Thursday I was with Avi at Weizman school and worked on shooting with them as the previous week it had rained and been cancelled so they didn’t get to do it and with the last class which was the best boys and girls at football in the school, so basically team training we did Attacking 1 on 1’s and defending followed by a couple of matches, 1 for boys and 1 for girls and I helped Nissim the P.E . teacher pick 6 girls and 6 boys for some matches they have coming up, he also told me about a tournament they have with all the schools in the area on the 18th March and has asked me if I can come along which I’m hoping I will be able to. Me and Avi had also decided that in the evening we would go to mall and watch a movie then get something to eat, he picked me up around 6pm and we went to the mall where we also met his wife and her two sisters. Avi told me how everyone in Israel loves Jennifer Anniston so we watched a movie called Wanderlust, It’s a romantic comedy about a Manhattan couple who are rattled by sudden employment and ultimately decide to try living in a rural commune. We all agreed it was a very good easy watching movie with some funny moments as expected. Afterwards we went to a restaurant to sit down and get something to eat and talk. At around 11pm we were all a bit tired and decided to head back, whilst walking through the car park everyone was acting like it had just been snowing or something when really it was like a summer evening for anyone from England and none of them could believe that I could wear a t-shirt and not complain, I cant wait for Avi to come to England in the summer and see his reaction to our diverse weather conditions. Once again it was a great night seeing a good movie and spending an evening in great company.
Friday I had a tour at 10am with Danny, today we were heading to the Golan Heights which was around an hours drive and is the highest point in Israel which also borders with Syria. There’s also a mountain where at certain times of the year is covered in snow and people go to ski there, I have to say when I found out I was going to Israel the last thing I thought I would be seeing is snow! However the views of the mountain and all the others surrounding it were spectacular with many Volcanic hills dotted around aswell. The Golan Heights is also where the 6 day war took place in 1967 where thousands of lives were lost and many tanks destroyed. Driving around the area there is obviously still a huge army presence, when we stopped off for lunch we quickly popped into the supermarket after and there were many soldiers in there buying groceries etc, 2 guys were stood there with their trolley and shopping list with their guns strapped to their backs, not something you see back home everyday! Driving along we also saw many army vehicles and tanks in a field in training. It’s fascinating to see and things like this are always of interest to me. We drove to the top of one of the volcanic hills to see the view of the mountain with snow on and all other views around, on top of the hill was a bunker from the war which you can still just walk down into and see where the soldiers slept and the gun points etc on the top, hard to ever imagine it in use, from the view looking down to the Valley of Tears there was also a tank still sitting down in the field and a local artist had made sculptures from the parts from destroyed tanks and machinery. We then took a drive to the Eden Lake which is where a lot of the water is taken from to be bottled across the road and distributed around Israel, we took a walk around the garden and the fast flowing stream, along the way seeing a few crabs and the old village which still has some building there from the 2nd century. On our drive back we stopped off to see the Jordan River which is very full and fast flowing because of all the rain and snow the country has had recently, Danny couldd’t believe how full the rivers were and how much water was on the side of the road whilst driving along plus a waterfall we stopped off to look at which he told me last year had not even a drop of water off it, look at the picture and like me you will think that’s very hard to imagine but its true. We also stopped on the side of the road where there are 4 tanks just sitting there all from different era’s so we stopped to have a look and get a picture, a couple of them were still open so you could go and sit inside, straight away I felt like a kid again and just wanted to climb on it and sit inside and imagine what it would have been like for people to be inside in the middle of a war.
Waterfall
Tank still sitting in the Valley of tears
Gun station
Walk through the Eden Garden
Me and Danny's son on the tank
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