From a mountain top to the lowest place on Earth

Good evening,

I am taking a break from studying for my Hebrew final. Tomorrow morning (Tuesday) is the oral final, and Wednesday is the written final. I don't anticipate sleeping much the next couple days; when they say ulpan is intensive, they're not kidding. I've learned so much over the last four weeks that it hasn't had time to settle yet, it's still a swirly mess upstairs.

This past weekend I was in Masada and Arad. It was AMAZING. The Judean desert is beautiful. I hope to return at some point to stay the night at a hostel type place near Masada and "rent" a camel for a desert tour. The trek up the mountain/hill/plateau (which ever you prefer) took only about 20 minutes and wasn't that strenuous. They do have the option of taking a cable car up and then back down, but we opted for exercise. Once we reached the plateau, I was surprised at how vast Masada is. It would take at least a few hours to see all the ruins of King Herod the Great's winter palaces. One of my favorite spots: the ruins of one of the oldest known synagogues in Israel. It is over 2000 years old, existing during the Second Temple Period. Scrolls were found at the site which helped validate the Dead Sea Scrolls. The weather was pleasant, I wore a t-shirt, but the wind was borderline atrocious. I almost lost my hat several times and it was a little icy. Our stay atop Masada lasted about an hour and a half, and no matter how many times I looked, the view never got old.

View facing east; the Dead Sea is visible at the top, and the "little" square in the right/center is what remains of a Roman base; there were a few of these around the mountain.

Spectacular view looking northeast

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The Dead Sea with the mountains of Jordan in the background

I would have to agree with this sign

The view as we started our descent; notice the cables for the car

After our tour was over, we took the Snake Path down. This path took us over twice as long as the one going up: 45 minutes. It offered breathtaking views and a little anxiety...there were some handrails at the start, but shortly after it was all open; one slip and you got down in a hurry and probably not in one piece. The path is all gravel and rock, with stone steps here and there. Maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I was surprised to see children on this path. Once we safely made it down and onto our bus, we drove to a beach at the Dead Sea. The water is beautiful and so clear. Although the air temperature was quite nice, the water was cooold. It took me several minutes of inching to waist level before I got bold and just leaned back. Once I regained my breath, I couldn't believe it: I was effortlessly floating. After a while I was leaning back with my arms folded across my stomach.

After exiting the water, my skin turned white once it dried; I've never seen leprous skin but I wondered if that's what mine looked like. I rinsed off best I could under one of the showers on the beach (thankfully it was warmer than the sea), but the salt residue was very greasy, and part of my hair was crunchy with salt. If you ever go into the Dead Sea, keep two things in mind: do not get water in your eye, and do not consume any water. Just saying. I touched my tongue with my finger and it burned.

We made our way west to our hostel in Arad. The girls in the above picture were my roommates for the weekend (the last one to your left is my roommate for the semester). If there's one thing I've done a lot of since arriving in Israel, it's eat. And I definitely ate this past weekend. I finally had red meat for the first time since arriving, and the veggies here are amazing. I may never be able to shop at a WalMart again. After getting some much needed rest Friday night, a large group of us took a walk through Arad to a lookout point. Once again the views left me longing to walk through the desert below.

Well you've had a small taste of what my weekend was like. Back to studying!

Stacey