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| Our former neighbors and best friends. |
During our trip to Israel, we visited numerous friends and family members. One of the days, we went to visit family that live in Beer Sheva.This city is considered the capital of the Negev, which is the desert in southern Israel. The family gave us a warm welcome with a large lunch and dinner. We also visited friends that live near Tel-Aviv, which is the second most populous city in Israel. They had two girls close to our age, and we taught them a few popular American games such as
Uno. We also painted, and played other entertaining card games. Finally, most of the time we spent, was with our former neighbors who moved to Israel five years ago. Together we spent
time at the beach, played tag, and just reunited together. They taught us many Israeli games and Hebrew words and phrases. We were really happy to see them again, and hope that we will see them again soon.
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| Spending time with friends in Beer Sheva |
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| Playing Uno |
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| My dad, sister, and I floating in the Dead Sea |
Another place we went to in Israel was the Dead Sea. It was a 3 hour drive from where we were staying in Netanya. While
driving we saw numerous wild camels roaming the Negev desert. When we finally
arrived at the Dead Sea, it was over a hundred degrees! Since it was so hot, we decided to get a
day pass at a hotel to hide from the heat. The hotel had a swimming pool, spa's, and the Dead Sea was
just across the street. The swimming pool was very refreshing, as it was
blazing hot outside. We would go to the Dead Sea, and float for a while, and then once our body was overheated, we would run back to the pool, shower off the salt, and then jump in the pool. The Dead Sea is 9.6 times as salty as the ocean! Not only is it salty, but it is also very oily, and before we were allowed to go into the pool, we had to shower. The Dead Sea is the saltiest body of water, and since it
contains so much salt, it makes you float. Since
there is so much salt, no animals can live there, which is why it is called the
Dead Sea. What was really amazing was that there was so much salt, that salt
crystals developed on the sand. The downside, is that the salt also stings all of our cuts and bruises. However, after a while, the body gets used to it, and it no longer stings. We had to wear shoes when we went in because the sea floor bed was rocky and hurt our feet. If one of our shoes floated off, that was not a problem, because it would just float up, and we would find it right away.
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| Taken from the car as we where driving to the Dead Sea |
At about 6 o'clock, we started our drive back to Netanya. About one hour into our drive, our front left tire popped, and completely disintegrated. We quickly pulled over to the side of the road to examine the damage. We could feel the hot air on our faces as the cars and trucks zoomed by. We were in the middle of the desert, with no gas station or people in sight. We were very lucky that we had a spare tire, and a very handy dad that new how to change a tire. While my dad was putting in a new tire, we took out a blanket, and waited away from the freeway near a field. Soon we were on our way, and glad to have arrived home safely.
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| Refreshing Pool |
