Milk, Masada, and Mud

*FROM 10/8*

We had to wake up at 3:15 this morning. At 3:45 we had breakfast, which for me involved 4 cups of milk. By 5ish we were hiking the snake path up Masada. I was fine for about ten minutes and then I started to feel dizzy and like I was going to faint. I had some water but it didn’t help much. I soon realized that milk and early morning hikes do not work well together! The rest of the hike up was fine I just had to go slow. Not too many people made it to the top for sunrise b/c we left the hostel to late but I watched it from about 2/3 of the way up. Once everyone got to the top we had services and then about 3 and a half hours of Jewish History class. We finished learning about King Hered (whose winter house was Masada) and then learned about the Zealots who lived there and how they dealt with the Roman invasion (they all killed themselves and their families so the Romans wouldn’t have the satisfaction). While we were up there we had a snack of dried fruits and nuts (not only b/c they were easy to feed us but because there had been 29 storage rooms up there once upon a time for during fruits, and storing nuts, oils, and wines). Right before we hiked back down, Ariella (our teacher) took us to an area where when you yell at the top of your lungs you can here an echo. Se we had a nice class bonding experience and screamed the name of our class, nfty EIE, etc. Then we walked back down Masada. When we got down we had some free time and then got on the bus headed towards the Dead Sea. Once we got there we had lunch, changed (in a corner with towels b/c none of us wanted to pay for the bathroom), and then had time to go float. Before we got in the water we all put mud on (mud EIE had to buy for us b/c apparently we went to the one part of the dead sea where mud isn’t free). After the mud dried we got in the water. It was really cool to just float and it didn’t sting til about 2 minutes after being in the water (but when it started to sting it hurt!). But I powered through the pain and had fun until right as I was getting out I got water in my eye and couldn’t see where I was going. So I sat there awkwardly for a few minutes until someone brought me a towel to wipe my eye. Then I rinsed off and tanned for a few minutes to dry off. After that we got on the bus and after 2 min. were back in our rooms. Luckily I called first shower. After my shower I was going to do work but feel asleep instead. When I got up I got ready for services and did a little work. Then we had Friday night services (which Yael lead and were the best we have had since we have been here) and then went to dinner (which was yummy). Then we had an hour until oneg so I did some homework. Oneg tonight was really relaxing and fun but afterwards I was ready to sleep. SO I did.