Walking in the Desert

      Things have finally settled into a routine here in Beer Sheva. I study Hebrew for four hours every morning, practice Emergency Medicine drills for five hours every afternoon, then go home and do homework. That's right, I go home. I officially have a place to live. It's a small but comfy two bedroom apt I'm sharing with a classmate, just a 15 min walk from the hospital. We have a small convenience store downstairs, a 10 min walk to the grocery store, and a landlord from England. We're living the sweet life.
      I'm amazed by how comfortable I feel here, even in the desert heat. Our class has just 31 students, and we have become one big family. Last night, we took a bus out to the desert for a hike through a wadi (kinda like a valley, caused by erosion) and then had a  bonfire. I was surprised to learn they burn lumber in bonfires here, until someone pointed out that there was nothing else to burn. I was also saddened by the size of our fire- it was nothing like what I've built at the cabin. Check out some pictures of my classmates on our hike:

Haverim Wadi- It was a beautiful night for a hike, a nice breeze and the temperature just kept falling.

This is a cistern from the Nabatean era than we climbed into along the way. Pretty cool that it's still standing.

View from the top of one of the hills we climbed.

At the bottom of the wadi. In the rainy season, this turns into a riverbed.