Is it really time to get up, it’s only 6:15, please, can’t we have a few more minutes?
No way! Up, up, up, and away we go. Breakfast, bathrooms, and on the bus. A Special Mazal Tov to Rabbi and Mrs. Weiss on the birth of another grandson to Akivah and Natalie.
We had a 2 hour drive down to the Negev, most of us slept on the bus, except for some crazy girls who kept singing some crazy llama song about a happy llama, sad llama, mentally deranged llama, super llama, drama llama, big fat mama llama, camel. Upon arrival we heard Yoni wake us up
with his usual mantra, “test, test, one two, the quick brown fox jumped over the laaaaazy dog.” Our first stop was the air force museum. We had a
guided tour of the museum. We learned a lot about the special G-suits the pilots have to wear and how the ejection seats work. We also saw the special survival kit that every pilot carries with him in case of emergency. We went outside and saw the evolution of the planes used in the Israeli air force, starting with the planes received from Czechoslovakia, France, England, and finally the US. We saw fighter planes overhead, that were flown by pilots in training. Then we saw a historical movie about the air force on a Boeing 707, the model of plane used during the Entebbe rescue mission. The movie was in Hebrew, so Yoni gave us a very “loose” and brief translation. We visited the gift shop and of course bought more ice cream.
Next stop the Machtesh HaGadol. A natural crater, believed to be made by HaKadsoh Baruch Hu: that’s a direct quote from Rabbi Weiss. Yoni taught us about Fluvogeomorphology, don’t ask us, we have no idea what he is talking about. We collected different colored sands to make sand art. It was so incredibly beautiful, Mah Rabu Maasecha Hashem Kilam BeChachma Asita! We drove up the winding road out of the Machtesh, and headed to an isolated area of the desert to do our Hitbodidut. We walked out alone into the desert and had time to sit and reflect on our personal thoughts and the beauty surrounding us. We were temporarily interrupted by a flock of goats walking through the area, pretty cool. We then regrouped and headed back to the bus for our final destination.
Dinner was delish and nutrish. Tessa finally got her ice coffee with whip cream, and Tobi finished his box of Kariot cereal. Don’t worry Tobi we’ll get you some more before we go. We chilled in the hotel until curfew, and that’s about it.
Yaaleh Bye,
