Yam L'Yam 5

Monday (5/12) – Three.five day of Yam L'Yam – “The Kinneret”

Naomi last night wanted us to wake up early, meaning 4:30, so we could leave right when the sun would begin to come up. Monica argued for later, so they settled to wake up at 5:00 to leave by 5:30. It is funny how early that sounds, but at the time it didn’t sound early at all! When it was time to wake up and some of us started to get moving, Judith saw that ants had infested her bag. She accidentally left her food open a bit and her backpack overnight. Some people didn’t get up until way later. Naomi forced Michal to get up at 5:15. Monica told Naomi that she would wake up later, but be ready by 5:30…that was not true, so Naomi was a bit pissed at her. Elana helped Judith deal with the ants and they eventually poured some water in Judith’s bag to get rid of all the ants. Because of this and some people getting ready slowly, we didn’t leave until 6:30ish. Michal wrote a note thanking the family and off we went! Katie scored a point by catching Rachel in the road. HA! When we started to go down the hill leading back to the main road, Michal and Jessica were in the back because they just could not walk. They were limping and Jessica looked a bit like a grandma (but a typical grandma, not her Bubbe Eleanor!) A kibbutz dog was walking with us. We thought that after we got to the main road he would go back up. We thought he was just being a gentledog and walking us to the “door.” That didn’t happen.

We got to the main road and continued down the steep hill we had walked up yesterday. The dog was pretty smart and would tend to stop when a car was coming and wouldn’t continue walking until the car had passed. The dog, also, however crossed the street 2 times and would go right in front of cars. One time it was a truck and after the dog safely got across with Jessica stretching out her hand freaking out, the truck driver honked at her and gave her a look. IT ISN’T OUR DOG! When we finally got off the road because we saw the trail marker, the dog still stayed with us. Katie was a little confused and thought we should be going in another direction. Some people got a little irritated with her, which made Jessica, Rachel, and Naomi sad and mad at those people who yelled at Katie. Why are people mean to her?

We continued on this trail for the majority of the way. We bumped into a few people and 2 men were still in their sleeping bags when we passed them. They had run out of water and were dying of thirst. We knew how they felt so when Jessica gave them one of her water bottles, she thought they would take half or something. They ended up just giving her in return one of their empty water bottles. That works too. It is so fun talking with people, but Rachel was pumped and wanted to continue. When we stopped for breakfast, Jessica wanted to give the dog some water, Rachel wasn’t too happy about that. Regardless, Jessica got some water from Katie (because Jessica was down to 1 water bottle) and in Monica’s container, gave the dog some water. He drank it. So cute. After, he just rested in the shade, waiting for us to continue. Jessica and others became a little concerned about what we should do with the dog when we get to the Kinneret. We already looked at the tag and there was no number to call. Great. We had a quick breakfast and off we went. We have gotten good about taking shorter breaks. We passed through an orchard and it looked like it could be from the Tropicana commercial, so Katie took a picture of Michal and Jessica making it look like they were picking oranges. Later, there was a wheat field and since Katie was a scarecrow for purim, she ran into the field and we took a picture of her looking like a scarecrow. So so so funny. After some time we finally got to the road! We only had to walk on the road for a bit before getting to our final destination! When we crossed the road, so did the dog. Jessica had a cursing fit due to her toes.

We had to decide which beach we want. We tried for the closest one but there was a fee. We went in anyways. The guy stopped us but we convinced him that we just wanted 5 mins there b/c we just did Yam L’Yam Bitches yeah!!!! So he let us. Some of us wanted to go in here but others didn’t b/c it was a muddy beach. After much deliberation we decided to go to Tiberius to go to a nice beach. We needed to tramp (hitchhike) so we climbed up back to the road—we didn’t want to walk all the way around. We walked to the other side of the road in pairs. We figured, incorrectly, that it would be easier if we were in pairs. Noami and Elana went first. They crossed and waited for a car. A car stopped but they didn’t realize so it drove away. A few minutes later another car stopped and they got in. Later we find out that they had 4 seats and could have taken two more. Judith and Rachel were next. (Monica and Katie decided to walk back to the gas station and try there). They crossed and eventually a car stopped which also had 4 seats but we were unable to wait for Jessica and Michal to cross so we left. The guy lived in LA for a bit. We were dropped off at the Promenade. Rachel had told everyone to say the Taylet B’Tiveria (Promenade in Tiberius) but people didn’t listen and some weren’t dropped off there. Rachel and Judith met up with Naomi and Elana and we had to wait for the others. Of course Jessica and Michal were stuck with the dog, which had followed them still across the road. Cars honked and after Jessica pushed the dog, with sad eyes, said “Bivakasha, zuz, lech habita” (please move, go home) (which Rachel had been saying since it started follow us). The dog went up the hill and sat in the shade. A car came and the girls ran after it the dog tried to follow but couldn’t. The girls felt like they were abandoning “our watchdog”. They made it to the Promenade. Rachel and Naomi had gone off to buy new plastic sandals. Rachel’s sandals, her cheetah print reefs from like 2-3ish years ago, the strap shrank and was unable to get her foot in. They were old and she was planning on throwing them out before she left Israel. She bought a pair that look like havianas but only 15 sheks! So we were all planning on going to a beach that Rachel, Michal, Katie and Leah were at when they cycled the Kineret but then we found a beach just off the promenade so we went there.

THE BEACH!!! Rachel brought soap so we brought that in. Some of us, Jessica, Katie, Rachel, Monica, and possibly Michal and Elana? wore just sports bras and underwear (we made sure to wear normal and a dark color), others—Naomi and Judith wore bathing suits. After, again, much deliberation we went in—in to our legs. Count of 3 we all ducked. Jessica started to dedread her hair and gave the hair to Katie. Monica gave a closing speech—talking about each of our qualities—meaningful. We washed up with Rachel’s soap, which almost slipped away once and finally got out. We had to let our stuff dry by the sun and change into something clean? Some of us had clean clothes but it still stank from our dirty clothing.

Rachel and Michal were craving shwarmas. Rachel wasn’t hungry so waited for Jerusalem. Michal and Judith got them on the way to the central bus station. We had to decide between taking a sheirut or bus to Jerusalem and then bus to Be’er Sheva or to Haifa where we could then take a train to Be’er Sheva. The sheirut driver was convinced that Rachel was in charge and tried to convince her to convince the others to go with the sheirut. The drive with the sheirut would have been 10 more shekels than the bus and only about 1.5 hours. We were dumb and didn’t think to ask how long the bus ride would take. We decided with the bus. We waited for a bus for what we thought would be 20 mins but turned out to be more like 40ish. The sheirut came by again and told us that we could have been already half way there.

The bus came and we got on. Jessica and Rachel were sitting together. We passed out. We kept waking up, and no we weren’t there yet. It was like a 3ish hour ride. It took forever, and didn’t seem like it would end. We finally got to the bus station in Jerusalem and had to go through security to get in. I whispered to Elana to play dumb about her knife that we both had. Most of us got in just fine. They didn’t even ask Rachel about hers. Elana’s bag had troubles but not about her knife. To this day we still don’t know what the problem was. Judith took off for Beit Ar El because she was late for class. Rachel got a shwarma which she devoured, but gave the extras to Katie. Jessica took out money and got an Aroma sandwich. We made the bus to Be’er Sheva. On this bus ride we ate our left over chocolate, peanut butter and just bitched and reminisced over our trip. Finally got to Be’er Sheva and waited for the Arad bus. Leah was planning on cooking for us but she had to go to Haifa for her friend’s mother’s funeral. We saw her at the bus station leaving as we were arriving. We split up and went in different directions to our apartments.

Leah had let a chicken defrost for us to cook. So Rachel was preparing the chicken and thought that the skin looked extra thick but didn’t think anything too much of it. We also cut up potatoes and let it all cook. We all showered and we were just relaxing. The chicken was done but it was very strange. There was like almost no chicken on the chicken it was all fat. So we all took turns trying to get the meat off but to no avail. We ate the potatoes but that was it. We had to dump the chicken, sadly. We relaxed and went to bed.

Our trip was 3 days plus 3 hours. Not 4 days. Just want to make that crystal clear. Back off people that told us we couldn’t do it! Hell yeah we did!!! Chicka chicka yeahhh.

It was an amazing trip. It was one of our highlights of this year in Israel. We are planning on having a sleep over in nature where we can make bracelets from the rope that Rachel has. Hopefully there will be a night when all of us are actually in Arad, which is practically never to do so.

Between the Israelis we met and the gorgeous nature, it is very tempting to make Aliyah. Who knows what will happen?

Oh and Rachel has over 20 mosquito bites, including 5 on the face. Jessica has 9 on her face and a pimple.

It was an incredible trip. We are so happy that we did it. We hope that you enjoyed reading our adventures. Sorry to torture you with so many words, but this is more for us than it is for you! Hahahah

We have less than a month left in Israel and we are certainly making the most of it. Jessica and Rachel have absolutely no idea how we are going to part—we have been roommates for 9 months, even though Jessica recently moved out. So family, enjoy our blog.

Over and out. Peace.

Love always,

Jessica and Rachel, the JRKs

P.S. shit, now we are both tearing. Rachel never cries, I don’t know what you are talking about.