We rose and shined bright 'n' early, since we were leaving Eilat this morning. We had breakfast and checked out, and I managed to get my suitcase - held shut only with straps packed onto the bus. There were about 50 Christian Nigerians in the breakfast room - apparently, we left just in time before the place got taken over by them!
The bus drove north, back up the road that goes through the Arava valley. To our left and right were the occasional agricultural settlements - surrounded by lots of sand - and behind them, bare black mountains.
We stopped for a morning snack at the "Choco factory", where we bought some chocolates, drank a bit of choco milk, and caught up with Academy 1. Then we continued on through the desert road.
The goose in the Arava that started stalking NimrodThe morning activity - "Partnership 2000" - was held at some gardens planted in the desert near a settlement. When we got off the bus, we saw an extremely cute goose, that waddled up to us on its webbed feet, and that wouldn't leave Nimrod alone! It was so funny: the goose kept following him, until eventually it got bored and went back to its home in the pond.
But we weren't brought out here to see the geese: we came here to meet some Israeli kids - a bit younger than us - that live in the Arava. We all sat in a circle, and played the name game with the Israeli kids. Then we played the "scissors, paper, rock" tournament game; and we had a discussion about life in the Arava, and in Israel in general.
It was good fun, meeting a few more kids our age; but the activity was (in my opinion) a bit of a waste of time. It didn't seem to have much purpose, and if it did, it didn't achieve it. But anyway, before long we were continuing along through the desert, north.
After another long ride, we got to the Moshav of En Yahav, where a really boring lady got on the bus and talked about the Moshav. Not that she was that boring: just that I was really tired, and fell asleep during her little talk.
The bus took us up to a lookout point, from where we had a good view of the entire En Yahav. Most of the place consists of greenhouses - there must be over 100 of them - and apparently the climate in them is now all controlled by computers. Also, the plants used to be all exposed to the open; but the greenhouses have significantly improved the crop.
That was the extent of our tour of En Yahav. Just before we left, Asher and Semii went across the road to piss behind a tree. When we got back on the bus, Nimrod announced: "Asher and Dan, welcome back from Jordan! Did you get your passport stamped?" By crossing the road, they had crossed into Jordan!
Just outside En Yahav, we visited a sculpture park - brand new, only opened last year - made by the Aussie sculptor Andrew Rodgers. In order to see the artwork properly, we had to climb a hill. From the top, we could see that a formation of cobblestones below had been sculpted into a giant "Chai" (life).
At the Chai sculpture parkI got a photo of me with my Chai necklace showing [can't see the necklace in the photo], and the Chai sculpture behind me. When the Chai was made, Rodgers got 100 pregnant women to stand on it, to symbolise the cycle of life. There were also 2 other sculptures - a cross-section of a conch, and a series of waves and curvy stones - but they weren't nearly as good.
We continued on our long bus ride through the desert - taking the same, windy, treacherous mountain road we took when desert survival finished - until (also like the end of desert survival) we got to Ben Gurion university [Sder Boker campus], where a long-awaited lunch greeted us.
After lunch, we were greeted by something we did not expect. Thanks to some expert logistical planning on Nim's part, it just turned out that while we were still at Ben-Gurion Uni (as well as Academy 1), several buses dropped off all the Hineni, Betar, and Hubbo Shnat kids, as well as Birthright and Aviv kids. So we met pretty much all the Aussie kids that had just arrived in Israel (apart from the B'nei ones).
And what happens when hundreds of Aussie kids meet each other, unexpectedly, thousands of miles away from home, after being separated for an extended period of time? WHAT happens?
OMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGOD!!!!!!
That's right: the ever-present, inevitable flood of hugs, screams, and frenzied talk. I must admit that even I released the odd "omigod" or two.
I saw some people I hadn't seen for a long time: Rocky, Maya, Fischer, and Toe from Hineni (among others); and Dean Ginsberg (Netzer), and Janis Seftel (Betar).
At Sder Boker, with the Shnatties.It was wonderful to see some people outside of Academy: kind of a shock to remember that there is a world outside our little group. As I said: "to your left, ladies and gentlemen, you will see some long lost friends". Good to put everything back in perspective.
The meeting took place just outside the tomb of Ben-Gurion; so after the millions of hugs, screams, and photos, we said goodbye to our friends from Oz (for the last time, since we're about to leave and they're staying for the next year) and went to the place where David Ben Gurion, first Prime Minister of Israel - and his wife, Pola - are buried.
Ben-Gurion wanted the two of them to be buried in the Negev. He chose the site himself: it's beautiful, on the edge of a cliff, looking out onto a huge arid valley, cradled by steep mountains. Nimrod told us plenty of stories about Ben-Gurion: how he fought for a Zionist state since he made Aliyah in 1906; how his dream was to transform the Negev; and how the only person in Israel above him was his wife. Their graves are very plain: nothing is written on them except their names, DOB and DOD, and year of Aliyah; and they're made of plain sandstone, not impressive marble.
Sunset over Sder BokerAs we left the tomb, we saw the sun set behind the mountains west of the tomb: absolutely beautiful. We then got back on the bus, and drove to the kibbutz near Mizpe Ramon where we spent the night.
It was dark by the time we reached the kibbutz, but even in the dark we could tell it was a total hole. The room, was meant to be 'the usual' - Me, Asher, and Beck - but Ari, Semii and Porntoy were next door, and their heater wasn't working; so instead of having 3 vacant beds in our room, they moved in, and all 6 were occupied.
We settled down, had dinner, and then went to our night activity: Nimrod got his father - a retired Air Force pilot - to come and talk to us about his involvement in "Operation Solomon".
Nimrod Senior gave a great story, explaining the operation of 1991 in which 15,000 Ethiopian Jews were flown to Israel in an incredible 36 hours. He told us how he flew the first plane - the one carrying equipment and a maintenance crew - to Ethiopia and established a repair base there. We also saw the video about it, that was produced by the Tzahal.