So I didn't write in my Journal on Day 4, because we stayed at the Kibbutz and had classes and got to spend the day on the lovely shores of Galilee. Starting on this day, every other day we stayed at the Kibbutz and then the other days we went on field trips to the surrounding area. Lyndsay Denton and I read our book aloud for Ancient Near East because she didn't bring hers to Galilee. My voice was hoarse afterward, there was so much reading. But, I can't complain...reading in a beach chair on the shore of Galilee is definitely not anything to complain about!
On Day Five we had a field trip.
Our first stop was to a place called Gamla, which is an ancient civilization that lived on a peak in the middle of a canyon that the Romans captured, but only after a huge, bloody battle which resulted in the villagers throwing themselves off the highest point of the peak rather than being enslaved by the Romans. It's kind of sad.
So this is the peak...easily defensible against an attack, because it has cliffs on all sides. That's why the battle was so long and bloody, despite the Romans having an incredibly powerful army. 
Getting ready to hike..
Okay so this hike was much more intense than we thought...and here we're kind of facetiously being excited about the ruins.... They are cool, though. Galilee just happened to be a lot of ruins. 
This is Amanda and I at the peak of the mountain. This is where they jumped off. It seemed just like a story, when we were there, because it was so long ago. But a lot of people lost their lives and their homes and families at this place. It's very sad.
After that we went to Qurzin, which is an ancient Talmudic village and Synagogue. It was pretty cool. They had a reconstructed home and synagogue, so we got to see how daily life was back then for them. There was an entire village. Pretty sweet.
Village... 
These are the columns in the Synagogue. 
The stains on the wall are original, and are from oil wells they lit for light.
Me grinding some grain... Great hair day, yes?
This is Hailey, Kelsey, Brooke, and Victoria standing in some of the ruins.
Then we went to a Syrian Bunker that they used during the Golan Heights war in 1967, which is called the six-day war. We crawled inside it and saw where they would've fired at the approaching enemy. It was also absolutely surrounded by Mine Fields. It's too dangerous for the government to remove all the mines, so they just leave them there, in lush green fields that look gorgeous but are fenced off with barbed-wire and bright yellow signs that say, "DANGER! Mine Field!" It's a different world there. Apparently every now and again a cow or some other kind of animal will get through the fence and explode a mine....and itself. It is such a blessing that we don't have things like that in our country. So many countries have remnants of battle, still. I guess we do from the Civil War, and etc. but it's still just a little different. This war was only 43 years ago. And people still remember the fighting in their hometowns. It's still going on.
A Memorial of the Battle. Those iron spikey things are to ruin tanks. You put them all over the land, and then tanks can't go through because they can't roll on top of them.
Yes, there are mines on the other side of that fence. Kind of freaky.
Down into the bunker..
This is the only picture I have looking out of the firing hole.
Acres and acres of land, covered in mines.
Acres and acres.
After that we went back to the Kibbutz for lunch. We had to eat fast because some of us, me included, signed up to go on a hike. It was so fun. We hiked down this grotto along a wadi and through a spring the whole way. It was great. It was also downhill...so more of a walk than a hike. (My kind of hike). Then the spring went over this huge cliff, and there was this gorgeous waterfall. We hiked down into the little canyon to a pool at the base of it, that was beautiful and deep enough to swim in. One minor problem: it was FREEZING. Really, ice cold. But, a bunch of people got in. At first I thought they were crazy....but then I got the bug and had to get in. I thought the moment had passed and was bummed, but then a few people said they would go with me. So, four of us swam out to the waterfall, climbed up behind it, and sat. It was so cold. I was the last one out of the water of the four of us, and I really thought I was going to not be able to keep swimming. Wow it was cold. But, we made it. It was amazing! I'm glad I did it! I would've regretted not doing it.
Beginning the walk....hike...
Down in the grotto, crossing the stream.
Miss Kathryn Hawker and me! Big shirt, anyone?
Teren Taniuchi. Amazing cold water face. 
COLD water.
Survivors. 
After that we hiked out of the rim on a different path that was straight up, but much shorter.
We hurried home, cleaned up, and ate a fish dinner. We went to a restaurant where they served us real Galilean fish! It was served with skin, bones, tail, fins, head, and eyes. Completely whole. I had to peal off the skin and get the meat off the bones. Very memorable. Didn't go anywhere near the head, though. Imagine that. It was tasty, though.
After that we rode the bus to Tiberius, all the way around the other side of the lake, and got ice cream. It was a really fun night.
No comments:
Post a Comment