Sunday May 4 by Sarah

Today is Sunday. So far we have done many many things on this trip and I cannot summarize it all. Last week though we were in the Mifgash and we stayed with our pen pals. It was wonderful being with them again and we all learned so much about living in Israel. Today started off with breakfast in the dining hall at kibbutz Farod. After breakfast, we got on the bus and drive to Mt. Arbel for a hike down the cliff, but before we hiked we went to the ancient synagogue in Arbel. The synagogue only had some columns and the entrance and is about 2000 years old. After that we went to the trail and started climbing down the cliff. At first it was just a normal trail but soon there were ropes and staples that we needed to hold onto. It was really cool because it felt like more realistic rock climbing except you were going downward. The part of the trail that was a cliff only took around 20 minutes even though it felt like 5. After the cliff part, we went on the trail that was downward the entire way. It was fun but it was really hot and a little hard on the knees. We stopped at about the halfway mark at the Castel and had a water break while Dafna told us a bit of history about the fortress and how King Herod ended up conquering it. Once we were ready to go again we went and walked down the rest of the trail. At the bottom we had a short break and learned about the Israel trail. Around the corner was an ice cream shop so next we obviously went and had some ice cream there. Now we were on the bus again for about 45 minutes where we finally arrived at the Druze village, Peki'in. There we ate lunch and had hospitality. The room was gorgeous and had many different decorations, and some were extremely out of the ordinary to say the least but it was beautiful and the pita was heavenly. After lunch we learned about the Druze history, their beliefs in reincarnation and the explanation of their flag. Next we got our stuff and headed back to the kibbutz. Tonight we are watching a movie and going to a ceremony for Yom Hazikaron.

Today's pictures:  the ancient synagogue at Arbel, climbing Mt. Arbel, the Druse village of Peki'in, lunch and Druse hospitality.