Green, green its all...wait is that an armchair?

Last week I volunteered with the local Canal and River Trust, cleaning up the Lancaster canal for a few hours.  It was a fun morning spent on a canal boat with fishing nets and rubbish grabbers.   I was a little shocked by how much we came back on the boat with us.   I don't understand why so many people feel the need to throw unopened beer cans or half filled bottles of wine, even the empty ones, crisp packets, take away boxes, everything just chucked  into the canal. I didn't realise people were quite so wasteful and careless.

I personally feel extremely lucky to be living near such beautiful landscapes, but there's obviously a lot of people with no appreciation for our lush green surroundings and waterways. Perhaps they should spent some time in the desert too!

Check out this collection of things we pulled out of the canal and along the verges of the toe path:

In my other volunteering exploits I've been bring new life to some plants, propagating fig trees and lavander and hebes and expanding my plant knowledge massively.  I also made a few festive table decorations with pieces of holly, fern, that kind of thing.   Creativity and practical  aspects of life feeling well and truly satisfied.

The only thing missing some intellectual stimulation!  Although, mi español es mejorar!

The job hunting is fruitless at the moment, but I do have something to look forward to.  I'm leaving the country again on an extremely thin shoe string budget,  in the new year! I'm off to Arizona to spend time with a guy I bumped into at the kibbutz in my last few weeks in Israel,  and haven't stopped talking to since. I feel like I'm kicking off some gossip generator in the ex Ein Hashlosha volunteer network, you'll be sitting there figuring out who it is.   I'm  incredibly excited about flying out there,  but I have 5 weeks before then to make the most of.
I'm looking forward to a Christmas at home with the family, after last years hard work and stress in trying to create some sense of Christmas on the kibbutz.  It had its fun moments and it was certainly memorable, but this time I'll know exactly what to expect,  which can be nice once in a while.  

Having a year away from the UK over the Christmas period, does seem to have meant I missed the arrival of us deciding to join in the with America's mass consumerism fests. Black Friday did not exist in England before I left for Israel, I swear.  Those supermarket fights were
shocking!  Please try to engage in civilised Christmas shopping people.



Hope you're enjoying this extra warm and sunny festive period!

Let me take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of London

 

London, London you are filled with endless possibilities.  Its's quite overwhelming the range of places you can go and the vast amount art and culture that litter your streets and buildings.

The back garden!

I've just returned from 6 days of looking after a beautiful bloodhound and two adorable cats in north London.  Not only did I get free food and accommodation in exchange for my services, I also got some cash in hand to be able to enjoy myself while I was there (money whoopee!).  In between dog walking, where I got to enjoy London's green spaces on a daily basis, I managed to figure out one or two things that really stood out on my map of must sees in London. 

Having done most of the major central tourist attractions I am interested in a month or so back, when I was there last with the Koreans, and important stuff like the Science museum on previous visits, I decided to go a wander through the artsy, alternative, retro, hippie type world of Brick Lane and check out their Sunday market. 

World food stalls, vintage clothes, ridiculous queues for bagels and great street art was very much right up my street (apologise for the bad pun).  My favourite parts of
the day was getting a free sample of handmade chocolate from a guy working  in the chocolate shop on Brick Lane and his comments abut feeling like Jesus.  As soon as he appeared at the door with baskets of chocolate a steady flow of chocolate lovers swarmed towards him through the crowds of passers by. My lunch was pretty great too, delicious Jamaican lamb stew with rice eaten in the hustle and bustle of the street stalls while the guy on the right serenaded me with No Woman No Cry.  Good timing, Mr Busker.   

Sleeping Snowball

At the top of on my list of things to do in London was to check out Spoken Word London. I had hoped to build on my National Poetry Day experiences, with another performance of the same poem but with the added element of reciting it instead of just reading it.  Unfortunately, my underestimation of how long it takes to travel across London meant that I didn't quite get there in time to sign up.  

All was not lost none the less,  I saw some fabulous performances! There was a really diverse range of voices and subjects,and I got talking to quite a few people in the intervals too. A real friendly and open minded bunch. There was even one guy who stripped off completely naked during his first poem and kept his clothes off for the rest of his 5 minute stint.  That was definitely a first, a little distracting I have to say, but it worked well with the message in his words and certainly makes it a memorable evening.

Me and Minie

Izzy

I'll definitely be keeping my eyes peeled for events like this, a little closer to home, in the future. 

There's nothing quite like recieving a kick up the arse from your friends

I don't usually post on such a regular basis but after my last post on my attempts to find employment, I received some daunting fodder for thought. It came from not one but two of my friends. They don't know each other either, living on different sides of the Atlantic ocean.

I don't want to share all of it with you, as its a bit too raw and personal for here in my opinion. Let's just say there was a lot of calls to aim higher. It's great to have friends who recognise and acknowledge your potential and are willing to poke you with a stick of realisation, when they think you've missed the mark. I'd like to thank you both for that.

All the same it wasn't one the most easy things to be on the receiving end of. Mainly cos I have no idea how to start pursing something I feel is bigger than me, out of my reach. Where do I go from here?

That's not strictly true. I know I can look to the things I enjoy, the things I'm passionate about but crystalising those things into something more than interests is quite the task. Even trying to pin one single thing down to throw my energy at and pursue is a tangled mess of indecision. I am working on trying to line up some ways to pursue writing and journalism in 2015, so that should be a step in the right direction.

One last thought, it does feel amazing to realise how much your friends believe in you.

Entering the world of earning money, the final hurdle, attempt 2: close but no cigar

On Wednesday I had another job interview! (I really enjoy these things haha)
A cafe assistant managers post, in a cafe that's part of a community project helping vulnerable adults. This interview went even better than the one for the local supermarket position. I had the same food vision as the manager of the cafe about local produce and trying to introduce organic food, whilst trying to keep prices low and accessible for everyone.

The interview allowed me to really use my creativity on menu ideas and how to improve customers experience in the cafe. I'd had a few weeks to think about it all and I was brimming with ideas and possibilities. The people interviewing me, were clearly as enthusiastic about my ideas as I was. It was nice to have a conversation where everyone is on the same wavelength.

But once again my efforts just weren't enough to get me employed and earning money. I got really good helpful feedback on the phone though, so I know exactly what I was missing. The two other candidates had previous hands on experience of working with vulnerable adults and I don't. And to pretty much quote my feedback, if working with vulnerable adults hadn't been in the job description I would have got the job.

That's kind of a frustrating reason in itself because I have been trying to get that experience through a voluntary position, but due to factors outside my control I'm still waiting for legal approval of application.

Poor timing world, poor timing.

I do feel like I'm getting closer each time though, and getting better at presenting myself to potential employers. All this learning has to pay off at some point, right?

Anyway I'm in London house, dog and cat sitting to boost my bank account temporarily. Going to be making the most of the vast amount of things to do on my doorstep, so I should have an interesting update for here some time soon.

Found this on the Black Swan Buskers Facebook
page from my outing in Alnwick the other week

The best way to celebrate National Poetry Day

On Thursday (2nd October) it was National Poetry day in the UK and this year I've made sure to acknowledge it in all its glory.

Check out the beautiful Alnwick Gardens

I started the day by completing another toiled over job application and getting that sent off, so I could forget about it and get on with enjoying life. Finishing that off literally took all morning. Then it was time to head to Preston train station, to start what became a 6 hour cross country journey to the beautiful town of Alnwick (where the castle grounds were used for the quidditch scenes in Harry Potter).

The actual moving from one point to another in a moving vehicle isn't that long its just the waiting around at one station after another.  I caught 3 different trains and a bus before I got to the Bailiffgate Museum, where one of my close friends was hosting an evening of open mic poetry.   We hadn't seen each other for a year and I managed to pluck up the courage to do my first performance of one of my own poems. It was an amazing evening, jammed packed with adrenalin highs, good company and good beer.  

The massive sense of achievement after sharing my piece with the lovely audience, in a beautiful venue, was unreal.  I felt like I was flying!  My nerves were definitely present with me on stage, but I managed to protect my voice from them. I felt like I managed to get almost every bit of intonation and expression into my act, just as I had envisioned when I'd played it through in my head a million times before. 

In fact you could even say my nerves added an extra element of comedy to the poem.  Imagine the hands that are holding the piece of paper containing the all important words shaking like someone planted jumping beans in my fingers and the paper is the heat source that gets then going.  As I read the line 'But it all seems so fear tremblingly impossible!' in a poem about the fears of speaking out loud, one cant help but smile.

As if the emotional high from all that wasn't enough I also got to bust out 3 covers of songs with a guitar at a local pub open mic night,  once the poetry session was over.  

Did any of you guys do anything exciting for National Poetry Day?

A search for new possibilities in the great mystery of earning money

A hell of a lot has been going on in the world of Anna since we last spoke. Here's a quick stripped down catch up:

• Started attending a local public speaking self help group (for ladies only)
• Attended a Quaker meeting (Technically 2, although one was a film about Benjamin Britten)
• Applied for a job at a local supermarket, with values that overlap a great deal with my own 
• Went to London and stayed with my worldly and opinionated uncle 
• In London spent time with Eunji (Ein Hashloasha reunion) and her friend, from her home town in South Korea.
• Prepared a creative and insightful speech on 'rubbish' for my speakers group and practised my rubbish speech regularly 
• Came down with a cold 
• Had to postpone my first speech performance to focus on getting better and avoid passing on my germs to the lovely ladies of Garstang
• Started learning a little bit of Spanish everyday (Duolingo is a fantastic app!)
• Had an interview for the aforementioned job 
• Genuinely enjoyed being interviewed for the first time, ever.
• Took my Ukulele up on stage with me to sing a song for the first time  
• Ended up with yet another one of those, oh so familiar, "you've been unsuccessful" emails, after my interview

As you might already be able to tell, its been quite the mix of highs and lows. At the moment I've got this underlying feeling of frustration.  Once again my attempts  to gain that necessary evil that makes the world go round, money, has fallen at the last hurdle.  I truly believe I gave them my all and for once managed to get that opportunity, to show myself beyond a collection of carefully formed and ordered letters in black and white. It still didn't work out.

I've already emailed and asked for the reason why I wasn't successful.  It's important to learn form these things but I have my suspicions that's it's to do with the lack of grounding commitments in my life.  Things to make me stay working at that same place.  I'm a bit too flexible.  A unpredictable risky investment if you like (my inner economist does make an appearance once in a while). 

I came across this quote in a TED Talk

Short of telling lies about how I like to live my life,  I don't see how I can beat this overriding need for security, in the employers available to me in my local area.   Valuing honesty and integrity so highly, I like to try and keep lies (that do not serve as art) consciously avoided in my life.   

So its time to try something new, do something differently.  To me there seems to be two possible options either I try finding or creating different kinds of money earning opportunities, aka a different type of job in a different market or I move to a city where there tend to be openly short term or temporary jobs on offer.  Maybe even a combination of both is necessary.   

Each comes with its own trials and tribulations but I'd love to hear if any of you out there,  have any ideas you could throw my way on the subject?  Any ideas at all.The sublime, the ridiculous,  the comical, or even those that might seem down right obvious to you, all have the potential to spark some trail of inspiration in the right direction.  I'm not sure if you guys will respond to this or not, but I hope you do. I encourage you to leave a comment, email or Facebook message if you've got any insight into the world of earning money you'd like to share.  

Here's a link to the TED talk I got the quote from if you're interested:Mac Barnett: Why a good book is a secret door

My lovely Korean friends experience a Full English Breakfast.

We are all tourists in this life. Enjoy it!

Coming home can sometimes be a little bit of a let down after the excitement of living in a foreign country, with its new culture, language, history, and landscapes to explore.  However as one of my

Dig the City festival

transatlantic friends pointed it out its  important to remember 'We are all tourists in this life'.  Just because in your in the place you call home doesn't mean there aren't exciting and interesting things going on on your doorstep.  I bet you haven't even explored all of your local tourist attractions or might not even be aware of what they are! Try your local tourist office website to find out what's going on just down the road.. 

That's what I did at the weekend.  I discovered that Manchester had an urban gardening festival on.  Dig in the City so I asked my dad to come check it out with me. We had a great time wandering around all the displays and talking to local community groups about their work in communal gardening projects.  We also got to have a good catch up over coffee and  a nice meal after 9 months of sporadic communication, while I was in Israel.

My favourite garden at the festival. An optical illusion.
 There was an exact mirror image on the other side of  
the screens you can see in the background

Oh I almost forgot the wedding.  The day spent with Mr and Mrs Jones was lovely.  Everything and everyone looked beautiful.  Especially the surprise arrival of the bride in a horse and cart!  The ceremony went well even if there were a few surprising tears from some people and I had a fantastic time getting drunk with the bride and grooms family and friends at the evening do.


On Monday I made a list minute trip up to Edinburgh on the train to stay at my aunts with my mum, as she was on her way home from a holiday in the Isle of Skye. As I pulled into Edinburgh station it dawned on me that I should try and see my sister why I was there!  Luckily she was not working and we had the whole afternoon to fill each other in on our lives.  Then mum came to pick me up and the three of us went to dinner together.  It was a glorious unplanned event. It's so nice when things like that just come together with hardly any effort. 

Here's a few other highlights from the gardening festival, where we also discover Manchester Cathedral for the first time!

So get out there and explore your local museums, cathedrals, festivals and general places of interest!
 

Creativity is a strange creature

I've spending a lot of time writing poetry recently. It's something I've done for many years on and off but never really had the will or the confidence to share it with everyone. 

I didn't write at all on the kibbutz as I didn't have the time or space on my own. To just sit and be with my own thoughts. Now I'm home and a little isolated with no car in the middle of the English countryside it's pretty easy to get things down on paper.

This is a first as I'm quite enjoying sharing my experiences with everyone I'm going to post something I've penned. Here's a tiny part of my soul exposed to the world, or that's what it feels like.
This is based on the following quote: 
"It was rather beautiful:the way he put her insecurities yo sleep. The way he dove into her eyes and staves all the fears and tested the dreams she kept coiled beneath her bones." Christopher Poindexter

The Knight of Humanity 

By Anna Noble

Sordid words arch through the sky, as they leave the bows of the mockery army 
Her wall is built and the defences hold strong. She is protected.
But behind those walls her fears and dreams long for freedom.

One man fights his way through the front line. Not with brutality and force 
But an aura of warmth and love. He sees past her fortress to the beauty of the land beyond
With determination and patience he valiantly steps inside her gates
Stares deep into her eyes and wills her to reach out.

With each gentle caress he slowly removes a brick in her wall
and cradles her trembling thoughts,  as they escape from her lips.
Each spoken exchange of trust and acceptance, her belief in humanity builds.
The wounded and the dying are finally put to rest and his nurturing heart 
means her dreams begin to flourish. 

If I still have your attention then you can probably see the Israel Hamas conflict and war in general has been playing a lot on my mind. Even though I'm not in the country anymore I feel a deep involvement in what's going on. My  friends and acquaintances are still living out there and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight right now, which is difficult to deal with. 

My friends wedding is on Saturday so I have that to look forward to later in the week. Aside from that I've a collection of books to read in the sunshine and a few things to do in my mum's garden.

My library finds

Home and the sun is shining!

Debra & I at Liverpool Docks

I am still wearing shorts and I am in England.  I am impressed.  It's a nice welcome home.   Everything is pretty much the same here, as I expected.  Back at Ein Hashlosha all my fellow volunteers have been evacuted to a kibbutz in the north or down in Eilat.  I have been following the conflict closely on the BBC and Times of Israel and feeling relieved that I left when I did. 

 I have just finished an application for a  job at a local garden centre so I am allowing myself to blog again.  A fair amount has been happening in my first week home.

I managed to catch up with Debra in Liverpool, the very first volunteer I met on the kibbutz, before she makes Aliyah (becomes an Israeli citizen).  We had a good catch up over a pub lunch and a nice wander around Liverpool.  She has now in Jerusalem and about to start learning Hebrew.  Good luck Debra!

On Saturday my best friend organized a BBQ with friends and with pork being the only meat on the menu!  To celebrate being home from the land of Kosher food.  Her slow cooked pulled pork was the best with homemade coleslaw, and the delicious sausages.  Thanks to Sam and everyone else who came along for the feast and fun.

Amazingly I still had room for a bacon sandwich for lunch on Sunday.   There is nothing quite like the taste of bacon even when you think you couldn't possibly eat anymore pork.

My aunt and uncle also stopped by to say hello on Friday afternoon. Unlike my previous ventures away I didn't have to spend ages explaining what I had been up to, all the while wandering if I'm just talking to much, as they had been following everything on here!  Not that everything makes it to a world wide web audience but it does make returning home simpler. 

Le hitra ot: never say goodbye

One of the kibbutzniks told me you should never say goodbye. You should say 'le hitra ot', see you later in Hebrew. So this is my see you later.

Thank you to everyone I have met in Israel. Those who I have worked with and been room mates with. Even those of you for the past 9 months who have just smiled and said shalom or boker tov every time we pass each other. It's been a pleasure living on the kibbutz with you and if I'm ever back in Israel or any of the many countries I have made friends from in the volunteer house, I will come and say hello. Similarly if any of you end up in England at any point in the future, you are more than welcome to turn up on my doorstep (assuming I'm still in the country  to answer the door.)

Unfortunately the situation  between Palestine and Israel isn't looking good right now. I've spent a lot of time sitting around in bunkers in my last few days here. To everyone I Ieave behind, especially those of you at Ein Hashlosha, stay safe and I hope this doesn't go on too long.

I have 24 hours in Tel Aviv to enjoy before I get my flight home, so that's all until I'm back on home ground. See you on the other side.

9 months in the volunteer house is a lot of group photos!

10 things I miss about England

I fly back to England in 5 days.  As my mum said on the skype the other day I am going from one place in the middle of no where (the Negev) to another place in the middle of no where (Garstang).  The big difference is having lots of people around here and almost no one back home. That shall be the challange when I get back doing plenty of things to keep my social life busy and fun. I am going to miss this place a lot so I thought I'd try come up with 10 things to stay positive about when I leave. 

1.  A CLEAN BATHROOM AND KITCHEN!!  I am so excited about finally having a shiny clean rooms and only having to clean up after myself (and occasionally my mother) not 18 other people, many with questionable levels of cleanliness.

2.  Eating non-kosher food.  Cheese and meat together! and bacon, sausages and all that deliciuous pork products.  I can finally have a pizza with pepperoni on it.  Oh real cheese.  Not the tatseless stuff Israel comes out with.  Mmm some Tasty Lancashire or Garstang Blue would be heaven right now.

3. Never thought I'd say this but i am missing the rain!  In 9 months here I think it has rained a grand total of 3 weeks if not less.  The sound of rain falling when your sta in the warmth of your home is one of my favourite sounds so it will be nice to see a few rain drops again.   The heat is also pretty intense here so I look forward to actually wanting to wear clothes again.

4.  My friends and family I havent seen in so long! My best friend is getting married, I've already missed the hen do so it will be great to catch up with her before the big day.  Of course my mum, dad and sister too. My mum came and spent a week enjoying Israel with me but everyone else it's been too long. A few of my friends have made families of their own in the time I've been away, so think I shall be meeting some tiny bundles of joy.

5.  Doing lots of different stuff such as:Yoga, Capoeira (if I'm in close enough proximity to a class), Zoomba, swimming, Samba drumming, paying Gregson Lane Folk Club a visit and generally keeping my self occupied. Probably not all at the same time though, not sure I have enough energy for that.

6. Applying for gardening jobs and finally feeling like I have a tiny bit of direction in my life.  I dont feel like I am just going to be flailing around feeling lost this time, unlike after coming home from teaching in China. 

7.  How incredibly green England is and the resultant lack of dust/sand that gets everywhere! Oh and no mosquitoes to feast on me!

8. Having a washing machine to do my own laundry. No more 258 written on everything and the black hole that is the kibbutz laundry service. 

9. Pints of real ale and or an ice cold cider when the sun comes out. Israel doesn't really have cider even though it has the perfect weather for it.

10. Researching and deciding which country to go and explore next? Hehe. Nah I might stick around for a while, we'll see how things go.

 Leaving this place is going be hard after 9 months here, but its time to move on and try something new. I hope my next adventure is filled with as much fun and fabulous people as I've managed to find here.

Scary and sweaty morning at work

Today has been 34° with 70% humidity. Bloody horrible to garden in. I was running out of dry t shirt by the end of the day. As if the heat wasn't enough to make it a difficult morning add in running to a bunker twice in response to the tzeva adom alarms as Gaza attacked at 7am this morning. I've now experienced 5 of these in my time here. The first one today was by far the scariest. Being outside in the open and then being in a bunker on my own for the first time. The sound of the bomb hitting also came before the alarm had even finished. There is meant to be 15 seconds for you to run.

Luckily none of the bombs hit the kibbutz just the surrounding fields and everyone is okay. Here's what's been going down in a report from the Times of Israel. I am off to Beer Sheva with Jonny and Chihiro to watch The Edge of Tomorrow this evening, as ever normal life continues here.

Kibbutz Geva and Akko's Donkey advice for all humans.

Todays post a bit of a mismash of everything. Trips, Photos, goings on in Ein Hashlosha and music.

 

Firstly my visit to Kibbutz Geva was really nice!  The volunteers there were all lovely so thanks for a great weekend Geva!

The view from Kibbutz Geva

 
Their pub was very different to Mafia, has a pool table instead of a dance floor and it played lots of Jack Johnson and not Latino music.   It was good to see some different faces and meet new people.  The volunteers also get fed more than we do, Breakfast and lunch on working days and even get lunch on saturdays so I was well fed.   Having breakfast before I left on Sunday morning was a nice luxary.   They had some really nice yoghurts they make on the kibbutz apparently as they have cows and sheep.  Despite having cows like us,  they have significantly less flies (I have been told the cows attract the flies).  I think I saw about 2 in my whole time there while they are absolurtely everywhere here. 
 
I did pretty much the same thing as I do here on Saturday.  Spent all day sleeping and at the pool.  Decided to stay the next night too so I could go to Akko on Sunday morning and take the train home from there.


Akko Beach

Akko was interesting. One of the few places were I felt like I should get a guide as I don't know enough of the history. Unlike Jerusalem it isn't teaming with tourists where you can sneakily join in other people's tours for further information. It was nice to have a few hours wandering around anyway.

It's a little like deja vu in the volunteer house at the moment as we have now have 5 kittens living in the house. Back in October when I first moved in there were 3 kittens roaming around  the house too. They are super cute and all 5 have only just opened their eyes. Kinda glad I'm leaving before they start causing havoc though.

I am going to a lot of BBQs lately. 4 people are leaving tomorrow so we had a big leaving


View from inside guards qarters of the underground prisioners jail

BBQ for them at Tony 's workshop on Wednesday. This evening I am going back there for the guys who worked on getting the pool ready for opening,  much delayed BBQ. So much deliciously cooked meat.













I thought this car was pretty cool.. it says "Donkey advice for all humans: stop killing, violence, rape"



This song has been stuck in my head recently and its one I have picked up here so I'd thought I share it with you guys. The video has some very familiar scenes from my time in Israel too. Enjoy!

Come on England!

Before I came to Israel I didnt really follow football and it wasnt until I got to Tel Aviv that I'd even

attended a football match (thanks super friendly Northern Ireland supporters). After 9 months I think I might almost be considered a football fan, I've watched enough games in Mafia here.  What started as an excuse to get out of the volunteer house and drink a few beers has turned into something more.  I am looking forward to the England vs Uraguay match later this evening. Hopefully we dont get kicked out of the cup like Spain, last night. 

In none football related news, on Saturday we had the option of going on a walk in the Negev desert organised by the kibbutz.  If we could manage to get up for the 8am start, which meant a

few people didnt make it.  The walk wasnt very long but the scenery was beautiful and the weather scortchio! I cant remember what the place we went to was called.  It was very close to Ben Gurion's tomb which we also went to see.

Tomorrow I am going to Kibbutz Geva to visit my friend and see some new faces for a change.
I havent really made a plan but its close to Nazereth so might do a bit of travelling around on Saturday and Sunday too.  

Catch you in a week or so!


 

A month of swimming, gardening and another Jewish holiday

This kinda old news but the pool finally opened on the 24th of May!   All that painting and weeding finally paid off. Now a large proportion of my free time is spent swimming and cooling down from the 30 degree heat.
 

Welcome to the pool!

The pool opening has also meant me changing work again as there is nothing to do at the pool anymore.  I now work in the gardens, which I am loving even if the 5:30am starts don't feel so great at the time.  There isn't much planting to be done as most of the public gardens on the kibbutz are already over grown with plants and weeds.  Pulling out weeds and trimming bushes is how i spend most of my day. It is satisfying to see how much the work we are doing is improving the aesthetic of the kibbutz.  Especially when a kibbutznik notices and decides to buy all the gardeners a beer (that  really was a good day at work!)

Two British guys have arrived in the house! so I am no longer the lone Englander. Added bonus that one of them is northern (from Middlesbrough) so I can start talking like I do back home and be understood for a change. We even managed to play a game of scrabble the other evening. 

One Saturday night all the volunteers went to the Bedouin camp that is located in Ein Hashalosha fields.  We feasted on lamb, which I haven't eaten in about 8 months, rice and laffa.  It was delicious, and the lamb literaly melted in your mouth. 

The Bedouins preparing our food.

 
Yom Shavout was on the 4th of June, so we got the day off work and a half day on the Tuesday before, like Shabbat.  Yom Shavout is a celebration of agriculture and the kibbutz put on a meal and a live band on the Tuesday evening. The food was only milk products and wheat, lots of bread, pastries, cheese and yogurt, along with lots of chocolate milk (no wonder its so difficult not to put on weight here).   There was no free beer this time but some of the young people from the kibbutz made their own outdoor pub in the kibbutz gardens.  A few of us volunteers went along and drank and chatted the evening away there. 

The temperature on the actual holiday was unbearable 42 degrees.  I didn't leave my air conditioned room until the evening.  TOO HOT! Luckily it seems to be back down to around 28 -31 degrees this past week, working in that heat would be horrible. 

I have less than a month before I come home so I will try and keep you lovely people updated on a more regular basis.   

One plate between 3!

 

Remembrance and celebrations

Monday was national remembrance day for all the soldiers who have died in Israel Defence Force and the civilians who have been victims of terrorist attacks. Much the same as Yom the whole of Israel came to a stand still for one minutes silence. Here's the IDF video explaining it all:

Post by Israel Defence Forces.

There was also a memorial service at the kibbutz on Sunday evening, that I and most of the  other volunteers attended. All in Hebrew of course but you could get the gist of it from the atmosphere and what was going on visually. The first three people that were named in the ceremony were the first 3 kibbutz members to fall in the war of independence, which is how the kibbutz got its name. Ein Hashlosha roughly translates to this. There were 6 other son and daughters of the kibbutz, each one a flame was lit for. One was for Carlos, an Ecuadorian volunteer at the kibbutz back in 2008 who got shot by a Palestinian sniper, whilst working in the fields. (The only volunteer to die here.)

A sad evening, living next to Gaza really made it hit home, it meant a lot to the people here. The feeling on Monday evening was quite different. The 6th of May is a national holiday in Israel as it is Independence day, when Israel kicked out the British.  The kibbutz put on a party with free beer and falafel, a DJ and even dancers all the way from Tel Aviv.

I was "working"  helping the kitchen make and serve the falafel and then clearing the tables after everyone had finished. By the time it got to clearing the tables I'd had enough beer to be dancing around the tables as I went.  It was such a  fun night and I got talking to a couple of Israelis who now live in London and run their own gardening company doing irrigation work in the south of England.  One of them was born and bred on the kibbutz and ended up in England after falling in love with an English volunteer many years ago.  I am currently looking at getting a job in gardening when I return to England in two months so that was pretty cool too.

Sunset photo time

As I write this my skin feels like its on fire. Yogev and Nitai took us volunteers for a  weekend of camping at the beach and quite a few people are looking a little on the crispy side this evening.   We went to Ziqim beach, which is the first beach to the north of the Gaza strip.  It was so nice to be out of the house and the kibbutz for Shabbat.  

We had potjiekos and beer, went swimming, sat around the fire. We didn't get much sleep as, some idiots arrived at midnight with a generator and two big speakers and decided to play trance music all night and morning. It was also pretty damn cold.  I slept next to the fire in a sleeping bag and warm clothes and it was still chilly!    The lack of sleep didn't really matter that much though we had the rest of the day to fall asleep in the sun, plus a few cups of turkish coffee and Nitai's delicious homemade biscuits helped. 

Yom HaShoah: National Holocaust Rememberance Day

Today is when Israel remembers the 6 million Jews killed under the German Nazi regime.  At 10 o clock this morning a siren rang for one minute across all of Israel to mark the

minute of silence to remember all the lives lost. In cities people stop their cars and stand outside their vehicles in silence when hearing the siren. On the kibbutz it wasn't so defined. We were working at the pool and no one else around just the volunteers. We heard the siren and radio cut out  and we stopped working. Then had a coffee break once it was over.

In less sombre news April has also featured Passover, a Jewish festival celebrating their liberation from the Egyptians. It also involves not eat any wheat or anything with yeast in it. Most people on the kibbutz in the  weeks running up to Passover were clearing all such products from their kitchens.  Most of us volunteers not being Jewish a lot of it ended up in our kitchen! When the Cobal does have bread and pasta on sale for the week long festival period, you can imagine the appreciation of some bread and pasta appearing in your kitchen.

On the first day of the Passover celebration the kibbutz had a Passover Seder, which translated into a mass amount of delicious food and wine. I did have to spend two days previous to this working in the kitchen helping them to prepare everything. The one major perk of working in the kitchen, which is getting breakfast every morning, was ignored as there was too much work to do!

I did help cook and then later ate, at the meal, a delicious fish dish that had root ginger and sage in the sauce. Never come across the combination before and I'd definitely like to try experimenting with it when I get back to England.

After a week of weeding I have decided that nothing pleasant grows naturally in the desert. Everything has thorns that can penetrate gloves and give you lots of splinters! Luckily we have moved onto painting everything surrounding the pool: the sun shades, volley ball net etc. Slowly getting closer to the point of actually seeing some water in the thing.

Still alive, just enjoying the sun too much!

Hello out there. Lots been happening I just haven't been plugging into the world of social media very often. Here's a quick run down of this month's events:
Changed jobs. Now working for Tony, getting the swimming pool ready for opening at the end of May.

Purim leopard costume

Went to the volunteer seminar in the north and learnt a bunch of stuff about the arab Isreali conflict and met loads of volunteers from different kibbutzim.

It was the Jewish festival Purim where you are obligated to get drunk. Open bar on the kibbutz so we all dressed up and got super drunk. I went to sleep after sunrise, was a fun night of dancing and halarity! (For those that remember it.)

I hit my head at work and managed to give myself delayed concussion in time for my mum

Bahai Gardens

coming to visit me! Still a great week with my mum even if our plans had to change a little.

We didn't go to Jordan unfortunately due me being sick and time constraints due to hotel bookings. We chilled out in Eilat in one of the big hotels then headed to Tel Aviv and Haifa. The  Bahá’í Gardens were beautiful but mainly it was just nice to spend some time with my mum, after 5 months. I showed her around the kibbutz and we ate delicious food and had a few drinks. She was impressed by how beautiful Israel is and started to understand why I love it here so much.

I am now the person in the volunteer house who has been here the longest, everyone who was here when I arrived has been and gone.  I just booked my flight home the other day. I will be flying into Manchester on the 7th of July! Time to make the most of my last  3 months here and try figure out what to do next.

Drinking Hoegaarden with mum

Windswept in Haifa

Gaza severly attacks Israel for the first time since 2012

This afternoon most of the volunteers went on a shopping trip to Beer Sheva. There were 6 of us left in the house, sat around playing cards and one person was in bed asleep. Around 5 we heard a really load mortar go off. Got a phone call to go to the bunkers. After about an hour and a half we get told its safe to leave the bunker but we should stay in the house and be able to get to a bunker with in 15 seconds. Turns out this happened. Then we watched out the window and heard Isreals attack around 10pm. An eventful evening. Israels response. Hopefully that will be the end of it for the evening.

10 day catch up

It's been raining so I have some time off work. No need to irrigate when nature does it for you, which means plenty time to have a recap of Jerusalem, Garam leaving and the volunteer trip around the North of Israel.

Last weekend in Jerusalem was nice. Daniel, an Israeli guy I met while travelling around China, and his flatmates kindly let me stay on their couch and invited me to hang with them and their friends a in the evening. I met a lot of people and got to do my own thing during the day.

The Old City

Thursday I spent wandering around the Old City looking at churches, the Western Wall, being amazed by the dedication of the religious and drinking tea with a Bedouin shop keeper whilst discussing the philosophy of life, as you do.

Friday I went to the over crowded market which was full of delicious food. I came back with a bag of pastries and a load of strawberries. There were a lot of buskers there too but these guys were definitely having the most fun.

Saturday with no buses running, for Sabbath, I walked from the New town through the old city and up another hill to the Mount of Olives. Here I bumped into some history and politics students from Leeds University who were getting a guided tour with all the history and links to the bible explained, so I tagged along. It was super interesting and especially as a non believer. Hearing the conflicting factions of the different religions how ones hell is another's heaven and all kinds of interpretations in between.

Church at Mt of Olives where Jesus was arrested

I came to the conclusion there was definitely someone called Jesus about in Jerusalem but that seems to be all anyone can agree on. Just the pure basics. Religion is definitely a powerful thing. I kinda found it shocking seeing people kissing the stone where Jesus was meant to have died and such. I do love the art and architecture that religion has left us but I am definitely sticking to being an observer rather than a participant in this religion malarkey.

Ein HaShalosha says bye to Garam

Garam left on Friday. A sad day. Lots of people have come and gone in the house but this time was a little different. Someone who has become your best friend over the  past 5 months. I miss her but it just means I will have to add South Korea to my list of places to visit!

It was also a good day though, everyone in the house went on a trip the north along with volunteers from two other kibbutz. We walked through a freezing cold Roman aqueduct, then to Nazereth to  see an architectural impressive church and a quick stop for an ice cream and some shopping next to the Sea of Galilee in Tiberius. In the evening we BBQ'd and chatted the night away at Kibbutz Affikim.

Saturday we headed for a walk along River Banias to see some amazing water falls and the Golan Heights in the distance. Unfortunately I have zero photos of this as my camera died and my SD card in my phone is broken and no one seems to have put any on facebook yet apart.

On the  bus on the way home things got a little crazy,  the bus driver put on the radio and it started playing Isreali dance music so the guys at the back of the bus started dancing and jumping around to it.  Crazy volunteers.   Considering the bus driver had insisted we wore seat belts for the majority of the trip, the party bus was a little unexpected.

Next trip is a Volunteer seminar with volunteers from all over Isreal in Tel Aviv in a few weeks time.  The four of us that have been here the longest are going. Should be interesting!