Movin' Out in Mitzpe

Action packed week.

The main news: I left Mati and Roni’s guest house. It just wasn’t a good situation. Instead of cleaning and maintaining the house and serving guests, I was doing construction and renovation jobs. As per my experiences in the past, manual labor is fun and exhilarating...until it's not anymore, and then I'm thankful I have a college degree.

Because we were so focused on building the new house, the current house (which still receives guests, mind you) was really neglected. The kitchen was grimy and dirty, the floors and furniture were filthy, and the bathroom, well, let’s just say I tried my best not to let anything touch the floor, ever. And when I tried to clean up the place on my own, even during my free time, they stopped me and told me to go work on the new house. Additionally, everyone smoked indoors, and the TV was always blaring, amid a background of Robi and Nitzan’s crying one-year-old. It just wasn’t the peaceful serene desert experience that I expected.

But the thing that pushed me out the door was all the negative energy and stressful vibes. They were all nice to me most of the time, but they were under a lot of pressure. Essentially, Robi wants to take more time and make the place look nicer, while Roni wants to go faster so we can stay on schedule to finish by the end of the month (pipe dream). So it's a pretty hilarious scene: Robi tells me to sand and caulk everything nicely, saying "will be so, so beautiful." Then Roni comes in and tells me, "don’t do so much attention," and he grabs the paint and starts painting. Then Robi sees it, and with a sad despondent look on his face, mutters, "not beautiful.”

So when Robi was around, I was sanding and chipping imperfections and organizing things, and when Roni was around, I was furiously painting everything. And when they both were there at the same time, I just stood by while they screamed at each other in Hebrew.

Fighting in-laws is certainly an international phenomenon.

Roni was mixing paint colors using a stick, so they never had the exact same shade twice. And because Robby kept on making fixes on Roni’s already-painted walls, the touch-up colors were off. The rooms had as many as three different-colored walls. It looked like a damn coloring book. That combined with the huge piles of junk everywhere — mounds of dusty mildewing clothes, old dusty electronics, furniture and cabinets mattresses, you name it. We were just moving the junk from place to place to get it out of the way, but never getting rid of anything. I’ve never seen such hoarders in real life.

So I left. I went to another place just beyond the outskirts of Mitzpe, called Silent Arrow, and they were happy to have me. It’s a beautiful little tent hostel surrounded on all sides by desert hills. There is plumbing, hot water, and gas stoves, but no electricity. In the evening, the common area / kitchen is illuminated by candlelit lanterns. It’s organized, clean, quiet and peaceful: exactly what I was hoping for.

It’s kind of like being on the bike tour, only without having to pedal!

My co-volunteer arrived the day after me. Her name is Katy and she took a semester off from University in Germany to travel through Israel. She has done four other stints with helpx and wwoofing, working on farms in the north and south of Israel and also building matte houses on the West bank. She seems really cool.

Dror, the owner, is a really nice eccentric guy (how could you not be, building your homestead in the middle of the desert?) I’m really excited to spend the next few weeks here.

A couple other highlights. On Friday night Roni and Mati invited me to Shabbat with their family. It was a really wonderful experience. I thought it was interesting how they focused on the traditional meal, complete with challah, baked chicken, rice, and vegetables, but they did not say any blessings nor light the candles. For secular Jews in Israel, Shabbat is kind of like Sunday dinner in America or England. It’s about resting and spending time with family and friends, but for many people it has been decoupled with the religious aspect, be it going to Church or Synagogue or saying blessings.

On Saturday I hiked down into the Ramon crater. It was stunningly beautiful. People generally hike the trail all the way to the highway and then hitch hike back to Mitzpe, and previous travelers told me they had no problems catching a ride. But when I got there, I stood in the sun with my thumb out for half an hour, while dozens of cars drove right by! Maybe it was because of all the dry paint I had on my pants from working on the house. Or maybe it was because I was a solo male. Anyhoo, I hiked on back the way I came, and it was fine because I brought plenty of food and water.

I’m still loving the trail running, and I’m also doing some Crossfit workouts at a park in town with outdoor exercise equipment.

While I was still working at the guest house, I had a few discussions with the owner of the new house, named Aviv. He looked like a hippy rabbi, with tzitzit, long sideburns, sandals, and a big black skullcap. I thought he only spoke Hebrew until one day he spoke to me in perfect English, then he proceeded to drop some serious wisdom bombs on me. The most significant was the idea that the United States, and its current favorable environment for Jews, may not be around forever. Jews living in the USA have it pretty good now, but like past periods in history, it could be temporary. Israel is the only place where Jews are in control of their own destiny. I hadn’t ever thought of that dimension, and it has influenced my constantly-evolving perspectives on Israel as a concept, as well as Israel’s past and current behavior on the international stage.

Robi and Nitzan's dog, Lady. The word "come" in Hebrew is "boyena," and "boy" for short. So when you call this dog, you literally say "Lady Boy!"

Incredible contrasts in the desert. From the top, I thought that the dark areas were so distinct that it must be cloud cover. Then I looked up at the cloudless sky and realized how wrong I was!

On the hike

The "staff bathroom" of the guest house. Get me out of here!

Another gorgeous sunset run

From the hike

Mitzpe at dusk

Week One

Alright, the title of this post, and the title of the whole blog, are temporary. I was taking too long to come up with a good title, and didn't want to wait any longer to get some thoughts down.

Turkish Airlines is the best airline ever. Per customary Turkish hospitality, they give you little slippers to walk around the plane. The meals were awesome, and not even compared to other airline food. It was awesome compared to real food.  (I love being able to italicize! I couldn't do that on my bike tour blog without using HTML commands, which, like Hebrew, I never took the time to learn. I'm now regretting one of those things). The plane also had a fruit and pastry stand, just there for the taking in between meals. But most importantly, alcoholic beverages were free. It felt like first class!

Two of my camp friends were finishing up their birthright trips on Thursday, so we coordinated an overlapping weekend together. Corey booked a room at the Sheraton, right on the water, and we had an awesome party / beach weekend. We stayed up super late and slept the days away. Thank you jet lag! I met a few of his friends and a lot of the Israeli soldiers from his program. I'm psyched that I know some people now!

Israel is expensive in some ways, and cheap in other ways. Drinks at bars are insanely pricey ($9 for a beer) but meals at some restaurants seem to be fairly cheap. I'll have to learn the ropes so I don't drain the bank too quickly.

On Sunday I got on a bus down to Mitzpe Ramon, where I would be spending the next 3 to 4 weeks before the Career Israel program begins. Mitzpe Ramon is a small town sitting on the top of the Ramon Crater in the Negev Desert, the largest national park in Israel.

When I read about Mitzpe Ramon, with its desert location and hippy / artsy / music community, I wondered if it would be similar to my former stomping ground of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. When I arrived, though, Mitzpe seemed larger, with wider roads and a less intimate feel, even though Mitzpe's population is half that of TorC. Maybe it's because Mitzpe, like many Israeli settlements, is so new that the town's infrastructure didn't evolve organically over time.

I'll be spending this month volunteering at a guest house called Mati and Roni's Desert Tent. It's a Bedouin-style tent / hostel that caters to backpackers. The owners, Mati and Roni, are so warm and friendly, and made me feel right at home. They feed me really well; Roni used to own one of the top restaurants in Israel, so he's a very talented cook. Just the other day he taught me how to make shakshouka, a sauteed vegetable dish with eggs and spices.

They are in the process of refurbishing a house across the street and then moving, so most of my daily duties involve sanding and painting the walls and ceilings, and just organizing stuff.

And there is a lot of stuff. Mati and Roni are total hoarders! There's just stuff all over the place, inside and outside, and to make matters worse, they can never seem to find anything they need because everything is everywhere. It's a little stressful and overwhelming for me,  after the bike tour during which I had a small, finite list possessions and always knew where everything was. But I'm viewing this as a learning and growth experience.

The one staff member, and my roommate, is named Rudy. He moved to Israel from Russia when he was 14 and now lives in Haifa. He's connected to the music scene here in Mitzpe, and has already brought me along to his friends' musical gatherings. I like him a lot, but he snores. So I've been sleeping in the tent, which is too cold right now for guests. But it's nothing I can't handle. I actually love sleeping outside again.

I'm teaching myself a little Hebrew each night. Slowly but surely. Rudy is helping me a lot.

It's crazy how Judaism is everywhere here. Mati and Roni's daughter Nitzan and her husband Robi have an adorable one-year old girl, and today Nitzan was playing a Hebrew children's song for the baby. I asked her what the song was, and she said it's a Tubshvat song, since today is Tu bishvat. They also brought over a big platter of dried fruits in honor of the holiday, and there were commercials and news spots on TV about it. It's a powerful feeling, knowing that everyone in the room and most people in the country celebrate this Jewish holiday, by default, obviously, nonchalantly, tacitly. Same thing with Shabbat.

On the other hand, the language barrier is tough. I really wish I wasn't such a juvenile delinquent in Hebrew school. I know that most people around me are Jewish, but I don't really identify with them, at least not yet. I feel much more strongly associated with American Jews, and even just plain Americans, than I do with Israelis. Maybe that's because there are more Sephardim here? Maybe it's because all the Jews I've known have been "Americanized" whereas many Israelis came directly from the "old country." It's interesting. But I'm not too concerned about it because I've only been here a week.

All in all, I'm settling into this phase of the adventure.

Cool graffiti in Tel Aviv

On the beach in Tel Aviv

The backyard of the guest house. We've got a lot of work to do...

The Ibex just hang out around town. This one seems to have happened upon a yummy snack.

Evening jog in Mitzpe. I've going to try my hand at trail running while I'm here. So far, it's great!

Sunset on the crater

Robi's parrot, also named Robi.

Another photo from another jog. Pretty epic.

Flash mob dance on the beach near our hotel. We've been told Israelis LOVE flash mobs!

Me and my camp friends Corey and Cory

Shakshouka!

Corey and Gali, an Israeli soldier from his Birthright program

Nir, another Israeli soldier, took me and Jordan to the best hummus spot in town. It's the place to be on Friday afternoon before Shabbat. There was a huge line out the door!