January 8th, 2009 - Jerusalem, Israel

So right now it is 6:20am and I am watching the sun rise in a very fancy hotel in Jerusalem. We arrived here last night after a 3 hour drive from Heifa, a huuuge city that reminds me of a mix between San Francisco and Dubai... It is massive and everything is run on solar power. Israel is extremely energy efficient in every way, it's quite unbelievable. We visited our tour guide Dani's kibbutz yesterday and hiked such a beautiful trail with olive bushes and lemon trees and mango trees. The kibbutz really reminded me of the show Lost! You'll see pictures when it doesn't cost me a fortune to send them! I should be able to upload in Paris... Two days ago we had a full day of greatness. I have to tell you that we are really treated like kings and queens over here. First we woke up and hiked the Golan Heights, which was too beautiful for words. Waterfalls, every kind of fruit imaginable, palm trees, eucalyptus and bamboo everywhere. I've seen eagles and lizards and wild boars and wild cats (they all look just like Rufus and MIA!!) There is definitely a discovery channel aspect about this trip and you know I dig that stuff! After the Golan Heights, we went for food and a wine tasting at a vineyard in a volcano. We drive our bus down into the volcano which would have made you all puke. It's like one of those twisty turny little roads that is so close to falling off the edge... To tell you the truth, we saw multiple cars at the bottom that had fallen off over the years, kinda freaky. After the winery, we went to a hot spring SPA!!!! Now when I say that this was the most amazing, rejuvenating experience of my life so far, I am not lying. It was like a real Turkish bath at the bottom of a volcano, but the whole place was made into an ornate Spa with basketball coarts, soccer fields, alligator ranches, masseuses, underwater valleys of natural hot tubs... We spent 3 hours getting pampered there. Then we went back to our kibbutz where we partied all night with two other groups from birthright, one from England, and one from Toronto. We drank wine from the vineyard until every last drop was gone. Everybody instantly became friends, and it was sad to leave the first kibbutz that we visited. Today, we have 8 Israeli soldiers that are joining our group permanently to spend the rest of our trip with us. Yes, Israelis do birthright too! It's a huge thing in their culture, and it's a great way to really get to know their life. I've met so many kinds of people here so far. The markets in the cities are like the ones in Aladdin. They are so cool! All the Arabs try to barter with you... They all like my mustache and tell me I have the "cousin" discount!! Hehe. I have been partying and enjoying everything so much, that I really haven't slept much. Last night I finally stayed in instead of going to the bar. It was much needed. I can't wait to see what's in store next.

Peace in the Middle East!