Today started off with, thankfully, a late wake up. Looking outside, the clear skies and warm weather marked the start of what I knew was going to be another good day spent in Israel.
The breakfast at Ayelet Hashahar is significantly more nutritious and better than the Caesar, so I was not complaining when I was presented with real fresh produce. After eating my long yearned-for hummus and cucumber, I made my way to prayers. During prayers, Gabe shared ideas about gratitude in מודה אני which really resonated with us all- this encouraged me to introspect and think about all that I am grateful for. After we did some speed dating where we all learnt new things about each other, one of which was my personal goals for my own IST experience.
We left the hotel to go to the Hula Valley for a bicycle tour. I was a bit anxious considering the fact that I haven’t ridden a bike since I was about 8, but as they say, “you never forget how to ride a bike” and that was true. On the tour, we all felt free and happy as we saw the beautiful scenery of the North and watched hundreds of species of birds in the wild. Unlike the past few days of cold weather, the sun decided to shine for us, and I managed to get the summer tan I was missing out on in Sydney.
Exhausted after the ride, we made our way to lunch. We were all relieved to see the all-you-can-eat pizza set out in front of us, made fresh to order in authentic pizza ovens. This was probably the best pizza I’ve eaten in a long time, and definitely the best in Israel seeing its slight lacking in the department of quality Italian food.
After lunch we made a long ascent to the Lebanese border. At the border we entered a kibbutz, and our guide Padi introduced us to the terrain and political details of Hezbollah and surrounding villages. We watched the sun set through the glass windows surrounding us and then got onto the bus to head to free time in the mall.
At the mall we all bought our essentials (Doritos, שוקו בסקית, and mini cookies). I settled on a chocolate milk for the bargain price of 5.50 NIS, something unseen in the Bondi Junction Coles. After extensively boosting the economy of the supermarket, we got back onto the bus en route to Ayelet Hashahar for dinner. Dinner was the usual affair of carb-loaded foods.
After dinner we had an all girls meeting where we learnt about each other’s IST growth through beads. Then we had family time to catch up with our amazing mads and other peers.
I finished off the night with an intense cheerleading session, happy to finally get to bed at the ten o’clock curfew. Watch out Lehava!
lily Ilsar
