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!