Professor Sharon

Today was completely delightful! We began very early with a walking tour of the kibbutz where we stayed last night and tonight.

The topic of the day was “Natural Wonders & National Safety” We had a wonderful hike to the head of one of the springs that feeds the Jordan River: Tel Dan Nature Reserve, then a drive up to the Golan Heights, lunch and then a fantastic jeep tour of the Golan Heights.

This tour was exciting. The group was large so it took 6 or 7 jeeps with 7 people in each. We toured for about an hour seeing old Syrian bunkers and other relics of the Yom Kippur War of 1973. We also saw wild gazelles, nutreas, and lovely wild flowers and other flora.

After the jeep tour we went to the amazing town of Safed. The town is hard to describe. I’ve included a picture here of one of the staircases so you can get a sense of what it looks like. We went into a synagogue built in the 1500s.

As I’ve said before our tour guide is incredibly knowledgeable about his country, and the day was filled with his stories and history of the area and how the borders and wars have fluctuated in Israel’s history.

It was one of my favorite days of the week so far — it might have something to do with the jeep tour! I didn’t mention that because it was an area involved in so many wars between Israel and Syria there are huge areas of land that are fenced off and marked DANGER MINES! A bit scary as well, but the land is magnificent.

P.S. This picture is for EDU216 Student Teachers and other GCC friends: Hope you are having a great week in your placements and getting your work done! Kim will see you next week!