Christmas craziness!

This post is long over due but I feel I have been really busy and very hungover and therefore unable to write in a comprehensible way. Considering I am in a Jewish community we definitely managed to create some kind of Christmas spirit here.

Me, Rosie and Garam: coffee & sunshine on Christmas!

On the 19th of December it was my room mate, Garam's 25th birthday and it was also the kibbutz 63rd birthday party. As the tree toppling storm was over  we had a BBQ! Lots of beef and kosher chorizo as well as the usual hummas, pita, salad and free red wine!

Garam is a cocktail queen so we had wine at dinner followed cocktails and some dancing round the house. Most people went to bed pretty early but it was her Birthday so I stayed and made sure she had fun. Then it was Friday and we had to go to work...horrible hangover at work number 1. 

Friday evening the Jewish Philippinos who live and  work on the kibbutz had an Xmas party on the 20th, which was funny. I arrived a little late and they were all on the dance floor moving in synchronised rows. I only heard one Christmas song but the place was decorated pretty well.  There was loads of delicious Asian food and cake and more drinking. They also played a party game which seemed to have some interesting rules. It seemed like musical chairs but spiced up a little. The guys stood in the middle holding a cup? between their legs and the girls dancing around and when the music stopped the girls had to put a straw into one of the cups a guy was holding. I am not sure exactly as I was sat at the back in order to avoid being coaxed into joining in.

Later there was the usual dancing the night away at mafia and then Saturdays day of rest.
Okay time to skip to Christmas eve.

Forgot to take photos but this does the trick!

Me and Rosie have decided we are making Christmas dinner like we would have back home for all the volunteers! I got Rami to order us a turkey an  then did an improvised version of Nigella's ingenious way to keep the turkey from being dry  with the species I physically managed to sniff out in the kitchen, as they are all written in Hebrew and everyone else had gone home. I did get chili powder up my nose and in my eye at one point was not a pleasant experience. We even managed to get our hands on sausages and bacon to make pigs in blankets.

So you would think the other volunteers would be appreciative but due to cultural differences on Christmas eve this was not the case. Turns out the rest of the world apart from the UK does Xmas dinner on Christmas eve. I sat down to eat lunch with everyone on the 24th and all got was people moaning at me as to ask why we weren't having dinner that evening. I was a little pissed off to say the least. The Brits were cooking so everyone else  would just have  to accept we would be feasting on Christmas day. Not my most diplomatic (in fact a little colonial) of moves but turns out I needed the whole day off work to cook the thing anyway!

Eventually we got over that drama and we all had a few drinks to pass the evening. Then it was time to wake up hungover and cook for 20 people! At 10am it seemed like a mammoth task and coffee was needed before any planning or cooking was going to happen.

I think we made about 4 or 5 trips to the Cobal to buy ingredients but it was going well.

Dining hall looking festive thanks to Garam!

Although we both felt drained of energy and started to get a little nervous towards the end in case things just didn't taste good.  But after 6 hours slaving away in the kitchen making all the trimmings, desert and lots of turkey basting. 7pm arrived. Everyone enjoyed the food even if there was a little bit of tension between a few of the volunteers. Guess even when you not with your relations you can't have Christmas without an argument!

The night ended with free tequila shots in the Mafia. Thanks Tony!

Boxing day was not such a fun day at work but I did have a fun evening! Horrible hangover at work number 2! Hope you all had a great Christmas too or a great ordinary week of you're  Jewish :p

I've had a bit of a detox since no drinking and ventured my poor football skills onto the kibbutz football field on Friday to burn off some of the Christmas excess.

Oh and one last thing if you ever need any illustrations or cartoons The Whole Hogg is the place to go!

Merry Christmas

Just a quick post to say Happy Christmas to everyone I am unbelievably tired but 20 people are about to sit down to eat the food that me and Rosie spent all day making! Hope it tastes good! Will give you a more in different depth post after I get some sleep. Hope everyone has had a nice day.

Kibbutz economy: Why the hell aren't we getting paid on time, again?

 For the past month or so we as volunteers have not been paid on time. We are meant to get 500 shekels at the end of every two weeks. Friday should be pay day or Sunday at the latest (the first day of the week here) but due to the quirks of the kibbutz money system this hasn't been happening. The smokers in the house are going nuts about this. Cigarettes are super expensive so they are pretty much always desperate for pay day. I tend to manage to have enough money survive on even if we get paid a few days late.

All the members of the kibbutz and the volunteers get paid from the same bank account ans the problem is there is only one single person on the whole kibbutz who can take money out if that account. I was informed yesterday that they are now also managing the kibbutz factory as well as all the money. If this guy is too busy to go to the bank on the day we are meant to get paid then you get an angry house of volunteers.

Before credit cards apparently the whole kibbutz had major headaches. Any time a kibbutznik wanted to buy like a durable good, say a fridge, they would have to get the one person with the access to all the  money to come with them you to buy it in the shop. There also used to be problems with families getting into lots of debt as there was no one really policing it. Anyone who managed to live within the money they got paid by the kibbutz were supporting the over expenditure of others. Now a days they have that under control with people reviewing people's expenditure on a regular basis but It inevitably slows things down a bit by the sounds of it.

Still to not have pay taxes, worry about health insurance, your kids education, saving for a pension, it all seems like a pretty good deal to me.

In other news the weather is bloody cold here! Was 3 degrees yesterday. I know you Brits out there will be calling me soft, is probably icy as hell over there right now. But when you combine that temperature with no central heating  and a massive storm that causes a blackout all night. Oh and windows that are not built to provide any barrier against the cold and wind.  Brrr! I did not bring enough winter clothes for this. 

Jerusalem even came to a stand still due to snow earlier in the week!

The Dead (Sea) Healing

I had a great Sabbat this week on a trip to the Dead Sea organised by our volunteer leader, Yogev. We rode on camels in the middle of the desert and went for a float (not a swim) in the super salty sea. We were

meant to go on a short hike to a Roman fort too but, due to a football injury, Yogev didn't make it on to the trip to be our guide.

Almost everyone on the  bus from Ein Hashlosha (We went with a few other kibbutz volunteers in the area) was hungover from their partying at Mafia on Friday night.  Thanks to my antibiotics and managing to sleep through the night I was feeling pretty dandy on the bus while everyone else, apart from the two German girls who had stayed off the booze too, dealt with the morning after. In the kitchen we had also made some cookies to take with us so I went down the aisle offering biscuit to everyone on the bus. Although I had to do it discreetly cos supposedly we weren't meant to eat on the bus.  From the dirty look I got in the mirror from the driver I am pretty sure I was rumbled but he said nothing.

It took about two hours for our bus to reach the desert. By this point my bladder felt like it was about to

Such long eyelashes!

burst and my first thought as we drive on the winding road through the massive sand dunes with only a few goats frolicking about on them was I really hope this camel place has toilets.  Going to the loo in the middle of the desert would not be good.  There is no where to hide!  Tourists would see your arse for miles.

Of course being one of those must do tourist activities there were toilets.

Don't they look like they might bite?

I liked the camel ride. A lot of people didn't enjoy it too much as they thought it was pretty uncomfortable but I felt pretty good sitting on Lady Humperdink (we named our camel). Being on their backs was fine but when it came to standing anywhere near their faces I got pretty scared. They have big teeth and spit..  So much so when Rosie tried to take a picture of me with a camel I ran away as soon as it moved its head in my direction and kept looking at the camel not the camera out of paranoia that it would attack at any moment.  Hence the not so great photo.


At the Dead Sea I was also pretty fearful.  I still had the big cut I had got from snorkeling on my foot that wasn't fully healed and I new the Dead Sea with its

This is much safer. 

34% saltiness was going to hurt so much.  Lots of expletives came out of my mouth walking into that sea but I did manage to get in there and lets just say my foot wasn't the only thing that burned.  I wasn't in there very long as eventually the pain just gets too much but I was floating on the top in less than a meters worth of water.  It was crazy.

The cut on my foot is also now completely healed.  No more pain and the skin isn't red raw anymore. Magic of the Dead.

The Dead Sea

Homesick and a broken dishwasher

I had my worst night on the kibbutz on Friday. On Thursday I got the results from the swab of my throat the nurse took before I went to Eilat. Turns out I have Strep throat infection so I am on antibiotics for 10 days. Hence no drinking for me as I don't want to weaken the effects of the penicillin. Will be so nice not to cough all the time!

As everyone gets drunk on a Friday I was prepared for it not being the best of evenings but it was worse then I expected. For some reason people went crazy! There are two kinds of people here. The 18 and 19 year olds who are pretty much straight out of school never lived away from home before and the over 20s who ars escaping stressful jobs or unemployment and generally trying to figure what to do with their lives. Friday night the children kicked off. The house was a mess on Saturday and I was super angry as someone had tried to wake me and anyone else who was trying to sleep up at 5am.

It was like being back in university halls of residence all over again. I really wanted to

New experience..Putting my hand in a Calf's mouth..

teleport my way back to Whitley Bay to have a chilled evening with my friends. More than anything that night.

 The next day I sunbathed in the 30 degree sunshine, helped clean the kitchen Rosie took me to see the baby cows, went a bike ride, ate lots of chocolate and ice cream and escaped the house tension at the soldiers house. Saturday wasn't so bad.

Then this morning I got angry again as someone had eaten almost a full pack of salami I had sitting in the fridge and just left me the empty packet there. I got to work to discover the dishwasher was broken which made work a difficult day too. That probably doesn't sound like such a big deal but when you're cooking food for over 100 people that is one he'll of a mountain of washing up.

Things can only get better and they have! Rosie and I did a workout and I went for a run after. Feel so much better for it. Then I watched the zigiest movie with a few other people in the tv room. The rest of the evening I have been on Skype catching up with my mum and dad, which is always nice.

Snow in Whitley Bay, Sunshine in Eilat, 34 degrees in Ein HaShlosha

Earlier this evening when I went to the Cobal I watched a video of the snow falling in Whitley Bay ( Where I lived before I came to Israel. It is on the North East coast of England for anyone who isn't familar with the UK)  a week or so ago.  One of the kibutzniks ex husband lives in Whitley Bay would you believe.  I have met her briefly before but today we had an in depth conversation about the joys of Newcastle and Whitley Bay, as she has never been to visit. Even said she might think about taking her kids and flying back with me in July, which would be so cool! 

This is the hottest winter I have ever experienced it reached 34 degrees today!  Crazy desert weather.  I do miss being able to see the seasons though.  Autumnal orange and red carpets of leaves, and being jammy when you manage to get just the right amount of layers to stay warm despite the chilling wind. 

Ein Hashloshaians on the beach!

My weekend away in Eilat was lush.   On the Friday we left the kibbutz at 6:30am got to Eilat around 1pm.  That's cos it takes 3 buses to get there.  It's actually only 2 and a half hour drive away but public transport is cheap here so cant complain.   The four of us who went met up with Debra and some of her friends from the Go Eco project she is working on.  We all stayed in the same hostel and spent the day chilling on the beach and the evening getting drunk at the hostel (of course) on beer and Garam's great tasting punch/cocktail.  Then we headed to a night club and owned the dance floor with our moves, as you do.  

Let's put my hand in front of Alex's face

The next day we went snorkeling   I've never been snorkeling before and its such an unnatrual thing to do so takes a bit of egtting used to the whole breathing on through your mouth but I saw so many cool fish.  one of them was massive! It's definitely something I want to do again and it only cost me 6 shekels!  Bargain!  we rented two snorkels between all of us.  

I also managed to injure my foot, scraping it across a rock.  I just ignored the ropes that told me I'd reached the shallow bit.  Genius. Now I have a nice big graze on my left foot as a reminder of Eilat. 

Me and Garam and the amazing Negev sunset 

On the Saturday evening most of the people that had come along with Debra went their separate ways. It was just the four of us from Ein Hashlosha and Debra and her two fellow volunteers at the nature reserve Kay and William.  We all went back to their place at the nature reserve in the middle of the desert.  

Whilst there we saw them feeding the animals, went on safari,  had a bbq,  danced around a campfire.  Had a really nice chilled night. It was also ultra quite aside from the music we were blasting.  There were no sounds of bombs or things blowing up.  It was kinda strange as we have got so used to here stuff going off around us all the time.  

We spent the night camping in tents, which for me was a bit of a mistake.  I was (and still am) ill at this point.  I was feeling so much better i think the snorkeling had even helped clear my sinuses but it gets pretty cold in the desert at 2 or 3 in the morning.  I woke up at 3:30am my ears were frozen and I had such a bad head cold.  I felt like I was so close to being rid of this cold and then I went and made it worse.  I did go and sleep in side after I woke up but the damage was already done.   Noted camping in desert and being ill not a  good idea.  

Here's some of the animals:

I also finally borrowed someones computer so all my photos from Tel Aviv football game, Jaffe sunsets and a few more from Eilat are now online.  You can check them out here if you like: Israel Photos

New Brit brings first rain storm!

Wow I haven't posted anything in over a week. I have been off work these past two days with a bug an  right now I am trying to keep myself awake so I can get a normal nights sleep an  go to work tomorrow.

My last post I talked about the big volunteer meeting. As a result of that we got invited to go to a Rock n Roll party on another kibbutz last Friday. 6 of us went along from Ein Hashlosha an  two guys from kibbutz Reim. We had mattresses to sleep on in the kindergarten so we were set to drink and dance the night away. Unfortunately the DJ was rubbish. He even left at one point and they just played dubstep but we still managed have fun playing drinking games and amusing ourselves.  It was a change from the Mafia and nice have some different people to drink with.

Amazing acrobatics

Oh yeah last Thursday the kibbutz had a free trip to Jerusalem for the knights festival. They had these amazing acrobatics doing a performance. There was a crane with a ring with a drum kit and drummer inside hanging from it and then below that was like a metal sphere cage with three female performers doing absolutely amazing stuff all suspended in mid air. This was the highlight of my night as I got a bit tired cold and grumpy towards the end of the night. I managed to lose everyone in the massive crowds and had forgotten to bring a jacket with me.

Me and Cory before losing everyone.

We had a new girl arrive on Sunday! A fellow Brit! I got back from playing a game of football with 3 other volunteers and 4 guys who live on the kibbutz and she was here. The football game we lost terribly. 8-4 I think was the final score. We were doing well to start of with but seemed to get steadily worse but it was good fun.

Later that evening it rained! Really rained. The whole time I have been here it has drizzled for about a minute one day and that was it.  I had almost started missing the rain. Felt like home for a second haha except it wasn't bitterly cold at the same time.

It's great to have another British girl back in the house some things just don't translate to other countries.

I am off to Eilat with Garam an Alex on Friday to meet up with Debra who was my room mate from Manchester and the first volunteer I met on my arrival! She is now working on a nature reserve and we are visiting to celebrate her Birthday. My first holiday taken on the kibbutz I better not still be ill!

When in doubt, shake your arse!

Friday's Tequila tasted like bubble gum...that's what you get for 50 shekels! but it did the job everyone got drunk and had a fun night. I only have 3 photos from the start of that night. The third one is a terrible photo, you can't really tell what's going on, so I think the tequila must have been taking effect..

Tequila session #1

Tequila session#2

The gathering of  the kibbutz volunteers in this area, last night was good too! Although it was a bit like being back in school. Organized activities all the time. Would have been nice just to have sat everyone in a room together to chat, preferably with some alcohol to loosen people up a bit. 

We had a talk from one of the kibbutznik, residents of the kibbutz, who had been at Kibbutz Reim since the 60s. She had loads of interesting stories about the changing ideology of the kibbutz and the education system. Up until 1990s children didn't  live with their parents, as there was not the facilities in the kibbutz housing for families to feed, bathe etc their kids. So the children all lived together, ate together, grew together and doing chores was part of their daily lives. I came across this in China a little as the primary kids had to clean their own classrooms. There was no caretaker like in England. We had a walk around the day care centre and the school which now acts a place for informal education. The kids come home from school in the early afternoon and get help with their homework, time to play and such until their parents finish work on the kibbutz at 4:30.

After we split into two teams for some basic drama exercises. I really enjoyed it, which was cool as not so long ago on the spot improvisation would have scared the bejeebers out of me! There was inevitably the get to know people activities like saying your name with action that everyone in the circle then had to copy, that kind of thing.

Next was dinner time, thankfully! We were all starving by this point. We enjoyed food (i think the food at Ein Hashlosha is better) and wine sat and chatted to some new people but inevitably ended up with some people from Ein Hashlosha on the table as we had by far the most volunteers on our kibbutz.  I had Ecuador, Columbia and a load of South Koreans at my table. There was only one other fellow Brit at this gathering! It was interesting

Scaredy cat Cory getting turned down 

comparing kibbutz experiences with different people. I seemed to meet a fair few who worked on a chicken farm.

While everyone was finishing up dinner I headed outside and me and a few of my fellow Hashloshians decide to climb the kids climbing frame in the playground, outside the dining
room. Including Cory who is scared of heights, he was freaking out at the top of a rope ladder. Don't ask me why he joined in, he's American.

The final activity of the evening was Israeli folk dancing followed by a bit of salsa. The folk dancing everyone pretty much got the jist of but when it came to salsa I was getting lost all the time! No need to worry though I just went with what I have learned from the Brazilians. When in doubt just shake your arse and go with the music!

4 Germans and a chefs hat

It's been a while since I wrote a post and a fair amount has happened in the last week. I have moved jobs and there's been some positive changes in the volunteer house.

Volunteer photo before Debra left. 

The kitchen is now where I go at 7am Sunday to Friday. It's so nice to be busy all day. I have made so much food. Work doesn't drag anymore and as a result my coffee consumption has plummeted! From about 6 cups everyday and quite often still managing to drift off at work, I have just one with breakfast. Wandering around the shop singing along to the radio was pretty fun though. I got laughed at by the chef the other day for dancing around  the kitchen. Have to do something to make cleaning more fun. All in all I am really enjoying working in the kitchen. We get chocolate brownie for breakfast!

After Debra and Adru leaving we got two new volunteers, one of them replacing me in the shop.  One of them is Mario from Guatemala, who's hanging out with his fellow South Americans at the Cobal and Marian from Germany. That means we have 4 Germans in the house which is more than any other country, so guess they are winning the war for once. There are 17 of us in the house again and we aren't getting any more volunteers until after winter is over. This is nice we have a good bunch of people here. I have heard stories from two month previous to me arriving of furniture being smashed an fights breaking out. Right now everyone seems pretty chilled, hope we all stay that way for the most part.

Speaking of chilled. Joel and  Wesley, two of the South African guys here built a really nice chill out area under the tin roof outside. Loads of sofas cushions, a table, great place to chat, smoke and relax. We had a big meeting and agreed we should start doing some work on the house to get it looking nice. We have a new cleaning schedule and Saturday afternoons are going to be spent painting walls, mending so.etching or making something new for the house. There is such a nice atmosphere here at the moment.

Last night we went to Bersheva, the nearest town, which took about 40 min car drive to get to..well actually we went to the mall, which was like any other shopping centre but massive. The biggest in Israel apparently. I had planned to buy a big needle and thick thread/wool to fix the hole in the hammock, but I forgot. I think my brain was overwhelmed by the awesomeness and the fact things cost almost the same as back home but I dont get paid that much. The only shop I enjoyed was the puzzle shop. Literally you walk In andone of the guys working there hands you a puzzle to work out. Took me about 20 mins to open a box!

On Sunday is a gathering of all the volunteers who work on the kibbutz in this area so I am looking forward to that should be interesting. Tequila is the public booze of choice for tomorrow. Set to be a fun few days.

Forget trick or teat and horror movies, try helicopters and gun fire for Halloween!

Last night was seriously the scariest Halloween of my life. Israel blew up the tunnel that was on the news a while back, where Hamas were supposedly trying to target the kibbutz kindergarten but it is actually about 3km away from the kibbutz parameters. All this meant the Israelis crossed the boarder last night and Gaza kicked off about it. 

Around 11 I was out walking with Debra and Garam who are my room mates and we heard the the bangs as they blew up the tunnel. This was fine we had been told in advance that it was going to be happening but there were loads of helicopters circling over head too.

Keep calm. Look at the cute kittens!

Probably to patrol the boarder. 

Anyway about 5 mins after we get back to the house. We hear shots, they are going of in quick succession like a rifle firing a round and a helicopter flies so close it sounds like it's right on top of us.  By this point I had run into the bunker with a few other people in the house and was freaking out a bit.

It didn't take for things to die down again mind and after a visit from one of the kibbutz members to calm everyone down everyone went off to bed. Everyone was fine and it all went quiet.

On the radio at work today we hear that 5 Israeli soldiers were injured and one was killed last night. I can't really describe how it feels to be so close to an active army base. But I quite often eat lunch with a few soldiers. Definitely going to be something I remember about living here.

Earlier on the day I also had my worst morning at work. It was Debra and Adru's leaving party the night before (two of the people I get on best with in the house) so yes it was another one of those hungover mornings. Unfortunately my normal tasks changed slightly. I spent about an hour and a half shovelling rotting garbage! This is not something normally expected of the Cobal staff and it was kinda my own doing that landed me the ordeal in the first place...

As we have already established in this blog I can be a bit of a numpty at times. In light of this it may not surprise you to know that on my first few days of working inn the Cobal I was putting garbage in the wrong place, until Marcello, my boss picked up on it. 

Cardboard bins outside the Cobal

I knew I had to separate the rubbish from the cardboard boxes so I was putting all rubbish in the green gated container and all cardboard in the obvious cardboard filled trailer. As you can see on the picture. Turns out they are both for cardboard. The rotting vegetables go in the wheely bin across the road. Doh! 

That wasn't too pleasant but my boss was very nice. After I'd finished he told me I was 'number one' and let me pick out one of the pastries from the shop for breakfast. Yum. So my day got better and then scary. In contrast today has seen very mundane but it's Friday so time for drinking and dancing in Mafia! Beer o'clock! 

Realities of living in a kibbutz

 I realise I haven't done a 'what is a kibbutz' type post really, so here goes with a few volunteer insights.

Kibbutz lliterally  means group in Hebrew. They were set up originally by Zionist group's at

Chilling on Sabbath day with the Beatles 

the start of the 20th century. They created a voluntary democratic society where everyone is equal. According to my sources (here) there are currently 256 kibbutzm in Israel but a lot of them don't take on volunteers.
Even after Economics degree that practically preached bow down before the Lord that is capitalism, I am still convinced there is something better out there.  And you know what? A world with out competition is great! The people here don't seem stressed, everyone just gets on with their own contribution to the communities economy, mainly agriculture here, and life is chilled. There is no locks on the door of our house, for example,  or on the bicycles. The feeling of trust is nice. When the kibbutz members get old and can't work any longer the kibbutz looks after them. Everyone here gets a wage of about £1,750 a month so 21,000 a year not bad going huh?

Well that is everyone but the volunteers. We get a 10th of this.  I'm not really objecting, as it make sense we are only here on a short term basis and its enough to live comfortably on the kibbutz. What does mystify me is that in the shop I have to put 2 prices on everything. One for the kibbutz members one for the volunteers. Guess who gets the high price? Us volunteers! Maybe I will try asking someone for an explanation at some point to try understand why this is but on the face of it, it doesn't seem so fair.

We aren't equal with the rest of the kibbutz and there is some stigma attached to being a volunteer due to our tendency to drink and such but I am enjoying it none the less! There is certainly equality between volunteers. We all get the same wage whether you are doing back breaking work in the field or drinking coffee and stacking shelves in the Cobal ( what the shop is called). It might not quite be living the dream but it's close enough!

After this: Israel shoots down rocket fired from Gaza strip hitting the news yesterday, I found out that the volunteers are the first ones to be evacuated if things get serious. Before woman and children for diplomatic reasons. A volunteer getting killed is not good press for Israel so mum (and anyone else who might be worried) I wasn't kidding when I said they are well prepared out here for anything if should happen.

One last thing on a more light hearted note.. I have been chatted up by all 3 of the delivery guys who look under the age of 30 at work. I am wondering if they have a bet running. One of them doesn't speak any English and had to get my colleague to translate! Kinda funny.

It's been one week since..

I have been on the kibbutz for one week and the Barenaked Ladies are in my head...not literally! I mean this

:

I discovered on my second day of work, which was Monday. The week starts on a Sunday and Friday night and Saturday, the Sabbath day, are the weekend over here. (Bye bye lazy Sundays!) Anyway I discovered after night of wine and beer, stacking shelves with a hangover is easy! Especially when you have unlimited cups of coffee.  

Since then I have only had one hangover free day and it was actually the only one where I fell asleep while at work. Not for long mind. You know when you feel your eyes close for a second and you have consciously wake yourself up?  

Starting work at 6:30am is actually good! Never thought I'd say that as I find getting up the morning a bit of a chore, luckily zombies make good shop assistants.  I usually come home after finishing work at 2 and have a bit of a nap if I'm feeling tired. Then chill out, get a shower, make some food and the evening of booze, bonfires and laughter follows.

Apologises to my liver. I am having another drinking free night tonight! Way to sound like an alcoholic but I am young and having fun. That's the excuse I'm sticking to anyway.
I think my highlight of this week's evening activities was last night, although it might just be the one I can recall most clearly. It was quiet and chilled. It was Lucas's (the Brazilian) last night, we had fire, BBQ, guitar, singing and drums made from bins and buckets. Hippietastic! I always seem to be one of the last to head to bed every night. I am sure this will change if I get moved to one of the more labour intensive jobs though.

Everything is changing all the time here. People leave and new people arrive its really interesting seeing how people's interactions change with each other. We had two German girls arrive the other day and some of the guys have clearly slipped into trying to impress mode, as when the two girls were cleaning  the kitchen they actually offered to help. When  Drees and I cleaned the kitchen on Saturday they weren't so helpful.

I need to remember to start taking some photos now and then!

First few days in Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha!

Soldiers in Tel Aviv central bus station

On Thursday, after one final coffee and croissant, I set off on the bus ride to Ein Hashlosha. It took two buses to get here and by the second one it was just me and a whole lot of men  and women in uniform.. A definite reminder I was heading towards the Gaza strip.

I arrived around 3pm which meant most people had finished work and were around in the volunteer house when I arrived.  When I approached the house there was a woman lying in a hammock out the front. I went over and checked out I was in the right place and was greated by an English accent and a northen one at that!

The house for 16 volunteers!

I put my stuff in the room I share with the 
English girl and a Korean girl and met all the other 15 volunteers. It was a quick succession of names I had no chance of remembering. There is a good mix of nationalities too making names even harder to remember. There are a few guys from South Africa, Mexico, Spain, America,Japan , South Korea, Paraguay, Germany and us Brits of course. I've probably forgotten one but as you can see it's a big jumble of cultures.

Some photos from my walk

Thursday and Fridays the kibbutz has an evening meal on offer for everyone.  So we headed down to the dining room for some food. The food was good! Spinach cannelloni type thing with lots of salad and some bread.  Later a few of us headed down to the woods just outside the kibbutz gates for a bonfire with a few beers and a guitar. It was a good time. Nice and chilled and got to hear some amusing stories. I did hear my first, and only so far, bang out here. A missile going off somewhere in the distance. Bit scary.

Unlike nearly everyone else I didn't have work yesterday so I spent the day having a wander around the kibbutz and sleeping a little too much..oops. 

After another delicious meal in the kibbutz dining room Friday evening kicked off with wine, beer and bbq. Having dinner and a bbq may sound glutinous but I was glad I wasn't relying on the relatively small amount of bbq food to support my alcohol consumption.

I had left it to late to get to the shop as it closes at 2:30 on a Friday but I didn't realise

Farming equipment

this till 3pm. So I was reliant on the generosity of my fellow volunteers. One of the guys owed me a beer from the previous evening and so we shared a bottle of wine.

Later on a group of us headed to Mafia. Mafia being the kibbutz pub/club. Basically a bunker with a bar, loud music and a dance floor.  Aside from the hangover the dancing was fun. They played lots Latino music, (due to the Kibbutz South American roots I'm guessing) which is always good to dance to.

Today has been filled with eating schnitzel, the only thing available from the kitchen on Sabbath day. I also helped another volunteer clean the kitchen so it was safe to cook in there again, which involved a lot of washing up. The sink has now been refilled with dirty plates..didnt last long.

Tomorrow is my first day at work. I'll be working in the shop, which isn't too strenuous but I do start at 6:30am. So I best be off for some shut eye.

Green and white army

My first full day in Tel Aviv. Big chocolate croissant and a cappuccino for breakfast. Sat outside in the sunshine and did some  people watching on the busy street corner. Perfect start to the day.

Next I headed for the beach. Tel Aviv has the wonderfully warm Mediterranean Sea. I am

Tel Aviv beach

wandering along taking some photos and a middle aged man in a Northern Ireland football says hello and starts chatting away to me.  Him and his friends are here for the football match tonight Israel vs Northern Ireland. They are heading off in the opposite direction for a drink and let me know where they are heading in case I fancy joining. Bare in mind this is at about 11am.. a little early I feel to be hitting the pints. So I carry on enjoying the warm sand beneath my feet and think nothing more of it.

It isn't until I head down Allenby st in search of some lunch that I see the same bunch of northern Irish guys Sat in one of the pubs waiting for their beers to arrive. I wave and say hello and end up joining them for a drink...

Many pints later and after divulging that my dad is from Belfast I end up at a football stadium listening to chants of "green and white army." My first ever football match.  I did manage to up grade my company to 3 guys in their 20s too! Paul Joel and Richard! There's your mention!  It was an entertaining night.

I do have to admit for the whole the first half I was thinking "this has got to be the worst decision in my life." It was boring! That ball was not going anywhere near the net..well apart from Israel's goal early on.  Why I had left the bar was a mystery.

Then Northern Ireland finally scored and I joined in the up roar! The second half was actually quite exciting! I think I also got my own chant at one point in the game.

The game finished with a draw 1 all and we headed back to the bar on the sea front, Mike's Place and the drinking continued. Think I got in around 2 and stuffed my face with a beef sadndwich. I managed to get a sandwich without pickles too!  They really love pickles out here.

This morning I was suffering but I managed to drag myself down to the Kibbutz volunteer centre and I'm off tomorrow morning to Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha. It's  very close to the Gaza Strip. Yes I did say Gaza. Don't freak out. There are 16 volunteers out there already ( I could have gone to a kibbutz somewhere else if I'd wanted but where's the adventure in that?!) and most of the Kibbutz members are South American.

An Isreali collective community made up mostly of south Americans situated close to the Palestinian territories..definitely going to be interesting.

I have some great pictures from the drinking session and beach but sadly I didn't think the idea of only bring my kindle no laptop through properly. No way to get my photos off my sd card. I will work on getting a usb card reader and update with some amusing images.

Landing in Isreal

I have been in Israel 2 and a bit days and I am already stacking up a backlog of stories and finding it hard to fit in the writing up of my notes but here goes...

Jewish traditional dress

Let's start at the beginning: getting here. Unlike my recent experience with trains everything went smoothly. 5 hour direct flight from Manchester to Tel Aviv. However I did feel like I should have brought a hat to wear on the plane.

A Magritte painting

This is especially for my friends who asked if Israel was really that Jewish. The plane felt like it could have been a Rene Magritte painting. If Easyjet had existed in his day and his hats more Jewish of course. More than half the men on board we're bearded and wearing black hats. It was a little surreal.

Oh and Tel Aviv looks great at night! A thousand tiny lights scattered below you. Seems to be less blaring consumerism than Chinese cities anyway.

Anyway I arrived at the hostel and was met by the night manager who gave me a map and told me the good spots to check out. Local knowledge always welcome. Got settled in and went for a drink and food with the American girl who was staying in the same room at the hostel. Pretty standard few quiet drinks..it wasn't till the next day when things started to get interesting.

The Biggest Idiot In The World Award goes to...

Do you ever have days were you wonder if there actually any intelligent life sitting in that head of yours? I have certainly had my doubts, about what's going on in mine, today!

It's 4 days until I fly off to Israel so time to pay my sister a visit up in Edinburgh. Getting the train up from Newcastle and spending the day together. Great. Simple... or so you would think.

Roughly a month previously I had missed my train from Newcastle to London. I had bought an advanced single for about 30 quid and ran down the platform just in time to see the train roll away right in front of my eyes. Gutted. Then with additional sting of having to pay 80 quid for an on the day ticket for the next train. That's 110 quid to go to London and I wasn't even travelling first class! As it happened I had a fantastic time down there so it didn't really matter..but anyway back to today's trip.

After the London experience I was determined to get there on time. I did I was about half an hour early. Got my self a classy cup of coffee at Burger King. Go through the ticket barriers 10 minutes before my train is due to arrive. We are good to go.

I don't think I looked this dignified running for my train

Wrong! Seems I can't read in the morning if I haven't eaten breakfast. Guess who proceeds to the wrong platform and gets on a train to London!? The opposite direction! Yup that would be me...

IDIOT!!

Luckily my brain finally kicked in when I heard them say they would be arriving at London Kings Cross at such and such a time. I managed to get off before it actually left the station.  However the train I had booked a seat on to Edinburgh had been and gone by the time I got  to where I should have been in the first place! This prompted a long series of expletives to irrupt from my lips.

15 mins later, after blowing off some steam on the phone to a friend, I was on a train in the right direction. I sat down and heard the ticket man coming down the aisle saying "all tickets from Newcastle please." I braced myself for the expensive hit.

But finally my luck changed!  Using my smile and charm I managed to convince the lovely ticket man to let me go without buying a new ticket. Woohoo! So aside from being half an hour late to meet my sis, no harm done and I got a story about my spectacular stupidity for you guys to laugh at.

The rest of my day has turned out great too. Met sister, had tea and delicious cream filled Sicilian pastries, watched the new Woody Allen film Blue Jasmine, helped my sis make moussaka, ate said glorious food with a bottle red wine AND successfully got a train down to my mum's, here in Lancashire.

Tune in next week for more mishaps!

Go go go!

Woohoo!  Plane ticket!

Check it out! I have the green light from Israel! Flights are booked. I am off on the 14th of this month. Time for 10 days of chaos running around trying to get organised. Exciting! 

Just as I had started thinking there was no chance of me getting out there before November came around the Kibbutz agency emails me to say can you get here before the 15th October?!  

I had even started looking around for a back up plan, after my GP  had refused to write me the letter the agency had been asking for regarding my Measles outbreak back in 2011.  My doctor said it was an unnecessary letter as it was so long ago and refused to write one.  I thought this was pretty mean seeing as I would be the one paying for it.   Luckily my ingenious mother came up with the idea of calling up the UK Health Protection Agency to see if they could help out. A link to the national measles guidelines and 5 days later, waiting for a response to my email, we are sorted!   

Time for a to do list:

• Buy some shorts that don't have a big gapping hole in front of them. (busted the seam playing capoeira after a few beers)  
• Buy some travel insurance
• Packing and re-packing when backpack is too heavy or everything inevitably doesn't fit in.
• Check medical supplies are sufficient.  
• Decide whether to take musical instrument with me and or which one.  Guitar or Berimbau?
• Get a kindle and fill it with some books.  Book swapping wasn't very easy on the road in China. 
• Visit sister in Edinburgh before I go.

That's all for now.

   

I am also looking forward going to see this tonight! Will be watching in the Dr Who style trench coat I just purchased for a bargain 9 pounds. 

Blowin' in the wind: Israel and Palestine

Having spent all of yesterday lounging around trying to recover from the fun of turning 24, with my lovely friends on Friday night,  I am going to make my 3rd day of 24 a productive one! 

So far I have skipped over the whole religious/land based conflict in Israel and Palestine.  Mainly because I'm not sure I actually understand it but here goes...

After the Second World War the Jews sought, with the help of the British, to secure a homeland. Somewhere they weren't going to be denied entry, thrown out, locked up or massacred...this seems reasonable. Redrawing boarders to create a new  homeland however, inevitably means someone gets trampled on. Cue the Palestinians. 

I have no real opinion on whether the Jews are the rightful owners of Jerusalem and all that nonsense. All I know is man's intolerance for differing religious beliefs never fails to amaze me. 

I was watching the BBC's documentary on the history of the Jews the other week. It talked  about how before Hitler's regime had even reached Lithuania most of it's Jewish population had been herded into their Synagogues. Locked in there and left to the perils of starvation and eventual death.   Unable to even dispose of the bodies of the dead.  Horrific, right? 

This just left me, aside from with a slight lump in my throat, wandering after such turmoil how can one cause another group of people such grief? They have been in their shoes as it were.  

I'll let Bob Dylan say the rest:

Why Israel?

A lot of my friends and family have been asking why I have chosen to go to Israel so here goes:

Beautiful..and they don't really have winter.

Idea began back in China when I had finished teaching and started travelling around  enjoying myself and meeting Israelis all over the place!  Most had just finished military service and were enjoying the sights in China before heading off to University.

Until  this point the thought of going to the Middle East had never crossed my mind. Attitudes to women the tendency to bomb each other and their own people had erased it almost entirely from my map. Apart from maybe a trip to the Pyramids at some point.

The foodie in me salivates at this beautiful food!

As ever when I travel my ideas and perceptions of different places and people change.  After a few chats over watery Chinese beer with various different travellers, some from Israel others Americans who'd been over as part of their Birth Right (American Jews get a free trip there!), I decided it's a place I'd like to see for myself.  

It took chat with my friend Paul about what makes me happy and dismissing the idea of going back to teaching English in Asia or doing a PGCE, as a result, to come up with the idea of working on a Kibbutz and it being my next venture!

Spice heaven!

I mentioned Travel being the thing that makes me happy. Next came the question of where?...up cropped Israel. Paul mentions his dad having worked on a Kibbutz and says his dad describes it as the best time of his life. This sparked an in depth Google search and a few clicks, pages of forms and months later.. here I am!

When you're at a loose end as to what to do with your life a Kibbutz seems like a good chance to put my skills to the test.  I am also interested from a political perspective as I am a bit of an idealist and would love a world that was further into the Socialist spectrum  than the ConDems.  I am interested to see a society based on equality and community in practice.