I've been on vacation for almost a week now, and I have about 2.5 more weeks. The time surrounding Pesach is fun, stressful, and exciting. I spent the beginning of this week camping, hiking, and exploring the Golan with my amazing sister. We successfully avoided accidentally entering Syria, Lebanon, and the West Bank (on the way back). It was absolutely stunning. Spring has begun and everything is completely in bloom. Yellow, pink, blue, and red flowers dot expansive fields of greens. Mountains swell up from fields. Even though it seems utterly expansive in comparison to a small insignificant human, the Golan isn't actually that big. We drove all around it and became familiar with the roads, the countryside, the mountains...
At night it was completely silent except for the occasional dog bark or far off gunfire (there were practice firing zones not far away).
One of our hikes was down to the ancient city of Gamla.
The city was stormed by the Romans around 65CE. It is believed that about 9,000 people were killed there. The city was beautiful. Ancient ruins sat rooted in the giant hillside that was flanked on either side by deep valleys. From the peak, one can face one way and see the Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee) and turn the other way and see far off waterfalls in one valley and extensive grass and trees in the other valley. It was quite a steep hike down (and back up) but it was well worth it. I can't even express how beautiful the Golan is at this time of year. We saw cherry blossoms against a background of green hills, a snow capped mountain, and clear blue sky. What an incredible place.
Before and after our camping trip, Maya and I spent time with our "family" (not actually related to us, but who says you can't choose your family?). It's so nice to have a home-y home base here. It makes things very comfortable. I'm going to be sad to leave the life I've made here. I have another 2 months-ish to enjoy! I'll try to be better about posting.
Chag sameach! almost.
