Down South: TAU style

This past weekend was one of TAU's infamous trips..Ive seen lots of pictures of my friends trips and even though I was sad to miss TLV for yet another weekend (of 90 degree weather!) we knew it was too good of an opportunity to miss.

We were packed and on the bus at 730 am - on the Einstein bus of the other Madrich that we didnt take to Jerusalem - Named Liron who my friends loove. I saw our other dorm friends heading on the other bus and I said..Hmm guys maybe we should get on that bus! It has the cool people (I couldnt do Jerusalem again with all the random annoying kids) but everyone was too settled.
This decision while it shouldnt have - basicalllly effected our whole trip. Ha - the other bus had better hikes, did cooler stuff and had a better bus -- but alas nothing I can do now it was still a great trip.
Still, it really sucks how TAU splits you up on these trips. Despite breakfast, dinner and acouple group activities you really just spend allll your time with your bus - which is split up 2 from each dorms. It makes it kind of hard to make new friends but still I managed to..

FRIDAY
An hour into the trip we stopped by this little stop - not any of the ones I recognized unfort, but this poor little dog drew the biggest crowd! It was so cute but so sick and we all felt really bad for it.
Once in the Negev, our first trip was a "short hike" up a mountain to see a crater -Mitzpe Ramon. When I say up a mountain, I literally mean that at first we were climbing and 5 minutes later I looked up and saw we had about 40 minutes left uphill of this mountain. Uhh..the was no path and we were just climbing rocks and hoping none of them fell. Ha my asthma was going crazy unfort due to the dust and no one (including myself how stupid) had an inhaler. We got to the top and had a really cool view. Our guide told us about the beauty of the desert and evne though we measure things with numbers usually - how many ppl live in it, how big it is, how high it is etc etc - sometimes we just need to look out and see the monstrousity of it.
Our trek down was cool and we had to use some handles etc, ther were points that it was a bit scary but that made it fun.
After they gave us typical sandwhiches for lunch and loaded us on the bus for another short hike. This one was actually pretty short - we just walked straight for a while until we came to a little water alcohov in the middle of the desert. It was cool to see - people jumping in the water - It was soo hot - buttt mostly pointless haha The other group went to Ben Gurions grave..

Finally we got to Kibbutz Masshabi Sabe - which was soo nice! Our rooms were cute and hostely with 4 beds, a fridge, a hot water heater, tea and coffee, tv and ac!! ahhh so happy! We went to to the kibbutz pool but it was indoors so instead we just napped forever! At 6 we got up for dinner. It was really nice and typical Israel/Kibbutz food - bread, israeli style salads, rice, potatoes, shnitzel and chicken soup! At 8:30 they told us we were getting a "surprise" but no one knew what that meant!

Turns out to have been a Drum Show! Which was acutally awesomee...me and a couple people sat on the floor in the front and the main announcer was so impressive. It was a group of 4 men and the main guy played all these foreign instruments while the other guys drummed cracking jokes. The first one up was a "Hang drum" which looks kinda like a UFO - manufactured specially in Switzerland nd has a light Middle Eastern noise - like bells but played like a drum. It was awsome and they all rocked out! Next was the Digeroo - australian instrument that looks like a rainstick. You move your lips and sounds straight out of Lion King! HE brought a couple peole up to try and play these huuge digeroos but of course no one could haa Next were these little istruments - I dont even know what they were but they looked just like vegetable peelers. You put the peeler part in your mouth and flick a the end - it sounds really Australian too - like a kangeroo hopping around! More people couldnt attempt to use it.
Then they switzed to Brazil and were going nuts on the drums rocking out. The lead guy was like "time to use a neat instrument from Japan" and put on an Ipod! haha Turns out these drummers are like circus acrobats! The 2 side drummers started going nuts - breakdancing and flipping around. But not typical American gymnastics. Like the guy kicked his leg up but then competly flipped over backwards. They were so small and skinny it looked like the easiest thing in the owrld! They were hopping up and down upsiddown on their hands and holding breakdance moves - headspins, backflips where they kicked their legs around..on this linelolium floor! WTF!
They were doing htis Brazil dance where you start by shaking hands, then you do a kartwheel together, then you move back and forth just in a grapevine..then one person kicks and the other person ducks and vice versa on and on and on really quickly! ha It was crazy - I swaer someone was gonna get kicked in the face! They brought up a couple ppl to attempt to do the breakdancing it was funny - then we saw that the main announcer could do the same tricks as his young accomplices. SOO COOL - we were all clapping, it was like a circus.
For the next part he brought up (literlaly he just points at you n you go) some TAUers to be drummers. Next a bunch of guys went up and learned a little middle eastern dance. Then hes like "we need belly dancers". This one girl is like a Hip hop teacher and she like was up there in 2 seconds -- she doenst really belly dance but she shakes her butt unbelievably -- actualy its kind of embaressing, its like..reallly hard core booty dancing. So no one else wantedto of course so he just starts point at ppl - this one girl, another one and oh ya - me - of course..not for the drumming but of course for the bellydancing haha.
So we put on these little jingly belts, everyone else did their dance and then it was our turn to "belly dance". OF course HipHop Girl went on a crazy butt shake spree but the rest of us rocked out and actually looked legit! haha Then he sat everyone down, started handing out drums to the audience and said "BALAGAN" (like a good big mess in hebrew) and the whole room rocked out!! So fun! They were acutally reall impessive and Im thining about maybe buying their CD.

Our TAU rules said that no alcohol was allowed on the trip HOWEVER, we were allowed to go to teh kibbutz pub. This poor pub was crammed trying to fit us all in but we prob gave them more business than they get in a month..oh Americans. Ha I really couldnt handle the stereotype (not to mention exhaustion) and dropped by fast enough to see the Drum band and got to hang out wiht my TAU madrichim who were of course drinking beers and smoking cigarettes. haha

SATURDAY
Wake up 730 am..I wanted to slap our Madrich who busted in and drew open the curtains ha. Breakfast started at 8 and we were there by 830ish to eat some cereal and yogurt, eggs, israeli salad (im soo used to veggies in the morn i love it) and bread and jelly. They said be on the bus by 9 but you must remember Israel/Jewish time is 20 minutes later. We took off for another hike in the Negev.
Israel is 60% Negev actually but its been pretty well inhabbited. Ben Gurion thought that by living there and eventually being buried there it would attract a larger crowd. It didnt help too much but you can tell the desert residers are really friendly and live a nice life still.
It was like 87 degrees out (but dry heat) and they told us to expect a 7 km hike. Ok..Petra was 6 km so no big right?

Welll, we start a staright path for awhile and only a small portion was really steep uphill..since it moustly wound up. We got to the top of a moutain and walked a tiny tiny path to a neighboring top. It was so cool we were like on a cliff, one step to the left and we would have fallen! then We took this tiny tiny path to the other side that was like straight out of a movie..you felt like you were on top of the world since there was nothing on either side of you excpet desert! Finally we got to the top of this moutain which is actually flat like a plateau. This part of the Negev is beautiful with so many colors.They told us to spread out and we sat on our own for 10 minutes just looking out, feeling the wind and hearing sparse bird calls. You could see the little white lines on neighboring mountains of paths and erosion. It just went on and on and it was awsome.
We were all feeling pretty good after that rest - we were in teh wind, we were calm and we figured wed prob done about 3.5 km..mm NOT.
WEll the hike down was pretty cool - winding around through rocks..but eventually we got to the base where the sun was pounding down on us!! No more wind and too much light reflecting off the white rocks everywhere. We asked how much longer and they said another hour and a half! What! I was dripping and even though there was hardly any uphill it was just tiring wandering through the desert not knowing where we were or how far we were - talk about a flashback into history ha. We stopped for maybe 5 minutes the whole time and finally finally emerged on a road! YAY WE'RE DONE! Right? Wrong!
We had another 40 minutes back UP to get to our bus! Now had we not already walked for 4 hours it prob would have been ok but we were sweating, our calves were killing and our backs hurt from all the water they made us carry in our backpack. We went up slowly but surely learning that if you look down at your feet you dont think too much about the height or distance you have to walk. I walked with Liron and learned aobut his military service - to him this hike was nothing but then again he had to do 70 km ones! I was super tired but it was just nothing compared to running on the eleptical! Plus not having my inhaler wasnt the best haha
Finally about 5 hours later after our departure we got to the bus - it was for sure a challenging hike but it felt good to really have wandered and learned the desert.
The other group did a cool hike where they walked the path of a dried up river using ropes and repelling nad stuff..oh well..
We got sandwhiches on the busand I think I ate mine in like 7 minutes..Next stop: Alpaca farm

THESE THINGS ARE SOOO CUTE> Theyre like llamas but soo much furrier! I fell in love..Theyre very gentle animals and its funny because they have these border collies (like the kind from Babe) hurding them around n keeping them in their cages. Theyhave the funniest eyes too and we saw them spitting on eachother alittle. Seriusly so cute. We also played with the horses, sheep and donkeys. Donkeys are my new favorite animals. They were beautiful like horses but very gentle. We have like 16 pictures just us nussling into the donkeys - so friendly! We saw sme crazy stuff like a sheep without an eye, donkeys making their "ey aw" noise and alpalcas and llamas getting chased by dogs. Alpacas and llamas can actually interbreed and create a hybrid. If they mate with an alpaca then the chld is an alpaca and if they mate with a llama it will be a llama. Cool.

We got back before the other group adn of course passed out until dinner time. They took us to a bedouin tent which i was soo excited for! However, this one was def not as legit as any one I had been too. The food was still awsome - lafa, hummus, israeli salad, rice and kabobs. But I remember teh tent being without utensils, spicy and lots of lentils! Whatever it was cool and a real ("") bedouin gave us a little schpiel about Bedouin hospitality.

Sunday
Same morning routine as Sat: woken up by madrich, back to sleep, breakfast and bus - but this time we pcked up all our stuff. The day before we were told we werent really gonna get to the dead sea - this paniched our whole bus and we threw a fit. Anway I guess there was a miscommunication cuz we all were gonna get to guy kind of.

Our first trek was a hike. It was not too bad - lots of stairs but we wanddered through the Ein Gedi reserve which is not in the Negev where there was lots of water and trees almost like a rainforest. It was humid tho which sucked! Finally after an hour n half we arrived at a waterfall! Yay! I was all psyched cuz i thought afterwards we were gonna get to go to the Big Ein Gedi waterfall where they take you on Birthright, PIlgrimage, etc but doesnt have a long hike. Of course the other bus went.. sad :(
But we still got in the water whcih felt amazing!! And stood on the wtaerfall and all that jazz. Only down side: the hour and a half hike back - went by faster tho since it was mostly downhill /straight and we had just gotten wet. Played alittle quiz game about the desert too.
After lunch we arrived at the "Ein Gedi hot springs" aka a hot tub and the dead sea. The other buses ahd been there for 2 hours already adn we only had 40 minutes. 3 Years ago this would have been no prob. Unfort the Dead Sea is shrinking at an unimaginable rate - with no steady flow of water and with all the companies that make products, its nowhere near the size it used to be! As a matter of fact, from the bus to the sea - u needed to takea tram! Or else it would have been 15-20 min walk! Wow I didnt even recognize it! WE ddint have the time to walk there or back so I didnt get to go :( Okay however since we did play in the mud and the rinse off stung my skin badly enough. I got in a crazy mud war and I think I'm still pulling some out of my ear.

Finally finally we started heading back to TLV! and the final downfall of our bus: Our airconditiong broke! Luckily with only an hour back but still i was soo overheated!

NOw this week is crazy!
Purim tonight and were so excited! And purim tomorww! and Wed! And Istanbul! look back for more updates and Purim Sameach!