By Matt Smith
Day 4 began at 7:30 with breakfast at the Eden hotel and a bus meeting. Today we were being joined by eight Israeli soldiers for the next five days and our group discussed what we thought they would be like. Some of us thought they would all be these muscular warriors, but we were wrong. They were just like us. They're our age and if they lived in America, they could very well have been at a University and on a Birthright trip as well. I anticipated speaking to them about the war, and their views on the Arab-Israeli conflict, but instead we connected with them on an entirely different level. We spoke about music, movies, sports and our goals for the future.
We began the day by driving to the Israel-Lebanon border where we stood feet away from the border fence and had an excellent view of the valley and the Lebanese towns on the border. We visited Kibutz Mizgav Am which is directly on the border with Lebanon and listened to a resident speak about the challenges and rewards of living in this part of Israel.
We then hiked through Ein Tina through the Golan Heights and got our feet wet as we walked through a river and climbed our way up to a beautiful waterfall. We continued to connect with the soldiers who would now be with us every step of the way, and when they all took off their uniforms and put on regular civilian clothes, they seemed even more like us. I'm not sure an outsider could have told the difference between Israeli and American if they didn't hear an accent.
After lunch we went Kayaking along the Jordan River which was a lot of fun. Everyone had a blast as we raced each other, had a few splashes and fought over an Israeli Watermelon! Tomorrow we are going to Jerusalem and there is an uplifting energy throughout our bus. One thing I can say for sure is that our trip is going to be even better with the eight new additions to the Mayanot 89 bus!
Day 4 began at 7:30 with breakfast at the Eden hotel and a bus meeting. Today we were being joined by eight Israeli soldiers for the next five days and our group discussed what we thought they would be like. Some of us thought they would all be these muscular warriors, but we were wrong. They were just like us. They're our age and if they lived in America, they could very well have been at a University and on a Birthright trip as well. I anticipated speaking to them about the war, and their views on the Arab-Israeli conflict, but instead we connected with them on an entirely different level. We spoke about music, movies, sports and our goals for the future.
We began the day by driving to the Israel-Lebanon border where we stood feet away from the border fence and had an excellent view of the valley and the Lebanese towns on the border. We visited Kibutz Mizgav Am which is directly on the border with Lebanon and listened to a resident speak about the challenges and rewards of living in this part of Israel.
We then hiked through Ein Tina through the Golan Heights and got our feet wet as we walked through a river and climbed our way up to a beautiful waterfall. We continued to connect with the soldiers who would now be with us every step of the way, and when they all took off their uniforms and put on regular civilian clothes, they seemed even more like us. I'm not sure an outsider could have told the difference between Israeli and American if they didn't hear an accent.
After lunch we went Kayaking along the Jordan River which was a lot of fun. Everyone had a blast as we raced each other, had a few splashes and fought over an Israeli Watermelon! Tomorrow we are going to Jerusalem and there is an uplifting energy throughout our bus. One thing I can say for sure is that our trip is going to be even better with the eight new additions to the Mayanot 89 bus!
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