Animals

Once again, I am very sorry that I have not written in such a long time.

On Lotan there are goats and cows that they milk. They sell the cow milk to a nearby kibbutz and they use the goat milk to make and sell goat cheese and yogurt all over Israel. The goats happen to behind the eco-village where I reside, and I have milked them before (under the supervision of the volunteers working at the time of course). I have also gone to visit the cows and made some cow friends who would follow me and try to eat my clothes and my skin because of all the sweat and saltiness I suppose.

Ryuu (from Japan) and (American) Josh during their shift

It's tough work...well they do have to test them by hand before hooking them up to the machine.

LolKID says"Greeteenz interwebbbbaaahh!"

At a neighboring kibbutz called Ketura, I had a meeting with this guy to discuss some aspects of my project and on my return trip I saw (and petted) some horses and camels, and when I went to their date plantation I encountered donkeys at a distance.

Hungry hungry camel

I know, this isn't an animal, it's a date tree but I liked the photo

Another wide-spread animal on the kibbutz (and all over Israel) is the stray cat. This majestic creature lurks and stares from a distance, and there are occasional stray kittens. The eco-village has this particularly crazy-looking cat that eats our food scraps and we call him/her Compost Kitty. A less seen animal in Israel but greatly represented on kibbutzim is the dog. These mammals are very friendly and seem to understand Hebrew, very smart for that is no easy feat.

Kitty (not Compost Kitty though)

Insects. There are a lot of insects (duh, right), but many of them are relaly cool looking and I have never seen or heard of them before. Just shows you the vastness of the insect class. I have also been told that there are "really huge spiders! bigger than your hand!!" and deadly scorpions, but I have not encountered these awesome arachnids. Don't they know that my room is an arachnid sanctuary (safe from scary humans who think they can take over their desert).

On the kibbutz there is also a Bird Sanctuary, since millions of birds fly through the Lotan area, traveling from Europe, Asia, and Africa. Even though I am not an avid bird-watcher or know much about birds, there are definitely different and unique types of birds that I have seen and am able to distinguish.

Some other wild-life encounters include seeing a desert fox while visiting a friend in the Negev Desert and seeing/following a hedgehog that lives in our neighborhood on my way to shower one starry night. Both of these sightings have occured at night, so I do not have pictures of them, but it was pretty awesome nonetheless.

Next Post: MISTI-Israel retreat

Random Thoughts/Observations

I have met many people on the kibbutz (though not all) and it is surprising how international it is. There are some Europeans (German, Austrian, Dutch, British, French, etc.), some eastern Asians (Thai, Nepalese, a Japanese guy! Sugoi!), and from South America (Brazilian, Chilean, Mexican *sigh*). It's interesting to talk to people and see how they ended up being in Lotan.

When shovelling compost/manure/dry materials, try to stand upwind. Also, when eating and some food falls on your arm, make sure it is clean before you lick it off...

I have never been bitten by flies until coming to Israel. Not mosquitos, not gnats, flies, Mediterrenean flies. Grr.

I bought Cheetos one time, they were probably the worst chips I have ever tried (tied with some Lays I ate in China). Very disappointing.

The Eco Interns give each other Russian names, just cuz. Mine is Boris because they could not think of one close to my name. Sometimes people call me Boris, and I respond. I might give them Spanish names, maybe like Panfilo, Pancracio, Anacleto, Filegonio, Balvanedo, Petronila, Tiburcio, Floripepundio, or Gervacio, as examples.

My Hebrew after 2 weeks is...still terrible, but at least existent. I saw my name written in Hebrew and it looks weird, I don't like it. I cannot read/write Hebrew at all.
Mini Hebrew lesson:
boker tov = good morning (tov means good, tova if it's feminine)
layla tov = good night
baseder = OK (Mike says this all the time) (this is the same seder as the Seder meal)
toda = thank you
ma kore = what's happening?
ma nishma = how are you doing? (ma means what, ima means mother)
caja caja = so-so/mas o menos/etsi ketsi/maa maa/mama huhu (eng/spa/greek/jap/chinese)

Random photos:

The cow dairy (the 'refet'), in the background

Lotan's date plantation, the mountains in the background are in Jordan

Decorated water tower, mountains in background are in Israel

The toilets, urinal, showers (behind the tree)

Break + weekly meeting; Tara and Eitan tired and hungry for watermelon and grapes (and sun tea and sun coffee)

Break + weekly meeting; Stephanie and Mike listening attentively, or just tired

Break + weekly meeting; Leah and the rinds (worm food)

Buckets and buckets of freshly made mud

IMAX pyramid in Eilat

Next Post: Animals

Food

I tried some very good food in Tel Aviv (I did not photograph most of it and I do not remember the names of most things...), but I have yet to eat really really good hummus from some very specific locations in Israel, so I will look forward to it.

Moving on to the food at the kibbutz, I will start with the schedule. They have meals in the dining hall, except Saturday night, when people are on their own. Last Saturday the EcoVols ate at Alex's house (technically outside his house) with his family and a some of his neighbors. They had "Mexican" food, which consisted of these interesting flour tortillas with rice, beans, meat, and fresh veggies. Overall it was tasty, but would be hard to find in Mexico/southern U.S. They also went around the table(s) and introduced themselves as well as mentioning the first thing that came to mind when they heard "Mexico." Most responses involved tacos, tortillas, sombreros, hat dance, and Speedy Gonzales. However, the last response (Frida Kahlo and Cantinflas) did I realize that Alex's wife is Colombian and actually knows about Mexico (like the fact that Mexico is not in South America, which most people here seem to think). She teaches art at the local high school and it was very interested to talk to.

Oh right, food...So one thing I knew about Israel (and Jewish culture) was that one of the rules about kosher is that they do not mix meat and dairy (they have basically 3 food groups: meat, dairy, and neither). So eggs and vegetables, for example, fall in the neither category (it actually has a Hebrew name, but I forgot what it was) so these things can be eaten with either meat or dairy. So the breakfasts in the dining hall are dairy-centered, lunch is meat-centered, and dinner is dairy-centered. And although they have a selection of food, I actually crave cheese/cream with meat, but its bearable, so far.

I have eaten hummus every day with my lunch and have yet to eat olives. Peanut butter is for children (I bought some for the EcoVols when I went to Tel Aviv) and we get to eat the goat cheese/yogurt that they make here. I have tried the dates that they grow here and they are delicious. There are a lot of herbs and tea leaves that we use. Also, I am sure that the kibbutz goes through a million watermelons a day, yummy! All of the food scraps are composted (in theory). There are also solar stoves where we make tea, coffee, and cookies (among other things in the future, I am sure).

Also, I have been told by many people that avocados are not in season now and I have yet to see any chile, so I can't make my amazing guacamole, but I might make tortillas (from Maseca) on Saturday.

Hummus with pita, in Jaffa

Eggs, with some tomato sauce and veggies, I forget the name, in Jaffa

Typical Israeli salad, in Jaffa

Typical Israeli breakfast (not my plate, notice the olives), in Jaffa

The solar oven in the Bustan

Breakfast one day (eggs, bread, veggies, lemons for lemonade, milk), at Lotan

Lunch one day (hummus, pasta, veggies), at Lotan

'Mexican' nachos in a restaurant in Eilat (the southern tip of Israel)

Next post: randomness

Work as an Eco-Vol/Intern

I have been on Lotan for just over a week and I believe that I am getting the hang of it and acclimated, etc. As part of my Eco Intern duties, I do mudding, gardening, cleaning, and a bunch of random jobs here and there and all over the kibbutz. As part of my own project here, I am trying to compile as much information in order to write a feasibility report on biogas. Biogas is anaerobically produced from animal or human waste and even food scraps. There seems to be a lot of potential here in Lotan, since they have lots of cows and goats (and humans and food scraps at that). There are a couple of other people in neighboring kibbutzim and universities that are also doing biogas work, so I will hopefully work with them and all will be great for Lotan.

My days when I work with the other EcoVols (there is some friendly dispute as to what we should be called so I will use Eco Intern simultaneously) I wake up before the crack of dawn (sun cracks at roughly 5am) and take the temperature measurements in my dome (max is ave = 33C; min is ave = 26C). Outside temp in the shade can reach 45C on a normal day, so it is much cooler in the domes, but still feels rather hot. In order to keep the domes cooler however, we have to regulate the windows, so we close them during the day and open them at night.

So after checking the temps I go outside to meet with Mike, the other EcoVols and any other volunteers who may be with us on that particular day. We stretch for a good 5-10 minutes, then Mike divides us up and we go work on our various projects for the day.

Some things I have done are: making mud using a cement mixer, putting down mud flooring on several domes, putting down mud roofing, and making an arch on top of my own dome out of mud and mud bricks, to name a few.

In the Eco Kef (this ecological center they have for tourists, but also has the larger organic garden), I have cleaned up beds, planted seeds (such as lettuce, radishes, arugula, dill), separated dried tea (to be sold) from the stems, laying down mulch/manure, and planted tea in the nursery, also to name a few. We usually work with Leah in the garden.

We work until breakfast which we take at around 8:30am in the dining hall, then back to work until lunch which happens around 2pm with a break in the middle at around noon (all of these times vary, depending on the day and the work).

After work, the big question is "Now What?", basically the rest of the day is "freetime." Most of the time though the EcoVols are really tired and we either nap in our hot domes (a little past midday...when the dome T is at its max) or they go to the pool (I have yet to go) or...nothing...until dinner time which is roughly 6pm. And then...more of 'now what' till bed time. I usually use my time to nap/sleep, use internet, watch a show/movie (well, we only this this once during our weekend when we weren't all dying), even though I brought many book I should be reading/studying. :P

Repeat, and this is essentially my work week. Don't get me wrong, even though we are dead at the end of the day, we all (at least I do) really enjoy the work that we do here and what we are trying to build and obtain here. I am glad to be part of it and that I am able to use my hands and put in a good day's work. Who doesn't love playing with mud?!?

On a side note, today we got another EcoVol, Sasha from Virginia, and she will be here all summer as well.

Mudding a floor

More mudding

Collecting mud for the floors

Talshi, one of the 'Shinshins' (type of volunteer), creating art on the domes

Mudding on the roof

Tara and Mike mudding the roof

Eitan carrying things from the Eco Kef to the Bustan

Leah planting some tea in the nursery

Some of the tea I planted in the nursery

Stephanie and Tara cleaning up the beds

Next post: Food