Back in Israel

Hey Everyone:

Sorry its been a while since I last updated. Here's what I've been up to. We had normal week after keshet seminar. We had a really cool session about the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) where we focused more on the cultural aspect of the army and not so much of the political conflict that often comes up on the topic of the army. In the field, the big piles of bags were finally getting to an end, and then the other workers decided to deliver huge new piles, so our work with the date bags are nowhere close to over. On last Wednesday, we took another hike in the Arava. It was a beautiful hike through the Eilat mountains... we learned about the daily life of Bedouins in the desert and made a few stops at beautiful lookout points. We spent quite some time at a cliff overlooking an incredibly massive canyon and riverbed... and the view was like nothing else. Ill post pictures later.

We had a great afternoon in Eilat and got back to Kibbutz with time to relax a bit before getting a good night's sleep. Thursday, we volunteered in the morning, and I was asked to help in the kitchen. It was a lot of fun getting to know the chefs and being able to actually cook most of the food to be served for lunch that day. We really got to know the chef, Johnny, and we learned about the Kibbutz and his story as we worked.

We all are getting into the groove of things, and daily life here feels more natural that before. The group is getting along, and we are starting to really connect with each other. Each one of us is feeling more comfortable with the community. I am really excited for the next week as we become more and more a part of the Netzer community and as we try harder to integrate with the Kibbutz community.

I will post some pictures and then share in another post what I did this last weekend!

L'hitrayot,
Ethan

First Desert Trip... cool hikes

Our first Wednesday trip consisted of tow hikes. First was to some crazy sand dunes where we got to play around and second was to the Red Canyon, which is right around where some historians say the real Mt. Sinai is. We had lots of fun and cannot wait to do a longer hike on our trip tomorrow!

Off into the horizon from our first stopping point on the hike.

Rachel gazing into the distance during a water break

Only 10 minutes into the hike... a bit pitiful

Our first view of the dunes.

We had some time to run around and down the dunes. Lots of fun.

Except when we fell down of course...

Shady spots are great for learning. You can see our desert hike guide in the top left talking to us about the biblical history of where we were hiking.

I saw some of the most beautiful rock formations as we hiked into the red canyon.

Here's Kyla climbing deep down into the canyon... believe it or not, I fit down there too!

It was so cool to be inside at the bottom of the canyon, but the best view was from above.

Arrival At Yahel

The following pictures are from our first glimpse of Kibbutz Yahel. We were introduced to the Kibbutz with a walking tour. Our first sights were absolutely beautiful.

Two of my friends from the program. Arkadij from Oberhausen, Germany on the right and Josh from Birmingham, England on the left.

Our first Kibbutz friend, a cow.

One step of the date packing process... these are getting ready to go into sorting. Yum. 

The beautiful view out my window.

Happy November

Hey all,

Sorry its been so long since I've written. I had a full week on Kibbutz and we've been working, learning, and having a lot of fun. We have been working in the date fields.... where we have been closing up shop for the off season. To be precise, that consists of stacking and rolling up huge 12 foot mesh bags in groups of 24. The mound of bags for us to old grows everyday and we may never finish, but we have fun out there. As for learning, we have had sessions about community, Israel, and modern Zionism, and its really interesting to see all the different viewpoints in the group. We had a really fun session called "Beseder, Lo Beseder" meaning "Cool, Not Cool" where there were about 50 topics that we all had to classify as either cool or not cool.... these led to discussions of topics from Gilad Shalit to Brittany Spears. While some topics were funny, it really made us think during certain topics.

Every Wednesday, we have a trip off of the Kibbutz. Last week we took two small hikes to incredible sand dunes in the desert and to a beautiful Red Stone Canyon. We ended the day in Eilat with some time on the beach. The hikes were a great chance to see the beauty of the South of Israel, and it really made us think as we learned about the relation of our land to the Torah, and about claims that one mountain we were on is supposedly the real Mt. Sinai. As part of our day, we also went to a lookout point over Egypt. It was neat to be able to see Jordan, Israel, and Egypt all in one glance, and its wild to see how the markings of the border have changed so much with time and advancement of security measures. What used to be large rock pillars to signify a line has now become high security border fences. Despite the unfortunate fact that the original simple border is gone, it was easy to see that Israel knows what it is doing security wise.

This past weekend, we made the trek to Jerusalem for our first Keshet Seminar of the year. During this Shabbat, we gathered with 200 participants from other Zionist year long programs. We were of all different sects of Judaism, and it was a interesting and controversial weekend that definitely made everyone on Shnat Netzer ready to return to Kibbutz Yahel.

Now we are back at Kibbutz, and we had a great day in the date fields today, with enough breaks for eating all the pomellos we can, of course. The group is so obsessed with Pomellos.... we even had a pomello party the other day where we played games such as "hot pomello" "pin the tail on the pomello" and other crazy pomello games. We also had a great Halloween party last night, and we gave some Israeli's and Australian's their first ever Halloween experience. It was really funny trying to hold a serious meeting beforehand, because everyone already had their costumes on.

The food has been pretty good... we eat lunch in the dining hall, and its great having such good variety everyday. For dinner, we cook meals as a room, and I am proud to say I have come up with some great dishes. Tonight, we had Moroccan style couscous with fresh picked dates, and other fruits and veggies. yum!

As for pictures, for simplicities sake, I am going to try to start posting lots of pictures on here. I will do separate posts of just pictures and maybe captions, and please comment on whether I should stick to this or link you to a better photo website.

I am having a great time, and everything around me on the Kibbutz is so beautiful. I miss you all... keep in touch.

-Ethan

Here and There

Hello People,

So where am I? Right now I am in Tel Aviv, but we will get to that later. I have been down south in the Arava at Kibbutz Yahel. We arrived Monday Tuesday morning and had a great welcome tour where we learned about the Kibbutz and ate some Pomellos... which is a citrus fruit they grow there. They are delicious. We then unpacked the bus, moved into our rooms, and had some rest time. Wednesday morning, we joined together as a group, and started our kibbutz orientation. We learned about what all we're going to be doing, and decided as a group how we would build our own Netzer community among the larger Kibbutz community. Every week, we will work three and a half days, have educational classes one day,and take a trip off of the Kibbutz every Wednesday, and then we usually have Shabbat chofesh (free day). Every week will be busy and very exciting, and I'm excited to get involved in and learn more about the Kibbutz. We then had a chance to shop for some groceries and get started on dinner. On the kibbutz, we only eat communal meals in the Chadar Ochel  (dining hall) during lunch, so that leaves us to cook dinner and prep breakfast as individual rooms (mine being a room of three guys)... but thankfully our cooking hasn't been to horrible yet.

Thursday morning we got to work. Our first day of work, we were given special placement, and for about 5 hours we stood around tables peeling and wrapping sticker labels for fancy dates. There were supposedly 11,000 to complete, and while we didn't quite reach the goal, we go pretty close.  After working Thursday morning, we had lunch and then got started with Hebrew lessons. We first took a placement test, and it was pretty rough for most of the group. Out of 33, there were probably only 3-4 who made it past the first few questions.

After class Thursday, the weekend started, and 4 of us decided to take a bus to Tel Aviv. Its really nice having good public transportation, and there was a bus stop right outside the gates of our Kibbutz. When I got to Tel Aviv, I met up with my friend Ori, from camp GUCI, and he has been a wonderful host to the city. Yesterday, Friday, we spent the whole day around the town, starting with an incredible hummus place in Old Jaffa, where only the locals go... it was quite possibly the best hummus I've ever had. Then we walked around a lot, saw some flee markets, ran some errands at the mall (since the Kibbutz is in the middle of nowhere), and eventually showed up at his parents art galley. His family owns a really neat art gallery right in the center of town, and I really liked the sculpture garden, but the real reason we went was to meet up with my parents, who were in Tel Aviv for the day and wanted to see the gallery and me! It was good to see them but sad to say goodbye (even though it was like the 4th time we said goodbye!) I joined Ori's family last night for shabbat dinner at his grandparents house, and had a great meal and very interesting conversations.

Today, I'm just relaxing, and I will catch a bus back to Yahel tonight, ready to start more work on the kibbutz and learn more Hebrew. This next week will be a lot of fun, and I cannot wait to see what our Tiyul (day trip) on Wednesday will have in store!

 I will leave you with a picture of a Pomello... its sort of like a sweet grapefruit.

-Ethan

we are here

Shabbat Shalom from Jerusalem!

So we had our first visit to the Old City today, which was pushed along by a photo scavenger hunt. We had lots of fun and it was very nice to be back at the Kotel, even though a bird pooped on me right as I approached the wall. My group said it was a sign... but of what? 

We then had time for shabbat prep, and we lit the shabbat candles together and walked to Kol Haneshama, a reform temple in Jerusalem. Services were good, and it was cool to see that all the tunes were similar even though everything was in Hebrew. I even saw an advisor from youth group who is now living in Jerusalem while her husband is at school. It was very funny, because we both made eye contact during the service, but had trouble figuring out how we knew each other. 

Well, that was my friday. Its nice because we have a bit of down time tonight and tomorrow, and then we finish up orientation and head south to Kibbutz Yahel. 

I'll leave you with pictures of my group in Jerusalem.

-Ethan

Jerusalem City of Gold

I would like to first apoligize for the length between the last post and now... as we have been very busy on our Klita Seminar, or week of orientation. I arrived in Jerusalem on Tuesday afternoon with all of the American and a German, where we met half of the English participants. We immediately hit it off, and it was really cool to have an automatic relationship with these people because 1: were all Jewish teens and 2: we all come from very similar  Jewish youth movements. So we spent the evening relaxing and getting to know each other, but went to bed with time to sleep because we had to be ready to go at 6 am! Nothing like trying to force the jet-lag out of us. So at 6 we met up with the other British participants who arrived at 4 and had an opening ceremony for the year at a lookout point over Jerusalem. Despite the time, it was very exciting. We all joined in songs and it was amazing to see how other than some slight pronunciation difference, we all sang the same tunes and songs in our different youth movements.

So we went back to the hostel and were given some time to sleep, and after lunch, we started orientation sessions. They have continued all throughout today, and we have gone over things such as Netzer and Judaism, Israel, Security Protocol, Technical procedures, and more, and we all feel ready to actually start. Tonight, we had a chance to hear from and present to each other about our youth movements. It was really cool, and everybody was blown away to hear that NFTY (from the USA) had over 8000 participants every year. This was especially wild to Netzer Barcelona participants who have never had more than 80 (but they are very new, and partially on this program to learn how to go back and grow).

So tomorrow, we have a tiyul, or trip into the Old City of Jerusalem with some former Shnat Netzer participants, and this should be fun... and then we have shabbat. We will be going to the largest reform congregation in Israel, so it should be quite an adventure. Ill have much free time in the next two days (shabbat) so I will hopefully update you with more, and pictures, so check back soon.

Out-
Ethan