Saturday, May 26, 2007
broken and ugly, yes i am, still i look good divin' in
I feel as though, had we been staying on kibbutz this week (as in, for the remainder of Nativ) I wouldn't want to go home so badly. Being in Jerusalem is just too fucking nostalgic to be any fun. Then again, maybe I would have been just as miserable on kibbutz, who knows.
The point is, I will be home in three days and it cannot come any faster.
Don't get me wrong. I have loved Nativ and almost everything about it, it's just this damn week being the home stretch and I just want to go home and hug my mommy and my dog and fall asleep on the floor of my bedroom with my friends.
Other factors aside (though influential), I'm homesick.
The point is, I will be home in three days and it cannot come any faster.
Don't get me wrong. I have loved Nativ and almost everything about it, it's just this damn week being the home stretch and I just want to go home and hug my mommy and my dog and fall asleep on the floor of my bedroom with my friends.
Other factors aside (though influential), I'm homesick.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
i'll make your head shake, you make me go crazy
Hm.
I'm not sure how I feel about leaving Kibbutz.
Today's been somewhat hectic so far, we've all been dragging luggage and shelving units and cabinets around, and cleaning like mad. It's both sad and obnoxious. You know how it is. Maybe, anyways. I really really want to get home, but, you know, I don't want to leave. It's very complicated. I've been saying that a lot lately.
So we had to pack one suitcase to put into storage and one to have with us for the week in Jerusalem. Of course I'm slightly over the weight limit for both suitcases and it's making me freak out and be upset because I just don't want any trouble in the airport. I wish I could express how much I fucking hate airports, but hatred of that magnitude is best descibed in nonsensical, many-consonanted rants, such as akerjfairgishrnignffirgiriejv. That much.
We cleaned out the caravan so now it smells nice and bleachy, as opposed to the shitty fungus smell that's occupied it all semester.
Last night Jacob and I had Seudah Shlisheet with Sarah and Yonkele. It was really nice, I'm going to miss them, even if I didn't take full advantage of their presence while we've been here. I want to take pictures with them tonight at the party.
Speaking of which, we're having a party tonight, we're inviting the host families and the bosses. Chanan is coming, and he might be bringing his family. The six of us are really excited and happy that he's coming, he's just an awesome person. We're going to wear our Massuot Yitzchak t-shirts. We blew up a picture of the six of us with Chanan and framed it and wrote all over the back. I think he'll like it.
On the last day of work, at the end of the day, Chanan sat us down and gave us the nicest speech ever, saying how much our time was appreciated. He said something that had me tearing up from laughter though. He was like, "I know sometimes it seems like you're doing...ech omrim? Avodah sh'churah," and we were like, "Black work? What's that mean?" and he was like, "you know, the work the black people do!" I was dying. Please understand, it's Israeli culture to say things like that. I mean it's still hysterical, but people say things like that all the time, including our Israeli staff. It's not (technically) being racist, it's just...culture. Anyways it was so hilarious. By "black work," Chanan meant work that nobody else wanted to do. Then he kept saying nice things and he gave us Massuot t-shirts and sweatshirts.
Our last day was sort of a culmination of everything we'd done over the semester. We organized pipes, we painted, the boys went and weedwhacked, it was like a sampling of everything we'd done. It was really nice. I'm going to miss it there a lot, the hard work, the people there (Yisrael, Ziv, even creepy Yuval), the aruchot eser, the lunch with just the six of us, and our political discussions. I'm especially going to miss the Political Hot Topic of the Day, and Milford, CT Fact of the Day, and the Celebrity of the Day. Thanks to Tani, Shosh, Gabe, Sarah, and David for making this semester of work the best it could be. We were a weird mix at first, and we still are, but I'm glad we're friends.
On Friday Nehama and I took a tour of Kibbutz and took pictures of everything. I'm glad I got to do that before we left, I want to have pictures of Ein Tzurim.
Anyways, quite a long post for me at the moment. I'm glad we got all the cleaning done early-ish so now we can just chill. I still have to shove a couple of things into my overweight suitcase (fuck it, if I have to pay I'll pay. Israir won't give a shit, most likely) and pack up toiletries and stuff. It can all be done later today, after the party maybe. I decided just now I'm not going to freak out about packing. If I get worked up at the airport there will be no stopping my rampage, and I will make a scene.
Okay, time to stop. Goodbye.
I'm not sure how I feel about leaving Kibbutz.
Today's been somewhat hectic so far, we've all been dragging luggage and shelving units and cabinets around, and cleaning like mad. It's both sad and obnoxious. You know how it is. Maybe, anyways. I really really want to get home, but, you know, I don't want to leave. It's very complicated. I've been saying that a lot lately.
So we had to pack one suitcase to put into storage and one to have with us for the week in Jerusalem. Of course I'm slightly over the weight limit for both suitcases and it's making me freak out and be upset because I just don't want any trouble in the airport. I wish I could express how much I fucking hate airports, but hatred of that magnitude is best descibed in nonsensical, many-consonanted rants, such as akerjfairgishrnignffirgiriejv. That much.
We cleaned out the caravan so now it smells nice and bleachy, as opposed to the shitty fungus smell that's occupied it all semester.
Last night Jacob and I had Seudah Shlisheet with Sarah and Yonkele. It was really nice, I'm going to miss them, even if I didn't take full advantage of their presence while we've been here. I want to take pictures with them tonight at the party.
Speaking of which, we're having a party tonight, we're inviting the host families and the bosses. Chanan is coming, and he might be bringing his family. The six of us are really excited and happy that he's coming, he's just an awesome person. We're going to wear our Massuot Yitzchak t-shirts. We blew up a picture of the six of us with Chanan and framed it and wrote all over the back. I think he'll like it.
On the last day of work, at the end of the day, Chanan sat us down and gave us the nicest speech ever, saying how much our time was appreciated. He said something that had me tearing up from laughter though. He was like, "I know sometimes it seems like you're doing...ech omrim? Avodah sh'churah," and we were like, "Black work? What's that mean?" and he was like, "you know, the work the black people do!" I was dying. Please understand, it's Israeli culture to say things like that. I mean it's still hysterical, but people say things like that all the time, including our Israeli staff. It's not (technically) being racist, it's just...culture. Anyways it was so hilarious. By "black work," Chanan meant work that nobody else wanted to do. Then he kept saying nice things and he gave us Massuot t-shirts and sweatshirts.
Our last day was sort of a culmination of everything we'd done over the semester. We organized pipes, we painted, the boys went and weedwhacked, it was like a sampling of everything we'd done. It was really nice. I'm going to miss it there a lot, the hard work, the people there (Yisrael, Ziv, even creepy Yuval), the aruchot eser, the lunch with just the six of us, and our political discussions. I'm especially going to miss the Political Hot Topic of the Day, and Milford, CT Fact of the Day, and the Celebrity of the Day. Thanks to Tani, Shosh, Gabe, Sarah, and David for making this semester of work the best it could be. We were a weird mix at first, and we still are, but I'm glad we're friends.
On Friday Nehama and I took a tour of Kibbutz and took pictures of everything. I'm glad I got to do that before we left, I want to have pictures of Ein Tzurim.
Anyways, quite a long post for me at the moment. I'm glad we got all the cleaning done early-ish so now we can just chill. I still have to shove a couple of things into my overweight suitcase (fuck it, if I have to pay I'll pay. Israir won't give a shit, most likely) and pack up toiletries and stuff. It can all be done later today, after the party maybe. I decided just now I'm not going to freak out about packing. If I get worked up at the airport there will be no stopping my rampage, and I will make a scene.
Okay, time to stop. Goodbye.
Monday, May 07, 2007
i could have danced all night, i could have danced all night, and still have begged for more
So anyways.
I'm still sick, but my fever is now 99.7 as opposed to yesterday's 101.6. I was actually curled in a fetal position yesterday, and not even in my bed. I took over the common room because that's where the air conditioner is. I feel kinda bad, but I'm going to change the sheets on the bed out there once I get better and clean up and everything.
So, yesterday at work was one of those days where we are left in a field in the middle of nowhere Ashqelon with no shade for miles for about five hours. Being dehydrated probably added a bit to being sick. I didn't start to feel sick till as soon as we got back to Kibbutz, and then it felt like my head was being squeezed really slowly between two very large blocks of wood, and my throat hurt every time I swallowed. My throat still hurts, but my headache has eased off considerably.
So yeah. I slept pretty fitfully last night but I also basically napped until 4pm today (Yom Nativ was today) before Molly took me to the doctor. She did a throat culture and said come back at 10:15 tomorrow, which means no work tomorrow, which I think is best.
My mommy's not answering her phone. :(
I'm still sick, but my fever is now 99.7 as opposed to yesterday's 101.6. I was actually curled in a fetal position yesterday, and not even in my bed. I took over the common room because that's where the air conditioner is. I feel kinda bad, but I'm going to change the sheets on the bed out there once I get better and clean up and everything.
So, yesterday at work was one of those days where we are left in a field in the middle of nowhere Ashqelon with no shade for miles for about five hours. Being dehydrated probably added a bit to being sick. I didn't start to feel sick till as soon as we got back to Kibbutz, and then it felt like my head was being squeezed really slowly between two very large blocks of wood, and my throat hurt every time I swallowed. My throat still hurts, but my headache has eased off considerably.
So yeah. I slept pretty fitfully last night but I also basically napped until 4pm today (Yom Nativ was today) before Molly took me to the doctor. She did a throat culture and said come back at 10:15 tomorrow, which means no work tomorrow, which I think is best.
My mommy's not answering her phone. :(
I am sick.
Friday, May 04, 2007
tiyul tzafon recount, for lack of a better title
Just got back from the north tiyul.
It was actually my favorite one of the three, we hiked and did he normal stuff but we also did some really awesome things too.
Let's see...we started on Sunday. We drove up north, hiked Nachal Betzet, then went to the place we were staying, it was this absolutely adorable little holiday village thing, we stayed in little cabins that reminded me of dollhouses. There were also a couple of horses there that I was happy to visit.
On Monday we went a museum about kibbutzim, it was cool, our guide was dressed as a chalutzah and stuff. Then we hiked Nachal Amud, where I fell and cut my knee open. This is not the same knee that I cut open on Pilgrimage, but the scar is going to be in pretty much the same place. I fell, decided I was going to have to walk out of the canyon no matter what, and just kept walking. But 20 minutes later when we got to a resting point I couldn't take it anymore and starting crying, which was pretty annoyingly embarassing. Jesse and Uzi patched me up, and Matan tried to carry me out of the canyon but I wouldn't let him. That was my adventure for the day.
Tuesday there was a hike in the morning but I didn't go because not only had I cut my knee but banged it up too. I was told it was an easy hike, almost a stroll, but Matan told me to take a break for a day. So Molly, Andy, and I sat on the bus together and ate ice cream and cookies. Later we went to the Golan Heights Winery for a tour and a wine tasting. That was very fun. Did I mention Tuesday was Matan's and my seven month anniversary? People pay good money to go wine tasting on anniversaries and we got it for free. Well, you know, $16,000 really, but free at the time. After that we went kayaking on the Jordan River. How cool is that? So, the guy was telling everyone the rules, you know, stay in your boats, don't run into things, don't hit other boats. We all get out onto the water (the boats were mostly for two people, I was with Matan) and the first thing everybody does is jump out into the water and start trying to overturn other boats. It was actually hilarious, because the first people out of the boats were the Israeli staff. Matan and I managed to (mostly) avoid the chaos, and kept going. Our kayak caught the wrong current once and we had to jump out and push it the right way. Actually Matan pushed it right, I was pretty useless. Who knows where we would have gone otherwise. Probably into Jordan?
Anyways after that we had a free night in Tiveria, Matan and I went out to dinner and got really good pizza and amazing dessert, which I took a picture of. Then we wanted to go on a horse and buggy ride, but they had stopped running and we had to leave. At one point a Nachman vehicle drove by, and we ran over to where it had stopped. There were like two Nachman guys dancing around, and like every single Nativ male was dancing too. I got some great video. All in all, it was an awesome anniversary, not to mention day.
Wednesday...we hiked Zavitan Elyon, it wasn't too bad. A bit long, though, and ended with us walking through an extremely prickly field and then ducking through a barbed wire fence. Then we went to a water park, where I was feeling a little blech so I went on a couple slides then swam for a bit and then sat and read. At night we went to Hamat Geder, which are natural hot springs. We all came back smelling like sulphur, but it was really nice.
On Thursday we drove up Har Gilboa and then hiked down. It was fun, but it took quite a while because climbing down rocks is slow, especially with 90 people. Naama was with us because she's going to be the new Nahum next year! It's so cool, she's going to be amazing at it. Then we went to Sakhne, which are some nice natural pools with a waterfall. Then we came back home.
Now we're on Kibbutz for the weekend, Elana's here with some friends, and Traci and Justin are here. We have lots of food, it's going to be really fun. A bit of a rushed entry, I just wanted to get this all down. Bye!
It was actually my favorite one of the three, we hiked and did he normal stuff but we also did some really awesome things too.
Let's see...we started on Sunday. We drove up north, hiked Nachal Betzet, then went to the place we were staying, it was this absolutely adorable little holiday village thing, we stayed in little cabins that reminded me of dollhouses. There were also a couple of horses there that I was happy to visit.
On Monday we went a museum about kibbutzim, it was cool, our guide was dressed as a chalutzah and stuff. Then we hiked Nachal Amud, where I fell and cut my knee open. This is not the same knee that I cut open on Pilgrimage, but the scar is going to be in pretty much the same place. I fell, decided I was going to have to walk out of the canyon no matter what, and just kept walking. But 20 minutes later when we got to a resting point I couldn't take it anymore and starting crying, which was pretty annoyingly embarassing. Jesse and Uzi patched me up, and Matan tried to carry me out of the canyon but I wouldn't let him. That was my adventure for the day.
Tuesday there was a hike in the morning but I didn't go because not only had I cut my knee but banged it up too. I was told it was an easy hike, almost a stroll, but Matan told me to take a break for a day. So Molly, Andy, and I sat on the bus together and ate ice cream and cookies. Later we went to the Golan Heights Winery for a tour and a wine tasting. That was very fun. Did I mention Tuesday was Matan's and my seven month anniversary? People pay good money to go wine tasting on anniversaries and we got it for free. Well, you know, $16,000 really, but free at the time. After that we went kayaking on the Jordan River. How cool is that? So, the guy was telling everyone the rules, you know, stay in your boats, don't run into things, don't hit other boats. We all get out onto the water (the boats were mostly for two people, I was with Matan) and the first thing everybody does is jump out into the water and start trying to overturn other boats. It was actually hilarious, because the first people out of the boats were the Israeli staff. Matan and I managed to (mostly) avoid the chaos, and kept going. Our kayak caught the wrong current once and we had to jump out and push it the right way. Actually Matan pushed it right, I was pretty useless. Who knows where we would have gone otherwise. Probably into Jordan?
Anyways after that we had a free night in Tiveria, Matan and I went out to dinner and got really good pizza and amazing dessert, which I took a picture of. Then we wanted to go on a horse and buggy ride, but they had stopped running and we had to leave. At one point a Nachman vehicle drove by, and we ran over to where it had stopped. There were like two Nachman guys dancing around, and like every single Nativ male was dancing too. I got some great video. All in all, it was an awesome anniversary, not to mention day.
Wednesday...we hiked Zavitan Elyon, it wasn't too bad. A bit long, though, and ended with us walking through an extremely prickly field and then ducking through a barbed wire fence. Then we went to a water park, where I was feeling a little blech so I went on a couple slides then swam for a bit and then sat and read. At night we went to Hamat Geder, which are natural hot springs. We all came back smelling like sulphur, but it was really nice.
On Thursday we drove up Har Gilboa and then hiked down. It was fun, but it took quite a while because climbing down rocks is slow, especially with 90 people. Naama was with us because she's going to be the new Nahum next year! It's so cool, she's going to be amazing at it. Then we went to Sakhne, which are some nice natural pools with a waterfall. Then we came back home.
Now we're on Kibbutz for the weekend, Elana's here with some friends, and Traci and Justin are here. We have lots of food, it's going to be really fun. A bit of a rushed entry, I just wanted to get this all down. Bye!
