At the beginning of May, we celebrated Lag BaOmer. It occurs on the 33rd day of the Omer, or the 33rd day after the beginning of Pesach. There's a spiritual meaning behind it, but that's not really important here. Israelis celebrate Lag BaOmer by creating bonfires! When I heard this, I got really excited, because fire is awesome. However, מדורה (medura), the Hebrew word for bonfire, is also the word for campfire, so it kind of got lost in translation. I was expecting to burn things in a giant fire, but it was just a small fire in which we roasted potatoes and heated water for tea. The potatoes and tea were great; it was just a little bit of a letdown.
On the weekend of May 7-9, I participated in my second Oranim trip to Eilat and the Negev (and my third time in Eilat). I was on this trip after my program ended because the cost of the program includes a trip to Eilat, but there was no trip during my second program. The trip was basically the same as the other one in November, but with a few additions and subtractions. Nothing too special to report. We went hiking in the Arava Valley near Dimona, then drove down to Eilat for Friday night and Saturday. We went to the beach (where I got sunburnt) and hung out in the warm weather. We left Eilat on Sunday morning and the first two buses went to the beautiful lookout on the Gulf of Aqaba as planned, but for some reason, our bus kept driving and they took us to some random crappy little stream bed in the desert for a short hike. Next was Mitzpe Ramon, and then David Ben-Gurion's tomb near Sde Boker. The organized (loosely speaking) parts of the trip were mediocre, although I did have fun hanging out with the people from my program and our group's BFFs from Ashdod. Plus, I did actually take pictures this time, which you can see here.
Now, lest it sound like I'm just complaining about everything, let me just add that in general, I'm still having a wonderful time at Ofek and a good time at Yechiam. The people are great, as I've said before, but it's been a long time, and I do miss you all at home terribly.
By the way, I realized that I haven't posted any links to photos recently, so here is my album of stuff since mid-March. It includes photos from...
- Israeli dance night at Gaaton
- mock Passover seder at Yechiam
- Yom haZikaron (Memorial Day) Ceremony at the naval training base in Haifa
- Yom haAtzmaut (Independence Day)
- Mom's visit (Nahariya, Tzfat, Jerusalem)
- Lag BaOmer
- Eilat Trip
- various randoms
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