Final Days of Birthright

Tuesday, June 19

3:30 am wake-up call! It's dark outside and we gather in the lobby of our hotel where coffee, cake and cookies await us. We munch our food, trying to get more awake. At 4:00, we board the bus and are taken to the base of Mount Tzefachot. We start making our way up, passing what looks like army personnel and a military vehicle - these were the search and rescue team who are posted here to get any hikers out of trouble. Ami tells us there is a huge hike that one can do in Israel that takes a period of nine days to do and the path we're taking is the very last stretch of that hike.
So we make our way up. Compared to previous hikes, it's very easy. It only takes about an hour before we reach the top. The sky is lighter now but the reason for this hike is so we can watch the sunrise coming up over the mountains on the other side. Ami points out that we can see Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia from our location. It's very warm in Eilat and there's an occasional nice breeze on the mountain, so we hang out, take pictures and wait for the sun. In short time, it does come up and more pictures are taken. It was a nice scene to take in before we made the walk down to the bus.

Back the hotel, we have our breakfast and head out once more. We go to a school for the underprivileged and learn a little bit about the school. This is the P2G Tikun Olam Program - an organization whose overall mission is to connect Jewish people with Israel. In this case, we are spending time with children, playing games with them and getting to be a part of their lives for a couple of hours.

We have lunch and proceed to Almog Beach where we have a snorkelling session. We get an employee - Kelly - who will take us out and around the coral and spots of fish. It was amazing to see some of the vibrant colours on these fish, and there were schools of these teeny tiny blue fish. It was an awesome experience. I'd never done snorkelling before except in a pool lesson once, so this was far more fun. We had a little time to relax on the beach afterward and rest up.

Then back to the hotel and that basically concluded the day. It was, overall, a much easier day that others we'd had.


Wednesday, June 20

We check out of our hotel and prepare for the five-hour drive back to Tel Aviv. I'm feeling under the weather, since the cold I could sort of feel coming on had finally hit me. So when the bus stopped for the trip to the graves of David and Paula Ben Gurion (the first prime minister of Israel and his wife) I stayed on the bus and rested up. I was a little upset to miss the program but I wasn't feeling up for it.

Once in Tel Aviv, we make a quick visit to Rabin Square, which is the site where Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. There is a memorial sculpture piece on the ground that contains cracked, uneven stones and is made to look like the ground after an earthquake, and it represents the resulting political instability and the emotions felt after Rabin's death. On the ground also are small circular plaques that display the location of Rabin, his guards and the assassin. Ami tells us about the murder, about Rabin himself and the reactions felt. Rabin had in his pocket a sheet of paper that, when pulled out, was stained with his blood - this was the lyrics to the Song for Peace, and Rabin was a strong promoter of peace but was killed for it.

Back on the bus, we are taken to Carmel Market, a large flea market that also contains food stalls (much the same as Machane Yehuda Market in Jerusalem, but larger and with more clothing/souvenirs/bags/etc.) We are given time to shop and eat lunch.
We then take a walk to a building where Lone Soldiers are allowed to come and rest. Lone Soldiers are those members of the Israel Defense Forces who do not have family in Israel. We have a group summary there with Shira, a representative from CIE Birthright. Our guide and staff are sent out of the room and we are allowed to speak frankly on our experiences with them and with the program as a whole. We talk about the good and the bad; Shira notes any criticisms and positives and can use them in planning future programs. When our guide/staff return, we all share in our memorable highlights, which were funny and happy and made us all remember each moment.

Then we walked to Independence Hall, where the State of Israel was created. We watched a video on Tel Aviv's creation and expansion.
After the video, we moved to the room that sat the actual panel of men who signed the Declaration of Independence. The room preserved the long table, microphones and seats as they were in 1948. We listened to a speech about the Independence and state of Israel at that time.

We returned to Bat Yam, a city just south of Tel Aviv, and checked into our hotel there for our last night as a group. We have another group summary where Jared and Jill have their own speeches because they didn't have time to do so earlier. They gave out some joke gifts to people, and we presented them with signed t-shirts and notebooks containing our gratitude. A few of the soldiers we'd parted with days earlier showed up and surprised us and it was great to see them again.

People went out to a bar afterward, but I was still feeling unwell. Thankfully, Erica - one of the participants - had some leftover medication from when she had her cold in the first days, and gave me a few. It helped immensely. That night, though, I stayed at the hotel and went to bed early.


Thursday, June 21

The final breakfast! We eat our last meal as a group and start saying our goodbyes. A lot of people extended the trip but there were quite a few who were leaving for the airport that day. It was a bit sad to hug these people goodbye but I'm certain I'll see them again in Toronto.

A group of us who were to be in Tel Aviv for that night moved out of the hotel and to the Chef hostel. There were eight of us altogether in that place, though there was another small group staying at a different hostel. I was only there for a night but the others would stay at least a couple days.

That evening, we had some difficulty coordinating the group, and Mike was getting a bit exasperated. But we eventually just hung out together at a restaurant called Little Prague, which has good food. I didn't eat there, opting for sushi earlier (which was actually decent).

So that's the end of Birthright! The next day I would head up to Megiddo, and I'll write about that next time.