A Little Bit of Kibbutz Life

These are some recent pictures of daily life activities in the Ulpan.  The social life is pretty constant here.  There are always people around and our room sees an almost steady flow of visitors, most of whom let themselves in.  After a shower, it is important to emerge from the bathroom in at least underwear because if there are not people in here already, there will be before you have time to get fully clothed.  You have to really make an effort if you want alone time.  Several days ago I wasn't feeling well so I went to sleep at 5:30 pm.  I had planned on taking an hour long nap but ended up sleeping until 6:30 am the next morning.  As soon and I showed my face again, people were asking where I was and saying how worried they'd been about my whereabouts. If you don't see someone for 3 hours you really start to wonder if they suddenly decided to leave the program. 

Pictures:

1st: John the Baptist, Daniel, Itamar, Keren, Me, Lior. Just hanging outside the rooms.

2nd:  The kibbutz dogs take themselves on walks, sometimes into your room if the door is open. We call this one smiley. He's super friendly.

3rd:  We think this is a tarantula. It lived in Chloe, Ilana, and Tamar's room for about a month and a half in this hole by the door jam of their bathroom. It didn't bother anyone and it kept the bug problem well under control. They named her Misty. She recently moved out. Tamar was very uncomfortable having a hairy spider the size of a tennis ball living in her room.

4th: One day, Chloe, Ilana and I had a Kinder party. We bought one of every Kinder product sold in the market here. It was a great day. 

5th: One night a couple of the girls dressed Itamar in drag.  We all enjoyed that experience. 

Tree Climbing

There is a fantastic tree for climbing right outside the dining hall. My friend Itamar, 20, (born in Israel, then Britain, then Australia) is pretty much a monkey. He, Michal  (one of my roommates) and I climbed it one night and took my camera.  It made for a pretty fun photo shoot, although it turns out it is a little tricky to take group pictures of yourselves while in a tree. 

Ulpan Outing #1

Once a month, all the members of the Ulpan go on a day long outing. For our first one, we went down south.  We started off the day by hiking to Nachal David (David Stream) which is right by Ein Gedi. I was really happy to do it since I didn't get to with Taglit or when Dad came to visit. It was so beautiful.  It doesn't seem like something you would find in the middle of the desert. There are many swimming holes and waterfalls.  People have been visiting and making use of this natural resource for thousands of years.  It is mentioned several times in the Bible.  There are also amazing views of Yam Hamelach (the Dead Sea, literally Sea of Salt) and the surrounding area.

From there, we drove the 2 minutes to Yam Hamelach for a dip.  My skin is going to be in fabulous condition by the time I leave Israel.  After that we headed to Masada.  We took the cable car up and the Roman Ramp down.  Even though it was my third time in 2 1/2 months, I loved it.  It's fun to go with people who have never been there to see their reactions. I'm almost ready to start leading guided tours.

Next we headed to a Bedouin community.  We listened to one of the men in the community give a little talk and watched him make traditional bread and coffee. We got to sample both.  My favorite thing about the Bedouins is the food. We got to eat dinner there in their tents. You sit on the floor around a huge tray of food and eat with your hands. It is so delicious.  I'm hoping for a Bedouin restaurant to open up in the greater Seattle area. 

Pictures:

1st: View of Yam Hamelach from the hike

2nd:  One of the waterfalls and swimming holes at Nachal David

3rd: Bedouin man making coffee

4rd: Mmm. Rice and chicken, bread, cucumber/tomato salad (probably the thing I've eaten the most of in Israel), pickled vegetables, cabbage salad, tehina.

5th: Ilana (Brazil), Natasha (Belarus), Chloe (France), Me (USA)