I woke up in The Institution to a frantic call from Rosa telling me I had to be on a bus to Tel Aviv within the hour. Groggily, I looked around the room. It was still dirty, the previous nights cleaning had obviously not made much of a difference as there were still clothes everywhere. Still in my pajamas, I caught a bus home and hastily showered, stuffing clothes; two sleeping bags; my camera; extra shoes; a foam mattress and my toothbrush into my hkiing backpack. I left Jerusalem's sweltering heat for an even hotter Tel Aviv by Shirut and had 6 sheckel Falafel in the Bus Station. It was the best falafel I had ever had.
The four of us, our b]classic hiking group boarded the bus to Be'er Shevah and managed to catch the last bus the Sde' Boker. I must have fallen asleep because the normally long and unbearable bur ride to the south was really rather quick and I was well rested when we got to our camping grounds.
We met two really nice Israelies who made us coffee and pointed us in the right direction. We hiked our way down a small mountain ravine to the camping grounds where we set up our tent and ate a lovely salad and pitah dinner. It was still light, and we had done all the things we would normally have done in pitch dark. We got comfy in a leaning square and talked animatedly about boys and the world and how weird it would be when the four became three and then two.
The car ride was progressively less awkward as Lily worked her magic and made political conversations while I only volunteered some sarcastic comments about superstition from the back seat.
A phone call from Anat meant that we would be having a farewell dinner for Rosa, at, conveniently, a restaurant called "Roza".
The food was amazing, and warm for once, while the company was even better. Gal joined us and did some reminiscing about Australia with the other Aussie that was there while the shlichim and I lead a few good rounds of Nkosi Sikelela and Shosholoza. It was one of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen, but ended up with us being kicked to the curb at 2am when the restaurant wanted to close. We hugged goodbye and promised to see everyone soon.
