"I have been changed for good..."

Wow, what a day.  I guess I should start at the beginning, even though I'm still reeling from the end!

Today we had our Dead Sea field trip.  We started down south at Masada.  Masada is another fortress like the Herodion, except bigger and awesome-er.  This thing is out in the middle of the desert- Bro. Wilson said the summer temperature is upwards of 110 degrees, and in December it was cold, so we were there at basically the perfect time of year, because it was a nice maybe 85, maybe 90 in the sun.  We didn't hike to the top, even though that's apparently kind of the thing to do there.  But our day was so packed we just really didn't have time.  So we rode up in the gondolas, and it reminded me of Jericho because when we hiked up to the monastery there I was way jealous of the people in the gondolas.  So it was basically this sprawl of palaces on the top of a mountain in the middle of the desert.  Well, it used to be.  Now it's just ruins.  It was also the last stand of the Zealots in 70 AD when Jerusalem was destroyed.  Apparently there's a movie about it, but I couldn't tell you what it is.

Then we went to the Dead Sea.  Hehe.  K, it is seriously the trippiest thing like, ever.  You get out there and you just sit down in the water and you're floating, but you have to get used to it, because it feels like you should have to all lay out in order to stay floating.  But we all stood like, straight up and down, and you totally still float!  It was awesome.  Basically we got in and all just bobbed around in the water, let the tide carry us down to the mudpits, you know.  I actually really felt like a buoy, when all the waves would come and I would just kinda float over the top of them.  It was the coolest thing, lol.  So fun.  And the salt made you all slimy in the water, it was kinda gross, lol.  So then we got to the mudpits and slathered ourselves all up.  Honestly, I'm not really sure why, but it's supposed to exfoliate your skin and stuff.  The guys all literally went black from head to toe, got it in their hair, on their suits, it was pretty disgusting, actually.  Bryan looked like a Golem/mud creature.  And I was able to do all of this without even getting my hair wet.  :D  I actually thought I got mud in it at one point, but it was dry when I finished.  It was kinda nasty, tho.  I mean, it still looked all right, but I could taste the salt even without getting water anywhere near my mouth (they are pretty adamant about not getting it in your mouth, eyes, anything like, this is seriously baaaaaad stuff) and it was definitely all up in my hair.  But it still looked ok so that was the important thing.  :)

And it was so worth it, because the next thing we did was hike up to a waterfall at Ein Gedi and I was able to take some glam shots (since I missed that opportunity by not looking cute the last time we were at a waterfall- and this was a better one for glam shots, too).  So we definitely got our fair share of hiking in, even tho we didn't hike Masada.  And it was hot.  I was so glad to be in a skirt, coz I was still definitely sweating it up.  It was basically just this random waterfall in like, the middle of the desert.  I mean, the Dead Sea basin is basically like an oven, you know, it's all so low elevation and so it's crazy hot and dry like, all the time.   But there was this random waterfall with a little bit of green immediately around it.  And it like, trickled down the face of the rock in like, a series of waterfalls, so they kept getting bigger and better as we went up.  It was cool.

Last we went to Qumran, which is where they discovered the Dead Sea scrolls.  We watched a video about it, and it was really funny, coz as soon as they lifted the screen (it became a walkway into another room) these two random little kids came out of no where and... well, there was no point to that.  It doesn't sound quite like it was when I tell it...  Sorry.  But ya, then we went out and saw the caves (from a distance) and the ruins (up close) and that was about it.  Also out in the middle of the desert.

K, tonight was our TALENT SHOW!!!!  It was amazing.  Honestly the best talent show I think I've ever seen.  Everyone was just so creative and all the skits were so good and so funny!  Some people did the "Luxor-motion" (Locomotion...) and like, made up this whole song about being in Egypt, it was awesome.  And there was a synchronized swimming act- I kid you not.  They set up like a couple of tables with blue curtains and then did this whole synchronized swimming routine to "You Raise Me Up" by Josh Groban.  Hilarious.  But my favorite favorite FAVORITE was "I Won't Say I'm In Love."  Six of the girls dressed up like Megara and the Muses from Hercules and did a lip synch.  You don't even understand, it was like watching a Disney move live.  They looked exactly like the movie!!  I was so jealous I could hardly stand it.  I wanted to be them so bad.  And the choreography was amazing.  Yep.  So because I'm on the talent show committee, I was volunteered to help with MC-ing.  We started the show with a little skit.  Josh and I were on a *safari* and the real MCs did our voices and that was pretty fun.  And then in the middle we had a mini fashion show, where Josh and I each wore one item of someone else's clothing and everyone had to guess whose they were.  And then Richelle and I were last and we sang "For Good" from Wicked and made everybody cry, lol.  I've never been so involved in a talent show before...  It almost kinda felt like the Lara Show a little bit.  But hey, I didn't ask for it, so it's all good, right?  And it really was a lot of fun.  I almost cried as I was singing at the end, lol...  But ya, best talent show EVER.  :D