Alright, so I would have posted earlier, but as soon as I borrowed an adapter from someone so I could use my laptop, the wireless internet went down. And, of course, this happened on Shabbat (the Sabbath) so the computer labs were closed. The next day was a holiday (I think it commemorated the destruction of the first temple or something) so there was no school, but also no internet and the computer labs were still closed. Irritating as that was, however, it doesn't hold a candle to a strange phenomenon called Jewish Geography. This term is used to describe how Jewish people from all over the world either know each other directly or know a person in common. It is rather disconcerting how nearly everyone here knows each other already through 2 or fewer degrees of separation. And while this Jewish Geography is mapping the world, I am somewhere on the Gentile Moon, scratching my head and trying to figure out what the hell is going on. That being said, I am meeting people (so if you're related to me don't worry or anything) and the Ulpan is going well. The speed of the thing is only know being impressed upon me as I just yesterday realized that Midterms are on Sunday. Oh well.
On Friday we took a trip to the Golan Heights, the Galilee, and Mt Bental. I didn't feel like hiking, so I took the historical tour, on which I saw various sites from the Yom Kippur War (or possibly the 6 Day War, I get all those wars confused), the ruins of the ancient city of Gamla, and got to look at Syria from a bunker on Mt. Bental. My camera managed to last for almost the entire thing before it died, so I only missed out on one picture. It would have been the best picture of them all, but what can you do? So, details. Gamla was the site of a major battle between the Romans and Jews during the Jewish Rebellion back in way back when. I got some pretty cool pictures of the ruins and some renderings of what the city looked like before it was destroyed. I also got to see the Sea of Galilee, which is apparently quite low right now because Israel is in the midst of the worst drought in recent history. I'm beginning to notice a pattern here: I go to South Africa, and South Africa burns down; I got to Israel and Israel drys up. I can't wait to see what happens to the next place I visit, I'm guessing something involving meteors. Anyway, we heard a lot about Israeli water policy and history and such. The best story that we heard, in my opinion, involved an Israeli spy who infiltrated Syria during one of those wars. He was advising the Syrians on the building of bunkers, and suggested that, because it was so hot there, the Syrians plant Eucalyptus trees for shade around the bunker sites. So they did, and he then told the Israelis to attack anywhere they saw eucalyptus trees. It was a rousing success. Unfortunately, this spy was later captured and killed by the Syrians, but that was still an excellent strategy.
I have to admit, before I went there I was little apprehensive, largely because the State Department told me not to go there as there are still unexploded land mines in that area, but it was a pretty fun trip. The above pictures are 1. The Ruins of Gamla 2. The Bunker on Mt. Bental and 3. Me in front of the Sea of Galilee. If it seems a little hazy, that's because this part of the country has the worst air quality in all of Israel. Can I pick cities or what?
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