My Trip To Israel Part Three (Another Continuation)

That morning when we left the Marina hotel in Tel Aviv I felt like a king. I was rested and full of good Delicious food. I forget what we did here but the next thing we did on the list was "Mifgashim" after that we volunteered at a sink place somewhere near independence hall, our next stop on the list. After all that we went over to Jaffa and from there traveled south into the desert where we had an activity at the Bedouin tents. My experience with this was very hard. I was FREEZING all the time and had trouble finding our tent and seeing in the dark. I was impossible to shower because it was so cold, dirty and smelly and I would have caught hypothermia or something. I hadn't showered for three days so I smelled really nasty. At this point in the trip we had some Israeli solders join us. One half taught some self defense skills and the other taught army battle skills. They called it "Boot Camp". So we slept in tight places trying to get as much heat from the space heater inside the tent. Flashlights were going off everywhere. There were bonfires going on outside with many of the other Mayanot groups also attending the trip. We made smores and went to bed on thin mattresses without even pillows or blankets. I had to come up with an idea which was to wrap a sleeping bag into pillow form and use the other sleeping bag as a blanket. I was too unconscious to tell if I had slept or not. In the morning we rode camels. After, we had some breakfast with the other groups and then finally we got out of the cold hell zone.
We then went to Masada, the dead sea and other places headed towards Jerusalem. Once we got to our final hotel, the "Jerusalem Park Hotel" we got to sit through even more lectures like "The Gift of life" which was for donating bone marrow and "The David Project" where a big cool guy told us about terrorism on Arab TV. A third thing we did was watch a video on a solider named "Michael Levin" (There should be something from this somewhere on the internet). A few days later we visited Har Hertzel and visited many military graves. Michael's was covered in flowers and other love. He was a really special person.
Later on we traveled Jerusalem to places like Yad Vashem, the Jewish Quarter, some Jewish excavational places and the Holocaust museum which was the highlight of the day for me. The final thing we did in Jerusalem was visit Machane Yehuda (The Israeli market place in center city. My uncles have shops there. One has a cleaning supply shop and another has a clothing shop, My third uncle has a clothing shop as well but it was out of the way and it is only for woman's clothes. I got to hang out with my two favorite people Marisa and Breanne, two girls that were just perfect for me in every way. Gary and Erica were with us too at some point (I think) We had a day to spend at Machane Yehuda so we walked and talked and I was being a tour guide making myself useful. In the middle of our walk we got separated so me & Marisa stayed together. Let me tell you it felt sooooo good <3 <3 <3 We walked through the streets and even sat down for lunch together. We even held hands and held each other to be safe not to get hit by other cars. I honestly felt so close that I though I we were were a good couple (At least for the time being). And then I pondered to myself "I wonder if she is single" So I was trying to be conscious and not overdoing my love by doing any extremes. I kept it under control I think. We eventually reunited with the group and had tons of fun.
Back at the hotel we had shabbat dinner, a few more discussions, some "fambrengin" (I don't know what this was). At the end we did a map activity and said our thank yous to everyone publicly. We had a gift exchange. I got some candy for a guy named Jordan and he got me a shot glass but the original one broke so at JFK after we got off the plane he got me a new one. Saturday January 9th was our last day at the Hotel and in Israel on the trip. We could have chose to extend the trip for up to three months for $200 (I think) one or two people stayed in Israel but the majority of people flew back with the group like I did.
*** Skipping to the end, Past what we did in the Israeli Airport ***
The flight on the way back got us home 30 mins early. We landed around 5:30 at JFK. Before we landed I shared my pic with Marissa, Bree and David who were looking at it and picking out their favorites. I also gave them a gift of bamba and bracelets to put on their wrists. They thanked me and gave me hugs. When the plane landed I changed into my sweatpants and was almost the last on off because of it, also I was all the way in the back of the plane. I got off, went through the bridge thingy, got my stuff together and jolted as fast as I could to US customs where I was hoping to catch up with my group (Which I did) I cut the line a little bit to be with the group and nobody seemed to care. The line was long and I didn't feel like waiting or being separated without getting numbers or saying our final goodbyes. The line moved faster as we go closer to the front. I had to Jew off $5.00 from David to get a cart. My suitcase came very quickly and there were barely any people around the belt. We were out of there and separated within minutes. Everyone was gone, it sucked, I almost cried but as soon as I got home to my computer I felt much better. I was on my phone communicating with my dad, who I found very easily. I stepped outside with a t shirt and it was freezing out! I had to hang up the phone and put my jacket on. My dad was in terminal 4 section a. On the way out there was a traffic jam due to a retarded person clogging up the road by idling his car right in the middle. The rest is a boring 2 1/2 hour trip down the highway back home. I was an emotional mess and a disaster. Tears were coming out my eyes and I didn't feel good at all. (Again) I felt better as soon as I got home to my computer. When I got home I took my bags in, did the laundry, got online, ate, went to the bathroom, unpacked, filtered out the trash and then caught up online. Later I went to sleep until 4:00 AM and then went to type this blog. It was a lot of fun. I miss everyone. Facebook sometimes just doesn't do en enough for me sometimes. I have reached out to 50 + people that I have met here. I am expanding that to AIM and Skype. I have a webcam and a microphone and I would really like to put some use into it.