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.