November 4, 2009

Today was very interesting...we had another long bus ride into the Desert. Spent the whole day at a variety of different places. We were in the Northern Negev Desert. There we had visited a Bedioun museum. We basically relearned the culture of the Bediouns. We did get to see more of how they dressed and had pictures of women who were dressed differently according to their status in life. Whether they were single, married, old, divorced, widowed, and young. All I got to say is I am so grateful that I can wear a t-shirt and shorts whenever I want. Those women just look so hot wearing their traditional dress and head coverings. I remember reading how they determine if someone is innocent or not is by getting a hot iron rod or spoon or something that can get hot from the fire. Then they have the hot rod placed on the convicted person's tongue. If his tongue gets scorched he is guilty, but if it does not get scorched he is innocent. I wonder how many convicted Bediouns got away with having their tongues not get burned. I bet everyone was guilty according to their practice of convicting someone. That just sounds so painful!

We also went to a huge crater in the Negev Desert. I forget the name, but I enjoyed looking out over the edge. Eli our tour guide was explaining how that crater was made, but I totally lost him. He did use a hard boiled egg, I give him the credit trying to explain the crater. All I now is geologist go nuts at this crater. There is many different soil and rock types.

While we were there we saw fighter jets. Apparently the military loves to use the Negev Desert as a training ground for bombs. So while I was standing over the edge of the cliff…the three fighter jets were going through the crater…they looked so far away and yet we were close. The crater is huge! Those fighter jets were probably the cause of me not listening to well because I could hear them in the air, and so I would try to look for them while Eli was talking.

That evening there was a beautiful sunset in the desert. We watched the sunset near Ben Gurions grave sight. It hid behind some beautiful mountains. My favorite time of the day is probably at sunrise or sunset. I rarely get to be up for a sunset, but I always think there beautiful when I am up for one.

Today was really a day of reflection and a catch up on sleep. Which has been very refreshing. I get an overload of information everyday, and so it was great having a chill day.