Semster Ends

And so we have gotten through a whole semester... so quickly its over... but the beautiful part is that everyone fell in love with each other and we are all missing each other and cant wait to work and create more things together. the last month was a bit crazy with the finals projects and lots of school work and studying for finals... but somehow we did lots of other things as well. We finished our beautiful gray water garden and planted lots of little seeds and plants. There was an incredible flood here , a rain this year hadn't been seen in 35 years! everyone went out to look at the water flowing over the thirsty ground feeding the trees. it was quite incredible. we also made an incredible final party with art and pictures and awards and shows. we had a great time our theme was space travel! and we made a time machine out of pieces of old stuff from the kibbutz junk yard- it was amazing! and now we are all dispersed waiting to reconvene and continue!

Celebrations

Since the last post.... lots of celebrations all over the place. Starting a protest we held to save a beautiful nature area called Timna Park which may be ruined by a hotel. We made the press and got some good journalism coverage so hopefully we made a difference in the choices of the hotel....
then with thanksgiving. we made a potluck and shared stories it was wonderful. We are use to eating kibbutz food made for us, but now we made our own food and we could feel the difference. Then we had Eid al-adha.... another festivity of food. We had christmas and channukah , latkes and cakes. New years- picnic on a full moon hike- under the eclipse. Food and light and love. Our activities have been packed full as well. We wanted to teach the kids on the kibbutz some environmental projects. I taught a lesson in making paper out of recycled paper. We had a wonderful time. Then for Channukah we decided to teach the children how to make a solar oven. we made cookies and pita and butter as well. It was quite a day. I think we all had fun. Our garden is growing. We are making a new area for the gray water system that we finally got to work. The made a bed to plant in with lots of mulch and compost since the soil here is mostly sand. As a project for one of my classes i had to teach a class outside, and I paired up with a palestinian girl who took me home with her to Ramallah where we taught a gardening class. It was incredible. The children had a wonderful time and we had fun. I got to see Ramallah and learn about the people and culture. Her family took care of us like we were their own- great food! it has been a good food and festive month. Ready for more----- things are boiling up with school work and emotions. We are talking more openly as a group- having listening circles and telling our stories. tears and loud voices, quiet listening and hugs. processssss........ we are doing it.

First Month- Impressions

Here I am at the Arava Institute. A place to learn about environment and society in Israel. A month has already passed! unbelievable- so much has happened, so much is happening and i can see much more will.

We just spent a couple of days touring around the Negev as a class learning about land and people. Bedouins, Jews, governments officials, Arabs, army, Palestinians.... land owners, land livers, "squatters"..... trying to create a picture of what is going on in the desert where it seems on the surface to be a barren landscape... yet on deeper investigation quite full of a diverse set of rules and regulations, feelings and pain, confusion and lies, progress and future.

Overall my feelings are about the people I am with in this adventure- we are a big group- the largest so far for this institute- 43 students. On one hand this is wonderful to have the opportunity to meet so many different and special people. On the other side it is a challenge to meet everyone in an intimate way.

At the moment we have many projects going on with kibbutz life, school life, activism life, and social interactions between all the students.

The most pressing event at the moment is about a protest against the building a HUGE hotel in the middle of a beautiful park called Timna located close to where we are studying. We hope to go and make noise in opposition to this disastrous plan!

We are starting a garden here on campus, with the help of all the students- a community place- we are calling Happy Garden.

We are also starting a gray water system and designing a garden to capture its water- with native wild herbs from the desert around here.

The most inspiring work is realizing that we all come from different backgrounds and stories. AND we all want to be here together to learn more about the issues of land and people- how we can get involved and how we can be more understanding.

and so we are off to a good start. starting to have deeper conversations about Palestine and Israel, people and place..... everyday little by little I am opening more voids and filling them in with stories creating a better picture of our world and this little place we are in right now.