Inbar Hotel Arad

... rising as high as 500 metres. We finally had our first glimpse of the incredibly buoyant and oddly beautiful Dead Sea, the lowest body of water in the world with a saline content of more than 30 per cent (by comparison ocean water is around two per cent salt), making it impossible to sink Its mineral-rich mud is also claimed to have therapeutic qualities and we were amazed by the string of 5-star hotels and lakeside spas that line its southern banks. It was close to 30 C under a blue ...

... the exception of a large sign put up by the Peace Center on Manger Square, which outlines the history of Israel from a distinctly different point of view. We stopped into the shop and were pointed to a corner of Manger Square where, if facing East, you could see the blocky, barbed-wired outlines of an Israeli Settlement. Maurice and Erik took photos, and Miriam tried to read up on the history of the place. She had come to Israel for a sunny holiday on the beach, but a ...

... like the guys in the (highly recommended) film "Walk on Water." (Check his blog and you'll see a picture from the film.) We smeared ourselves head to foot in the dark gray chunky stuff. Ugh. But it was fun. Ten minutes or so to let the stuff dry and suck out one's impurities, and it was time for a sulphur shower to wash it off. After lunch at the spa, we hopped on the "shuttle" to the shore of the Dead Sea, which over ...

... is. the children here are just as sick and weird as they are at home, mainly because they've been living in the desert for years with only intermittent medical care. they all speak hebrew and are going on a mile a minute about something or other. it's really amazing how much can be obtained just by watching the gesticulations and body language and tone of voice of the speaker. it also really forces me to watch the children and the ...

... at all tired!  My butt hurt (and still hurts) like crazy, but I wasn't tired, lol. After the bike ride, we joined Elior's friends for a BBQ. His friends are police, and I guess they get together for lunch in the park behind the police department every once in a while. The food was good, it was a typical Israeli BBQ. Pita, hummus, salads, chicken skewers, kabobs, and veggie kabobs. I obviously didn't take part in the chicken and kabobs, but the rest was ...

Shalom ahi!!! Hey I'm sorry for not posting in time, but although I have notthing to do in my project this last days I help in other projects (my water is not coming until monday in 2 weeks...-.-) so but now to the desert trip:) Last week on friday in the morning we went on an trip with some guys from the campus to do a hiking trip throght the judean desert (just insert this numbers 31.325458,35.325663 into google earth or maps.google ...

We left the kids at home, got our directions and headed out early towards the Be'er Sheva and the Dead Sea. The plan was to go through the Judean desert on the way there, and go back through Jerusalem on the way back. The trip was to take around three hours one way, we stopped and got a few baked goods for breakfast, and filled up our car 180 NS (around $45 for 3/4 of a 4 cylinder car).
Now we know why ...

... while Gabi was off on our breaks... she definitely went on power trips with us) and our head boss, Yakov (Jacob in English) told us to just go hiking with some of the other volunteers (the two people whom we met at the very beginning who are volunteering instead of doing the army, Yael and Michael). Well, Mya being the crazy woman she is, decides to make us do weeds anyway, but we weren't about to let her get away with it. We told her that Yakov told us to just go hiking with ...

... I mean of course it's hard to take that one step out of bed but once we're up, we're up and moving. So here's how the every-morning-of-work-routine goes: wake up, struggle a little for 5 minutes to get out of bed, mumbles a few words of how we just hate having to wake up this early, head to the kitchen where everyone contributes in some part of making our many sandwiches for lunch at work, pour cereal and milk for breakfast, eat breakfast together at our small table, head to ...

... things that slither). Everyone got covered in a layer of dust that got into absolutely everything. After the dig, we got on the bus and drove down to the desert town of Arad, near the Dead Sea. On the way, we were informed of a terrorist attack that had just taken place outside Tel Aviv. Apparently, a terrorist stole a bus and ran over eight Israeli soldiers who were standing waiting for a bus. Numerous bystanders were injured. It freaked everyone ...