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!

sprinklers, pipes, exhaustion and hunger

On Sunday I moved from working the kitchen to the fields. After working there for 4 months I had got pretty used to having a delicious breakfast every morning and finishing work by 2pm every day. In the fields you get a coffee in the morning, home around 4 and the work is physically demanding.

I have spent my week moving pipes, throwing sprinklers off a trailer, connecting pipes and sprinklers up,   and helping with sprinkler checks. It's been tough but I quite enjoyed the physical challenge means I don't have to work out anymore! I have been going to bed at 9:30 most nights from how tired I've been but I imagine in a few  weeks my body will get used to it. I am little concerned about it getting hotter though. There is no shade in the fields and when it's 23 degrees the sun already feels relentless to a Brit.

 Being outside the kibbutz is nice too driving around the fields seeing everything growing. I do miss the social side of working in the kitchen and dining hall a little. Literally had the opportunity to talk to everyone on the kibbutz there but its good to try new things, learn new skills, challenge myself.

I now know connecting pipes at a certain angle makes it much more likely that you will successfully connect them. I learned this after several hours of utter frustration in a massive field me and Garam were left to connect.  I had moments when I was ready to smash some sprinklers! Turns out I really hate not being able to do something that in my head shouldn't be that difficult. Since I seem have got the nack to connecting pipes and stay calm when things don't fit together straight away. Things usually work out in the end.

I am currently in Jerusalem for the weekend,  so I will be updating you on my trip in a new post sometime soon.

Me & Garam in front of one of the trailers of pipes and sprinklers

Windswept wanderings in the desert

Looking out over Mitzpe Ramon with Garam

On Friday Garam, two of the German guys Marian and Christian, Dennis who's Polish and lives in Germany ( but hates being put under the German title),Joram the new Canadian guy and myself headed for Mitzpe Ramon a big crator in the middle of the Negev desert.

We stayed the night as the sunrise, sunset and star gazing are meant to be amazing out there. Unfortunately the weather was not on our side it was cloudy! So we didn't see much. A storm was on its way after about a month of glorious sunshine. Typical.

At the start of our Green trail trek

We spent the night sleeping on couches (as we hadn't booked) in a tent with no electricity and still had to pay 80 shekels each. A little steep but we did have a fun night. Met lots of people: more Germans, Canadian, American, a lot of Israelis. It was super busy.

Me and Garam made spicy pasta by candle light and Garam made one of her delicious cocktails for us to drink and share. The night passed pretty quick until about midnight. We wanted to sleep but a bunch of other people didn't. Sleeping in the common area can be a pain in the ass.  I gave up about 1am waiting for people to shift off the couch where I wanted to sleep and went and grabbed a mattress that was free in another tent took my sleeping bag and headphones and got cosy. Have to say it wasn't the best nights sleep I've had but it was sufficient to get me through the next day. Although I did get a little grumpy later on.

We woke around 8am and were out of the hostel with a plan to go on the shortest and most accessible by foot trail around the crator. A couple of days with a 4x4 would have been handy but we are kibbutz volunteers so we made do with our feet!

The views were pretty spectacular and the walk was full of rocky terrain. Joram, the Canadian guy decided that it wasn't exciting enough and he went off trail where successfully managed to injure his foot. A rock came lose and fell on his ankle so he limped and bled his way to the end of the walk.

On the way down into the crator

We had to carry all our stuff with us while we walked as we weren't staying another night at the hostel. Jordan had the biggest and heaviest backpack. He packed for every possible situation yet the one thing that would have been useful, a medical kit, he didn't have in there. This combined with the limp definitely made it a tough trip for him but he did well keeping up with everyone and didn't complain. Was an enjoyable trip. Really windy though! The wind was as strong as we got off the North Sea back in

Whitley Bay. Luckily without the biting cold element!

It took us about 3 hours to complete the walk and as it was Shabbat there were no buses running until the evening. We decided to hitch hike back. This was an adventure in its self. Mitzpe Ramon was super hard to get a ride. Most people had their cars filled with family or just didn't care for hitch hikers. Me and Garam took the longest to get back cos we kept sheltering from the rain unlike the guys who just stuck their thumb out all the way through it. It was a very long day but interesting and unlike any other trip I have been on so far.

The last few kilometres as we head for the road home.

Its all so quiet..shh

Not really. I have just been being lazy with my blogging activity.

The weather is beautiful unlike England right now with your extreme weather warnings.

 Hope no one is flooded. There is a pretty red flower kinda like a poppy all over the fields around the kibbutz with clear blue skies, every day. Love Israel!

We have a few new volunteers. Canada and Portugal along with a bunch of Latinos and half the people here now are going to be leaving in the next two or 3 weeks. Lots of change in the house so it was time for another group photo. We weren't all drunk this time so it actually came out pretty good!

Anyway I am off to Mitzpe Ramon tomorrow with Garam and a few of the German guys so should be another update on that coming soon.

Oh I almost forgot! On the 4th of February at 6:40am we had the first 'zeva adom' alarm, which means colour red. If sounds whenever a rocket lands in close vicinity to the kibbutz. I heard it and ran straight to the bunker my adrenalin was pumping. I was scared. A bunch people practically slept through it! One of the volunteers had to run out and wake people up. Luckily it wasn't actually anything serious there was no rockets from Gaza was just a computer malfunction. Was a bloody good alarm clock though. There was no way I was hitting the snooze button after that.

Tel Aviv and Tiberius trip with Garam!

Another trip and another 6:30am bus to Eshkol or so it should have been. Me and Garam got lucky and one of the kibbutzniks saw us standing at the bus stop and was going there anyway so we got a lift. A good start to Monday morning.

First stop was Tel Aviv. We arrived around 9 well prepared with pita, hummus and  boiled eggs for breakfast on the beach. The sun was shining there was no wind to put sand  in our food it was perfect. Garam insisted on buying a beer for breakfast too. Crazy girl but hey its our holiday so why not.

Next we needed to do some shopping. I hate shopping but it was necessary. My one pair of

Before too much cycling

shoes that aren't flip flops had holes in them and it has been raining. I was a little fed up of getting wet feet.  We headed for Tel Aviv's massive shopping centre. By this point we needed coffee. One large cappuccino and a large latte enjoyed, it was time for the shoe hunt to begin.  We hadn't been wandering the corridors of shops long when we got distracted by Top Ten an accessories store that had a sale on where everything was 20 shekels (about £4) or had 30% off so I came out with a hat, a scarf and some socks. The socks were needed and were only one size turns out the one size is small! They were a bit of a squeeze for my big feet.

After this I thing the coffee wore off. The shoe search became a pain in the ass and we ended up going back pretty to were we started in the first place before we were successful. We were both desperate to get on the bus to Tiberius and get some sleep by

Checking out the hot springs

1pm!

Arriving in Tiberius in the evening wasn't very exciting. It's low season and it was ultra quiet along the promenade and the Sea of Galilee wasn't very impressive under the night sky. But we had a few beers and a chat before bed, as there was another early start in-store for a super long day of bike riding.

It's 58km around the whole of the Sea of Galilee..Garam wanted to go all the way. I knew I would never make it that far without my legs falling off, so  I managed to get her to agree just to do part of it. Thankfully! We set off at 9am after a delicious all you can eat buffet breakfast for 40 shekels.

We headed in the direction of the national park to check out the hot springs. It was the smallest national park we have both ever been to. I did point out that Israel is a small country but still took us about 5mins to see everything. We carried on in the same direction if was pretty flat and easy but not much to see as it was just beach after beach. So after an hour or so we decide to head back towards the hostel get some lunch in town then head for the other side of the Sea (or giant lake). 

After too much cycling

On the other side there are famous churches to check out like the place where Jesus was meant feed the thousands with his fish and bread trick. There are also a lot of hills!!

I apologise to Garam as I did a hell of a lot of complaining on this trip. My new shoes hurt my feet, my bum hurt and my legs couldn't pedal any longer. Turns out we cycled about 30km in total so it was understandable. I practically

How are we going to get home?!

cried with happiness when we saw this stone outside for the church..before collapsing on it.

It was about half 4 when we put down the bikes to check out the church so we needed to be getting back pronto, before it got dark. 

Cycling was not an option. 

Tabgha church

After I'd had an ice cream and Garam a beer and took some photos of the place we set about getting home. We started walking to the bus stop about a half a mile away up a hill with our bikes. Just hoping that the bus driver would be nice and let us on with our bikes. 

Luckily we got lucky! There are mini bus taxis here and they are usually pretty cheap. One saw us lagging at the bottom of the hill and pulled over offering us a lift back to Tiberius for 40 shekels to take both of us.  Not surprisingly we jumped in that taxi pretty damn quick. 

Our last morning in town was a lot more chilled. We spent the day with most of Tiberius' pensioner population at the hot springs spa. It was bliss! I shall let the pictures speak for themselves.

Grumpy Isreali makes me look pale.

Kibbutz Laundry: A missing clothes appeal.

The volunteer house doesn't have a washing machine so we all use the kibbutz laundry

service. Basically you put a number, each house has different number ours is 258, on all your clothes before you hand them over so when you go to collect it you don't pick up someone else's clothes and no one picks up yours. Sounds simple huh?

Not when there are 18 people in your house. That's a lot of clothes. Especially when In addition to everyone's personal collection of clothes we also have 'public clothes' jeans, t shirts, shorts etc. For wearing to work or when your own clothes go missing..but we'll get to that in a second. They all say 258 on the label or collar.

I guess you should also know that I have very short legs, to the point that petite trousers aren't even short enough. I buy new jeans and have to cut a 4 inches off (not the petite ones the standard length) before sowing a new hem on them. So you'd have to be equally short to want to steal them, right?

Okay, here we go:

Me wearing said jeans
 before the disappearance

Dear clothes monster, fellow volunteers, laundry ladies or whom ever else might have some info on these missing items. I write this in desperation. I doubt anything will come of it but what the heck it's worth a try.

I am very much missing a pair of jeans and some jogging pants that I sent to the laundry a fair while ago. I am pretty sure I put the 258 number on them so they would come back to the volunteer house but I haven't seen them in over a month. I packed light coming hereand as much as I can kit myself out for work with public clothes that never really fit, having a nice comfy (second) pair of Jeans and some comfy jogging pants to chill in would be nice.

I have been patient cos sometimes people's clothes get mixed in with the public clothes and you see someone else in the house wearing your stuff but no such luck.

I am aware there is like a ' lost and found' section at the laundry where all the stuff without a number ends up and have already rummaged through it in search of my belongings. Thus I am about to give up on the idea of ever seeing my clothes again.

Please get in contact if you have any information on their where about.

If they suddenly appeared on my doorstep after this post, that would make me very happy but I realise that is unlikely so dear trousers I hope you are being treated well where ever you have ended up.