Today in Israel we started our day around 7:00 am, to the smell of Arjun’s wonderful scrambled eggs, as well as Mimi’s perfectly golden toast. We departed in the bus, after breakfast as per our usual schedule, where we were set out for our destinations in/ around the Golan Heights. For a little bit of context, in 1967, six Arab countries invaded Israel in hopes of destroying it. The Israeli Defense Forces routed the Arab armies in six days. The Israeli Air Force played a large role in Israel’s victory in the war, coordinating with their intelligence networks. The Golan Heights are a mountainous region that was held by Syria during the war. It was taken by the IDF using a combination of aerial and land based attacks while using their intelligence networks in the Syrian command.-(Arjun helped me with this part because he is very good at history!)
After passing through the beautiful valley near the famed Golan Heights, we ascended a very dodgy road to reach the Golan Heights. Once here, we first went to a former Syrian base that was used by the Syrian army during the Six Days War. It was quite an incredible site, walking through the now defunct, and graffitied base that has several large holes from bombs, and even small divots in the cement from previous gun fights ( see attached pictures). After exploring this area a little bit, we departed for our second destination of the day, De Karina Chocolat factory, where we had a visit planned. Here, we were introduced to the third-generation family business, which is now based in Israel due to connection to the state, but was previously based in Argentina where it was started by previous generations. Here, we had a lot of fun both tasting and creating our own chocolat, which was a fun experience with our group.
Due to Aidan’s preferences, he got to enjoy dark chocolate espresso chocolat, which he loved so much they even brought him more samples! ( see attached pictures!) We all got to bring home our own “handmade” chocolates, which has since seemingly disappeared in a matter of hours. Upon our return, we ate a lunch at the dining hall, of spaghetti with a meat based sauce, as well as a salad and soup, which has become a regular staple of every meal we eat here. We all dispersed to our own families after a short time, where many of us enjoyed football, dinner, rollerblading, and even Jimmy’s birthday party! Jimmy, a generous and humble gentleman who is a friend of Tsipy’s turned 70 today, which he celebrated by having a large meal of grilled meat, cake, and other special food at the Buhbut household, which is Mimi’s assigned house. At the end of the day, we will have our daily meeting at 9:00 pm IST. After this is wrapped up, we will all crash and go right to sleep for our big, and earlier day tomorrow.
