At the end of January my first semester here ended and Jamina arrived from the states to my kibbutz. It was a much-anticipated reunion, and only defied expectations. How did I get so lucky to have first my sister and then another one of the most important people in my life here with me?? Anyway, so we left after my check-out and such were done here, and began our 3 weeks of adventuring in between my semesters.
We began with a fun and ridiculous trip up to the north of Israel with Adam, saw rain for the first time in a looooong time (at least for me), swam at the point where the two rivers meet to form the Jordan river, visited a really cool educational permaculture farm, and drove back down to Beer Sheva with a queen sized mattress and a dining room table strapped to the roof (see above, this was the only part of that trip that I had a picture of ;-). No, they didn't almost fly off on the highway...oh, wait...
One of our next big adventures was a trip to Ramallah in the West Bank. We went to stay with one of my really close friends who studied with me last semester named Hazem. Probably the sweetest man who ever lived with the most beaming smile you will ever see. There were a few other people I wanted to see while we were there, but they ended up not being able to meet up with us. It was a truly amazing and eye-opening experience to travel on the bus through the check-points and past the seperation wall to see things from literally the other side. It inspired a many thoughts, and a few drawings. In the end though I felt like a door had been opened to me - I now really feel like I have a home in Ramallah that I am always welcome in, and that I know how to make my way to. I envision many more visits there before I leave this part of the world. The two pictures are Mina and I in the center of Ramallah, and Hazem and I at one of the highest points in the city looking out to the west...you can see Tel Aviv from there! Amazing.
During my break we also spent a few days in Haifa, visiting a friends of Mina's at the Technion and making some new friends by inspiring a great jam session with my banjo, Mina's flute, and several other instruments that came out of the woodwork. We also went on an incredible hike on a beautiful mountain in Haifa - totally different scenery than the desert views that I'm used to from my kibbutz, as you can see.
We also spent a fantastic weekend at a "Gathering of Peace, Light, and Unity" by the Dead Sea (see left), organized by a great woman who is an alumni of the Arava Institute, and ran into a bunch of wonderful people there, some old friends, and some new. On the way there we stopped at some amazing natural hot pools by the shore of the Dead Sea - sitting in them at sunset and then floating in the Dead Sea as shabbat came in was a pretty spiritual experience.
The highlight of our adventures, though, came at the very end. After the Dead Sea we continued south, spent a night back at the kibbutz, and headed south some more...past Eilat, and into Sinai, Egypt. It's hard for me to imagine anything much closer to my idea of heaven than those 5 days of living in a tiny one-room bamboo hut on the beach of the Red Sea, with nothing to do all day by read, draw, paint, play music, do yoga, eat amazing Bedouin food, swim, snorkel, and talk to Mina. It's pretty hard to express our blissfulness, but I think the pictures get a little of the message across.
There were lots more little fantastic adventures along the way, but those were the main highlights. Now I'm settling in to this new semester here at the machon (Hebrew for "institute" and how we at the kibbutz refer to AIES). I think I'll describe the last 3 weeks by telling about the main differences from last semester (NOT necessarily in order of importance):
1) The group is much smaller - last semester we were around 42, this semester we are 26 total. The percentages of Arabs, Jewish Israelis, and North Americans are much closer to 1/3 each than we originally expected at the end of last semester, but the dynamic of a group that is so much smaller is very different from last semester. It's more intimate (although last semester it didn't feel like things could be any more intimate), and even classes are much smaller - some have only 3 students, and one even had to be canceled because there weren't enough students to fill it. It's nice though in that campus and group meetings feel much less crowded in general, and I feel like the smallness helps keep down the stress level.
The people are fantastic though. It was hard to imagine anyone living up to the family that we had built last semester, but the new students are really wonderful and helping us heal our wounds and missing last semester's group. Now we're about 1/2 new students and 1/2 students who were here last semester.
2) I have my own room.
It may seem trivial, but by the end of last semester I was really feeling like I needed to have my own space, especially when things get politically and emotionally tense around here - it's really important to have a place to listen to your thoughts and totally relax. Also, it means I've been much better about talking on skype because I have a place to talk privately - so if I haven't talked to you in a while, let's make a date!
3) Jamina is so close by! She's working on Adam's farm only about 2.5 hrs away (sounds like a lot, but it's close considering that I'm so in the middle of nowhere) so I see her every weekend at least, which is sooooo much more than we're used to (it's better than across countries or continents)....but she's leaving in 2 weeks, so things will go back to normal in that respect :-(
4) Mir isn't here.
I still get waves of sadness when I go to our adobpted kibbutz mother's house for dinner, or pass by where she used to live or work and don't hear her voice or know that she isn't inside napping. But then I remember that she's having the adventure of her life in Africa and I'm so excited for her that I can't help but feel a little better.
She hasn't had too much access to internet, but she sounds like she's having an amazing and really intense time and learning so much. They had a change of plans and decided to go to Rwanda a few weeks ago, which sounded unbelievable. Hopefully she'll have a chance to tell us all more soon, but for now know that she's learning and growing and exploring a completely different world - when I was in Egypt it make me happy to think about the fact that we were on the same continent :-)
Also, I'm going to be doing an independent study project this semester with my favorite professor from last semester (who reminds me so much of my dad), helping him do a mapping of all of the environmental initiatives in Israel, seeing how they are all connected to one another (who studied with who), and studying how they are affecting local community practices as well as their impacts on more mainstream culture. I'm really excited about it, and it might lead to a) a thesis topic for next year and b) something amazing I want to participate in over the summer...who knows! My other classes should be amazing too, but there's only so much I can say in one post!
Anwyway, that's all for now, but I hope you all have a better idea of what I'm up to. Email me, skype me, facebook me...
I hope everyone who reads this happy and healthy and I can't wait to hear about YOUR adventures.
Love love love,
Sarah
