I’m back from the Negev and thought I might post a bit about it since I mentioned a few things briefly before departing. First, I was basically healthy from the start of the trip, for which I am thankful. But the illness continued throughout the family while I was away and now Kelli is sick.
As for the mixed up schedule, this was a Negev trip different from any before or likely any in the future. It started when I got a call on Wednesday from the youth hostel at Mizpe Ramon asking what time that evening we were arriving. With that I realized that our reservations were one day off. Attempts to rebook the nights were unsuccessful because it was the week of Sukkot (like the 4th of July in terms of vacationing). So we “skipped” the normal “Day 1” and did the trip starting with Avdat, Nahal Zin, Machtesh Ramon and the wilderness. The major stops of “Day 1” were moved to the last day (Day 4). The big downside to this approach is that Day 1 is academically more intense and dusty (yes, tells). I prefer to start hard and end with fun things like floating in the Dead Sea. That was not to be, but it worked out quite well on a number of fronts. As a result of the mixup and related reshuffling, I ended up with an extra free afternoon today and so I took the group to Nahal Besor, Tell el Farah South (Sharuhen?), and Gerar. Those would all qualify as good biblical sites off the path of even the most academic of programs.
One photographic highlight of the trip for me: at Avdat, the National Park rangers brought out a truckload of grapes and we got to tread them in the Nabatean winepress.
Because I was sick when I packed, I knew I wouldn’t need my swimsuit and so I didn’t bother packing it. I never swim anyway when I am leading. But the students got the impression that I “accidentally forgot” it and so bought me a new one. Not wanting to disappoint, I sported the hottest swimsuit this side of Hades for a swim in the Dead Sea yesterday. That was the first time I’ve been in those salty waters in I can’t remember how long. What fun!
Might we be seeing this “hot” pair of shorts?
Hi Todd! Siona here, it’s been a while. Maybe if you continue to leave other materials behind, they’ll keep getting you new stuff. I have some ideas for you, if you don’t know what to “forget”.
Man…lucky students. They got to have you swim with them in the dead sea. Oh well, at least you didn’t have your shorts with you when a certain group of guys went skinny dipping in the dead sea during our HAI trip and another one of those guys (who had no clue what the rest were doing) took his flashlight down with him. At least you escaped then. :) Like Happy, I hope we see your new pair of shorts.
“the hottest swimsuit this side of Hades” … this is the funniest line in the world!!!!
Todd in a bikini?!
Happy – I said “hot”, not obscene. And you should know since I said that I wore it. :-) I don’t have any plans to feature the outfit on this blog. Possibly a shot will show up on the ibex site.