gouldy's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries TravelStream™ news feed for member gouldy on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/gouldy en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 12 Nov 2008 14:25:34 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com Preface — London, England, United Kingdom http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gouldy/2/1226517120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gouldy/2/1226517120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gouldy/2/1226517120/tpod.html Wed, 12 Nov 2008 14:25:34 -0500 Memoirs of Japan
London, England, United Kingdom

Ten years have now passed since I first landed in Narita airport. I'll never forget the strange smells, sounds and sights that confronted me on that Shinkansen (bullet train) journey to my new home. Although Japan is a world away from my life now it will always remain in my heart. Some memories are distant and some have faded, yet when I cast my mind back to that time its as clear as the rising sun. To see the next entry please follow the link to my brand new site: http://www.memoirsofjapan.com 
]]> The Last Supper — Jerusalem, Israel http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gouldy/israel_nov_07/1224603540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gouldy/israel_nov_07/1224603540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gouldy/israel_nov_07/1224603540/tpod.html Wed, 12 Nov 2008 14:04:29 -0500 A scouting mission to test the sands
Jerusalem, Israel

The route was unsettlingly familiar, and as we walked up the stairs into the simple but largish flat my suspicions were confirmed. I made a polite smile and the briefest of eye contact with the kindly wife and a group of young seminary girls stood around the kitchen, and walked over to the sofa. A yeshiva boy with a beard and large kippa was sat reading a paper, an elderly gentleman said Kiddush (a prayer) over some wine, and for a while I wondered if I was mistaken. Everyone here seemed very nice.&nbsp;Then a man with a large greyish beard and fiery blue eyes walked in and we took our places round the table. 'So I went to the Muslim Quarter today' he started immediately 'and the animals ...the <i>animals started throwing soda water down at us! A policeman told me to move on, and for a while I wondered if it was worth getting arrested. But I decided there are bigger battles to be fought'. &nbsp;'Is that some type of hummus?' I asked the guy next to me.&nbsp;Hummus is always a good way to sidetrack a political debate in Israel, but this was a man with an agenda and eventually the debate (that he and his young protégée had clearly been through so often) ensued;&nbsp;Me: Why did you go to the Muslim Quarter to pray?Zinger: Because the Muslim quarter is actually the quarter of the <i>Jewish Old City, <i>occupied by the MuslimsMe: Were they born here?Zinger: MaybeMe: Were you born here?Zinger: No, but I have a deed to the land to the land given by from Hashem! (God) &nbsp;Perhaps Zinger was choosing to interpret religion to support his political ideals, or perhaps religion had shaped his views. But what about the group of young seminary girls sat round the table? Under this influence what would they grow up believing?&nbsp; Here I could see religion throwing gasoline into the flames of a political fire, and I knew that the hatred I was hearing had everything to do with religion, and nothing to do with God. &nbsp;From Yeshiva my exploration of God seemed to have come full circle. I knew that I needed to look beyond ideas from society and religion to search within. A girl on Neot Semadar once told me that she had quit University after a few weeks because it didn't teach the important life skills. 'What kind of skills?' I asked. 'How to know yourself, how to make decisions, how to find your way' She replied. 'How does being somewhere like this help you to learn that stuff?' I asked. 'Without distractions you can look inside yourself' she replied, 'everything you need to know is there'.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;******************************&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;Epilogue&nbsp;I am writing this - my final blog - from London. Looking out the window the weather is predictably grey. It feels almost as if I never went away...but not quite. In two months I am going back to Israel. I am going to make 'Aliya'. It means 'going up' in Hebrew. It is the word used when Jews go to live in Israel. I am going to make the 'land of milk and honeys' my new home. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;If my soul is somehow rooted in Israel, then there is another place in the world where my heart lies, and it could not be much more different. For two years I lived and worked as a teacher in a small town, amidst of the rice fields and mountains, in Japan. In the winter it would snow to waist height, and in the summer it was so humid you wouldn't want to step outside. Each season had a beauty to it that the Japanese embraced with 'matsuri' festivals. As one of the only Westerners in town I was given celebrity status - often a blessing, sometimes a curse, and always an incredible adventure.&nbsp;I am proud to include a link to my new website (creatively named) 'Memoirs of Japan'.&nbsp;&nbsp;<img height="222" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/11/16/travel/tmagazine/18japan600.1.jpg" width="309">&nbsp;Thank You for Reading and Enjoy&nbsp;&nbsp;
]]> Sunrise in the Holy City — Jerusalem, Israel http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gouldy/israel_nov_07/1224495300/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gouldy/israel_nov_07/1224495300/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gouldy/israel_nov_07/1224495300/tpod.html Tue, 28 Oct 2008 17:20:28 -0400 A scouting mission to test the sands
Jerusalem, Israel

'Simons back, Simon's back, everybody Simons back' rustled the loudspeaker in Heritage House. Its amazing how after being away from a place for a while that nothing really changes; Dave was still sat there studying Talmud and playing his guitar, two or three guys were having a fairly Jewish type of conversation in the TV/internet room, someone upstairs was snoring. Some changes are of course inevitable though - they were now charging for board, though at 25 shekels per night I couldn't really complain!&nbsp;I was back in the Old City, Jerusalem. It was when I extended my stay and came to Jerusalem all those months ago that my spiritual adventure had really started, so this seemed a fitting place for it to end. Coming from Neot Semadar and the Rainbow Gathering - possibly 2 of the most chilled out places in the Universe - I could immediately sense intensity in the air. Not just that it's a hectic city, but the people. Just standing near some of the people in the Heritage House made me feel on edge. &nbsp;It was the last day of Succot and religious Jews were staying out studying all night to pray with Lulavs and Etrogs (I will explain later) at Sunrise. This meant an ideal picture opportunity, as well as a nice empty dorm. I got up at 5am -which after my stint on Neot Semadar was a walk in the park - I grabbed a yarmulke, my Cannon A560, and&nbsp;retraced the familiar route I had made so often during my Yeshiva time through the cobbled streets of the Old City, down to the Wall.&nbsp;Not a glimour of sunlight and yet it was a heaving mass of thousands. A Lulav is 4 species of long green branches clumped together, and an Etrog is an overpriced lemon. Most people had them and I knew I only had to bide my time before I would get a fantastic action photo of someone waving them about. &nbsp;....But I also knew that from the roof of the&nbsp;Yeshiva dormitory I could get an amazing photo of the sun rising over the holy city. The chances of me ever getting up for sunrise in the holy city again were lower than the latest value of my stocks, but&nbsp;then again the lulav picture was also a one off chance. I made a dash for it. Up the stairs, past the crowds, through the courtyard; I was approaching the front door but I had no key. I pushed; it opened 'Baruch Hashem!'(Blessed is God). I snuck inside and up the staircase. The key to being somewhere you're not supposed to be is looking confident. Some Yeshiva boys were sleeping out on the roof (a Succot tradition). I crept past them, up the ladder and hey presto,&nbsp;I got my shot!&nbsp;Would I have missed the Lulav and Etrog bonanza at the wall??? I ran back down to the wall where the sea of black was turning green. They were just getting into full swing of things, waving the branches in different directions, shaking their lemons, and sporting constipated looks on their faces.&nbsp;Today I was having my cake and eating it.&nbsp;Baruch Hashem!&nbsp;&nbsp;I had a busy day going to Herziliya to pick up my hard guitar case from Yael's flat, and then went to the beach in Tel Aviv.&nbsp; 'play us a tune' said a couple of guys near me on the beach. 'this isn't a guitar' I said. 'just a gun?' They asked. In any other country it would have been a joke. That evening was the beginning of Simchat Torah. It is a celebration of giving of the Torah and I was placed for dinner (a service provided at Heritage House) at Hippie Joe's (a religious guy who's mum makes great food). As we walked in I noticed the prettier, Israeli&nbsp;girls were on a different table from where we were headed. I figured that it was all&nbsp;part of Gods plan and we sat down. After we had been sat talking for a while would you believe it,&nbsp;someone came and asked if we would swap places! Baruch Hashem ...yet again! Could all these good things be coincidence? Could it be because I was in Jerusalem? Could it be because after my time in the desert I was relaxed and in tune with nature? One night in Neot Semadar I got into a conversation with some of the girls (who were knitting). They said that if you truly want something with all your heart then the Universe will make it happen. I have heard this idea before, also from girls. In any great achievement there is probably some element of luck. But we all share the same Universe (apparently). What if we all wish for opposing things? On my last day at the Rainbow Gathering I trecked to the Welcome tent and sat to have a tea with an American immigrant type who was working there. I asked what were the chances of getting a lift and he said he couldn't guess. I&nbsp;was about to leave but decided to have a second cup of tea. 'theres your lift south' he said, pointing to an approaching couple. 'Is this because I willed it?' I asked. 'I didn't even ask out loud!'. 'You don't need to' he replied.Photos are now up for Neot Semadar entries, and there was still a final adventure&nbsp;heading my way.
]]> 28 days later — Eilot, Israel http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gouldy/israel_nov_07/1220952000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gouldy/israel_nov_07/1220952000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gouldy/israel_nov_07/1220952000/tpod.html Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:38:21 -0400 A scouting mission to test the sands
Eilot, Israel

I was faced with a dilemma; I was at the end of my table and the hummus on the adjacent table was an easy arm's reach away. Should I grab it? It would save the embarrassing trouble of disturbing the 'wa' of the silent meal by asking people on my table to pass the hummus. But I had never seen anyone do it before. Perhaps it would be frowned upon? Perhaps it was an unspoken rule to only use food from your own table? I looked around at the blank faces, each one in his/her own little world of eating, some munching slowly, some looking into space, some chopping away. It was now or never, my heart was racing - I reached over and seized the hummus!&nbsp;I've been on Neot Smadar for 4 weeks now and I can't work out if its heaven or hell. I am surrounded by beautiful scenery, and there is a steady stream of pretty girls coming to volunteer. But I find myself living to work. We get up at 5am and work till 1pm, and then after catching up on sleep though the afternoon, we work another 4 hours from 8-midnight. I've been working in the date plantation where we are harvesting the dates. The other day I slept there to get extra sleep. I can no longer eat a date. I tried yesterday but had to throw it away.&nbsp;Being here I've developed; I've pushed through my limits and my Hebrew has improved, but its time to leave soon. The question is what to do next? I'm not the only one. I keep speaking with people who don't know what they want to do. Without distractions there is lots of time to think here. I've started analyzing all the voices in my head to try and make a plan. Are any of them my own? Perhaps the main thing which differentiates humans and animals is our propensity to transmit ideas. Perhaps all those voices are just ideas transmitted from society. Perhaps that is why it's so hard to plan. Perhaps planning is unnatural. None of the voices is really mine ..But if none of the voices is me then what am I???&nbsp;Yep I've been here too long.&nbsp;
]]> Festive Season in Israel — Eilot, Israel http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gouldy/israel_nov_07/1223836980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gouldy/israel_nov_07/1223836980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gouldy/israel_nov_07/1223836980/tpod.html Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:30:06 -0400 A scouting mission to test the sands
Eilot, Israel

It was Yom Kippur (Day of Attonement) in Israel on Thursday. Driving is banned in accordance with Jewish Law and apparently in Tel Aviv there is a beautiful scene as people come out onto the deserted streets on their bikes. I was far away from all that; deep into the Negev desert I am still on Kibbutz Neot Semadar. The 25 hour fast of repentance was observed&nbsp;(well no meals were served), but there was no 'religious bullshit' (to quote Cobi, the opinionated&nbsp;guy who works in the vegetable garden.) The blistering heat of the summer has given way to a pleasant heat and after getting up late I started to stroll towards the dining hall. A peacock near my room caught my attention (dont ask me why but there is a group of peacocks who wonder round here) 'David!' yelled Jesus. Jesus is the 40 something, long haired, slightly crazy looking guy and Father of 4 who works in the kitchen. I call him Jesus because I dont know his name and he calls me David after the last foreign volunteer to annoy me. I walked into his porch area and looked around at the musical instruments hanging on the walls. 'You said you'll talk to God earlier' he said, 'but how? You can't experience God with words. You can only experience God by being, and being aware in your being. When I eat, I pay attention to every bite, to every morsel as it falls down my throat. Thats the experience of God.'&nbsp;&nbsp; We broke the fast with tea and cakes on the patio outside the dining hall and after dinner everone started building a succa. Its a wooden building to commemerate the nomadic structures the Israelites lived in whilst wondering round the Sinai desert and the way everyone on the kibbutz&nbsp;got together to build&nbsp;it has made this a special time. Kibbutz members will eat all meals there for the week of the succot festival which starts tomorrow. I wont be joining with the festivities as I am finally leaving the kibbutz on Tuesday. My planned 2 week stay here evolved into two months, just as my planned 2 month stay in Israel evolved into a year long rollercoaster adventure, but now its time to move on. There is still at least one more adventure to be had before I leave though. Apparently there is another Rainbow gathering not far from here, or the Bedwin camps of Sinai beckon just down the road.&nbsp; Keep posted for my final entry. -photos to follow
]]> Rainbow Gathering in the Desert — negev, Israel http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gouldy/israel_nov_07/1224345900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gouldy/israel_nov_07/1224345900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gouldy/israel_nov_07/1224345900/tpod.html Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:20:47 -0400 A scouting mission to test the sands
negev, Israel

4 simple chords - but as I started to play them on my old acoustic something special happened; the drummers, flute players, and medley of other musicians who were finishing off the previous song started looking my way, a guitarist ran over to sit my me, and as I looked around the fire I realised that the eyes of the hundred so people sat around were all on me. The adrenaline started kicking in, it was fight or flight but no fleeing now. All I had to do was stays steady and loud, I was riding this wave &nbsp;......I was leading the crowd.&nbsp;The full moon tonight was so bright that it looked more like dusk than midnight. It lit up the faces the faces of the people sat round the fire, and I could almost make out the features on the hill on the horizon. I would easily be able to find my way back to my tent later but on the downside the stars weren't quite the spectacular site I had gotten used to. Finally out of Neot Semadar I was still deep inside the desert but in a different kind of place; it was the Succot Rainbow Gathering.&nbsp;'Welcome Home' is the Rainbow motto and for one month people of all backgrounds live together in an area 'undesecrated by humanoids' in harmony with nature and with each other (which in Israel is of course no mean feat!). I had stumbled across and enjoyed the two other Rainbow gatherings earlier in the year and so this seemed like the ideal way to round off my journey. &nbsp;There are two meals a day prepared with donation money by whoever volunteers, and when the food is&nbsp;ready everyone joins hands in a big circle before tucking in. By Friday night there must have been 200 people in the circle -&nbsp;including Bedouin and Europeans mixed in with the happy go lucky Israelis. It was kind of ironic that many of these Israelis would be throwing off their colourful clothes to put on their IDF uniforms and M16 machine guns when they left. Army service in Israel is, of course, compulsory. &nbsp;&nbsp;The defining feature of Rainbow to me is the music. From the early hours till late at night, from didgeredoos to guitars, there are always people jamming away. Many of the musicians at this gathering were professional (or close to it) and so the quality of the music was often outstanding. I felt quite honoured when one guy asked permission to record a jam with me.&nbsp;Coming out of Neot Semadar (where there is a kind of music deprivation for most of the day) I had felt very present and in the moment, but kind of dead inside, detached from my emotions, and frequently zoning out of what was happening around me. 'I can be detached and emotionless for all eternity when I'm dead!' I had said earlier to a blonde girl in the kitchen area. You only live once and now I want to feel alive!' &nbsp;Slowly but surely as Rainbow progressed I found myself reconnecting to reality. It was as if Neot Semadar had emptied me out and Rainbow was filling my soul with joy. On Saturday afternoon I sat in the Chai tent up on the hill and looked around. The word 'desert' in&nbsp;Hebrew is 'Midba' which comes the route of the word 'medaber', 'to speak'.&nbsp;It is no coincidence that all the prophets heard God in the desert. Its pure simplicity leaves the mind free from distraction and open to search. As I looked round at the natural beauty and the clear blue skies it was hard to believe I would be leaving this for grey and cold London in just a few days. But there was one more stop to be made before I left Israel. I was going back to Jerusalem.
]]> Neot Smadar — Eilot, Israel http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gouldy/israel_nov_07/1219946520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gouldy/israel_nov_07/1219946520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gouldy/israel_nov_07/1219946520/tpod.html Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:29:22 -0400 A scouting mission to test the sands
Eilot, Israel

I woke up with a start. My heart was racing and there was enough acid in my stomach to corrode the Titanic. My suitcase was half open with things strewn across the small area of floor around my futon. Yesterday Joel and Julia had walked me to the bus stop where I had been picked up by a strange looking woman in a beat up old car and I had left Ketura. &nbsp;I looked around my new bedroom; hanging on the thin white wall in front of my futon was a drape, and there was a pencil drawing of an owl above my head. The time and effort put into these simple decorations gave this little hut an atmosphere of tranquility which was almost enough to calm me down, but pencil drawings weren't going to be enough to overcome the turmoil in my head.&nbsp;In fact I had made a plan. It was thought through like the moves in a chess game and all I needed to do was stick to it; I would spend a week or two on Kibbutz Neot Smadar, a week in Tel Aviv, and then fly back to London to pick up my life there as a teacher where I had left it 10 months ago. With a big pile of mail waiting to be sorted out, and with the new school year starting in September, it made sense to go back now. Yet something wasn't sitting right and it was whirling round in my head like a storm.&nbsp; &nbsp;I walked out my room into the bright desert sun. Small huts here were spaced apart with hammocks, sofas, and hanging decorations in most of the shaded front porches. The sprawled out neighbourhoods made this place like a maze and the heat was oppressive, but eventually the stone paths and sand gave way to a paved path alongside a green garden and I was at the dining hall. &nbsp;I walked inside and saw where the leftmost table was slowly filling up with poople. I followed the rules that had been explained to me by taking the next available empty chair and silently took a piece of bread. In front of me was a large dish of fresh, uncut slad vegetables, some wholeweat bread, olives, and a couple of other condiments. All that could be heard was the sliding about of plates on the table, the chopping of knives against plates, and the occasional muffled whisper. I pointed to the water jug; in Neot Smadar meals are eaten in silence.&nbsp;I have been here 2 weeks now. Neot Smadar is was a world away from the Kibbutz Ketura, and all the things I disliked about Ketura seem to be remedied here. People make an effort to learn your name quickly, there is no obvious hierachy - indeed there doesn't really seem to be a distinction betwen members and volunteers, who work alongside each other doing different jobs every day that are pinned up on a rosta outside the dining hall. You are more likely to hear a drum or guitar than loud blaring music, the food is simple but wholesome and tasty, there is no small talk, and the surroundings are beautiful. This is an old fashioned and a very special kibbutz.&nbsp; If you were to arrive here on a Friday night you might think you were in a scene out of a science fiction film. People dressed in white dance about to happy music in a big circle. The dance is creative and crazy, yet somehow orchestrated with precision. Two people&nbsp; lead in the middle whilst the rest follow until the gong sounds and everyone freezes. Set against the palm trees and the mountains it looks like some kind of Eutopia, and after the dance everyone brings the tables outside to eat in the open air.&nbsp;So far I have done all sorts of jobs from milking goats to laying electrical wiring. At the moment we work from 5am till 1pm, and then do a few hours in the afternoon or the evening. The hours are so long you are left with little free time,&nbsp;sometimes we work in the midday sun (and this is midsummer) - but it a pleasant working atmosphere and I never hate the work itself. Everything on the farm is organic and the animals are treated&nbsp;better than on other kibbutzim. Right now it is date harvesting season - one of the biggest income earners and a twenty four hour operation.&nbsp;&nbsp;The mental torment going round in my head for the first few days subsided, but gave way to a kind of sadness. 'anything you feel is coming from inside yourself' said David my mentor. Every now and then he comes up to me and we sit on the grass under the shade of a palm tree. He explains some kibbutz rules - keep your shoulders covered, don't leave the kibbutz without seeking permission, don't invite friends round wthout permission. The rules maintain the atmosphere of integration and tranquility. After meals people congregate on the lawn outside the dining hall. Often people will sit in pairs and you can see from the body language that the conversation is deep and meaningful. People always speak quietly. Sometimes I wonder if they have any life left in them. Sometimes I want to grab their shoulders and shake them to see if any emotion will come out at all.&nbsp;This is definitely not for everyone but if you want a kibbutz experience the old fashioned way and more then this is an interesting place to come. Without any distractions one is left to ones thoughts; even during work there is never any music. It plays on your emotions and there is a big emphasis on self discovery - 'if you dont like something you should ask yourself why. Everything that comes up here is something inside yourself', they say. The sadness I felt in my first week has dissapared.&nbsp; Mainly I had been regretting my decision to leave Ketura, especially as I had been working in a field that interested me, but when I went to visit the other day it just seemed grotty. Ketura did however have certain things that are missing here - a sense of life, a sense of fun, and my favorite Israeli innovation -&nbsp;the TLV chairs.
]]> crashing down — Arava, Israel http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gouldy/israel_nov_07/1217578620/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gouldy/israel_nov_07/1217578620/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gouldy/israel_nov_07/1217578620/tpod.html Fri, 01 Aug 2008 04:22:55 -0400 A scouting mission to test the sands
Arava, Israel

I get up at 7.50, throw on a T-shirt and shorts, step out of my air-conditioned room into the bright sun, and walk about 50m or so to the dining hall. "Morning Shimon" says Dining hall Jeff, who is standing outside the dining hall smoking a cigarette. I grab a tray and get breakfast. Ben likes to get lots of eggs and salad, Aviva likes to bring in her own cereal, Joey likes the pancakes with syrup, and the Argentinian guy makes a sandwich with the eggs, salad and bread.&nbsp; "Can I get you to err open the dish line" says Dining hall Jeff to Ben.... I walk about 400m (past the horse that bit me) to work. It's already getting hot and there is an offish smell in the air, but I'm soon in my nice air conditioned office where I say hi to Sarah - the intern who works in my office - and continue my analysis of the APC alpha site, where they are testing solar panels. Before long I am life coaching Sarah, who is telling me about her latest agonizing decision. We go to lunch about 12.30. The dining hall is full of 16 year olds in tour groups who are piling food with a kind of enthusiasm that only people who haven't had the same lunch 10 times can muster. The vet who wears dungarees and a cowboy hat complains about people in his way, the woman who shuffles when she walks is getting a drink, and the 100 or so regular diners are sat in their usual groupings.I work until about 16.30 when I go to the pool. Udi is sat on a chair with a book in his usual spot, as is Danielle, but Mya is lying on her front. The life guard is playing Sheshbesh and a tour-group is splashing about in the water. &nbsp;The tour group leader tells them that the coach is leaving and suddenly the atmosphere is quite tranquil. That is until the sound of "its raining men" starts up on the music system. Middle aged and slightly overweight American women are happily bobbing up and down in the pool - the 5pm water aerobics class has started. At 6pm I go for dinner - a dairy meal consisting of left over dishes from the previous few days regurgitated into something which on occasion can be surprisingly tasty. The dining hall is much quieter now; there are no tourgroups and most kibbutz members eat dinner at home. Aliza walks in with her kids trailing behind her like a Mother duck with ducklings. "clean up the volunteer area or I'll keep your deposits" she snaps at the volunteers -abrasive like sandpaper, to the point like a compass, and yet with the bluntness of a well used pencil. Walking out the dining hall I see Joel with Hesi and a couple of others sat on the bench outside the shop, the Thai workers are sat round their wooden table eating beetles, dining hall Jeff is sat out with a book and some chilled out music, while the volunteers are playing music which is anything but chilled out, and drinking out on the grass. I sit in the quieter area to study some Ivrit or read a book. Sometimes I lie in the hammock. It overlooks the basket ball court and the Jordanian mountains, which by 7pm are glowing red as they reflect the setting sun. I might go join the volunteers, or I might go the guest house café to continue my studies. They don't like volunteers coming in (even though volunteers clean their rooms), but they don't seem to mind me too much. On other nights I might play football with the Israelis, or go for a run. Three nights a week the pub is open. Its not very busy and the drinks are cheap.It's nice to have a routine. Everyone on the kibbutz seems to have a routine. What is scary is when you start to know other peoples routines. The longer you stay here, the more you become part of an integrated whole, who all know the most intimate details of each other's lives, like one collective, bickering, and yet united, whole. It looks like my future is not to become a part of that whole. The APC don't want to pay me for the work I am doing and I am not willing to volunteer indefinitely. I will leave the kibbutz in just over a week. Even though I had planned for this outcome, and in many ways was relieved that I would not be living in this eccentric place in the middle of the desert for the next 6 months, it is unsettling. Suddenly I started doing something I hadn't really done for the last 6 weeks; I started trying to plan my life. I started worrying. The West cherishes freedom so much that it will fight in its name. Given the choice most humans will naturally put themselves in situations where they have more options, and over the last century the options have increased exponentially. Have humans evolved as quickly as those options? I doubt it. Perhaps we should all go back to communities like the kibbutz where decisions are taken as a whole rather than left to relatively primitive individuals....then again I'm looking forward to choosing my food.
]]> 28 days later...... this is inspirational — Arava, Israel http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gouldy/israel_nov_07/1216976400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gouldy/israel_nov_07/1216976400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gouldy/israel_nov_07/1216976400/tpod.html Fri, 25 Jul 2008 07:00:18 -0400 A scouting mission to test the sands
Arava, Israel

I have been uninspired of late to write anything. 28 days on the kibbutz and 9 months in Israel perhaps I've been writing too long. But then yesterday I came across a website. It's all about a man who makes things happen and it makes you realize that if you set your mind to it, so much can be achieved in a lifetime.With scruffy hair, scruffy clothes, and thick lensed glasses he looks more like a friendly neighbour than an instigator of change. Right now he is leading a coalition of kibbutzim in Israel to take on some of the biggest businesses in the world. The battle, as battles past and present, is over a resource. When Yosef Abramowitz came to Kibbutz Ketura he looked around and thought 'Why is there no solar power?' You or I might stop there but he then he lobbied the government to introduce a high tariff for solar power and yesterday struck a deal that paves the way for Israel's first largescale photovoltaic field in the best possible place - the desert. With business giants around the world wanting in on the action it is really like David against Goliath. Solar Power is not totally green. The high tariff required to make it worthwhile reflects the high cost of production for solar panels. This process consumes energy and can be polluting. The panels are still not very efficient, and take up large areas of land. Despite these problems I am excited to be an employee here at Arava Power. As scientific advisor I have been helping to test panels on their research site and looking at proposals from mad scientists about how to increase energy production. Later this week I will find out if my temporary position can become more permanent.Have you ever thought about what you want to achieve in life? What impact do you want to have on the world, and what steps have you taken to achieve those goals? Have you dismissed your dreams as unrealistic? Perhaps they were ...but perhaps they weren't. I mentioned in my posting ' God, the Universe, and the nature of Reality' that we create our reality. It is amazing what can be achieved if we focus our energies. This website should be an inspiration to us all:http://www.peoplehood.org
]]> Israel's Sinister Truth — Eilat, Israel http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gouldy/israel_nov_07/1215019260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gouldy/israel_nov_07/1215019260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gouldy/israel_nov_07/1215019260/tpod.html Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:02:20 -0400 A scouting mission to test the sands
Eilat, Israel

When I visited Israel about a year or so before this trip I saw something that horrified me. It was Christmas time and I had spent a few days in Eilat -a seaside resort on the Red sea, bordering Jordan and Sinai. Coming from England where even the police don't have guns, I remember going to a club and being suprised to see kids in the bars doing all the things people do in bars, but with big machine guns slung over their shoulders! Israeli soldiers aren't allowed to leave their gun at home, even when off duty. I remember thinking that if English kids on the streets were given guns that all hell would break loose. Here they just seemed to be an everyday part of life, no different from carrying your cell phone ..except perhaps you don't get mugged for your gun!After a few days in Eilat I made my way up north to a kibbutz called Lotan. I was visiting partly to break up my journey, and partly because they have lots of interesting ecological work going on such as mud huts and organic gardens. Having grown quite used to my hotel room and all the hustle and bustle of Eilat I remember a feeling of dread overcoming me as I entered this slightly rundown looking place in the middle of the desert. There were lots of small, single storey houses or apartment type things, some of them with quite creative decoration, but not a soul in sight. It was eerie. What was I supposed to do with myself? Was this the Chain Saw Massacre? Should I try to escape now?I wondered past the residential area and then I saw it. From the distance it looked innocent enough but as I drew closer the stench and the sounds grew stronger and the tragedy of what was happening inside began to unfold.********************************************Rows of corrugated iron roofing covered the muddy ground below and at one end was an empty building. Standing or lying in the mud were about 2-300 cows. I was approaching the dairy shed. Some of them seemed curious and cautiously approached the bars penning them in to see me. As I moved near them they backed off through the mud and excrement below them as quickly as their 40kg udders would allow. If I ask you what cows drink, you may for an instant you think of 'milk'. It is perfectly understandable because we are brought up to think that cows are born to produce milk for us. Like all mammals, cows produce milk for their offspring. At around 14 months old (maybe around 12 years human equivalent) they are inseminated and 9 months later give birth. The calves are taken from the Mothers who will then give milk three times a day for 1-2 years until they are inseminated again. Past the crowded pen I could hear the noise of younger cows lowing. I was about to find out what happens to the offspring.In a symmetrical grid was row upon row of calves kept in cages barely wide enough for them to turn round in. They were up to around two months of age and had lived their whole lives in this isolation. As I approached the calf nearest to me started violently pushing her head through the bars in a frenzied to and fro motion! The calf sucked on my hand as if it were a teat - as they are separated from their Mothers at birth these calves knew only humans as their milk providers. I walked round the rest of the shed. As the cows get older and give birth again and again their udders grow to a disproportionate size. For these cows it looked like every step they took was uncomfortable. It was nearly lunchtime so I went to the canteen. As people returned from work the kibbutz was coming to life. People were sat at tables according to their groups - the kibbutz members, people on the green apprentiship programme, and volunteers. It was easy to sit and get talking with them. James - a 20 year old, ponytailed, German told me about his experiences working in the cow shed. 'It feels like a concentration camp' he said. 'We have to prod them with electric prods to force them into showers'. 'When they stop producing milk they are sent for slaughter. The other cows go crazy when the truck arrives to take them away. They know what's up. The male calves are sent for slaughter at birth'.Dairy cows come from grassy Northern Europe. In order to live in the hot and arid desert where there is no grass they have to be kept in shade and showered to keep them cool. In the hotter months they enjoy the showers but this isn't done out of compassion. It increases their milk production.So the question is does this matter and should it be stopped? At the very least should it be kosher? Jews -victims of the holocaust - are supposed to be a light to nations and yet they seem to be perpetrating a holocaust up and down the country in the name of profit. Here on Kibbutz Ketura there is a similar setup and so I've taken the time to observe and ask questions. Some employees think the cows live a life of luxury whilst others say it is the cruellest industry. They also justify the farm by saying it's what the cows are bred for. Generations of interbreeding have arguably created walking milk machines who can't fend for themselves, but&nbsp;does our choice to breed an animal for a purpose justify it? The question to me boils down to would they be better off having a life on such a farm or not at all? The other night I took a walk around the cow shed. A Cow was licking a still calf on the ground. It was dead, possibly a broken neck. Looking at it I was pleased; pleased it did not have to live. That to me answered the question.
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