Hiking, Beaches, and Arguments

So a lot has happened over the course of the last few days. Here's a recap of the main events:

1. We went hiking (again) on Thursday, but this time we traveled to Sataf National Park, which is just across the street from Kibbutz Tzuba, in the Judean Hills. Long story short, it was incredible but I limped around the mountains and a natural water cave for about 2.5 hours and another 3 when I got home. We learn so much on all of our tiyulim, our field trips, but I'm not sure how much more my poor bum foot can take (for those of you who are unaware, I have a preexisting foot injury that I've had since I was 10 years old, an injury that forced me to quit competitive figure skating and is irreparable). I'm trying my best to get the most out of these experiences, and while I certainly enjoy the immense amount of knowledge I get out of them, I can't help but dread every day that we go on a hike. My foot hasn't caused me this many problems since I quit skating in 2014, and I've only been here for 2 weeks.
   
   
   
   
2. On Friday, NFTY EIE headed to Rishon Lezion for the day. We woke up bright and early to go to one of the beaches and clean up the garbage that littered the shore. 35 people spent about 2 hours picking up trash, and still there was an enormous amount remaining by the time we left. From the clean-up, we went to one of the shopping malls in the area... it was there that I realized that my little Hebrew knowledge is completely and utterly insufficient, although I felt accomplished when I read the sign pointing to the bathroom and when I told a young woman at a store "lo ivrit" or "no Hebrew". From the mall, we went back to the beach, but a different one this time (this one had less trash and more people). At the second beach, we had about an hour and a half to mess around and play in the water... I was pleasantly shocked when the Mediterranean Sea was significantly warmer than the Pacific Ocean, the body of water that we Californians are used to shivering in. 
   
3. On Saturday morning, I led Shabbat services again, but this time without a guitar. I was the one leading the prayers and telling people what page to turn to (with help from a friend who'd never done it before... and she was pretty fabulous, if I do say so myself), while my other friend had his very first songleading experience. Needless to say, we killed it. See, songleading is fun for me, but leading services is really what I love doing. It makes me truly happy to lead a group of people in finding their spirituality, hence the little fact in my bio about wanting to become a rabbi.
4. Today, I got into a fabulous argument with my Jewish History teacher. He had asked the class which society we would rather have lived in: the one described in the Book of Judges (where gang rape and murder are acceptable) or the one in the Book of Ruth (where she was protected by the men in her life, and treated with relative respect). When some people answered "Judges" he got angry, would not listen to their arguments, and said that they had answered incorrectly. I then, in an attempt to be professional and respectful, expressed that while there may be a morally just answer, while asking a subjective question based on preference, there is no right answer. This comment then led to an hour and a half of discussion and confusion before he finally understood my point and would not be offended if I chose rephrase his question (which I definitely did). I crossed out the controversial question on my paper and wrote "Explain why the Book of Ruth describes a morally just society". One point for me!

After all of this excitement, I am so ready for an evening here at the Kibbutz, just doing my homework in my room... although I know that more adventures are yet to come.