The Sam of Ducks: So, turns out it is difficult to post picures post-posting

The perfect caption for this was what he actually said: "We are going up there". This is halfway through our hike up to Ben-Gurion's gravesite. There was a beautiful cave-like hollow near the entrance where the Bedouin and the nomadic people used to store water during the rainy seasons, and cover them up so that only the people who knew of the storage facilities could use them. The Bedouin people are amazing trackers, and this is one of their notsowell known keys to their striving livelihood. Of course it is different now with plumbing, etc., but... it was fascinating to see. Unfortunately, I wasn't in a picture and I didn't take one with my own camera, so you will have to come and see for yourself.

Climbing up this mountain... The level of the hill looked liked the average between this "/ "and this "|", if you can imagine. So the moment you stop running straight up the hill, or psyche yourself out because you start to think about how to get down... this happens:

You sit down and ponder the existence of the meaningless specks, such as the one taking this picture.

Maybe on a nice rock....

JNF, or KAKAL as it is referred to in Israel, was the host of my trip. Part of KAKAL's huge legacy is the tree project; for Bar or Bat Mitzvah's, weddings, etc., it has been a well-known American Jewish tradition to give the recipient a certificate that acknowledges the gifter had sponsored a tree in their name. Because of the hugely popular nature of this endeavor as well as other efforts, Israel has become the incredibly green, thriving place it is today.

However, Israel still exists in a desert, and because of this it is important to make sure there are no forest fires that burn these incredible places down. We were there on that day to trim trees and clean up the area. It does not seem like a real meaningful effort necessarily, but I think it made it that much more fun. The trees grow relatively quickly, and when the branches are in danger of touching the ground or touching it, there is 100% more of a chance that there will be a fire. By the way, these are also areas used by families for picnics, or groups for New Years celebrations...

Nitsan and I got the idea stuck in our heads that we wanted to donate blood. So we did. Successfully. Well, I managed to. Nitsan's was not as fortunate as I. But check out the passport, man! Tel Aviv Magen David hospital's the shit. The good kind.

A few beautiful people. I was petting their chins. I don't believe they minded that much at all. Who wouldn't want me to scratch their (non-existent, in some cases) beard? This was Dani's I'MNOLONGERASOLDIERWEEEEEEEE party. It was quite the party if I do say so.

I got overjoyed at seeing Ofer, handsomestest guy in the world..... and he let me sleep with Tigger!!

So we were doing our part to help out at this beautiful Jerusalem park area that people have been treating as their personal trash dump the past decade or so... We were lending our strength and will to be dirty. All in good fun! Check out me. I was hoeing. Heee. Totally all based upon my manly strength, too.

Oh, and planting a tree. Can you see it? It is that little itty-bitty thing on the left sticking out of the straw.

Outside of Yerucham was this farm run by a single man; he has four daughters, but they have all moved out of Israel except for one, who stays home out of illness. Our personal do-gooder had met him, started helping him out, and then moved on to the farm to help out full time, so again we were lending our expertise. Although, our Yemenite bus driver was the one who finally taught us how to do this right. After all, we were just a bunch of American kids; not one of us grew up knowing how to till a field, or had to do so in order to partake in the Zionist dream. It was quite an experience to be yelled at by this Yemenite man in Hebrew; even the most innocent things he said came out as being yelled, or argued. His most important rule though: Don't get the mud on the bus!!