When you say "hike"...

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Salaam, Shalom, Hola y'all.
Just got out of another day of Ulpan. Apparently we once again expecting snow tonight. It's a little funny the panic Israelis get into over snow. The Supermarkets are a madhouse beforehand, and when an inch of snow falls, everything shuts down (school, buses, stores, etc.). Only three days left of Ulpan before classes start.
last weekend I went with a couple of my roommates went on an organized trip with at least seventy other international students to the Negev ( the big desert in the South). I went to bed at 2 AM the night before, woke up at 5 AM, and we left at 6:30 AM. I slept through most of the three hour ride. Our first stop was the grave of David Ben-Gurion (the first Prime Minister of Israel) and his wife Paula. There were wonderful views from there. After hearing some history of the place, we were informed that the previously scheduled four hour hike would have to be canceled due to flooding. I know what you are thinking, "Floods?! In the desert?! Mah ze (What's this?)?!" As it so happens, whenever it rains, the ground closes up, not allowing rainwater to soak in. The water then simply follows gravity, gathering and flowing down a nearby valley. And so you have a flash flood. Happily, however, they told us we would have a shorter 2 and a half hour hike later.
From the grave site, we continued on to an ancient Roman/Nabatean city called Avdat. The Nabateans were a nomadic tribe that founded the Incense Trail, constructed Petra in Jordan, and were taken over by the Romans. Lovely architecture. Unfortunately, some of the other students, we'll call them the Dipshits, took too long dipshitting around, and so when we arrived at the hike area, we found out we could only do a one hour walk in a small circle, lest we be caught on the road when Shabbat begins. After the "hike," we checked in to the hostel we would be staying in, changed, and went downstairs for Shabbat dinner. The food was pretty good. Unfortunately, my friends and I sat just in front of the Dipshits, who brought a bottle of vodka to dinner, which they proceeded to down in great haste, and sang, loudly and out of tune, Hebrew songs from their childhood, while banging on the table and yelling at each other. There singing, cheering, jeering, and whatnot drowned out the girl giving what I can only describe as a sort of informal homily (for the Christian readers). I can't remember what it is called. At the end of dinner, the Dipshits stumbled out of the dining hall, hanging on each other and kicking open doors. My friends and I went back to the room and hung out for awhile before turning in for the night.
The next day day was significantly more pleasant. After breakfast, half of the group walked to a nearby archery range for our morning activity. Here I found out that I very much enjoy archery, and I'm not half bad at it. For the next hour and a half or so, we practiced our archery skills, firing on different targets (long range , downward, and straight on). The different targets were in a large circuit, which I was not aware of at the first station. I left my bag there, and since there was another group right behind us, the instructor told me to wait till the end to get the circuit. When we finished, I returned to the first station with a girl who left her water bottle. Walking, we noticed a group at the top of a cliff firing down on a nearby target. I suggested we walk a little farther away. We moved about fifty feet away, then continued on. When we could see the first station, we noticed our belongings were not there, and stopped to get our bearings. At this point an arrow (no point, mind you) landed not five feet from us, at which point I suggested we move a farther away. As it turns out another group found our things and brought back to the main camp. In addition, as it turns out, the archer had been aiming for us, or more precisely, for the rock just next to us. Of course it was all in good fun.
After the archery range, we returned to the hostel for lunch, before going on a walk around Mitzpe Ramon (Ramon Crater). Actually, it is not so much a crater created by a meteorite, but a series of valleys caused by erosion. More of a canyon, really. Again, lovely views. I also got some pictures of a family of ibex (they look like goats with very long, curved horns) lounging next to the road. We climbed the small Har Gamal (Camel Mountain). Not really a mountain, but it looks like a lying camel. After Har Gamal, we laid down for a few minutes of quiet meditation, before returning for dinner. Dinner was uneventful, and the ride back home was quiet and relatively peaceful.
All in all, the Mitzpe Ramon was thoroughly worthwhile, if only for the second day. After our last day of Ulpan Thursday, a couple of my roommates, Alyssa and Carolyn, as well as a couple of our friends, Jenny and Valentina, are traveling to Eilat for a nice, relaxing weekend for classes. Eilat is a beach resort town at the souther tip of Israel. I will work on posting pictures, either here or on Facebook, as soon as possible, as I still do not have Internet in my room. The beard is still going strong, though I think I will be trimming it in the near future. Carolyn, Carly, and Alyssa was me to shave it in "pieces" when I decide the beard that run its course.
The courses I am taking this semester are Hebrew (not yet sure which level), Modern Standard Arabic II, Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Documentary History, and Selected Readings in the Qu'ran and Hadith. That is all for now, goodbye.

-Bob Burian

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