The bathroom of our flat was disgusting when I glanced in that direction on ,y way out. A bright green backpack on my back, hiking boots, a sleeping bag, and, unfortunately, a very negative out look on the world. No one wanted to go on this stupid hike to the stupid north for a stupid weekend. Especially after just coming back from our perspective hikes on Machon and Etgar.
Begrudgingly, I got on the bus, found a seat next to Dan Rattana and settled in for a three hour bus ride.
The negative spirits were broken by an over enthusiastic Machon group. Etgar sat at the front of the bus, bitterness on their faces, as they wondered why Machon were so excited at the prospect of sleeping out side for three days.
Machons cheery atmosphere suddenly changed to negative retorts and shouts about whose mother is what and the stony faced machon-nicks sat in silence before Jade made her way up to the front of the bus and publicaly announced that it was all a joke.
The mood lightened slightly after that, and the bus fell into silent whispers of snores from those who hadn't got quite enough sleep the night before.
We were woken by a tirade of Jeffrey. We were all unprepared for a Moses that swore every five minutes and wore a gangster hat, but unfortunately, that's what we were subjected to for the short hike to the beach. As with all our hikes, Guy entertains us with his odd games, one which involved Jordy being a penguin and us guessing every other animal you could think of whilst she desperately tries to depict this simple animal.
Hilarious.
The beach was not a sandy affair as one might think it would be, rather, there were rocks, lots of rocks, and shells, lots of shells. All with peculiarly perfect little round hole through them. They were slippery, and hurt my bare feet to walk on them. The sea was salty and stung my legs. I reminded myself not to shave right before going to a beach in Israel next time.
I spent a good few minutes putting different stones in between Aries toes.
That night we slept under the stars, after making our dinner, true Israelie camping style: Poikeh and salad. It was the most amazing meal in the history of Shnat so far, and my favourite part, was sitting in a tree, above everyone who was chopping and making tea playing an African Drum and singing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". The branches were sturdy enough to hold us up, and soon after a few more people joined the Tree Party.
I woke up in the middle of the night, rolled over, opened my eyes to a sea of stars shining brightly in the night sky. Through the trees I could make out a few constellations, and through the sound of Josh snoring I eventually was able to fall asleep, and if you had been awake at exactly that moment, you would probably have seen the biggest smile on my face as I lay under the best blanket in the world. I was completely at peace with the world.
Our hike the next morning started off with a bang! The Tikkun Fairys had come and granted some wishes for our Netzer friends, as they would continue to do throughout the weekend. The hike wasn't too difficult and I really got ot bond with some of the people I hadn't yet been able to bond with. Naomi and I are much better friends than I thought we would ever have been. The first part of the hike consisted of many a good try to rhyme my name with things in a game of Contact 123, which progressed over the next 6 hours to many a rendition of My Childhood Was Better Than Yours. Two of the best games ever invented by far.
