tiny food store in the middle of nowhere that had the BEST schnitzel, we went to the Golan Heights area. We got a great view of the Sea of Galilee, while our counselor Itzik told us about its history and sang a song about it.

After that, the trouble started. We did a short water hike, where we had to walk on a rocky riverbed with the water coming up to hour knees. The water didn't bother me at all, but I couldn't balance on the rocks that I couldn't see. Tom, our security guy/medic, helped me out a bit. I managed to make it to the end of the hike without falling, somehow. In fact, I think the only person who fell was Itzik, who was splashing people.

It was so freakin hot yesterday that Young Judea's security people wouldn't let us do any other hikes, which is good, because one of them was going to be three hours long and I don't think I'd be able to handle that. Instead, we spent a while in a little town called Tiberius. We didn't do much there; we found a restaurant to eat at, and other wise didn't do much else. After Tiberius, we headed to the hostel where we would be spending the night. After some really weird icebreaking activities, and playing the Israeli version of Uno for a while during our free time, it was time for bed. The beds were nice, but one of my room mates was snoring, so I had some trouble getting to sleep.

This morning, after breakfast at the hostel, we headed right to another hike. I didn't enjoy this one either; I got eaten up by bugs, nearly fell on rocks, and got really tired out really quickly. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't fun. After the hike we went to Tzfat, the home of kabbalah. We learned a little bit about it, but mostly we just had some food (really good falafel) and checked out the little shops. One of my travelmates knew of a guy from when he was here before who sold some cool kabbalah art. The guy was from Detroid, but moved to Israel after getting into kabbalah. He didn't have much time to talk, but he seemed cool.

The next part of the trip was the worst. A one and a half hour hike through very rocky terrain. We had to go uphill for quite some time, and it was the hardest thing I've ever done. I felt my heart pounding; I had never worked my body so hard. I had to take frequent breaks, helped again by Tom. It was not fun in any way, and I most certainly will never do that again.

So now I'm back at the apartment, and very tired. I'm going to go to bed. I took some pictures, but the connection is terrible, so I can't get them to upload right now.