Eilat (Day One – May 19th)

The switch from Wadi Rum to Eilat was pretty huge. We drove in to the city and I actually felt like I was back in the United States. We went from sleeping in a tent in the dessert to staring at a huge mall that included all sorts of American shops and an IMAX theater. We went to Eilat straight from Wadi Rum so there wasn't much sight seeing that day

Once we got settled in at the hostel, which is really nice by the way (my favorite place we've stayed so far), we had free time until dinner at 7 and as you can guess we all hit up McDonalds for some normal food. I paid $13 for what I think was a big mac meal. I asked for a hamburger meal and it was a giant hamburger with everything on it. And Tartar sauce for my fries was unheard of. The lady looked super confused when I asked for it so I just went without it. Also one of my friends asked for a soda and when they gave it to him he assumed it was Sprite, but it was club soda. So now we all know that in Israel they say pop and not soda.

For some reason…I can’t quite remember what exactly we had for dinner. I’m pretty sure that I was mostly full from McDonald’s so I didn’t need much anyway. But they have this amazing pink juice that all of us love. We haven’t quite figured out what it is yet. I love dinner time because it gives me the chance to just hang out with people on the trip. The conversations always end up being quite fun and entertaining and it’s always fun to see what people think about the different locations. We all have pretty different tastes so it’s fun to see what people like and dislike.

After dinner we all had even more free time. A lot of people went into Eliat to walk down the board walk and go to the shops because apparently Eliat is a lot more alive at night. I decided I would just chill at home and that is when I posted up about New York. It was really fun to just sit in the courtyard and chill. A lot of people were writing in journals and just chatting. Also, two guys from one of the other groups were playing worship songs on their guitar. It was really relaxing to sit and hear them play their music. We are hoping that they come out again tonight, so far it doesn’t look like it.

The couple that is leader our “expedition” has a four-year-old girl. She is adorable. She sat at the table with us for awhile and was talking to us about her stuffed animals  and asking us to race her and what not. It was cute. Today on the bus she really wanted me to sit next to her but I had already sat next to Sarah and I decided to stay there. Then when we hopped off the bus she reached over and grabbed my hand and looked up and said “I just like holding people’s hands”. So cute!

I love looking at the clock and realizing that it is 9pm for me but it is 11am for all of you back home. It’s weird to think about J