I
can’t believe it’s been two and a half weeks since I returned from Israel. It
seems like a lifetime away—or just another world. Since being back, I’ve
definitely been readjusting to my routine back in the States, but I miss Israel
a lot.
While
there are many parts of my experience in Israel I cannot carry over to life
across the Atlantic, there are two types of fun that I plan to make a part of
everyday life--not just vacation life. Laughter and the Great Outdoors.
Summer
may be winding down, but it’s not over yet. While the weather is still warm
(and since the Olympics have closed and there won't be anything nearly as good on
TV until the Fall), now is the perfect time to spend some time outside.
Seriously, I had no idea how much I love the outdoors. I never considered
myself outdoors-y, but I think ever since Argentina--when I fed the
adventure-seeker in me by hiking mountains and repelling off cliffs,
horseback-riding in the snow and climbing glaciers--that I realized that I do
enjoy nature.
Israel
reminded me of that. As I said in my last post, I LOVE the northern part of
Israel. It's no coincidence that this is the region where we started each day
with a hike and rafted down the Jordan River.
Rafting
down the Jordan was my favorite activity on the trip. The River Jordan is by no
means a dangerous rapid-filled river of death, but it gets a little rough at
parts and the current is fairly strong. Six of us climbed into a raft with
lifejackets and two oars/paddles (I feel like if it’s a raft, they qualify as
paddles). It took us about five minutes to decide that using said paddles was a
terrible idea; there was no way we would be coordinated enough to conquer the
current with them and actually guide our raft. We decided instead to focus on
ducking the branches and thorns trying to maim us whenever we hit the
riverbank, and enjoying our ride.
Try
to imagine: six Americans, spinning around in a raft (with absolutely no
control) down what you might call a mild river or a violent stream, bashing
into a riverbank and immediately diving head first into aid raft so that the
thorny bushes drag over our lifejackets instead of skinning us alive. Every few
feet we’re screaming “duck!” “branch!” “lift your butt! ROCKS!” Oh the
incompetence. It made the ride that much more entertaining.
Every
so often we hit a calm stretch and begin to float. We sigh and then the
Israelis, chilling on the banks in their lawn chairs, hop in and splash us
until we’re soaking wet. Welcome to Israel.
About
30-40 minutes in, we hear a bubbling sound. “Guys what’s that?” Our raft has a
hole in it. Yup. It was not our imagination that we were sitting in more river
water than normal. By the end of our ride, we are sitting in roughly 10 inches
of water. My friend, Justin, finds the side spout where one would pump the raft
with water. It is safely beneath our 10-inch waterline. Well, Justin begins to
let some air out, “Hey, guys! Jets for our Jacuzzi!” You definitely had to be
there, but I was laughing so hard I couldn’t breathe. It was the first point in
the trip where I think we stopped trying to impress each other. We let go,
literally went with the flow, and laughed really REALLY hard. It was the most
fun 2.5 hours of the trip.
I don’t
think I’ll be rafting down the Hudson any time soon, but I do think that after
enjoying so much time outside, I’m going to maximize my out-of-office time in
the outdoors. Since being back, I was lucky enough to make my first trip to the
Hamptons for a weekend. I made sure to spend morning until night in the sun—not
just sunbathing. I jumped some waves and played a few rounds of beach
volleyball with some randoms on the sand. NOTE: I kind of suck at beach
volleyball. In fact, I kind of suck at sports (I was just never gifted in
anything that involved throwing, catching or hitting a ball – dance, yoga, that’s
more my talent area). But, I decided that my embarrassment at my lack of skill
was not going to stop me from fooling around and enjoying the sunshine.
Likewise, I left the Hamptons to get back to
the Upper West Side for my favorite event of the summer: Color War. A couple of
lovely ladies from the UWS organize the day of awesomeness each summer. Last
year was my first year participating, and this year was the Fourth Annual Color
War. My team dominated—GO RED TEAM!—just like my team did last year (though
probably no thanks to me). We spent the day competing in ultimate Frisbee,
kickball, dodge ball and a crazy relay race. Just like my day on the Jordan,
this day was all about acting like a child and having a blast. In fact, for the
Fifth Annual I’m suggesting a massive game of Red Rover. Or maybe Capture the
Flag.
As long as summer as here, and hopefully
beyond, I’m going to make time to play outside and giggle and act like a kid. I
definitely need to laugh more. Half the fun of Birthright are all of the inside
jokes. In fact, Justin spent half the trip working
on jokes to make us laugh (mostly play-on-words like “Hey guys, is it shwarma-t
or is it just me?” Get it? Warm out? Groan-worthy, but funny.) If you check out
my Facebook profile, which hasn’t been updated since I made it in 2006, you’ll
see that my favorite thing to do in life is laugh. That hasn’t changed; I was
simply reminded in Israel.
So here’s to more laughter and more time
outside. After all, what’s life if you’re not enjoying it?
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