Wednesday in Tiberias

Since it was still awful weather, roads were blocked to Jerusalem (TWO centimeters of snow!!), so we stayed in Tiberias for another day. It was pretty awful weather there too, with cold, windy days full of freezing rain. I regret not bringing my winter coat by the hour, though I am so incredibly grateful that I managed to find and buy that last-minute raincoat, since I am pretty sure it save my life. My torso remained almost completely dry and even though the coat would look soaked, water would run off it in a matter of seconds to minutes.

Our last-minute planned activities were managed by our tour guide, who had to find something for 40+ people to do, preferably indoors. We ended up with four activities.

First, a “tour” of the “chocolate factory” at the kibbutz we were staying at. This was a good time if only because of how hilariously bad it was. We sat in a room and watched an awful mini-movie about how chocolate is made that made my inner video editor both cry and laugh, sometimes at the same time, and then were released into the chocolate shop. The kibbutz does nothing to the chocolate except shape it, and while their logo couldn’t be better (a blue-eyed redhead girlchild licking a wooden spoon; amazing in it’s hilarity), the presentation of it all was pretty bad (but still funny).

Next it was to the Tiberias hot springs, which actually looked like a normal Y swimming pool, just filled with hot spring water. The group as a whole enjoyed it, and I managed to not mind it so much, once I got over the anxiety of walking out in my swimsuit. Being in a Jewish-majority place is amazing; I wasn’t the only one there with a full-body suit on!! Of course, the hot water just made the rest of the day much colder by comparison, and we were all pretty sleepy too. I’d’ve suggested making that an end-of-day trip next time, if it was kept in the schedule.

Third was a stop at a mall, because we were running out of indoor activities and also we needed lunch. Mostly people took advantage of it to buy warmer clothes and medicine, because by the way, everyone was getting sick. Cold medicine and lozenges were being passed around and shared like sticks of gum. It would’ve been sweet if it hadn’t been so sad.

Our final thing was a talk by reform-egalitarian Rabbi Ian (licensed in Israel too, pretty big deal), which was my favorite part of the day even if I cringed every time certain group members opened their mouths. I liked him and was interested in what he had to say even I didn’t necessarily agree with it. Also he was formerly a lawyer in New York and it was hilarious how utterly Jewish-lawyer-rabbi this man was. He lained when he spoke. His inflections were the same as some teachers I had in school. The three other orthodox/conservidox people on the trip and I all giggled about it a little after the talk.

The evening at the kibbutz was the worst part of the day. We were all sleepy and had an early morning tomorrow, and we were kept for a two hour debrief by the tour guide and group leaders. Not at all appreciated and I’m still a bit miffed over it.

Highlight of day: Rabbi Ian. Oh! And during lunch at the mall, I sat and talked with W, another group member. She’d been pretty quiet all trip, but I wanted to at least try to talk to her, especially since I was also not really fitting in with anyone; the group had already sectioned off. After some poking to see what things W liked, she mentioned reading. WELL I CAN TALK ABOUT THAT. We bonded over books, insta-friendship, and I had someone to hang out with! Yay!