Dead Sea... oh my Dead Sea

Friday night I met with Shenhav, after catching the last train to Rohovot.

That night we got to know each other pretty well, she and I have quite a bit in common and we quickly hit it off, it feels like I have known her for quite a bit longer than 2-3 days. Then we headed to the Dead Sea the next morning with four of her friends. I am pretty sure in Tel Aviv I got food poisoning. Because it has been pretty hard to hold anything down since I got to Rohovot. 

I still really wanted to go to the Dead Sea. The thing is, to get to the Dead Sea you have to take a winding road which was not a good match for my stomach. Lets just say I have never felt more comfortable with a group of girls after puking as I did with Shenhav and her friends. 

The Dead Sea is HOT, very very hot. It is also beautiful. I spend the rest of the day laying in the shade drinking water, eating fresh fruits and realizing how similar Shenhav's friends are to mine. Girls in their early 20's seem to be pretty similar all over the world. 

After a bit I was feeling considerably better and we bought some mud, let me repeat that, the mud in the sea, that use to be free, is now not free anymore. Which all of the girls seemed to be a bit outraged by. The day revolved around eating, sun bathing and dipping into the water that is so dense with salt that you float. This floating is not like normal floating, its as if you are sitting on a flotation device in the water, but in reality it is the water working as the flotation device. 

As the sun began to creep behind the tall mountains of dry rock and sand, we packed up to head back to Rohovot. All of the girls I met live in the suburbs of Tel Aviv, and their personalities resonated so much with all of my friends from back home. It is exciting to see just how similar we all really are around the world. We talked about what kind of Music they listen too and what it was like to be in the Army, how school is going and how excited they all are to be tan for Independence day. I also began to realize that the excessive Israeli flags everywhere are for Independence day and that they do not just have this many flags and banners up all of the time. 

Food poisoning sucks, but of all of the things I could have done, laying out under an umbrella at the beach was not so bad. 

-Jliv