BIRTHDAY ENTRY!!!
I had a wonderful sleep, staying in bed until 11am. I was up and ready in time for lunch at 12pm. As soon as I walked out my door, people continuously wished me 'happy birthday'; and during the day people must have sung it at least 10 times. It was quite surreal: suddenly my birthday had become such a big deal!
When I went to lunch, the entire Academy sang 'Happy B'day', after Dave announced it. Lunch was beautiful, but the constant focus on my birthday was just mind-boggling. After lunch, I had a little schloof / siesta, then Nim took us on a tour of Tsfat. It was bloody cold, and I didn't take warm enough gear at all. The city was almost empty, since it's such a religious place and it was Shabbos.
Nim told a cool story about a guy who gave bread to Hashem every week, and another who took it from 'Hashem' every week: very cute story, but a rather sad ending.
We got back from the tour, and after a little break, went to a Seudat Shlishi with the Hareidim. It was great singing and eating, but we couldn't stay for long, because we had to go do Havdalah. We went downstairs; and everyone sang 'Happy B'day' again (in English and Ivrit); we also all ate Crembo (for which Dave is now so famous); and made a million Lechayims.
It was very sad when we did Havdalah, because Shabbat in Tsfat - my first proper Shabbat in years, and one of my holiest ever - had come to an end. Soon after Havdalah, we got ready to go, and then went on the bus, bound for the Hot Springs near the Golan Heights.
It took about an hour to get to the Hot Springs. Once we were in, the place was packed with Aussies, since all of Academy and Achshav were there. The pool is amazing: there's Sulfur in the water, and it makes the whole pool naturally heated to app 42C.
I swam in this beautiful pool for 1 1/2 hours, and it was extremely relaxing and soothing. It also made me feel better [had been a bit sick today].