The last two months…
Posted by Nathan Miller, 1 year, 3 months ago (March 20, 2007 - 1 Nisan, 5767)
Looking at this journal, it seems that the last time I updated, I stopped right before Vacation. So, I guess I shall pick up there, to the best of my ability.
Thursday, January 25 - After sleeping to recover from my vacation, I began packing for Kibbutz. We’re not talking extreme packing - more of the preliminary unpacking from vacation, so as to make room in the suitcases for real packing. I then spent time updating my journal, which I have obviously not done since then. I remember nothing else about the day. Not everyone was back from vacation, so whatever.
Friday, January 26 - Every cooking appliance was missing from the building upon waking. I called Yossi and Nahum, but neither answered. Eventually, I found out that they had been packed up to go south. This was an issue since I missed lunch and had no plans to eat Shabbat meals in the Chadar Ochel. I had to change that plan. Soon, Shoshana and Abi got back, on the same Sherut, and Goldschmidt and I met them at the gate. Sarah Lopatin had made a sign welcoming Reva and Emily back to Beit Nativ, but that meant that Abi was left out. No one made signs for anyone in Shoshana’s room. As a result, Goldschmidt made a cartoon with me and him welcoming back the two of them. It was an amusing sign, and I had Cinnamon J. Scudworth fingers. I went to dinner, and then went to sleep.
Saturday, January 27 - I woke up around 10 and then went back to sleep until 1. Aviva and Shoshana and I had a breakfast party. After Shabbat, I was psyched to go to Nahum’s band’s show, but first, I had to find dinner. Shoshana and Abi and Goldschmidt and I went to Tmol Shilshom to solve this problem. The prices were much higher than the last time, but I read some Etgar Karet stories.
After Tmol Shilshom, we went to Mike’s Place for Nahum’s band [Red and the Baldies]. The show was mostly covers, but it was a lot of fun. Mike’s Place has no cover charge, so they require you to buy an alcoholic drink. This is ridiculous, but it’s how they do business. Yosef, who absolutely refuses to touch even the slightest bit of alcohol (even for Kiddush), had an argument with them. I had a cosmopolitan.
Sunday, January 28 - Who knows what happened before lunch? Not me. But for lunch, I had a 600 gram burger from Burgers’ Bar. Actually, Goldschmidt and I both did so, because we wanted to challenge ourselves. Needless to say, it was the best idea of all time. Remember the invention of the wheel? Good idea. But this was better.
Afterwards, I went with Shoshana and Abi to Alana’s room to make roof-fish, our exciting Haifa discovery. We made tons of them while eating ice-cream. For a minute, Alana left, and Hillel entered with a balloon. He told me to put Alana’s phone in the balloon while he held the mouth open. I did so, and he blew up and tied the balloon, and then put it under her bed. When she came back, he called her. She looked for her phone, saw the balloon, knocked it away in her search and then realized what had been done. It was quite amusing.
Monday, January 29 - The day started with 7:15 t’filot, as we were to begin “Israel Today Seminar,” a meeting with all the extreme viewpoints of the country. After breakfast, we went to Gush Etzion, a settlement in the West Bank, very close to Jerusalem. We went to Kfar Etzion, a religious kibbutz in the settlement. We met with Bob Lang, a settler, who tried to convince us that his way of life was good, though he was a poor speaker. We then slept through a movie about Gush Etzion. After this presentation, we ate lunch and then went to Mea Shearim, an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood in J town. We met the principal of a girls’ seminary, Yehoshua Rosenberg, who showed us around and then spoke to us. He actually tried to convince us that he was doing his national service by having 12 children instead of serving in the army - 12 children who will also not serve and who will also live off of government welfare.
After getting back to Beit Nativ, Yossi spoke to our group. See, because of the civil war in Gaza, we could not go to Kibbutz Sa’ad for the second half of the year. We found this out and began learning about our new home, Kibbutz Ein Tzurim.
After that, we had free time, due to the Foreign Minister of Israel not appearing for a lecture he was supposed to deliver.
Tuesday, January 30 - We began in Tel Aviv, at the Holon children’s museum for an exhibit called “Dialogue in the Dark,” in which we experienced blindness in a completely dark environment. It was actually quite interesting, except that our guide was very obnoxious. I later found out that the other guides made up cool stories about where we were (jungle, street, bar, boat, and music room were all separate rooms) - ours was just loud.
After that, we went to the dance center in Neve Tzedek. We ate sandwiches and listened to a speaker from the ultra left-wing “Shalom Achshav” (Peace Now) movement. Needless to say, she proposed ridiculous things and even went as far as to say that Israel started the six-day war in a surprise attack. I’ve heard these things from anti-Zionists in the US, but never from an Israeli. I decided to create a movement called “Ooga Machar, Shalom Machrotayim” (Cake Tomorrow, Peace The Next Day).
Then we saw a performance from the Inbal dance troupe, which was ridiculous. They seemed like they were having fun, but the dancing was not good, and frankly, it was boring. We then left to go to the Palmach museum, a museum celebrating the history of one of Israel’s multiple pre-Independence resistant movements. The museum was set up in a performance style, without actual exhibits, forcing us to follow a ludicrous story in a multimedia presentation.
After that, we went to a mall in Tel Aviv to eat dinner. I had chinese, and then we went back to Jerusalem, where I completed my packing process.
Wednesday, January 31 - To begin the day, we went to the Theodor Herzl museum on Mt Herzl. I have been there before, and it’s another Palmach-style museum. It’s, in my opinion, much better, even though it has even less to do with Herzl. The reason that it is better is that in many rooms, it has real seats! And that means nap-time.
After Herzl-rama began Kibbutz orientation, a fancy way of calling a continuation of Monday’s discussion. Following that (and lunch) was the third in a series of really bad museums, this one celebrating everyone’s favorite Prime Minister, Menachem Begin! Yes, it actually was in the same style as the other two museums, and no, we had not come around to enjoying that style.
So of course, after those exciting days, we were more than happy to board a bus for one hour to go plant a tree for five minutes before turning around on the bus. When we got to Ne’ot Kedumim for the tree-planting extravaganza, Lily Tomlin boarded the bus (if it wasn’t actually her, then she has an Israeli twin…) and told us about the area, the mitzvah of planting trees (as if we had not all planted trees since we first could hold a spade), and the rapidly approaching Tu B’shvat. We planted our trees, sat in a cave, received certificates, and left.
After dinner, we had a Karaoke celebration. It was alright. Mainly, it consisted of Teppy singing songs that he probably should not sing - that is, any song. At one point, Nahum and Yossi sang a duet of “Mustang Sally,” which meant that Nahum sang while Yossi stood there for a while, occasionally mouthing one or two words.
Thursday, February 1 - We began the day on a bus going to Givat Haviva, an institute dedicated to coexistence. First, we met with a guy who talked to us, occasionally slipping an expletive or two into a sentence, about the area. Then we met an Israeli Arab, who basically spent the time telling us why Iran was right to seek the nuclear bomb, and potentially nuke the world. We then boarded our bus with David (the first guy) to go to view the (unviewable, as it does not actually exist) green line. He spoke to us more, and he was quite interesting. Many people did not listen to him at points, missing out on valuable commentary, such as, “So I say, f*** the Wadi Arah,” and, “I had to install a safety room in my house. Cost me a f***ing ton! Guy comes over to inspect it and says, ‘Relax, when I inspect Arab villages, they have one window, they sit me down for coffee after I view it, then they uninstall it and run over to put it into the next house.” Needless to say, the man was amusing.
Friday, February 2 - To start off the day, I awoke. I then walked around Emek Refaim with Shoshana until she had to go to Talpiyot, to which I had no desire to go. Instead, I went back and cleaned my room, as it was time to turn it over into a useable room again.
Because it was a closed Shabbat, we were all on base together. Services were at Moreshet Yisrael, and we celebrated the Bat Mitzvah of Mari-Ann Sartin-Tarm! It was fun and festive. Because it was Tu B’shvat, with dinner we had a Tu B’shvat seder, which meant four types of fruit: Almonds (inedible shell), Dates (inedible pit), Avocados (both), and Raisins (neither). During dinner, Goldschmidt taught what is possibly the greatest song of all time. It is about the singer’s friend, who is a tree, and has verses such as this:
On my birthday,
We dance and sing,
On his birthday,
He grows a ring!
After dinner, I joined a large group on floor -3 for a game of Battle of the Sexes, which was clearly dominated by the males. This is because of the combination of Goldschmidt and me, whose combined mental prowess is bar none. Also we both seem to know a lot about “female subjects.”
Saturday, February 3 - So Mari-Ann read the Haftarah and Maftir quite well, and that was nice. Luckily, Annie acted as rabbi for these parts, so we didn’t have to deal with Frank (the normal rabbi at MY, who, frankly, is not the nicest man).
After lunch, I napped before Mincha. After Havdalah, Jeff, Leora, Shoshana, and I decided to go to Burgers Bar, to relive old times. We planned to go to both Burgers Bars, but it was raining really badly, so after eating on Shammai, we came back to Beit Nativ and ordered Soya to increase our gluttony and celebrate our last day in Jerusalem.
Sunday, February 4 - So Sunday began our second Negev Tiyul: this one was not “Wilderness Survival” themed, yet it was still very fun. When we woke up, we moved all our luggage to the storage room, in the pouring rain. We did the last-minute room cleanup and boarded the busses at 10. Due to the very heavy rain, there were massive mud-slides all over the Negev, and we could not hike the hike we had wanted to do. Instead of offering three options, we all had to do one option together, yet it was still a nice hike. In addition, the mud poured into the Dead Sea, which provided for some very cool pictures. These and others from the tiyul can be found here.
Our hike was through Nachal David, my favorite spot in the country, so that was nice. After the hike, we boarded the busses to go to Mamshit, the Bedouin Tent place. I have been there before, and it seems that so has most of Nativ. Yet, we went back. I am not complaining - the food is fantastic, and we my eating group of four consumed three whole trays of the meat and stuff. Afterwards, I turned in for an early night, as I was to be awakening soon after.
At 1:30, I was awoken by Avram, according to plan, for the Superbowl. The best part about watching a Superbowl on a projection screen in a Bedouin Tent at 2 in the morning is still the commercials. The commercials were not normal American ones, but rather, ridiculous ESPN International ones that featured things such as “Amazing Games” (Including Bull-Racing, and Caning) and “This Day in Sports.” Unfortunately, these commercials repeated excessively.
Monday, February 5 - After davening, we had breakfast. Since there were bagels, I took the initiative to ask the Bedouin oven-user to use his oven to toast my bagel. He allowed me to do so. Yum.
Many people rode camels after that. I do not ride camels. I have done it once before, and it’s not easy on the groinal area, so I opted out.
Soon, those of us who chose to do the advanced hike of the day got on a bus to go pay homage to Lot’s wife (a giant pillar of salt, to this day) at Mt. Sodom. The hike was quite good, and provided some great views of the area.
After the hike, we were supposed to go to the sand dunes. I hate the sand dunes. Not a “that place sucks” kind of hatred, but rather a “I swear I will have vengeance” kind of hatred. You see, a year and a half ago, while at the same dunes on Etgar, the dunes killed my beloved Canon Zoom 70 camera. That was the best point-and-shoot camera I’ve ever encountered, and it served me well for many years. One day, I will buy the sand dunes and destroy them!
Anyway, we didn’t make it to the dunes, thankfully, because of a delay with the other group. Instead, we went straight to Kibbutz Ketura, another of my least favorite places on the planet. This is also because of another bad Etgar experience which has scarred me for life. I don’t want to talk about it.
Luckily, we left Ketura quickly to go to a hippie kibbutz called Yotam. At Yotam, I took a shiatsu and chi-kong class. Both are crazy. Neither seem useful in international trade agreements, but I could be wrong.
Tuesday, February 6 - The day began with a learners’ minyan led by Nahum, which is always preferable to normal Shacharit, due to something I like to call “élan.” Actually, the French call it that. I call it pizzazz.
The only good part about Ketura is the frothed milk machine. I recall this machine from my last time there, and I made use of it again. Mmm frothed milk. After breakfast, we all split into different groups to do different art things. I chose the decoupage group and got to make a sweet pot with tons of cool pictures on it.
After that, everyone joined together to present the different things each group had done. Clearly, our pots were the finest items present. After this, we were scheduled to go to another hike, but instead went to the dunes. Grr. After the sand torture, we left for Eilat.
Upon arriving in Eilat, we got to the Adi hotel, where we were staying for two days. I showered before going down to meet with the Kibbutz group to learn about our jobs. I signed up for Gardening, followed by English, and then Agriculture. Dinner was not good.
Afterwards, I joined Ross and Emily and Dan Goldstein for a movie at a nearby theatre, because there’s nothing else to do in Eilat at night. The movie was called Chaos and featured Wesley Snipes and was absolutely horrible.
Wednesday, February 7 - The day began with the hardest hike offered, Har Shlomo, a mountain that overlooks Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. Naturally, I was in. Unfortunately, this meant waking up for 6:15 t’filot. The hike is allegedly one of the hardest in Israel, and the view is allegedly one of the greatest. Both of these allegations are true. Uphill and Downhill were both tough, but it was worth it.
We then went to the Hallelujah restaurant in Eilat, and I ate some kind of meat thing. It wasn’t very good. We then went back to the hotel to prepare to go to the beach. Which we did. I read for a while on the beach and then went back to the hotel for a nap. Afterwards, Abi and Ilana and I went to Eilat’s Big Apple Pizza for pizza!
Thursday, February 8 - After Shacharit and breakfast, it was time for the tiyul to end and Kibbutz life to begin. We got on our bus, and began Apocalypse Now as a film to ease the long journey to Kibbutz Ein Tzurim.
Upon arriving at Kibbutz, we got to our caravans, built our shelves, found our bags, and began creating our new home. I was missing a box, my box of popcorn, and I was less than thrilled.
My caravan is Joey and I on one side and Tani and Jacob on the other. In between is a common room with two couches and a sink and microwave and fridge. We also have a water kettle, but as soon as it’s plugged in, the power in the whole caravan goes out, so we have to get a new one.
I immediately hung my roof-fish on my ceiling and filled the walls with my articles and posters. I would have put my flags on the ceiling, but they are in my popcorn box.
Friday, February 9 - Upon waking, we all went to the Chadar Ochel (dining hall) for breakfast, which consisted of eggs and more eggs. There was also pudding. Still, we saw few actual kibbutz members.
After breakfast, we met with a Hebrew-speaking Kibbutznik who gave us a tour of the place without English. Naturally, I did not listen very well, as I was relying on translation from others. I did managed to learn that Ein Tzurim used to be in Gush Etzion, but moved in 1948.
Our caravan area is near other guest houses, close to the chadar ochel, and not far from the dairy and turkey area, which explains the smell. It is also very close to the children’s area and the laundry area, as well as “The Bottle Tree” a building which was not explained well. Something about lemons. [A month later, I’m still not sure what the heck they have in there.]
On the other side of the Kibbutz, near the Gush Katif area (former residents of Gaza were relocated in 2005 to other areas, including right next to the Kibbutz), is the Yeshiva of the Kibbutz and the “Herzog Center” which has some form of learning opportunities. In the center of the kibbutz is the synagogue. Not so exciting. On the end of the kibbutz nearest to us, there are fields which service multiple kibbutzim and moshavim.
Lunch was spaghetti. This is because although most lunches are meat, Friday lunch is dairy. Joy. Soon, we prepared for Shabbat. Instead of going to the boring Kibbutz synagogue, we decided to go to the Yeshiva minyan, which was to be Carlebach-style, and therefore much better. It wasn’t that great. The guy leading the service kept repeating everything we had just done, so that we got lost several times. But that’s Orthodoxy.
Upon leaving, it was raining. We ran to dinner and did Kiddush. We then waited thirty minutes for the soup to come. This is because, for some odd reason, we were being served by people. After the soup, it took an additional 30 minutes to receive anything else, and 30 minutes more to receive the meat. After a two-hour-long dinner, we sang and benched birkat.
After that, I decided to turn in early, which I did.
Saturday, February 10 - T’filot in the morning were in the boring synagogue. They were boring, but very fast. After two hours, they were finished. Lunch was at 10:30. At the end of lunch, 12:30, we had parve ice cream. It was the highlight of the meal.
We then met another Kibbutz member, named David, who spoke English! He told us about his life and how he came to become part of the Kibbutz and about the Kibbutz. We then had Mincha and free time, which I spent playing catch with Abi, as she brought a softball and gloves. At one point, the ball went under a caravan. We could not reach it. Nadav could! Nadav is Yossi’s three-year-old, and is possibly the cutest kid ever. He saved the day and then played with Tani.
Then came Seudah Shlishit, which was not bad. There was this odd noodle concoction that was quite good. Then Ma’ariv and Havdalah ended Shabbat. Then we had a meeting to find out our jobs. I was assigned to teach English at Be’er Tuvia, the local regional high-school, with Joey, Andy, and Teppy.
Sunday, February 11 - Because Be’er Tuvia was not ready for us, the four of us had to work in the kitchen for the day. I spent an hour and a half cutting potatoes, which is not fun. In addition, at one point, I had to wash carrots. I was to put the 15-kilo bags of carrots [33 pounds] into a 4-foot high machine that spun them around while mixing them with water. Basically, it washes and peels them at the same time. The water and peel mixture pours out of a tube in the back into a small trench with a large drain at the end. Nevertheless, the drain clogs. I had to constantly insert this hose to unclog it while it clogged. At one point, I had finished unclogging it, stood up, and a carrot flew out of the machine and hit me in the face.
Then we ate lunch, which was meaty and was great. Later, I made schnitzels with Andy and this Israeli guy. After work, lots of us sat around sluggishly, and this is when I discovered “Flavor of Love,” Flavor Flav’s Reality TV show on Yes Stars. At one point, this contestant spit into the face of another, and Joey and I cracked up. Luckily, Yes Stars replayed that scene several times.
Then, Rivka, the woman who is in charge of us at Be’er Tuvia, came to meet us on the Kibbutz. She was 42 minutes late. We were not happy.
I then went to bed early. I was exhausted.
Monday, February 12 - Our day began on the way to Be’er Tuvia. Our bus driver was named Rimon. We talked to him, and found out that he was supposed to be our bus driver for every day, but might not be. We met up with Rivka and planned out our week. We went into a few classrooms and played 20 questions in English to have them determine something about us, and then we had a schnitzel-in-baguette lunch.
After work, we came back and chilled around for a while. There’s not an excessive amount of things to do on kibbutz, so it seems much of our time is spent loafing. Luckily, I’m very skilled at loafing and once won an award for 1st place loafer.
Tuesday, February 13 - Yom Nativ today. Usually, Yamei Nativ are going to be on Mondays, but for some reason, this one was on Tuesday. Nahum came down from J-lem and led the day. He sat us in a circle and we talked about our most Israeli moments and funniest moments in J town and then filled out new goal sheets for kibbutz, after receiving our goal sheets we had written in Week 1 of Nativ. We then created new committees.
After lunch, I boarded a bus for people going to Jerusalem for Ramah interviews. After dealing with the Ramah bureaucracy, I did my laundry at Beit Nativ and then joined Abi for dinner at Big Apple Pizza before heading back to Kibbutz.
Wednesday, February 14 - More 20 questions in Be’er Tuvia. We also met with 12th graders and talked to them one on one, as they are going to be interviewed in English for their diplomas. The diploma in question is called the “Bagrut” and is not required. You will go to the army after high school regardless of whether you have it or not. It comes in multiple varieties, some of which don’t include English. After the army, you have to take another test called the Psychometry before you can go to University, if you want to do so. So I don’t understand why anyone would bother with the Bagrut.
We also began to discuss a Purim play to be done with the 7th graders. And we went to the library to see how it was structured.
Nothing exciting occurred after work.
Thursday, February 15 - Another normal day of work. This is unexciting. What is exciting is the dinner that we were served in the evening: Pancakes. These pancakes, were one to sell them, would sell like hot-cakes. They were so good. Yum! After dinner, I went to Tzomet Malachi to go to Be’er Sheva. I got to Be’er Sheva, visited for a while, and then went to sleep in Yonit’s bed. (Yonit was on Kibbutz and told me I could use her bed that night.)
Friday, February 16 - When I awoke, Debbie and I went to the bus station to go to Jerusalem. When we got there, we walked around the city for a while until we decided to go to the Inbal Hotel on Jabotinsky St. See, there was a Houston Pilgrimage thing, and they invited all of the students of Houston in Israel (including me and Debbie) to spend Shabbat with them.
The food was amazing! The Inbal Hotel is the place to be. I slept much of the time.
Saturday, February 17 - Lunch was also fantastic. An open buffet with tons of meat. TONS. After Seudah Shlishit and Havdalah, I left the hotel and went to the bus station. While there, a drunk man came and yelled at two women. Security removed him.
I got back to Kibbutz and watched “The Departed” in order to prepare for the Oscars.
Sunday, February 18 - Work as usual. We began working with the 7th graders on the Purim play. Basically nothing else happened. Sunday is boring. But we stay up late because Monday is Yom Nativ. So that means plenty of high-quality loafing!
Monday, February 19 - Yom Nativ the Second. We began with tons of photos on the ground. We had to go to the one that we liked most. I chose Avigdor Lieberman, because he’s crazy and amusing. After that standard program, we split up into groups to plan future Yamei Nativ. I am on the Pesach group, so that should be fun.
Clearly this was the worst Yom Nativ ever. It began with a boring program we’ve done a million times, and progressed into us being told what to plan for the future. The idea that they explained to us is that this way, we’ll be able to feel as if we planned something - almost as if none of us has ever been involved in planning anything ever before. In reality, it seemed as if we were being told to do the work that the counselors didn’t want to do.
After that obnoxiousness, we went to the soccer field, where most of us did not play soccer. Teppy threw up. This is because soccer was right after lunch. Basically, the staff dropped the ball on this Yom Nativ. Afterwards, a bunch of us got together to watch Little Miss Sunshine, another Oscar-nominated film. It was lots of fun, and Alan Arkin cracked me up.
Tuesday, February 20 - After another day of work, a bunch of us joined in to watch Babel, the third in our series of Best Picture-nominees. Really nothing else happened for the rest of the day. The days are getting more and more boring, but this is to be expected.
Wednesday, February 21 - Another normal day of work. Afterwards, Shoshana and I went to Be’er Sheva to join Alana, Cynthia, Sam, Arielle, Elanna, and Julia for dinner. In order to get to Be’er Sheva, we didn’t take an Egged bus, but instead found a new bus company, Metropoline. It was far cheaper and I was therefore thrilled. Anyway, dinner was Pita Pizza and Salad and Cheesecake. I made the salad and dressing, so it was the first good salad I’d had since leaving home. (I made the dressing we made at home.) The evening was great, and we all decided to make it a regular Wednesday thing.
Thursday, February 22 - After work, I came back and waited around Kibbutz for the HeChalutzim kids. Shoshana and I planned to meet Yonit in Tel Aviv, so after the HeChalutzim kids arrived and explored kibbutz, the two of us left. We got to Tel Aviv and after a long journey, arrived at the Youth Hostel. The three of us then walked to this neat port area where we had dinner at Max Brenner, the Chocolatier. After dinner, we went to bed, as it was quite late.
Friday, February 23 - We woke up early so as to explore TA town. First, we went to Nachalat Binyamin, an artist’s market, where I bought a small ceramic owl. Afterwards, we explored other marketplaces and the beach and then got on a bus to go back home and spend Shabbat on Kibbutz.
After getting back, we went to dinner, which was as slow as expected, and then many of us played Nativ-Apples-to-Apples before going to bed.
Saturday, February 24 - I spent most of the day sleeping. I ate lunch, and then walked around for 5 hours, the first time I had had real thinking time in a long time. It was helpful and I thought about my life over the past 5 years, before making some big decisions and then going to bed.
Sunday, February 25 - I decided that school was not for me. I want to do something physical, on Kibbutz, and, if possible, outdoors. I talked to Yael about switching jobs, and she said she’d see what she could do. After work, many of us watched part of The Queen and a few other films including the Oscar-nominated Animated Shorts and also, West Bank Story, a live-action short about two falafel stands. We then went to bed early.
At 3 AM, Abi and our caravan woke up to watch the Oscars. At 7, we went back to bed for one hour.
Monday, February 26 - Yom Nativ today was organized by a group of Nativers. It was about “World Heritage” and the Kibbutz movement. Basically, we had filled out emails earlier in the week about our family and from where they came, and it linked to everything.
A world map was drawn on the whiteboard, surprisingly well, if you disregard the annexation of Baja California by the US and the destruction of Florida by forces unknown. In addition, countries were listed on the board, though many were no longer correct as of the current geopolitical status of this island Earth.
The group in charge then read all of the stories we had submitted and we all guessed to whom each story belonged. We then had another speaker from Kibbutz, again only in Hebrew, who basically told us the same story that we’d heard twenty times prior.
We then found out that we would get Kibbutz families in the next few days. This was pleasing to the ear. We were paired up, and Abi and I are “siblings.” Finally, we had to make skits representing the various immigration periods in Israel.
Tuesday, February 27 - We spent time in school doing the normal school activities. The purim play is coming along, but we all doubted it would finish by Purim.
When I got back to Kibbutz, I found out that Matan sprained his finger and Shosh got hit in the head with a pipe. Although school isn’t the best job, it’s certainly the least dangerous!
Wednesday, February 28 - After normal boring work activities, I packed up to go to Be’er Sheva for the second week in a row. Shoshana joined me and we got on the bus at Tzomet Malachi. Around Qiryat Gat (about fifteen minutes from TM), a whole group of kids boarded the bus and sat on each other and in the aisles.
Upon arriving in Be’er Sheva, I hit up SuperPharm to find hair rubber-bands, but was unsuccessful. Luckily, when we got to the Mercaz Klitah, Julia had some. We all decided to make baked potatoes and went to the supermarket to purchase some goods. When we got back, we waited for the other half of the apartment to arrive. Meanwhile, Angela came over and began preparing my hair in cornrows for my Purim costume.
Eventually everyone got back, and instead of baked potatoes, we made mashed potatoes, which were great. Soon, David arrived with his mom. His mom asked what was going on with my hair (which was not complete) and I explained my Purim costume:
David’s mom: What are you going to be?
Me: Flavor Flav!
DM: Which Flavor?
Me: There’s only one Flavor Flav!
Then David’s mom gave us a ride home, since they were also going there. David’s mom spent the majority of the ride yelling at him, including when her husband nearly missed a red light, as if David somehow were controlling the driving.
Thursday, March 1 - At work, we began discussing how we would build a curriculum around “Keeping the Faith.” I announced that todaywould be my last day in class.
After school, Angela arrived to finish my hair. It looked amazing, and I began preparing my costume. I borrowed a jersey from Teppy and cut a cane out of some kind of cane-like plant near one of the caravans. I also bought some tin-foil (I had already purchased a clock a few days back) for various accessories, including grills and rings.
Then, Abi and I went to our host-home. We met our “parents” who both speak English. The wife is an administrator of some form on the Kibbutz, and the husband works in Jerusalem, hunting people on the internet.
Upon arriving back at the caravans, we made Wacky Mac, since we had missed dinner. Yum!
Friday, March 2 - Friday allowed me a late wake-up, until it was time to prepare for Shabbat. It was a closed Shabbat, so everything was organized on Kibbutz. We went to t’filot and then had dinner at the Chadar Ochel. As last time, dinner took forever. This is disappointing.
After dinner, we had a program about Purim and Mishloach Manot. The program was boring.
Saturday, March 3 - After Shacharit, Abi and I went to our host home for lunch. It was great! We had cholent with tons of meat, and schnitzel, and other great goodies. Mmm!
We had Mincha and Se’udah Shlishit outside, which was nice, and after Havdalah, we began preparing our costumes. I finished making my cane, got a goblet from Andy, which I covered in foil, and made my grills and rings. I then took a comforter and made it into a cape. I was set.
Among the other Kibbutz costumes were Snow White (Reva), Starsky & Hutch (Joey and Tani), Quailman (Teppy), Matan (Aviva), Aviva (Matan), Wilma Flintstone (Hanna), The Devil Wears Prada (Phil), Butterflies (Sarah and Molly), and Teenage Angst (Abi).
All my pictures from purim (and the aftermath of my hair once I removed the cornrows) can be found here.
We all went to the Yeshiva for the Megilla reading. The Yeshiva had been decorated to look like an Iranian terrorist cell, including a picture of Tel Aviv being nuked. Israeli humor is not so funny.
After the very late busses arrived filled with K1 and K2, we began our Purim party in the Red Mo’adon. After much hubbub and an engagement announcement about Jesse, one of our Madrichim, the party eventually ended and everyone went to bed.
Sunday, March 4 - We started the day with a Purim meal, at which Gabe recited my favorite Purim Kiddush. We played a trite mixer that everyone has seen approximately forty bajillion times before, and then we sat down and ate. In addition, we gave Mishloach Manot packages to our “Purim Buddies.” My buddy was Aviva, and I gave her, among other things, popcorn from my personal stash, since she loves popcorn almost as much as me.
After this meal, Abi and I left for Jerusalem via bus. Upon arriving in the city, we went around our favorite places and chilled in Gan Ha’atzmaut for a while. After a while, when we realized we still had plenty of time before we had to go somewhere, we went down to Talpiyot and saw “The Last King of Scotland” at the Rav Chen, which was great.
We then left the theatre and went to Emek Refaim to meet Abi’s friend, Robbie, at whose house we were staying that evening for Shushan Purim. [In Israel, every holiday (except Rosh Hashana) is one day shorter. Purim, however, is one day longer, since Shushan Purim is the day after and is celebrated in J-lem.] When we got there, there was already a party in full swing, but soon, twelve people left, leaving only Robbie and Rob and one or two others. Soon, we found out that Robbie didn’t actually know any of those people, but they were in the neighborhood. We joined Robbie and Rob on the way to Shushan, a gay bar in Jerusalem, but the cover was too high, so we left and went by the Shuk, where a party was in full swing, in the middle of the shuk, after midnight. Ridiculous.
After all kinds of running around, we went back to Robbie’s house and slept. Sarah and Koby were also sleeping there.
Monday, March 5 - When we awoke in the afternoon, we joined Robbie for his daily soap opera (a Hebrew soap opera about some army band - it was ridiculous). We then left for Hillel street, where there was a big outdoor celebration. There were all kinds of goings-on, but we were waiting for Hadag Nachash, who would be playing much later.
So we went to Beit Nativ and dropped our bags off with Michael, who of course said he’d put them into the back room, due to his intense awesomeness. We then went back to Hillel and waited around a while, during multiple performances, until Hadag Nachash finally began performing. Once they did, we got to hear three songs before we had to leave for the bus station.
We got to the bus station and still had a few minutes to walk around, so we bought a much-needed hot plate and then boarded our bus. Eventually, we got back to Kibbutz after a very fun Shushan Purim.
Tuesday, March 6 - I began work today in the Chadar Ochel. I cut tons of potatoes and spent hours making schnitzel. I did not fry the schnitzel, I breaded it. Fun. But I’ve been assured that this job is temporary until a better job has been found for me.
After work, we all had a session with Yossi, who talked to us about various Kibbutz-related things including how terrible the dinners are. Afterwards, I talked to Yossi about my job situation and about my Pesach plans. He said he’d help with both. [I wanted to go hiking for Pesach but need equipment and a plan.]
After that, we started this “Kibbutz Chevruta” thing, in which a teacher from the Yeshiva came to teach us. It was a good class.
Wednesday, March 7 - Work in the Chadar continued. I cut potatoes, made schnitzel, etc. This is tedious.
Afterwards, I was feeling very sick, so I did not go to Be’er Sheva. I napped for a while in my ill state, and did nothing.
Thursday, March 8 - After work, Mike Landes arrived on Kibbutz, as he was planning to stay the weekend. A few of us chilled out for a while, and basically nothing happened.
The day wasn’t boring, just uneventful.
Friday, March 9 - When I woke up, I went to the Kol-Bo to prepare for my weekend: Sleeping on the beach. However, Abi’s bus (she was on Kibbutz Ketura the night before) was late, so she got back right before Shabbat, so we had to scrap our plans and stay on Kibbutz. But this meant that Caravan Six and Mike Landes would have a great Shabbat. And we did.
We went to the Kibbutz Synagogue, which was alright, and then went to dinner, which was slow as could be expected. Then Mike, Abi, Joey, Tani, and I all hanged out for a while.
Saturday, March 10 - After Shabbat, which was very relaxed, I thought about packing for the coming week, “Leadership Week.” However, I realized I was almost out of clothing, so I decided to take my laundry bag instead of another bag, and just do my laundry in Jerusalem. I also packed up a backpack.
A few of us then watched Grosse Pointe Blank, one of the greatest films ever. And then we slept.
Sunday, March 11 - We woke up and got ready for a bus that was to arrive at 9:30. It arrived at 10:30. We started driving and got to Tzomet Malachi, where I got some McDonald’s French Fries. We then drove for a few more minutes before the bus broke down. Eventually, another bus came, and we got on that bus.
We got to Jerusalem and found out that since we were all late, we were mostly in the same group (they shuffled the groups around) and we wouldn’t miss any programming. First, we had lunch. Ah, how I miss Beit Nativ lunches. I mean, Kibbutz lunches are also quite good, and the rest of the food at both places is abominable, but Beit Nativ lunches are unlimited! [On Kibbutz, we can only take a certain amount of meat.] Anyway, lunch was wings, which is the best possible Beit Nativ lunch, so it compounded awesomeness.
After lunch, we met with this guy whose session was entitled “Thinking outside the box.” It was alright, but trite. We had to come up with an electrical appliance that our brains resemble. I chose the subwoofer, as I am loud, but no one really knows what’s going on inside.
After that, everyone met with Ze’ev Bielski, the leader of the Jewish Agency. He wants you to visit Israel. He told me to tell you. No really, he actually said, “tell people that Ze’ev Bielski told you that he wants them to visit Israel.” So I have done.
Then, our group met with Neil Lazarus, the amusing British guy whom I’ve seen twice before. The issue is this: the first time I saw him, I was bored. He crammed stupid jokes into a short presentation. The second time, a year later, it was much better - he had the same amount of jokes, but four times the amount of time, and therefore, much more information came through. This time, he spoke about public speaking, and it was alright - somewhere between the last two performances.
After this was dinner, which was nothing to write home about. Abi and Joey and I then left quickly to catch a Sherut to Tel Aviv. After paying our 20 shekels, we arrived in Tel Aviv and then got a cab to the Barbie, where we had tickets for Regina Spektor. What a great show! She played 24 songs and two encores, and she was absolutely amazing.
Afterwards, we got a ride from someone who was at the show heading toward Jerusalem. He took us back to the edge of the city, and we grabbed a cab back to Beit Nativ.
Monday, March 12 - After t’filot, we broke up into groups again. My group first went to Mark Lazar, the drama guy from an Erev Nativ oh-so-long-ago. This time, it was a session about Israel-related games, which of course was tons of fun, since Mark Lazar is clearly awesome. [This is my fourth encounter with the man. #2 was at Kol Haneshama, the Reform synagogue in J Town; #3 was in the Bedouin Tent, as he was leading some other group.]
After that, we went to a session called “Communication in Hadracha.” We began by playing a game. I had to leave during the game, however, as I had a doctor’s appointment at Wolfson. It was concerning my ever-unhealthy stomach. He told me that he thinks my Gastroentiritis left my stomach in a state from which it has yet to recover, so he gave me a prescription for some pills. I got it filled, then went back to Beit Nativ.
I managed to make it in time for David Keren’s session about Midrash. It was also a pretty good session. We then had to choose which Advisor-led sessions we wanted to go to. I chose Julie’s, Nahum’s, and Yossi’s, based entirely on who taught them and not on content. Julie’s session was about discipline and was quite good, although very redundant.
At dinner, I asked Nahum what I should do for the evening and he suggested I go to a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta directed by his father. Naturally, I considered this to be the greatest idea of all time. Goldschmidt and Shoshana joined me. We walked to the Hirsch Theatre, and paid for our tickets. The show was awesome! Definitely a great choice.
Tuesday, March 13 - Immediately following breakfast, we boarded busses to go to Ma’ale Hachamisha, a hotel at which I stayed during Pilgrimage ‘04. It’s a nice place, and it flooded me with memories. Anyway, my first session was Nahum’s, about the Four Sons. We discussed different options about the sons and what they represent and eventually came to the conclusion that perhaps we are all four sons at different times.
After that, I had Yossi’s session about incorporating Israel in programming of various forms. It was an alright session, but I feel as if I’ve done exactly that for the last three years or more.
We then had lunch, which was fantabulous! The variety was almost as great as the desserts! Also, Jules arrived! It was good to see him, and I conversed with him for a while. Then we had some free time while another group met with Jules. Then we met with Jules. The session was about being a dugma in relation to leadership in camp environments.
Then we left Ma’ale Hachamisha, just as the rain came down full force. We boarded the bus and went on our way to Kibbutz Hanaton, the four-time winner of the official “Smelliest Kibbutz” award. When we got there, I was again flooded with a multitude of memories from Pilgrimage ‘04, as we had spent a week there that summer. I called Rachel Hilker, as I had not talked to her in months, and Hanaton is arguably where our friendship was cemented.
We then had dinner inside, due to the rain, and then everyone went to shower. After showering, I got some sleep.
Wednesday, March 14 - After t’filot (the learner’s minyan!), we had pancakes for breakfast. Yum! We then boarded the buses and went to Dani-hi, a site dedicated to things such as Paintball, Martial Arts, Rock Climbing, and stuff like that. We did all of those things. It was pretty awesome.
The best part was led by this Brazilian Martial Arts and Drumming expert. As a result, we drummed and martial-arted. These two things have nothing to do with each other, but both were quite good.
After finishing there, we returned to Hanaton, where it was again pouring, so we did not have a barbecue. This is sad. Instead, we ate barbecue foods inside.
Thursday, March 15 - The first thing we did in the morning was pack up. We then left, and went to Herzliya, a small suburb of Tel Aviv. We visited the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC), a University that offers degrees in English. It seemed like a nice place. Were I a different person, I might have considered going there. A lot of people did. One of the big selling points is that they have professors from Columbia, Harvard, and other major US Universities. Joey and I discussed this, saying that next year, all of our professors will be from Columbia.
We had a lecture from a teacher there, Uri Goldflam, about the peace-process, etc. It was nothing new. After lunch, we had another session with Jules, this time about Conservative Judaism in relation to an article by Neil Gillman. The article, which we read over the previous week, was very good and very thought-provoking.
After that, I boarded the Jerusalem bus to spend the evening in Jerusalem. Leadership week was done, and it was time to enter Shabbat.
Tani and I had decided to spend Shabbat together in Be’er Sheva, after a day in Jerusalem. We went to Beit Nativ and got a room with Corinne and Morgan. I then went with Joey to Big Apple Pizza for dinner. After that, I went back to Beit Nativ to meet Tani and go with him to get some falafel for his dinner. We then joined a group celebrating Alicia’s birthday. The group was: Alicia, Julia, Sam, Nathalie, Sarah Stein, Shosh Cohn, Jenni, Shayna Yellon and the two of us.
Friday, March 16 - After waking, Tani and I joined Julia and Jenni in shopping for dinner. After we got what we needed, we went to the bus station, and joined Sam, Shosh, and Shayna in our journey to Be’er Sheva.
When we got there, we began preparing dinner for ten: Julia, Sam, Cynthia, Arielle, Shayna, Shosh, Jenni, Alicia, Tani, and me. Shabbat began and we ate dinner: Chicken, Potatoes, Salad, and more. It was all quite excellent.
After dinner, we sang for a while and were joined by Jesse Gadon, Debbie, and Mari-Ann. We ate Marzipan rugelach and cinnamon-rolls. Mmm.
We hang out for a while, and for some reason, at midnight, Tani began singing Kabbalat Shabbat. Soon, six of us had joined in, and we davened KabShab after midnight, when it was technically already Saturday. It was odd yet amusing.
Saturday, March 17 - After a very late wake-up, a bunch of us ate cereal and laffas with jam. It was an interesting lunch, but a good one. Then a game of Cranium was organized, Julia, Cynthia and Sam versus Tani, Jenni, and me. Somehow, we lost. Still not sure how that happened.
After Shabbat ended, we hanged around for another hour and then left to go back to Kibbutz. Tani and Jenni and I got to the bus station and still had some time left, so Jenni went to SuperPharm. Just then, the bus came, and we panicked. Luckily, she made it back in time, and we got back to Kibbutz late at night before going to bed.
Sunday, March 18 - Back to normal work. Nothing exciting happened, except I began frying things with Yosef. This is good, because Yosef is a great frying buddy. I also organized chicken in rows on a pan. This is not good, because raw chicken covered in meat sauce is not fun to handle in large quantities.
After work, Abi and Joey and Jenni and Tani and I watched “So I Married an Axe Murderer” and then went to bed.
Monday, March 19 - Yom Nativ again! Jules and Yossi came, and Jules talked to us about our complaints and criticisms so as to aid them in future Nativ planning. After lunch, Avram took over as he had planned a mock-Knesset program. He planned it quite well and it was actually really good, but halfway through, when my coalition (I was the Finance Minister and part of the Labor party) was joking around about something, Mike freaked out and began yelling at us. Andy got angry because Mike was really being a terrible madrich, and so Andy left the program.
After Yom Nativ, I went back to my caravan, where Joey was sleeping, as he had a 103 fever. I watched some West Wing with Abi and then went to bed myself.
Tuesday, March 20 - Woke up with a very sore throat. I went to the Marp and they told me I had to wait two days for lab results (they swabbed my throat) before I could find out if I needed medicine. I also have no voice. I spent the day cleaning our very dirty (not anymore!) caravan, and organized things. I also finally caught up on this. After I post it, I’m going outside to join a barbecue (long overdue).
