So i figured i would write abit about the kibbutz life since i have been her for a bit now. Might have time later to write about the adventures i have been having (bacon in jerusalem, etc).
So the kibbutz is a communal lifestyle where the people are actually paid now and have to pay somewhat for food and lodging. Everything is very community oriented and open for people to travel between houses and lunch is served in a large mess hall and everyone eats that one meal there throughout there day, and for their entire lives. The kibbutz itself is not at all religious, and some people even end up working on shabbat-example fish ponds everyonce in a while. The other week when i went to the neighborhood synagog with some of my friends from the kibbutz. There were very few people there, the 6 of us mad up half the congregation, and i assume they were from the community not the kibbutz. There is a large degree of separation between the jews in israel. Most the ulpan kids are jewish by ethnicity only, and a few religious, and the rest of the nation seems to be like that, with the jews being at either one end of the spectrum-orthodox, or the opposite-nonreligious. I always thought before most were middle ground and had some religion in their life, but most are secular even though they love and live in the holy land. Back to the synagog-it was an interesting service, all in hebrew so i didnt know much what was going on, but Josh (referred to as jewish josh here since there are 4 joshes and he is the religious one) kinda told me what was going on, and i tried as best i could to follow along in the reading in hebrew. There was quite a bit of individual prayer along with the recitation and singing of psalms in hebrew. The singing of psalms was different, but i enjoyed it, kind of like the difference between more modern worship and hymns, but even before that. It was interesting to see how they welcomed in shabbat by actually physically moving. First time in synagog-israel, good experience.
So back to kibbutz life since that is what i actually wanted to let you know about. Like i said the work is 6-7 full day a week for people on the kibbutz but since we are ulpan we do 6ish hrs a day everyother day but shabbat and trips. The main source of income for the kibbutz is the fish and a nice garden where they have wedding-no one is allowed inside so i have not seen it . Other jobs that we do include gardening around the kibbutz 6am-12 normal stuff, working in the kitchen/diningroom/dishes, picking fruit in the citrus plantation, foodshop, and working with the fish (guys only in ponds and shop). I have been very lucky so far and have had to do gardening twice-raking dirt for 6 hrs twice and then have been on fish since then.
In the fishponds we go out and take a massive net and circle the pond to bring in the fish, which are then sucked up and sorted on the top of a machine. THis is the most physical work there is but usually it is not too bad sicne it is around water the entire time and rather cool. We also deliver the fish to the fish shop. Usually we have a machine that pulls in the nets, but this morning since we were doing a smaller pond, we had to pulll the nets in by hand, and that is alot of work pulling in full nets of fish-reminded me of the disciples fishing when there nets were about to break. I really enjoy this work because it doing something all the time wheras in the garden we slack off quite a bit. Also the coordinator of ulpan activities works there-ahron-so have gotten to know him quite well.
I have worked at the fish shop once so far and our basic job is to kill the fish with a mallet and then scale them-later gutted by others. This was on friday getting all the orders ready for shabbat. This is also probably one of the better jobs on the kibbutz.
Back to food about all three meals. Breakfast is very small with maybe a small bowl of cereal and some bread and if we are lucky a hard boiled egg. Lunch is the big meal of the day like before and is the only time we actually have the option of eating meat. At first i thought i would get sick of constant snitzel, but i always look forward to it after the breakfast and after work or class. dinner is pretty bad with not much more than breakfast, so we end up going out to the mall alot to either actually eat something or just a snack. But one great thing about israel is the unlimited hummus availible at every meal-im going to miss that alot.
So thats pretty much the kibbutz life.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
So last weekend i went up to Haifa with a couple of friends from the kibbutz (Ron-holland, berti-turkey, gal-U.S., Jenny-UK, Annie-U.S) to spend fri afternoon through shabat there. It is crazy how fast you get to know people since with these people i felt like i had known them alot longer than less than a week. The trip was really good taking busses up north and finding a fairly cheap hostel with a room to fit the 6 of us. We ended up at one on the side of Mt carmel with a great view of the sea. We got practically no sleep but traveled everyside of haifa during our time through taxi services. Highligts of the trip were going to a festival we happend upon the first day, seeing the BaHai gardens the second day, riding a merri-go-round at the zoo (annie and i tried to buy tickets just for that, but ended up buying tickets for the whole zoo, so we spent some time wandering around the zoo while the others checked out the town some more). While trying to get back on shabbat most busses are shut down so we tried taxis and service shuttles, but ended up getting to the wrong side of town away from the station, and hung out at an empty mall for a while-looked like the perfect setting for a horror movie with 6 college aged kids in an empty mall. We ended up splitting up and a couple went back to the kibbutz via service taxi and the rest of us found our way to the beach for the rest of the afternoon untill shabbat ended and we could take a bus back to the kibbutz. During my time here i have actually had quite a few religion discussions and one of those again popped up on the beach with some of bertis friends who we ended up hanging out with that were going to the university in Haifa.
Also last week went on a day trip of Jerusalem-which is really nothng. On the way down the other cristian-annie showed me the passage in psalm 22 about the prophesies of the messiah, which was amazing to read through right before ascending up to Jerusalem. GOt to visit the old city and the walls around the old temple including the western wall. Could write a ton about this but it was really cool getting to see all of it, but in a way t seemed slighty empty just praying to and through the wall, but still being that close to the holy of holies was an experience of its own. Wish that i could have gone on my own pace through this part, but was rushed a little with the tourgroup going through and trying to see alot in that one day. Also i fullfilled one of my lifelong dreams-keep one of the free paper kippahs from the western wall.
After that tour we went to the holocause museum area, which included many different museums and memorials. During this time i spent 2.5 hours in the main museum which i only really saw in detail about a third of it and the rest in the last half hour. It is very large and helped show the actual size of the holocause through its size. Marc from UK this was his third time there and he spend the entire time also in the museum and still wanted to come back again since he hadnt seen all of it yet. The museum itself starts off on a dark end and gradually get light to see the end of the tunnel which is a majestic overlook. The last room is a rememberance room which has names of holocaust victims in a large circular room-with a reflective well in the center. THis room hit me hard after visiting the rest of the museum and realizing alot more the scope of the holocause.
We also got to hear about Yehudit-the ulpan organizers parents holocaust story from her along with other stories from survivors. The other memorial we went to was the childrens memorial which was a dark circualr room with alot of small lights in the darkness with a constant soundtrack of all of the names of the children on a constant loop.
If this day wasnt long enough already we got on the bus and went to the opening cerimonies of the Maccabiah games-basically the jewish olympics meant to bring the jewish comunity together. I was surprised about the security since it was not that much, just like normal checkpoints. During the ceremony the president- Simon Peres and Prime minister- Benjamin Netanyahu both spoke, which was really cool getting to see them both speak during my time here in israel.
The other day after work went to Ceasarea with annie and jonah-its great how small the country is where you can leave after work at 2 to visit a site for the rest of the day and annie always wants to go see biblical places also so we are basically travel companions all the time. During this trip the buses somehow worked out perfectly, less than 5 min wait for any of the connecting busses and didnt miss the last bus out of ceasarea. This trip we got to see alot in ceasarea-the port paul sailed from when he appealed to ceasar in acts. Saw the circus where there were chariot races and where gladiators and christians were killed, aqueaducts, and the roman theatre-which was being set up for a concert-it looked over the sea and that would be awesome to see a hard rock concert there. Had sushi on the outcropping of the harbor-so much better than kibbutz dinners.
We got back just in time for the pub night on the kibbutz where we got to know some other people our age better and i talked to the organiser of our ulpan social guy-ahron who i worked with in the morning for a while about his story- where he is from argentina and moved here with his parents when he was 6 and had to get marriage license in cypres since he did not have a orthodox wedding which is the only one reconized in israel-alot more really cool guy. still had to do my hw for hebrew after this but it did get done.
So much more has gone on and going on a trip to the south next week and then i think jerusalem since our trip to petra couldnt happen due to insurance on our long 2 day weekend.
Also last week went on a day trip of Jerusalem-which is really nothng. On the way down the other cristian-annie showed me the passage in psalm 22 about the prophesies of the messiah, which was amazing to read through right before ascending up to Jerusalem. GOt to visit the old city and the walls around the old temple including the western wall. Could write a ton about this but it was really cool getting to see all of it, but in a way t seemed slighty empty just praying to and through the wall, but still being that close to the holy of holies was an experience of its own. Wish that i could have gone on my own pace through this part, but was rushed a little with the tourgroup going through and trying to see alot in that one day. Also i fullfilled one of my lifelong dreams-keep one of the free paper kippahs from the western wall.
After that tour we went to the holocause museum area, which included many different museums and memorials. During this time i spent 2.5 hours in the main museum which i only really saw in detail about a third of it and the rest in the last half hour. It is very large and helped show the actual size of the holocause through its size. Marc from UK this was his third time there and he spend the entire time also in the museum and still wanted to come back again since he hadnt seen all of it yet. The museum itself starts off on a dark end and gradually get light to see the end of the tunnel which is a majestic overlook. The last room is a rememberance room which has names of holocaust victims in a large circular room-with a reflective well in the center. THis room hit me hard after visiting the rest of the museum and realizing alot more the scope of the holocause.
We also got to hear about Yehudit-the ulpan organizers parents holocaust story from her along with other stories from survivors. The other memorial we went to was the childrens memorial which was a dark circualr room with alot of small lights in the darkness with a constant soundtrack of all of the names of the children on a constant loop.
If this day wasnt long enough already we got on the bus and went to the opening cerimonies of the Maccabiah games-basically the jewish olympics meant to bring the jewish comunity together. I was surprised about the security since it was not that much, just like normal checkpoints. During the ceremony the president- Simon Peres and Prime minister- Benjamin Netanyahu both spoke, which was really cool getting to see them both speak during my time here in israel.
The other day after work went to Ceasarea with annie and jonah-its great how small the country is where you can leave after work at 2 to visit a site for the rest of the day and annie always wants to go see biblical places also so we are basically travel companions all the time. During this trip the buses somehow worked out perfectly, less than 5 min wait for any of the connecting busses and didnt miss the last bus out of ceasarea. This trip we got to see alot in ceasarea-the port paul sailed from when he appealed to ceasar in acts. Saw the circus where there were chariot races and where gladiators and christians were killed, aqueaducts, and the roman theatre-which was being set up for a concert-it looked over the sea and that would be awesome to see a hard rock concert there. Had sushi on the outcropping of the harbor-so much better than kibbutz dinners.
We got back just in time for the pub night on the kibbutz where we got to know some other people our age better and i talked to the organiser of our ulpan social guy-ahron who i worked with in the morning for a while about his story- where he is from argentina and moved here with his parents when he was 6 and had to get marriage license in cypres since he did not have a orthodox wedding which is the only one reconized in israel-alot more really cool guy. still had to do my hw for hebrew after this but it did get done.
So much more has gone on and going on a trip to the south next week and then i think jerusalem since our trip to petra couldnt happen due to insurance on our long 2 day weekend.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
So as you guys know im in Israel for 6 weeks working and learning Hebrew on the Kibbutz Mishmar HaSharon. During this time we have a total of 12 work days and 12 days of learning and every shabat/saturday free to do as we wish along with an additional day. There are a couple of day trips to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv along with a 4 day trip to southern israel and another 4 day trip to northern israel. Afterwards i am going to be here for a few days most likely visiting Jerusalem since we only are spending a day in that city. We will see where i end up for those and who is staying after also to travel with.
The plane flight over was very long with a 10hr layover in London where i was going to see but accidentally went through check and could not get back out so i was stuck in the airport for the entire time. If you follow tennis at all you know that this was during the time of the wimbledon mens final and for the last set(turned out really long) i was sitting in a bar next to a swiss man. It was cool since the final was Federer (Swiss) vs Roddick (US). That along with an old man waking me up and a flight attendant making fun of my long hair summed up my time at the airport and london.
THere are 30 students in the Ulpan program, 2 from turkey, 1 Netherlands,1 swiss and the rest split about equally between England, Canada and the States. It has been interesting to see the different cultures interact as well as the different faiths. On the first day i was the 3rd person here and one was gone so i got to know annie fairly well. It turned out that she is the only other christian on the trip so that was a blessing getting to know her well first off. All the rest are Jewish (vary from most non-religious to slightly religious) and one girl who is neither jewish nor religious. I have been involved in quite a few discussions about religion already and have learned a bit about Judaism and peoples views in general. During these they also ask alot of questions of me since i am in the minority religously, but as before it has been a blessing having another christian around to help and discuss thing with. Everyone minus the three of us non-jews have been here before so they know the area and the sites so they are just visiting mainly for the culture/expereince not necisarrily the sites, but that always interests them still.
Travel here is great and i know im going to be going alot. My first experience with travel was to Netanya (about 15 min by taxi away) and the beach in california has nothing on the mediteranean-amazing and warm water beautiful beaches. But had lots of adventures there since we dont know much hebrew, but we got through it. Best thing was eating a burger, dont realize how good it is till it was gone and was going into withdrawls even being on the kibbutz for only a few days. The food is fairly minimal but it gets us throught the day somehow.
Work generally starts about 6am till noon and either have a free afternoon or everyonce in while a seminar-of which we have had one a couple days ago on the Israel-palestinian conflict. Other than that there was a swine flu with one of the kids from England and an adventure to Haifa this past weekend which i might write about later if i stay unlazy-doubtful.
On the first day i was here i was reading through matthew and had the reminder of 5:13/14 and that struck me about how i needed to act here instead of going along with everything to experience israel as most people visiting the kibbutz are.
The plane flight over was very long with a 10hr layover in London where i was going to see but accidentally went through check and could not get back out so i was stuck in the airport for the entire time. If you follow tennis at all you know that this was during the time of the wimbledon mens final and for the last set(turned out really long) i was sitting in a bar next to a swiss man. It was cool since the final was Federer (Swiss) vs Roddick (US). That along with an old man waking me up and a flight attendant making fun of my long hair summed up my time at the airport and london.
THere are 30 students in the Ulpan program, 2 from turkey, 1 Netherlands,1 swiss and the rest split about equally between England, Canada and the States. It has been interesting to see the different cultures interact as well as the different faiths. On the first day i was the 3rd person here and one was gone so i got to know annie fairly well. It turned out that she is the only other christian on the trip so that was a blessing getting to know her well first off. All the rest are Jewish (vary from most non-religious to slightly religious) and one girl who is neither jewish nor religious. I have been involved in quite a few discussions about religion already and have learned a bit about Judaism and peoples views in general. During these they also ask alot of questions of me since i am in the minority religously, but as before it has been a blessing having another christian around to help and discuss thing with. Everyone minus the three of us non-jews have been here before so they know the area and the sites so they are just visiting mainly for the culture/expereince not necisarrily the sites, but that always interests them still.
Travel here is great and i know im going to be going alot. My first experience with travel was to Netanya (about 15 min by taxi away) and the beach in california has nothing on the mediteranean-amazing and warm water beautiful beaches. But had lots of adventures there since we dont know much hebrew, but we got through it. Best thing was eating a burger, dont realize how good it is till it was gone and was going into withdrawls even being on the kibbutz for only a few days. The food is fairly minimal but it gets us throught the day somehow.
Work generally starts about 6am till noon and either have a free afternoon or everyonce in while a seminar-of which we have had one a couple days ago on the Israel-palestinian conflict. Other than that there was a swine flu with one of the kids from England and an adventure to Haifa this past weekend which i might write about later if i stay unlazy-doubtful.
On the first day i was here i was reading through matthew and had the reminder of 5:13/14 and that struck me about how i needed to act here instead of going along with everything to experience israel as most people visiting the kibbutz are.
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