Shalom friends and family from Kibbutz Lotan!! Here I am in the desert of Israel and I still can't believe it, how did I get so lucky! On Christmas day I got back on a plane, only 2 weeks after I had gotten home from Nepal, and I flew across the world to Israel. I'll admit I was a little nervous, I was leaving behind the people I had been longing to see for so many months, and I had certainly never been on a 15 hour flight by myself before. (Luckily my nerves soothed as I ate greasy airport pizza). It all turned out to be good and enjoyable - I slept, I ate, the usual - and finally landing in Israel was insane. One of my closest friends who I've grown up with made Aliyah to Israel this year and just became a soldier. He was given to day off to meet me and help get around Tel Aviv (Hi Elan! I hope you're reading this!) He ran up to me in the airport in his uniform and all and it was the most surreal and happy moment. (Elan I am so proud of you and more grateful for your friendship than you could know!) But truly, I am so thankful he was there to help because the next morning I had to catch a bus toward Eilat at 6:30 AM and I guarantee I never would have made it if he has not been there. When j got on the bus the tickets were sold out (naturally) so the driver said I would have to stand. I figured standing for 5 hours on a bus would not be so bad, what's 5 hours in the span of your entire life anyway? And hey it all worked out because someone didn't show up and I got to sit! And now, once again, here I am in the middle of a mystifying desert, surrounded by mountains, just feet away from the Jordan border.
Man oh man is the kibbutz groovy. I'm living in a mud dome and spend my days wandering the date plantations and watching the goats and cows. We learned how to make adobe mud bricks and today we began building a mud bench with trash-stuffed tires as the foundation. We've also been working in the garden and with the compost (today I learned how to clean a composting toilet!) I planted a little experiment of sunflower and red corn seeds to learn about germination and I've been trying to pick up some Hebrew (most people here are Israeli). The only words I've learned so far are "mangold" (chard), "balagan" (crazy mess), and "botz" (mud). Aside from the language barrier, I love the kibbutz. Of course everything is still new and weird and awkward but the desert sunset makes it all worth it. I know I'm right where I'm supposed to be! (And to my community, as always, when you are thinking of me, I'm thinking of you too).
Man oh man is the kibbutz groovy. I'm living in a mud dome and spend my days wandering the date plantations and watching the goats and cows. We learned how to make adobe mud bricks and today we began building a mud bench with trash-stuffed tires as the foundation. We've also been working in the garden and with the compost (today I learned how to clean a composting toilet!) I planted a little experiment of sunflower and red corn seeds to learn about germination and I've been trying to pick up some Hebrew (most people here are Israeli). The only words I've learned so far are "mangold" (chard), "balagan" (crazy mess), and "botz" (mud). Aside from the language barrier, I love the kibbutz. Of course everything is still new and weird and awkward but the desert sunset makes it all worth it. I know I'm right where I'm supposed to be! (And to my community, as always, when you are thinking of me, I'm thinking of you too).
Warrior goddess meets warrior or warrior god....
ReplyDeleteAnyways, warrior no more, because you are studying peace and mr. warrior cares only for peace as well, how ironic. Joins the army to be a warrior for peace, anyhow....hope you are enjoying the gardening, the gardener girl at my school just came from Lotan (Nitza is her name)and is making a living at it! Good luck to you and hope you see Elan some more!