Sataf & Ir David

       At the ungodly hour of six am, we woke up yesterday. While I normally wake up at six when I want to go running, I have been feeling... well... sick! My roommate has the flu, and a cold is going around so I really have nothing to complain about, but man.... I might have used a tree worth of tissues yesterday! And I don't mean any dinky sapling... like a Redwood tree's worth of paper!!! Anyway, I have been sucking it up because I really wanted to go on the tiyul yesterday and today! The tiyuls were both great!
     Yesterday, we walked to Sataf from the kibbutz, which took approximately half an hour. The hike lasted about five hours but it was well worth it. I took a massive amount of gorgeous pictures. While on this nature hike, with our Jewish History classes, my group wrapped up the lesson on the Exodus from Egypt and then continued on to learning about the Jews wandering in the desert and how they got to Eretz Yisrael. Then, last night, Martine and I were walking around and she showed me a tree which you could eat it's pods that had fallen on the ground. For Tubishvat her teacher had shown them this. While my teacher brought my class out to a cliff and served domestic oranges and apples, I figured her teacher was a little more adventourous so I tried some! It was really sweet, and quite good... until my mouth went numb and my throat got all itchy. Martine's did too! Haha, well... after watching a soccer game of EIE student's versus the Ulpan students (who were college or older) we headed back to our rooms. By then my mouth felt much better and my throat was fine so decided I wasn't going to die from eating the pods. But, I have to admit it's the last time I eat from that tree again!
     Today, we woke up at seven and I felt much better. I could breathe out of my nose (which the cold had previously prevented me form doing) and I felt better. Although throughout the day my cold gradually returned, I didn't let it interfere with my day. I had an awesome time in Ir David, and the tunnels that were under the City of Jerusalem. It was a real cool experience and we learned at this point about King Shaul (Saul) to when King David established the capital in Jerusalem.