The Big One

Howdy Folks~

I have so so much to write about, so here we go.

So the first weekend in Karmiel, I had Saturday free, and so I spent some more time with my host family. After sleeping in a bit, we hopped in the car and headed North. Soon we were at Rosh Hanikra, the Northern most site on the Mediterranean coast of Israel. At Rosh Hanikra, besides its historical and geographical significance- it was the point where British troops came into modern day Israel via tracks cut through the mountain during the time of the War of Independence- it is a magnificent, beautiful, natural wonder. There are grottos that weave in and out of the mountain, and you can tour the caves to different view points of the seawater splashing into the rock. It was really cool, and gave a great view of the ocean and down the Northern coast of Israel. Here are some pictures:

My host sister (Ofri) and I standing right next to the border with Lebanon

My host family and I inside the grotto

The beautiful coast looking towards Haifa

After Rosh Hanikra, we came back to Karmiel for late lunch. It's normal in Israel, since everyone is off work for Shabbat, to have a relaxing family day on Saturdays. This also usually includes a big cooked meal late in the afternoon. We all got to the house and had a great afternoon eating tons of Cholent, which is a traditional Jewish slow cooked food. It was absolutely delicious with rice, beans, beef, chicken, and Kishke (if you dont know what it is, click on the word... its a link). It was so filling that I didn't have to eat till lunch on Sunday.

The following week was short, starting with two days of volunteering and more meetings from to end off Karmiel orientation. On Tuesday, we had an olive oil day. Because Hanukkah was soon upon us, we had a chance to learn all about oil and its history. We started by visiting some ruins of old oil presses... it is now very clear how it took 8 days to make new oil in the story of Hanukkah.

We then had a chance to get in touch with our creative side. We first made Roman Style oil lamps, which was really fun:

My final product.

Then we headed off to a new location where we actually got to partake in the oil making process. We picked olives which was very fun. It was incredible to see how many olives are on just one tree. Then we learned how the modern day presses work, then tried the oil with some fresh pita for lunch.

the pro at work

Gathering all the olives after knocking them off trees

The modern day electric press with influences from the original style

Yum... lunch. On the Menu: Fresh Pita, Tomatoes, Tahina, Labeneh, Olive Oil, Salads (not pictured)

We had a great day learning about olives and left oiled up for Hanukkah and our next adventure. On Wednesday, we met with the rest of the Netzer participants in Karmiel and volunteered at a food bank. It was great to be back with the whole group. After volunteering, we all boarded the bus for Shelomi, a town about 30 min Northwest of Karmiel. Shelomi was the home base for our 2nd Keshet Seminar. I say home base, because this time, instead of having some heated and some calmer discussions with participants from other movements around the world, we spent most of the time on trips. I signed up for the track titled "Economy, Industry, and Tourism of the North." We did some really interesting things. We started at an incredible industrial park called Tefen. This park was full of normal industrial buildings, but also home to a huge school, beautiful sculpture gardens, museums, and some non-traditional industrial park factories. We visited a soap factory started by a woman named Gamilla. She is a Druze woman who started making natural olive-oil soap out of her kitchen, and as her soaps became well known and there became world-wide demand, she moved to a larger factory at the Tefen. Nontheless, all methods are still traditional ways, using almost not machines at all. She also does great things for the community, providing a place of work for Druze teenage girls who often aren't allowed to work in the villages.She's an amazing woman who still works and makes sure each hand cut soap is perfect. We also learned about injection molding, a company called Iscar which makes hi grade cutting tools.

The Industree Model of Tefen Industrial Park

Me assembling my injection molded plastic puzzle toy.

Arkadij doing the same

The final product

The whole group with our assembled puzzles.

The time at Tefen was really interesting, but the second part of the day was even better. We moved on to the economy and tourism part, where we had a chance to learn about a winery and goat milk product factory. We had a wine and goat cheese tasting, and learned all about organic farming in the North of Israel. We finally moved on to our last site visit, which was the farm where all the goats whose cheese we had just eaten live. We arrived just in time, because only 3 hours before, 3 kids (baby goats) had been born, and we were given a chance to hold them. They were SOOO cute!

Where's Waldo? I don't know, but I spy with my little eye one goat.

3 Hours old. 

More goats. Yum (well, their cheeses of course)

The rest of Keshet was great. We had some good time to catch up with the Netzer people, we had a Hanukkah candle lighting ceremony with the Mayor of Shelomi, we saw a show by a great story teller, Robbie Gringras. After the few days, we were very worn out.

So for the weekend, all of the Netzer people came to Karmiel since it was so close. We had a great time, with Hanukkah Celebrations, parties in Karmiel, and lots of food. The time came though that we had to kick out our guests, because last week, the Karmiel Netzer participants had a special opportunity. Since it was Hanukkah, and all the kids were off of school, the youth clubs in Karmiel organized a youth trip to Eilat. We were able to join, and it was a blast. We had some really great hiking, although our big hike got cancelled because we were behind a group of 500 on the trail. We camped out all 3 nights, once in a Bedouin tent and the others at a campsite in tents. Wednesday morning, we got a chance to clean up the littered beaches of Eilat, which was great, because the litter, despite making the beaches gross, gets into the beautiful coral reefs. Wednesday afternoon, we visited the Casuei Sand Dunes  which was mighty fun. As part of our trip, we had some fun time off in the center of town, and on the boardwalk where all the night life is. By nightlife, I partially mean Chabad Rabbi's singing and dancing aorund the town because of Hanukkah. Pictures are below. We also had a boat ride one night around the Gulf of Eilat/Aqaba. It was chilly on the water, but beauiful views of coastlines in Israel, Jordan, Egypt, and even Saudi Arabia. Very cool perspective. The trip was great and we made friends with lots of people from Karmiel. We all hope to keep our new friendships throughout our year in Israel and beyond.

After getting booted off a trail by 500 people, we ate.

Chabad + Hanukkah = Cherry Pickers and Menorahs

Our Hanukkah on the Beach

The group after lighting candles

Eilat at Night

Some Netzer girls

Wierd Light Bubble Belt Buckle, but good picture of me with Emily and Kyla. 

Cleaning up garbage

My new friend Kfir and I. He was one of the counselors... the majority of the trip was 14-15 year olds

At the sand dunes.

Talking strategy with Elad for the one footed race down the dunes.

And there I go

  Here is a series of me running up the hill. It was hard. Can't you tell?

Throwing sand into the wind yields cool results

I forced some people to spell GUCI with me. It worked... almost.

Running down was the best part

On the boat with some friends

Jordan on the Left, Saudi Arabia on the Right

Sophie and Kyla decided to take a ride on the human slingshot. I never would have.

Although they enjoyed it.

Even though they were way up in the sky.

Yay its Hanukkah! Lets dance with Chabad!

Beautiful morning sky over the Gulf of Eilat.

On the way home, we drove up a really really windy road. It was scary.

This gives a bit of perspective on the road. Wow... right?

The white blimp in the sky is the Israeli big brother. It is how intelligence supposedly gathers information.

We stopped at the colored sands. There were a ton of different colors in the hills, and we each filled a glass bottle and made natural sand art. Truly magnificent.

Well, as you can see, the trip to Eilat was very busy. So this past weekend, I got some great rest and visited family friends, the Litz's who live in Kfar Saba, a city about an hour away from Tel Aviv. It was great to see them, eat a lot of great food, and relax a ton. We spent Friday morning in Jerusalem for brunch and shopping in the Machane Yehuda food market... which is amazing on Friday mornings.Overall, I had a great last few weeks, and am always looking forward to whats ahead.

Remember if you have any questions, just post as comments! I'd love to hear from ya'll!