Tuesday night I went out for a lovely birthday dinner at the local Italian restaurant, Luigi's, with Keren, Ashley, Matan, Josh, Jason, and Eli. The food was excellent, I had bruschetta and sweet potato ravioli. Everyone toasted to my birthday and gave some funny speeches about favorite "Kari memories." It was a really nice night.
Wednesday morning I was up bright and early as we had to meet downstairs at 5 AM to leave for our 3-day desert survival tiyul (trip). We were to spend 3 days hiking and camping in the Negev in our groups (so I was with Yerucham). The morning started off a little sleepy, as we took a two hour bus ride to a small town near the Negev called Ein Gedi. There we had services and ate breakfast, after which we had a jeep ride to where we would begin the hike. The jeep ride was a LOT of fun over the bumpy dirt road, a lot like the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland.
Wednesday we hiked for about six or seven hours, stopping for an hour to eat lunch on the plateau on the top of a mountain that had a great view. It was fairly cloudy, so although the walk was tiring, it wasn't unbearably hot. Wednesday night we got to camp around six or seven o'clock. Although the hiking was pretty intense, the 'survival' part of the trip wasn't nearly as challenging. A company was in charge of all the logistics for our group, so when we arrived at camp our overnight bags were neatly laid out, there was running water so we could wash our faces and hands (no bathrooms though), there were mats around a bonfire, and there was hot soup waiting for us. The food we ate that night was WAY better than the food we get on base, and although I'm sure it tasted better because we'd been hiking all day, it actually was delicious. At night we did some bonding activities around the campfire, including a game where we all got into our sleeping bags, lined up, and rolled over each other to the end of the line. The temperature at night was a little cool but perfect when bundled up in a sleeping back, and the moon provided ample light to see by. Sleeping outside was definitely amazing.
Thursday morning we woke up at 5:30 for services and breakfast, and then we were off for nine hours of hiking. Although Thursday was a long day, filled with challenging uphills and downhills, it was my favorite. We were hiking on a path that only about 2,000 people see a year - in three days, we saw only three or four other hikers. It was a really unique experience to be the only people around for miles and miles. At some times, the path was clear, but at other times we were literally climbing uphill over boulders with no clear path in sight. And although it was a long hike, we found ways to entertain ourselves, like singing songs and playing games. It was also a great bonding experience with the rest of Yerucham. I talked to a lot of people that I hadn't had a chance to really interact with before, so that was really exciting. Thursday night we again had a fantastic dinner and campfire activities.
Friday morning I woke up bright and early at 4:30 to a chorus of 'Happy Birthday's. Although waking up at 4:30 AM is not what I would like to do on my birthday, it was really great to be able to wake up in a place where our whole group was together. I got lots of morning birthday hugs and kisses, and after services there was cake and the whole group sang to me. Then we had our final hike - only five hours - and we made it to the bus that drove us back to Jerusalem.
When we (finally!) arrived back in Jerusalem, I walked into my room to find that Keren and Ashley had decorated it with balloons and streamers for my birthday. Mom sent them a package with supplies to continue the family tradition she started years ago, and they had managed to decorate it at 5 AM Wednesday morning before we left. Since I was a little sad to not be home for the first time ever on my birthday, it was really nice to have some familiarity. I also got to finally open my birthday package from home, and that had lots of wonderful goodies in it. I also got lots of cards for my birthday (thanks everyone!) all of which are now hanging on the wall in my room. And for a GREAT birthday present I got to take a shower after 3 days in the desert, which was WONDERFUL. Then I settled in for a much needed relaxing Shabbat.
All in all it was an amazing 19th birthday and a wonderful Tiyul. =) If you'd like to see pictures, I uploaded a new album that can be found here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/kaleibowitz/BirthdayCelebrationsAndDesertSurvival#
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