Headed back to Jerusalem

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After a pretty restless night (it was pretty rocky), I awoke to Greg telling us all to wake up before we missed the sunrise. A half hour later, the sun began to slowly rise over the mountains of Jordan. It was incredible! My pictures don't do it justice. After the sunrise, a few went bent to sleep, while others jumped into the crystal clear water. I'm still amazed on how clearly I could see the fish swimming around me.
Before leaving Eliat, we decided to go "tubing". What's tubing? You take 2 rafts with 4 pairs of rope holds on each. Then tie the 2 rafts to the back of one power boat. Then 4 crazy people lie down on each raft and hold on to the rope holds. Then the boat takes off and you hold on for dear life. it was the craziest thing! But it was a lot of fun! Sara fell off (twice). And Greg....well Greg apparently thought he was riding a horse. He kept pulling up and down on the raft and in the process spent most of the time being pulled along in the water instead of on the raft.
After a quick bite to eat, we set off on our 5 hour bus ride back to Jerusalem. I was a bit nervous at the lack of a bathroom, but thankfully the bus stopped twice on the way back. One of the stops was at the Dead Sea. We had been driving along the outskirts of the Dead Sea for 15 minutes or so, and I'm pretty sure everyone on that bus was thinking the same thing...."I wish we could stop long enough to get in". All of the sudden, the bus driver stopped and said "15 minutes". Everyone looked around at each other, screamed in delight, and jumped off the bus and into the Dead Sea. I was only in there for less than 10 minutes but it was great! There's something about being able to float or sit back on the water with no effort. Although I managed to keep it out of my eyes this time, I still ended up with it in my mouth (yuk!).
We made it back to Jerusalem jsut as the sun was setting and Shabbot (the Sabbath) was beginning. We went to my favorite "heathen" restaurant. There aren't many places open during Shabbot - most populated by either Christians or heathens...
We ended the night at Sara's with ice cream and coffee. Yum....

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Photos

just chillin'
Jolie (Denver) and Brenda (New York)

Here we go!
Sara (San Diego), Clive (London/South Africa), Me, Jim (Los Angeles)

Tubing
Can anyone explain to me what Greg is doing?

In the Water
In our attempt to "rescue" Sara, I fell in with her. Anyone notice how tightly Jim is holding on?

Enjoying the ride
So Jim, are you smiling for the camera?

Enjoying Shabbot
Me, Sara (San Diego), Elizabeth (Los Angeles), Wouter (South Africa)

Don't even think about it!
Wouter (South Africa)considering the lastest fashions...

Jolie (Denver) & Greg (London/Israel)
The good thing about writing retroactively is that I can happily report that this is the 3rd couple to start dating from the conference.