Let me start off by saying that I am significantly more friendly than most other people who have been home schooled. Because of this, I had no problem meeting up with a group of people my age whom I had never met before.
My friend Rafi, from back in the States (as the Israelis say), is from Israel - and he so generously introduced a few friends of his to me, via Facebook. One of them, Kobe, contacted me and invited me to join himself and friends for a night of coffee and hanging out on Friday, then hiking the mountains of the Dead Sea on Saturday.
From the beginning:
Friday morning my cousin (of distant relation) Roy and his wife Keren picked me up, and took me out to breakfast at a restaurant in Tel Aviv. There I experienced the most amazing hummus that has ever touched my taste buds. The thing that surprised me the most about the hummus here was how creamy it was, and not so much like a paste in the States. The pita was so fresh, that it took hardly any effort to tear off a piece.
After breakfast we went to the beach and ordered some drinks, while watching the glistening water and catching up (well, really, meeting for the first time) on family history.
We then picked up Keren's brother and headed into Jaffa for some food and exploring. This place is a serious sensory overload, in the most beautiful way possible. Colors, smells, sounds around every corner.
A few hours later we ended up at Keren's mother's house, where I was blessed to be fed a wonderful vegan meal, and provided many a cats to pet and take pictures of.
Roy and Keren then drove me to meet up with Kobe and his friends. Of course, I brought my Kendama, which has turned out to be the perfect ice breaker. There was a lot of laughter learning about each other.
The next morning, myself and the group went hiking in the mountains of the Dead Sea. The first half of the hike is through a canyon (like the grand canyon). you had to rock climb 98% of the hike, and swim the other 2%. I thought some of the hikes I did in the mountains of Tennessee were challenging -HA! This was literally the desert, with constant sun beating down on you, and the physical intensity of the course was far more extreme. I remember making one of the first big turns, and seeing a little pool of water and a giant wall we had to scale at the end, and thinking, "what the !$#&*" All of the effort was well worth the views I witnessed. Breathtaking. It's nothing you could have seen without launching yourself into the stomach of the rocky, sandy cliffs.
After 7 hours of hiking, learning more words in Hebrew, and feeling well accomplished, we went to float in the Dead Sea. I want to make it clear that Israelis have very little shame. So when you forget a swim suit, you just hit the water in your underwear. No matter how non supportive, short, loose, or tight they are. This was a bit of shock, and quite humorous to me. So needless to say, I was swimming (in a swim suit) with a lot of people in their skivvies. And by swimming I mean floppily floating. IT WAS UNREAL - floating in the Dead Sea. You can't not float. It's hard to even try to stand upright. I imagine it to be like space. The water is very oily, and if you don't rinse off wall, you end up with dried salt all over you.
After our long day of adventuring, I managed to somehow navigate a bus station that lacked English writing anywhere. I also managed to get on the right bus, and off of the right stop (mostly because I desperately asked the person in the seat next to me to tell me when I needed to get off the bus).
I am thankful that God has given me such a spirit of adventure, because without it, I would miss out on so many amazing sights, friendships, and experiences overall!
PS.
I stopped answering the questions, "Where are you from?" with "America!", per a friends advice...
I have now started to answer with, "Tennessee!" which has surprisingly accrued the same excited response, "OH! JACK DANIELS!" from everyone.
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