On Wednesday, we went to Har Gilboa, the mountain where King Saul died. It had rained the day before so it was a very muddy hike, but nevertheless extremely fun.



Afterwards, we made our way to the Sachne, known in Hebrew as Gan HaShlosha, which was originally a natural spring. It was later expanded into three large pools. We spent part of the afternoon there, swimming and eating lunch. What's really cool about Sachne is that the water stays warm year round.

After Sachne, we went to Emek HaElah, the valley where David killed Goliath. It's really amazing being in the actual places where the stories of the Tanach took place. It makes the Tanach a living and breathing thing, not just a compilation of stories.

We spent the night in Jewish National Fund sponsored cabins called Nes Harim.



The next morning, we began our day at Sataf, an ancient agricultural village. Above is a picture of the entrance to a cave that we walked through. It was pitch black and our flashlights barely provided enough light. The cave serves as an irrigation system; the water flows from the mountain through the cave and falls into the pool of water you can see in the picture.



After Sataf, we went to the Tayelet (boardwalk) in Jerusalem which provides a beautiful view of the entire city. There, we learned about the geography and early history of the City of Jerusalem and Kings David and Solomon.

We later toured the old City of David, including an underground water system called the Gihon spring where ancient kings were anointed.



We also made our second trip to the Kotel (Western Wall), a site that at least for me, will never lose its meaning.



That night, on our way back to Hod HaSharon, we stopped on the side of a freeway at an American Elvis diner. It was so funny seeing a shrine to Elvis on the side of a freeway in the middle of Israel! When you buy hot chocolate, you get to keep the Elvis mug :)

The next two days, Friday and Saturday, were spent in Ein Gedi. I don't have any pictures of that trip right now, but I'll try to post them later. Our program is part of the Los Angeles - Tel Aviv Forum, a group of teenagers our age. Our weekend in Ein Gedi was the first time we met our friends from Tel Aviv. We have already met with them again on Monday night in Tel Aviv and a bunch of them have visited us in Hod HaSharon. Ein Gedi is a beautiful place, full of amazing waterfalls, right next to the Dead Sea.

Sunday and Monday were regular school days on campus.



On Tuesday, we went on another tiyul to Megido, a biblical town, where we learned about idol worship and Ahab and Jezebel, two figures from the Tanach. Megido was followed by a hike up Mount Carmel, also known as Muhraka, where the story of Elijah the prophet took place.

The past couple of days have been school days. Tomorrow, I leave for my first free weekend (Open Shabbat), where I will be staying at Lauren's exchange buddy's family. I haven't seen Liron (her buddy) in so long and I'm also excited to meet the rest of the family!

I'm having an incredible time here and I can't believe that two weeks have already passed. Anyways, I have to go study for two tests tomorrow...

I'll update again soon. L'hitraot!