Wednesday, March 16th

Today was a day off from the program, but they arranged an option trip to Masada, Qumran and a beach on the Dead Sea for those who were interested (everyone ended up going except for most of the staff).
Masada, our first stop, was about an hour and a half away so we left earlier than usual. I realized early on that I forgot my camera and my shorts in my room. The camera wasn't too big a deal since the staff member who went with us is taking a lot of pictures and posting them online. The shorts, however, meant no floating for me. We arrived at Masada, got our tickets and headed up in the cable car (we started about one thousand feet below sea level and ended up about one hundred feet below sea level, I think). Masada is a series of ruins, of a fortress and palace, from the time of Herod the Great on an isolated plateau (although built prior to Herod the Great and modified and used afterwards by the Zealots fleeing from the Romans). The view from Masada of the Dead Sea and the surrounding mountains on both sides was like nothing I've ever seen, just wait until I get pictures from Rod. Aside from the view, seeing and learning about the engineering feats they accomplished thousands of years was great. The water system they developed was amazing. Through cisterns, some aqueducts and tunnels built into the mountain side they were able to harness enough water from the flash floods to last nearly a year.
After Masada we headed to Qumran and saw the ruins of the Essenes. These were less impressive than those at Masada, but it was cool to see where the Dead Sea Scrolls came from. We ate lunch here and then headed off to the beach. As I said, I forgot my shorts and I didn't think it worth it to buy a bathing suit so I ended up sitting with another spectacular view of the Dead Sea and the Kingdom of Jordan beyond and I read (there were actually only a few people who went in, so most of us ended up doing this or something similar). After the beach we headed back to the college and now I'm waiting for Evening Prayer and Dinner.