It is currently 1am January 2nd. I am due at the airport in 12.5 hours to meet up with my group and start the trip to Israel. I have only met two people in my group before and the only time I met them was at the info session so this should be really interesting right away as between the trip and travel time I will be spending the next 12 days with these 42 or so people.

I'm really excited to get going. I'm finishing up my packing, trying to take out as much as possible from my bag, I am really not the best packer.

I don't really have much to say as of now, I will try to post as much as possible during my trip however I don't know if we will have any access to a computer so I'll just do my best.

Happy New Year to everyone!

We made it! The flight lasted forever, I managed to watch two movies and pretend to sleep for maybe 3 or even 4 hours (I lost track). It is currently 10pm local time January 3rd, considering I got up January 2nd and did not get what I would call real sleep on the flight I am feeling pretty good right now.

The travel was pretty good. I had tons of time at the airport to start getting to know each other (there are 41 of us + 2 leaders + 1 armed medic). We will also be joined in a couple of days by a couple of IDF soldiers.

After gathering our bags and having lunch we started off nice and easy with a couple of ice breakers. The first 'real' thing we did was go to the Hall of Independence. This is where the announcement was made May 14, 1948 (and the document signed) that Israel was now an independent state. It is a pretty powerful building even though it does not look like much from the outside. I think the only thing that could have made it a bit better would have ben if we were not falling asleep quite so much. They showed us a video (lights out) which was really hard, however once we moved down to the main room I found it much easier to keep my eyes open as there was much more to take in.

To finish off the evening we went out to dinner at a nice restaurant and ate a massive pile of good food. Tonight most people are relaxing and prepping for tomorrow.

Tomorrow we head off to Jerusalem, we will go to the market and the the West Wall for Shabbat. I don't think the whole trip has quite set in yet. I think it will become much more 'real' tomorrow once we are in Jerusalem.

We have been very busy since my first post. Today was a bit of a rough day as we first went to the Holocaust Memorial Museum (Yad Vashem)followed by the National Military Cemetery (Mount Herzl Park). It was a very emotional day for many people. We finished off the main activities on a lighter note as we went and packed food at the largest food bank in the country which was a welcome change.

Over the past couple of days we have moved around a lot. Sunday we spent most of the day in and around the Old City of Jerusalem. So far the old city has been my favorite part of the trip. I find it fascinating how the city has been rebuilt on top of itself so many times. They continue to excavate and find all kinds of new treasures which is really amazing.

We have been to the West Wall twice, once for Shabbat and then again on Sunday. I wish we had gone to the Holocaust Memorial before returning to the West Wall as I think it would have had more meaning for many of us.

We have been to the open air market as well as Ben Yehuda street (where we are now for the second time) for some shopping and free time.

The only thing which I have not really liked so far is that because we have so much to do we often do not spend enough time at many places.

On Shabbat we had an hour talk with Neil Lazarus which was really interesting and then went to the Israel Museum to see the Dead Sea Scrolls.

We have done a few more thing which I can't recall right now.

Unfortunately I was not able to see Frank. I am unable to leave to the group for security reasons (I get kicked off the trip if I do). As I have to return home for work at the end of the trip I don't know if there is anything else I can do at this point. I thought I would be able to move around more freely during 'free' time however that is not the case.

Tomorrow we head off to the desert and then the Dead Sea the following day. I don't think I will have internet access for a couple of days.

Last night was our night in the desert at the Bedowen camp. It was interesting to learn a bit about their culture however, like many other things on the trip, the cultural portion was a bit short due to timing. The tent where we slept was a bit better then I was anticipating, for one there was a big heating/fan at one end of the tent. The end result was that it was pretty warm inside, almost too warm.

Before heading to bed a couple of us walked out the end of the camp to try and get out of the light of the camp so that we could see the sky a bit better. We ended up waiting just a bit to long to do so as the clouds started coming in, however there were still some very interesting things to see. The light did not go out too far out of the camp because there was a bit of a hill followed by a quick drop which looked like a cliff. After our eyes adjusted to the little light that there was it felt like we were standing on the moon, just a tiny bit of light, and barren desert/rocks. There were also some mountains framed in the distance which looked really cool in the low light.

Today started at 5am. We had to get up so that we could climb Messada for sunrise. It was really nice at the top and the climb was really simple. Once at the top we watched the sun come up and looked at the Roman ruins. The climb down was much longer (100+ more vertical meters then the way up as we went down the other side) and a bit slippery due to the loose rocks.

Following breakfast (some 4 hours after getting up) we made out way to a nature preserve and then the Dead Sea. We covered ourselves in mud and made the long trek to where the waterline is currently situated. The Dead Sea is shrinking approx. 1cm per month which means this walk is not as short as one would expect. After working in the water for years (lifeguard) it was hard to comprehend what would actually happen once I got into the water. Wow was it cool to be able to sit there on top of the water. There were a couple of waves big enough to throw up some spray so I can tell you just how salty the water really is. It ended up being quite a lot of fun.

Due to being a bit behind schedule we (the bus) did something that we were not really supposed to do to save some time, we drove straight north to get to our current destination. If you look at a map you will see that if you start at the bottom of the Dead Sea and go straight north you go through a section of land that, depending on how you look at it, is not really part of Israel. We followed the Jordanian border most of the way and arrived at the kibbutz in time for a very good dinner.

Tomorrow we are scheduled to go for a hike in the Golan Heights and visit a winery in the area, it should be a good day.

I am now back in Ottawa and Israel is a memory. It felt weird being back at work the other day, almost surreal after everything I saw and experienced in Israel. The trip back was alright, there is nothing really exciting about a 12 hour flight. The only neat thing about the flight home was the 6 hour sunset I was able to see due to us flying west through the afternoon.

As for the last days of the trip itself it wrapped up in an enjoyable fashion. We were staying at the Ein Gev Kibbutz in the Golan Heights which just so happened to be right on the Keneret. We did not realize this when we arrived as it was night and all we could see was darkness beyond the cottages where we were staying. When I got out the next morning I stepped outside and was surprised to see a beach and the water 50 meters or so away.

The Golan Heights is a very nice region, lots of green all around as well as hills and mountains which make it very picturesque. We went on two hikes while in the Golan Heights which were both really nice. We had fantastic views and it was really nice to be outside in the nice, but slightly cool, weather. We visited Mt. Bental where we could look fairly deep into Syria. There was also an old army base dug into the mountain which we could explore a little bit. The second hike was on Mt. Arbel where there are a number of caves. This is supposedly where Judas and the Maccabees hung out before retaking Jerusalem.

One event from which I brought something home was our visit to the Golan Heights Winery. That visit also helped fuel late night parties for the next couple of nights. Due to time being tight we did not really get to see very much when we went to Tzfat, Shabbat was coming so everything was closing.

I will try to over the itinerary in a few days and write about any of the places I forgot to mention.

For now I will just say it was a really good trip. I made some new friends and had a really good time.

One thing that is very important to keep in mind if you go do Israel in December or January is that unless you are in the south, it is not a warm place. It would be a very easy mistake to make, packing not enough warm weather gear, however it would be a very big mistake. Thankfully I received very useful warnings from my brother and cousin in this regard so I was fairly well prepared. I had my late fall jacket with me which is really warm and I took extra long sleeve shirts. If I was going again I would take even less t-shirts and shorts as they are not really needed. I think I only wore shorts one day and that was just because I decided since I was in Israel I should wear shorts at least once.

Our visit to Rabin Square was short and to the point. It is a really big open space right in front of Tel Aviv city hall, Rabin had just finished speaking to a massive crowd and had come down the back stairs to a waiting car when he was shot. I remember hearing the news when it happened and how I felt then, it was a really major event and visiting the spot was moving.

One really interesting place we visited was a secret ammunition factory which dates back to the late 1940s. It was constructed inside a hill on a Kibbutz which overlooked one of the largest a British army camps of the time. Its secret was so well guarded that with the exception of the people who worked in the factory and two other people above ground, no one else on the Kibbutz knew of its existence. The reason for the factory was that leading up the Israel's independence they realized that once independence was declared and the British left they would be attacked. Israel had a decent supply of guns but very little ammunition. The factory was never detected while it operated. It is a very interesting site due to the challenged its construction and operation presented.

Between Jerusalem and the Ein Gev Kibbutz we stopped at an archeological dig. We were able to go into the caves where the digging was taking place and take part in the dig for a short time. Myself and two other people were tasked with starting to dig out a new room which had just been discovered. This consisted of the other two people wrenching dirt out of a little hole which had been started and me collecting the dirt in buckets and sorting out any interesting things that came out. We discovered a little oil lamp which we were told was museum quality which had been buried for over 1000 years. That was really cool. At the end of the dig they have bins of pottery shards which are of no value which you can take if you like. They have so many pieces of pottery that if there is nothing remarkable about it they through it in these bins. I was a really cool place.

One of the best parts of the trip for me was not any of the places we went, but the IDF soldiers which joined us for the second half of our trip. Having the soldiers with us really allowed us to ask questions, explore, and get a sense for what it was like growing up and living in Israel. Young people grow up knowing that they will have to do military service, and they grow up in a very different atmosphere then we are used to in North America. Listening to them talk and share their experiences with us was great. The 5 guys with us were all in the navy. In order to join the navy you have to commit to 7 years of service instead of the mandatory 3 years for guys (girls do 2 years). The 3 girls with us were all training officers at a base which was really close to where we stayed in the Golan Heights.

I think that wraps up most of the main points of interest on my trip. I really enjoyed the trip and will be doing my best to stay in touch with as many people as possible from my group as well as the soldiers who joined us.