We woke up & had breakfast at our hotel before hoping on the bus. Our first stop today was at the Kinneret farm to learn about Israeli agriculture and a little bit about life on a kibbutz. A kibbutz is a communal living area where everything is shared & contributed to the community. This is a very common living arrangement in Israel.
We then went to a short lecture about the geo- politics of Israel that was given by a British jewish journalist that lives in Israel. The talk was fascinating and interactive so I was very engaged throughout. He talked about what is happening in Gaza and in the West Bank. He told us about interviews he has done with Palestinians in the West Bank and how he has had to pretend not to be jewish in order to have those conversations. He told us about how much they believe the Jews should be out of Israel. It was so incredibly eye opening to hear the stories of his interviews and learn more about this issues this country is facing. We talked about the two state solution that has been in talks and we discussed Hamas (the Palestinian terrorist group occupying Gaza) and how the fact that they are located within civilian territory makes it difficult for Israel to attack.
He said that the Palestinians in the West Bank don't like Hamas so it's a really complicated situation that the country is facing. He told us that his boss wanted him to go to the Paul McCartney concert in tel aviv to report on it, but later found out he didn't have to write anything.. This is because they only wanted him there if an event occurred.
We then went to lunch where I again had falafel!
Next we had a rapelling activity! We each rappers down the side of a mountain, it wasn't that far of a rappel but it was really fun! The best part was that at the bottom there were some awesome places to Boulder so a few of us enjoyed climbing around on the rocks and exploring.
We then drove to Jerusalem and had dinner at our new hotel. After dinner we went out on the town in Jerusalem. I didn't expect for Jerusalem to have such vibrant nightlife. As the holy city it wasn't something that I correlated with lots of bars and clubs. However, that's what the scene was. We all went out as a group and had a blast. The small streets with patios were nice to relax on and the music from about 5 years ago was so fun to dance to. All the bars were literally playing music from YouTube. It was great. The city reminded me a bit of Sevilla. The small winding streets with bars and cafes everywhere made me nostalgic.
We got back to the hotel spent a little time on the roof patio & went to sleep!
Sending smiles from Jerusalem,
Rebecca
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