Following a reasonably hectic and for some intoxicated Sunday
night, owing to the occasion of Grant Goldman’s 18th birthday, an
early Hebrew lesson was not exactly what anyone had in mind. However the
addition of the Hebrew word for sleep to our vocabularies will surely be
appreciated by everyone other than Oded, and our prospective Hebrew-speaking
bosses for our various kibbutz jobs. In addition to this “anachnu lomdim” (we
learnt… sorry for showing off) a large range of adjectives which Morah Meital
ensured us would be useful in daily Israeli life, particularly handy are the
words “shitzer” (arrogant) and for the girls “me-ro-ar” (ugly) which they
intend to use upon the legion of men who attempt to try their luck at each and
every club in Tel Aviv. This Ulpan also saw the beginners, or dumb class, as we
have come to be fondly known, split into two due to a number of disruptions
caused by a talkative side of the classroom.
Following Ulpan was lunch, chill time and then a program beginning
at 5PM which saw us split into groups of roughly 6 or 7 in which we were handed
a number of excerpts from various books as well as the torah and were asked to
summarise the messages within. We came to the conclusion that the texts pointed
towards the family values and traditions passed down in a number of way, shapes
and forms, including but not limited to a name. We were then asked to do a bit
of research in the always entertaining urban dictionary, as to the definitions
provided for our first names. Some believed their definitions were accurate,
others not so much, but all in all, laughter was the result. Finally, we were supplied
a list of the origins of various Jewish surnames, some were provided clarity on
the past occupations of their family whilst others, such as myself with the
ridiculously uncommon last name of Rosengarten, left without an increase in
knowledge as to the long last origins of a surname which they take for granted
on a daily basis.
Dinner was the always disappointing usual, shaped chicken accompanied
by lentils and couscous. Our final activity of the night began at 8PM, led by
the current affairs committee of Alex, Alexa, Grant, Jason and Claudia, it was
a jeopardy-style trivia night featuring the topics of politics, sport,
historical fact, gossip, random and the ever-mysterious miscellaneous. After
much toil and surprise, a winner was crowned before all headed off on their
various paths, all which eventually led to our individual beds, most at a
reasonable hour, owing largely to the knowledge that in the morning we would
begin our first days of work on kibbutz, eager to impress our new
quasi-employers.
Tuesday morning saw Avivians rise at a variety of hours, the
earliest of which being Adi, Jared Ellison, Toby and Harry’s pre-6AM rise
thanks to their early start, working on the banana plantation for the very
first time. The latest start time belonged to Jason and Claudia who were due to
begin work with the kibbutz horses at 12:30PM. As everyone began working news
began filtering back as to the difficulty and fun factor of each occupation.
The gardeners (Jenna, Lucy, Bec and Molly) all enjoyed their first days
immensely, becoming mates with the gardening crew and consuming wafers and
Arabic coffee as thought they had never even heard of it before! In fact, all unequivocally
enjoyed their first days as kibbutz employees other than those placed in hospitality
(Zoe, Millie, Azi, Daena, Gabby, Robbie, and for the day Rachel and myself due
to the temporary closure of the chicken coop) whose days included the stacking and
cleaning of dusty old chairs in the dining room, needless to say none were
impressed with boss Basil, delightfully dubbed Bastille by Emma, who along with
Grant had been working under him from day one on kibbutz.
Following our shifts, a program was scheduled for 3:30PM but
was cancelled due to the occupation of the activity room by our new French
neighbours who will be residing in our vicinity for a 10 day period. Come 6PM,
after a protracted saga we were finally privileged to location of the washing
facilities at the kibbutz, most rejoiced at the prospect of finally having
clean clothes to wear. Dinner was next and we were fed sausages prior to a
short program run by Tracy about perspective and life, painted in an economic
and graphic method. Bedtime and chill time rounded out another good day.
Another awesome couple of days down, 123 days to look
forward to!
Jake
No comments:
Post a Comment