Dedicated to Mom and Dad, who have birthdays this week!

Lets start off this blog with a quote from Stan Zemler.

"Really, they give you tests and papers over there?"

I want to dispel the belief that I am "traveling" and tell you that yes, I am in school here. I spend AT LEAST four days of week going to/devoting myself to school. The other three I have no class but generally I'll spend one of those days working towards my academic goals. I feel I need to blog on this because I've spent so many other blog posts trying to show how much fun I'm having and apparently people think I am not being productive when in fact I'm just being selective with the activities I share with you so I'm not boring. Today is still my weekend but I made the trek to campus in order to get books from the library for a paper I'm writing on the proposed two-state solution between Israel and Palestine. Of course this is a subject I'm very exposed to on a daily basis, both in experience and through meeting people and hearing their opinions, I chose this subject in order to gain more knowledge academically so that I can more reasonably form my own stance on the conflict. Not only do I go to school, I also have an internship! I probably haven't mentioned that? Actually its really cool and I do research to help launch a website about cyber dissidents in the Arab world.

So, now that we got the academic update out of the way so that my parents believe me that I am actually going to school...

This weekend's adventure was a two day trip to Ein Gedi with Marla and Molly, which is located right on the edge of Judean Desert about two hours from Jerusalem. Ein Gedi is a natural oasis rising into the hills above the Dead Sea, so you can hike up a short trail and jump in a warm natural spring, play in a waterfall, and look out over the Dead Sea to the country of Jordan. Nachal David is the short trail that people chose just to go swimming in these springs, but there are also more intensive hikes nearby, which is what we did on our second day. We had breakfast with our new friend Jordy, a Canadian yoga instructor who lives in Malaysia, and set off on a four hour trek that took us up a steep incline to the mesa far above the oasis river valleys. It followed the Mesa south where we started a descent that led us into the other popular water trail, Nachal Arugot. It was a great hike and I'm proud of us all, particularly because no one once complained about the pace, heat or any other factors. I traveled with two girls who are really game for new things. Hiking in the desert is great fun for me because its a setting I'm far from used to - I'm always marching through green forests in Colorado, and hiking in the desert is a wonderful novelty. Climbing this steep path with nothing but rocks and dirt and an amazing view of the Dead Sea allows only two colors; blue and brown. It's very beautiful and you feel like you are right on the edge of the earth.

It was a short adventure, just one night, but in a very lovely place. Marla and I got up early to drink tea and coffee and watch the sunrise, this time over the Dead Sea, as we always do when we travel together. We also played several hours of Yaneev, the only card game I've played since being in Israel. I can play it for hours and hours and never get sick of it.

On a separate note, last week was two very important Israeli holidays on two consecutive days. Memorial Day is for remembing all the people who have been killed in the army or by terrorist attacks. Taking into account mandatory conscription and the small size of the country, this is a very personal day for every Israeli. I walked across the city with Morgan and Molly to the military cemetary where many important people as well as regular soldiers are buried for a ceremony. The ceremony was broadcast over the entire cemetery, which is an extremely beautiful place, and although I couldn't understand the majority of it since it was in Hebrew that covered many subjects I don't know, I was still able to take in the atmosphere of the event. The ceremony took place on top of Theodore Hertyl's grave (the father of Zionism, so they call him). Following this holiday was Independence Day, a much more spirited day, where also there was a ceremony on Hertyl's grave but this one was a big celebration with singing and dancing and fireworks. I thought it was interesting that it was pretty casual to have people dancing all over a grave, but apparently I was the only one. There were big street partys in the center of Jerusalem, which I explored with Marla. The way they block off streets in Jerusalem is to park city busses at an angle across the road. The daytime festivities were similar to the US - everyone find a park and a BBQ and sit in the sun all day and drink. I walked around the city with Morgan and Max, and then went home and wrote a paper in Hebrew.