Kibbutz Life
Trip Start
Nov 13, 2006
1
70
80
Trip End
Oct 21, 2008
Eilat,
Israel
Saturday, June 21, 2008
I am sitting at the chairs outside the guesthouse in Kibbutz Ketura where the silloutte of the Jordanian mountains in the evening sky has now blended into blackness. I can feel a warm evening breeze on my wound. Well when I say warm I should say hot. Hotter than the air coming out of Tony Blaire in the run up to invading Iraq. Its 9pm and I'm hot. It must be into the 30's, and thats not humidity. Its just plain hot like its hot all day and then its still HOT.
I've been in Kibbutz Ketura for a week now and plan for my two month stay here to be the last chapter of my journey in Israel - though of course nothing is ever set in stone. I have a roommate - Joel - who's alarm goes off each morning at about 5.30, before mine goes off at 5.45, the snooze goes off at 5.54, and I'm in the kitchen for work and a filter coffee by 6am.
In the kitchen I start off chopping tomoatoes, or sometimes peppers. If I'm lucky I get to grate carrots in this cool grating machine. By the time I have finished here, many a vegetable will have met its fate at my hands. The work is intense and tough, especially if I have to wash dishes. Considering that we are in the desert I cannot believe the amount of water they waste in the kitchen power hosing everything - though they do compost the waste, and give left over cabbage and lettuce to the rabbits in the petting zoo.
We are usually finished by 13.30, eat a hearty lunch, and then go play by the pool.
pool
There are about 20 volunteers here. Mostly in their early 20's and making me feel a bit on the old side. Quite a few are British and being around them I can feel myself developing some kind of messed up, hybrid Essex/cockney/American accent. I'm certainly not improving my Ivrit.The accomodation makes the MKSH (see earlier entries) look quite pleasant, but when I'm not working or by the pool I am usually sat outside on the nice, comfortable seats on the volunteer area lawn with the whoever is around. The pub is open every other night and they had a party the other night to say goodbye to the Israeli, Jordanian, and Palestinian students from the Arava institute who had just finished their year long environmental studies course.
The institute have a start up company - the Arava Power company - who are planning a massive solar energy project, approved by the government, to make Israel a world leader in solar power. I have spoken to them about working with them on the project and they seem quite interested. The problem is that I may basically be doing secretarial work. If I do not get a job with them I will have to ask myself if it is worth staying here to do a job I don't like and hang out with people 10 years younger than me. That said, the more I am here the more I enjoy it.
Kibbutz life has many advantages; there are no major decisions to make, no financial concerns, I just go to work and then relax. I go to meals when they are served and events when they happen. I can be by myself, with nature, or be with people. Without distractions people are forced to socialise more, and I am forming good friendships with the people around me. I meet with the Arava Power Company tomorrow so watchthis space.
