Day 11 Israel

Luckily we didn't have to be on the bus until 1pm today because the night before was a late one. After grabbing lunch at a cinema complex we traveled to a tank museum and memorial. There were tons of different types of tanks and very unique memorial to those who have died in the line of fire.

Following the tank memorial we traveled to the ancient ground where David battled Goliath and reflected on our trip. Like so many of the places we have visited, this place is specifically mentioned in the Bible and bears the same name to this day. We had a banquet dinner at a restaurant in Tel Aviv with many cups of wine and many toasts to our wonderful leaders (Jeremiah, John and Melody) our bus driver, Mo, and of course our father while in Israel, Avi.

I can't speak too well about Avi. He is the ultimate wealth of knowledge. Few people know more than he does about religion, history, or life in general and he is only 45! He genuinely cared for us as people and did his best to impress upon us his knowledge about Israel but also general life advise. He is a caring father, a loving husband, and the best damn tour guide in Israel!

Security leaving Israel was very tight. They ask you all about your luggage and end with this zinger, "The reason I am asking you about your luggage is because I believe there may be a bomb on board. Do you understand?" They also search about 50% of the checked luggage. Mine was emptied out because I had to empty bottles and some mud. At check-in they also request emergency contact information in case the plane were to be attacked. Pleasant thoughts to be sure.

I arrived in the US around 5AM this morning though I had been awake since about 2:30AM US time. I actually slept on the plane from 1AM - 9AM Israel time aside from some very frightening turbulence and lightening over the Atlantic. I have been sitting in the same terminal since around 9AM. I volunteered to take a later flight at 5:40PM (my original flight was scheduled for 12:30PM) in exchange for a $400 flight voucher and a free meal. It will help pay for my ticket to Cairo in January. Still, 8 hours in the same terminal is a long time. I already miss the friends I made on the trip and I can't wait to see my family and give them my gifts. Finally though, I'm going home.

Note: I'll be posting some kind of reflection post soon as well as some more pictures though the majority of my pictures and other people's pictures of me will be on Facebook.

Day 10 Israel

Day 10 began with a visit to Independence Hall, the site of the declaration of Israeli independence in 1948. Our guide gave a passionate and genuine speech concerning Israeli independence and her desire for peace with their Arab neighbors. Largely there is a peace between people but a peace between leaders is harder to find especially when terror groups are added to the equation.

After visiting Independence Hall we went to a bullet factory from before 1948 that was hidden from the British underneath a Kibbutz laundry room for 3 years. It was very cool. Hard to imagine working a a factory in secret for 3 years!

We were given lunch and most of the afternoon to ourselves. I had the largest and tastiest tuna fish salad sandwich I have ever had (sorry mom!). I should have taken a picture. After lunch I enjoyed the arts and crafts market with some friends and we returned to our hotel for some swimming and Shabbat dinner.

Being our last night in Israel we decided to hit the town. We went to Mike's Place, a live-music jazz bar adjacent to the US Embassy. We were informed that just a few years ago a suicide-bomber blew himself up in the club in an attempt to hit the US Embassy. The majority of the victims were tourists and young people like us. Hard to imagine. It was a great night and a great way to end our time in Israel.

Note: Israelis love lemonade, but with a twist. They add mint and crushed ice. It is amazing!

Day 9 Israel

We started this day with a lecture from Colonel Bentzi Gruber on IDF ethics. Colonel Gruber is a tank commander with 20,000 men under his command. His presentation was one of the best I have ever seen but unfortunately I can't share many of the videos with others. We saw raw footage of the battlefield from Gaza 1 year ago. Videos of Israelis diverting their rockets ($125,000 each) because a terrorist enters a house; videos of terrorists using children as human shields; videos of the IDF calling people's homes and dropping leaflets hours ahead of a strike; videos of the IDF conducting an ethical war. For comparison: the IDF killed 1 civilian for every 2 terrorists in their campaign in Gaza (they know they were terrorists because Hamas has their member list online!) while the US considered 25 dead civilians acceptable collateral for 1 terrorist in our campaign in Fallujah, Iraq. As a proud American, that is simply unacceptable. Yet, Israel was the subject of an international human rights investigation while no one even mentioned the US.

We then traveled to the Sderot, a city on the Israeli-Gaza border with Colonel Gruber. This town was attacked by rockets just last week and we were going up on an over look of the area! This was scary stuff. On the bus we received specific instructions about what to do in case of attack. If the siren was heard we needed to run to the nearest bomb shelter (approx. one every 200 yards) and if we couldn't make it, fall to the ground and cover our heads. I cannot imagine living everyday of my life like this or growing up as a kid in this kind of fear. While we were there we also had lunch. During lunch someone's car alarm started to go off and everyone twitched and got tense thinking it to be a siren. Nerve-racking stuff.

We then traveled through the Negev Desert, where our air conditioning stopped working. Our bus become a sauna in the 100+ degree weather. After touring a landfill we went through an Israeli settlement in the Negev. These people have vision. They are literally making the desert bloom. Dinner was in Ber Sheeva, a fairly large city in the Negev. After arriving back in Tel-Aviv the night was spent on the beach with friends and a couple of bottles of wine!

Note: Our bus driver, Mo, who I practiced my Arabic on makes an excellent wing man. He was trying to set me up with our Israeli waitress at dinner. Also, the Mediterranean gets crazy at night in Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv is full of clubs and bars. While Jerusalem is known as the Sacred City, Tel Aviv is known as Sin City. I concur.

Below: A bomb shelter and the desert where our air conditioning stopped working.