98 degrees and rising

Finally caught up. Must. Keep. Up. Now post-program experience begins. I had a hard time, mentally, veering from the numbered pattern I imposed on myself in the beginning. I can now write sporadically with a sound conscience. I have a hard time breaking patterns. I'm a nerd like that.

It's Sunday at 7pm and I've been enjoying a nice relaxing day catching up and running errands in the city center with Yaeli. Sunday is the new Monday here in Israel. I actually feel like I've adjusted to this fact. The weekend days consist of Friday and Saturday here, it can really mess with your mind when you first visit.

This weekend I spent my time in the north of Israel. The Golan Heights. Against all better judgments (it was reported to be over 100 degrees), a plan to camp at Lake Kinneret was hatched and I went along for the ride. Interesting fact: The Kinneret is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth and the second-lowest lake in the world, after the Dead Sea, a saltwater lake. Thanks Wikipedia. The air conditioning is out at my apt so I figured it would be hot anywhere I spent the weekend. I packed my bag, bought 12 liters of water and hoped for the best. I wasn't disappointed. It was an incredible experience. Great Israeli style BBQ (they put everything in a pita here, genius idea), amazing people (about 12 of us total, I was the only one not able to speak Hebrew), beautiful scenery (looks so much like northern California in the summer, it's startling). The heat was absolutely miserable though. There's no way around it but to stay in the water as long and as often as possible. 6pm. 10pm. 1am. 4am. 8am. 10am. It was impossible to sleep in the tents with these temperature. I achieved an hour of sleep only after a 4am trip to the water and laying down completely drenched. I would do it all over again too. The heat didn't cancel out how great the experience was.