By Roni Shema and Jonathan Rakhminov

After an early wake up at 7am today we started the day off with breakfast and then the usual prayer workshops. We then left for an amazing water hike in Nachal Hatsbani… before we went on the hike, our tour guide, Etanna, taught us about water in Israel and where it comes from… she put whipped cream on Jason Kramers head (to symbolise Mount Hermon with snow) and drew lines on his face (to symbolise the different streams that the water went down). She then drew the kineret around his mouth and made him spit water out in front of him! We have pictures!! We were all very entertained by the educational method that she used to make us remember these important facts!  Then we went on the hike (Nachal Hatzbani). During the water hike we got the privilege to see great views of a waterfall and river. There was a pool of water where we all got out and started splashing each other – it was so much fun! The best part best part is that we experienced it with friends.

After the hike we enjoyed a great lunch then got ready for kayaking!! We were in groups of six with one advisor per raft. The minute our group set off we went over a bunch of rocks and we were set out by another raft. We started off competitively racing the others groups but soon realized it was better to just lounge in our raft and let the current take us. The best part of the rafting was when we attached our raft to another groups raft and shared jokes the whole way to the end. It was a very enjoyable rafting experience and we wished it could’ve lasted longer!!

After rafting, we went to a place called Misgav Am – that’s near the border between Israel and Lebanon. We went to a lookout point where we could see into Lebanon which was really interesting! The guy who gave us the talk was very entertaining – he was super Zionist and protective of the land of Israel! We bought ice cream there and then drove back to the hotel, with of course a ‘tachanat pipi’ = toilet stop, on the way! And we also prayed mincha there (afternoon prayers). We got back to the hotel and ate dinner. After dinner, Rabbi Rael sent us to bed for a very early night because we’re getting up super early tomorrow for a great long hike!