Hey Everyone,
Last time I checked in, I was explaining how incredibly fun our Southern Tiyul was and beaming with excitement as I was writing it from the Kibbutz. I didn't actually tell you anything about the Kibbutz, though since I was waiting for this post. Here it is: WEEK ONE ON THE KIBBUTZ! And the funniest part is the very end.
On Wednesday, we had some time to say goodbye to our friends in the other Nativ groups, and then we got on a bus which took us to our respective destinations. We showed up to Kibbutz Ein Tzurim only to see something that I haven't seen in months: grass. The Kibbutz is green, beautiful, rainy (even though Israeli is in a drought), and massive. But little of that actually mattered on our first day as the majority of it was spent finding our bags and unpacking into our new rooms. On Wednesday night, the majority of the group wound up in our common room playing board games and hanging out. It was very low key and very fun, and I thought to myself that if this was to be my night time activity for the next four months, I would be more than OK.
On Thursday we had a very open day. We woke up for t'fillot, had breakfast, and then had the rest of the day to unpack. After lunch, a group of about 15 of us decided to go to the local shopping center in order to buy more storage space and various things for our room and were hit in the face with the realization that we aren't in Jerusalem, a major metropolitan city, anymore.
We walked out of our Kibbutz onto the main road knowing that any bus going in a certain direction would take us to the place, and we naively assumed that a bus would come very often as this bus stop had a sign for Jeruslaem, Tel Aviv, and Be'er Sheva, three major Israeli cities. We could not have been more wrong. After over an hour of waiting, a bus finally showed up, and we piled on en route to what would become a very successful shopping trip. I know that this doesn't sound that exciting or that dramatic, but believe me: after months of walking outside of our building and being half a block away from a station that has buses running every two minutes, this was quite an eye opening experience. The shopping center itself wasn't that exciting, but I can tell you that a few rooms left with pet fish.
We unpacked some more that afternoon, and then at night, I played some basketball with some friends and played some more board games in the common room. You'll notice this pop up as a trend.
On Friday, I woke up to do Zumba (a latin dance workout), had lunch, finished unpacking, and then got ready for Shabbat. Throughout the day, All I could think about was just how low key and laid back life on the kibbutz seems to be. Everything is so chill. After a very nice Kabbalat shabbat and dinner, we played some more games during the evening. It was a great way to begin the first Shabbat on the Kibbutz.
On Shabbat we woke up, had services, and then a few of us got to meet our host families for lunch. I was one of the lucky few who (along with another girl) is to be hosted by this woman named Rivka for the next few months. Lunch on the Kibbutz is early, so we got to her home at about quarter to 11. We left at quarter after five. Let me explain why: Rivka is an Australian firecracker in her mid 60s whose nearly 90 year old mother lives across the street on the kibbutz. She has four grown children, has done/learned everything in her lifetime, and still teaches English both in private lessons and to Autistic kids in a nearby town of Ashkelon. She was SO cool.
We went straight from lunch to dinner. Oops...
On Saturday night, we met and learned where we would be working for the next few months and which various committees we would be on. It was a surprisingly tense room when they announced which jobs we would be doing. I got exactly what I asked for: a job in the fields. However, since farming doesn't start until mid march, I was assigned to do various busy work around the gan (preschool) for the first month. Afterwards, we discussed Kibbutz group committees, and I joined the BBQ va'ad (committee) and the green va'ad.
On Sunday, we started work. I was raking and cleaning the area around the 1-2 year olds. Every time I walked by the kids, I started playing with them, talking to them, and making them laugh. The teachers asked us if we wanted to go on the walk around the kibbutz with the kids, and obviously, we joined them. These children are SO cute. One boy had started walking a week prior and I was helping him; one girl's nose was constantly dripping all over everything and every time I touched her face with a tissue she giggled; all of the kids jumped around in puddles as though it was the first time they had ever seen water. It was SO FUN. When the teachers asked me why I didn't ask to work in the gan, I didn't know the answer. Sure enough, later that day, I asked to be perminantly switched into the gan, into the same class of 1-2 year olds since they were amazing and I had so much fun with them.
I got off of work at around noon, had lunch, and went straight to a nap since I was going to wake up at 1:30 am to watch the Superbowl.
When I woke up on Monday morning, I looked at my phone to see that it was 6:45 and was FURIOUS at myself for missing it. My alarm went off, but I didn't wake up to see the game. I was upset, but I got over it since I was off to work with small children all morning.
After breakfast, I went to the gan and was greeted by the teachers with hugs and many of the students with hugs as well. Some of the kids were deathly afraid of me (since they hate strangers and hadn't gotten to know me the next day), but over the course of the day they got used to me. I left them after putting them down for the nap and was done for the day.
The funniest (but most frustrating) part of the week came when we had to do laundry. While the kibbutz is mostly privatized, laundry is still done by laundry workers, but we had to sort it to allow for them to do it the way they wanted to. First, we had to label every single article of our clothing with our specific number: every sock; every pair of of underwear; every Hanes white tee; everything. Then we were told that we had to sort everything into two bags: socks/underwear and whites, with everything else going into a separate big bag to be sorted later. When we got to the laundry, we put everything into large buckets only to be informed that we had done it completely incorrectly, and we were forced to do it again. Though frustrating, it was kind of funny.
Upon leaving the laundry, me and 2 other BBQ va'ad members began prepping and cooking for the BBQ. Though it took us about two hours to get food on the table for everyone, we were able to grill in the rain and make some VERY good chicken. After dinner, we watched the Superbowl episode of Glee (which was incredible), and then went to bed.
This morning we had an introduction to what Tuesdays would look like, and now I'm off to Jerusalem to meet with the Director of Ramah California and see some Nativers from other groups.
That's it for now,
Becca
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