May 1st: Nate and Noah F.’s blog

Wednesday’s bloggers are Nate and Noah F.:

After a good night’s sleep, everyone was very happy and refreshed. Following a beautiful Tefilah in front of the Kinneret and a big breakfast, we were ready for the first activity of the day, bike riding! We all headed over to the bike trail in the Hula Valley, where we rode on an 8.5 kilometer path as we took in the nature surrounding us. We stopped halfway for an educational discussion about conserving water and where the water comes from in Israel. Upon finishing our tiring ride, we were all starving on our way to the Jordan River. Luckily, a delicious homemade pizza lunch was more than satisfactory, as we gorged on the delectable meal. Still hot and sweaty, it’s fair to say that we all needed a chance to cool down. We drove to Kfar Blum, where we changed into our bathing attire to prepare for a wild rafting experience. Rafting and swimming in the cool water was incredibly fun, as we navigated our way through twists and turns, including an awesome waterfall! After drying off and changing, we once again got in the bus to go to our next stop: an old fort adjacent to the Israeli-Syrian border. There we learned all about the strategic value to Israel of controlling the Golan through an interactive activity. We then had some time to look around and even enter some of the bunkers formerly used by the Israeli military. When we got back to the hotel we had yet another exquisite dinner. After that we experienced a very powerful and meaningful tekes in commemoration of Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) which began tonight. Then we had some free time to hang out and relax. Finally, after another action-packed day filled with both physical and educational activities, it was time to rest up for what will certainly be another enjoyable day in Israel!

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