Exit(2)

 Here are some photos of buildings near my apartment that were damaged by the Iranian missiles.

No intact windows

 I'm now at the airport (early). I can probably check in soon. See you all in person soon.

Exiting (Monday)

 I finished up my egg salad, Israeli salad, broccoli and apricots for breakfast and washed all my containers. Two cups of coffee and then the coffee cup can be washed and packed. I'm bringing the bottle of olive oil home with me. So when all was said and done, the suitcase weighs 2 pounds less than when I came, but probably gained about a liter more in volume. I'm going to take out the trash, take my suitcase to the train station and store it in a locker. Then goof around a little before heading to the airport. 

 

Visit Day (Sunday)

 I took the train to Efi & Orit's house in Tsoran. Orit is my Hebrew teacher. Efi took me to an arboretum, Ilanot.

Then I took the train to Jerusalem to meet my friend Gershon for dinner. 

 

Wed/Thurs/Friday

 When I returned from Nahal Oz,  I was exhausted,  so I took it easy.

Thursday morning I went for run on the beach that felt great. I visited the Bauhaus Center and bought a book.Thursday evening I visited Anne and Nathan Landa in Petach Tikvah.

 

Friday morning I did some shabbat  prep, and then took the train to Jerusalem to meet some friends. I bought flowers at the bus station (roses, actually, because I don't need them to keep) and then the bus back to Tel Aviv . I bought some replacement earrings and a gift for a friend at the Nachalot Binyamim craft fair, then some malabi, and Bedouin bread.  I'll go with my neighbor to erev shabbat service. Shabbat supper will be potatoes from Nahal Oz,  broccoli with garlic,  Israeli salad, fresh apricots, bread, malabi and poppyseed cake.

 

Tuesday's tour

 Eitan took me to some memorial sites close to the kibbutz.

Unit flag of the women observers 

Gaza border in background 

 This site commemorates the 12 women soldiers who were attacked on Oct.7. Only two of them survived . Their job was to watch the border with Gaza .  

Then we went to an observation point . You can see the road in Israel proper , then the road that Israel controls , then the destroyed buildings . 

 

The day before on our walk, we picked some sweet corn and collected some potatoes that was grown here and provided to the residents. I cooked them for supper.

 

Walk around Nahal Oz (Monday)

 Anat (my host) and I walked on the outside of the kibbutz' fence.  It is an agricultural kibbutz, which grows potatoes, corn, sunflowers, onions, milk, and watermelon. 

Gate through which the terrorists entered on motorcycles 

Our walk (I forgot to turn on my GPS until halfway)

Directory signpost for Nahal Oz

Watermelons 

 

  

View of Gaza

 

Forklift boxes for produce

 

Travels in the South.

 I took the train to Sderot (after buying an almond croissant). A delightful man named Eitan picked me up and took me to Nahal Oz. He invited me to accompany him to Ein Gedi kibbutz where he would be giving a talk. I agreed.

It turns out my volunteer gig was in the dining room, not the kitchen. The kibbutz only does a hot lunch ( not breakfast or supper), and about 50 people come for lunch. We prepped the tables, brought plates, trays and silverware out. It's self-serve, and there was little to do during lunch. The participants all have to wash their dishes, which means we have to check the quality of the dish cleaning (not many had to be rewashed ( by us)).

I went with Eitan, who is a funny guy. We stopped at a scenic overlook on our way down (yes, down) to the Dead Sea. The mountains always get me.

 

Kibbutz Ein Gedi is at  -840 ft from sea level. The Dead Sea is about -1000 ft.  His talk was teaching the commonalities of Arabic to Hebrew which included a bunch of songs that everyone in the audience knew except me. 

Dancing on beach in Tel Aviv

 I walked down to the beach to see people dancing near Gordon Beach. It's all free and people just come and go from 1900-2300 on Motzi Shabbat. It's wonderful. All ages dancing together. it's amazing how many dances people know.

 

Readying for shabbat

 I did indeed go to Jerusalem. I stopped by the shuk in Jerusalem (Mahane Yehuda) to buy some peanuts. Israelis roast peanuts better than anybody in the States- they're toastier. And I met my friends,  bought some flowers and returned to Tel Aviv . On the way to my apartment, I bought malabi.

 

My neighbor will take me to Erev Shabbat services. Shabbat shalom! My next post will probably be from Nahal Oz.

Thursday's report

 The sing-along was great. It was held in a club in south Tel Aviv so there weren't a ton of people there. But they did American songs in English so that was easy for me, although I certainly didn't know them. There was a remarkable trio of women who led "Killing Me Softly" that was amazing .  They started out a capella. I sat with a couple and the guy led "Fame" in the photo (left).

 Then, Thursday morning I went running on the beach, and cooked for shabbat . Thursday night was Lila Lavan (white night) in Tel Aviv . Lila lavan means all night. There are free concerts all over the place and the restaurants and bars stay open really late. I wasn't prepared to stay up all night because I planned to meet friends in Jerusalem on Friday ,  but I found an interesting concert around the corner from me. It was pretty cool ("I'm not in Kansas anymore....).

 

Volunteering plans

 My friend Efi has found me a place to volunteer. So far, the IDF station hasn't worked with his schedule. But I will stay with his friend, Anat, in Nahal Oz, and work in the kibbutz's community kitchen. All my experience doing food for Yom HaAtzmaut and the Ethnic Festival will pay off. Big food. I'll take the train to Sderot and get picked up there. Good thing I have an extra small suitcase. Who knew? 

 

Tonight, I'm attending a group sing-along.

 

 

  

Shopping

 My first full day is always food shopping. I can do something, bring it back,  and rest a little. I did today's errands in two pieces: one at the shuk, and the other at the grocery store. Here's the haul:

•  eggs, parsley, green onions, broccoli
• Olives
• Peaches , lemons, tomatoes, cucumbers, mangoes
• Kleenex, napkins
• Cheese 
• Grapefruit juice, milk, pasta, pesto, tahini salad, lemon cookies
•  Bedouin bread (at the bakery)

And I found the bus stop for #18 that will take me north to the bus/train station along the way. 

 

Arrived

 Passport control, etc. were very smooth. I changed some money (the exchange rate stinks), bought a train ticket, checked the balance on my transit card (Rav Kav), took the train to Tel Aviv. Then the fun started. A. I came out the wrong door of the train station. B. I haven't been here in 2 years and the construction  for the light rail is profound. I couldn't find the big, surface bus station. C. GPS got me going in the right direction and I found the bus station. But where will I find the #18 bus? It's usual spot was eaten up by construction,  but there was a #18 sitting in  the lot on a break. Good sign. D. I walked all the way around the bus station to ask the information desk with the suitcase. She assured me that the bus pickup spot had not moved. OK. I go back, the bus starts moving and picks us up where it did before, but now it's just a chain link fence. E. The bus' route has changed because of the construction. Now it drives down by the beach. OK, I'm not lost.

 I made a first-night supper of a nice backpacking meal.It's a better food choice than in past years. But I will shop for fresh food tomorrow.

Headed back to Israel

 Well, I'm actually on my way. No missiles this time. I had a brief heart palpitation because I just made it on my connecting flight, and I wasn't certain that my suitcase was with me. But it turned up in Newark with me.

 

Promised photos

 

Home again

 The trip home was uneventful. I stayed in an airport hotel in KC because the flight got in late. So I'm at the exciting part of any vacation-laundry.

I will publish more Northern Lights photos later.
 

Travel to Helsinki

 

 There were lots of Northern Lights so I stayed up until midnight trying to take some photos. The lights are very active and change quickly. It has to do with solar flares sending protons and electrons (from hydrogen atoms ) which interact with the earth's magnetic field.The green comes from ionized oxygen atoms and the pink comes from nitrogen atoms that are ionized by the electrons.  So it is dependent on incoming electrons.

We needed to have our suitcases outside by 0415, and the breakfast was available then. Our bus for the Roveniemi airport left at 0510. I wanted to fill my water bottle after security and the only bottle filler was in the men's room. I needed an escort to get water (the one in women's was broken) !

I have arrived at my hotel for the night, but I need to wait until 2:00. Good chance for a blog update. 

Deb in frozen lake

 

Cross-country skiing and the third sauna

 

 After a long, wonderful night watching the Northern Lights, we slept in a bit (we were up 0200-0330). We planned some easy cross-country skiing with some other people at 1100. The woods are gorgeous (pine and birch forest), but I'm way out of practice so we were out an hour and traversed 2.2 miles. 

 

We reserved the complex's sauna for 2:00 and I resolved the use the snow instead of a cold shower, but the snow was crunchy so I laid on one side then flipped over to the other. So I have done the cold side of the sauna in the sea, a lake, and the snow.  I win.

Tonight is an active night for the Northern Lights if the clouds depart. Then we leave very early for the Helsinki airport.

 

 

The Lights have arrived!

 Before the festivities of the evening, we went to a reindeer farm, rode in a reindeer sleigh and had a simple Northern Finnish lunch.

 

In the late afternoon, the tour guide and I went to a nearby sauna on the lake near us. The photo is of her. I took two dips in the frozen lake with intermittent warm-ups in the sauna.

 

At the end of dinner, one of our guys said, "It's amazing out here!" and we all rushed outside.  It was an amazing show from 9:00 to 10:30. My alarm is set for 0200 when it's supposed to happen again.

 

Snowmobiling

 

After breakfast, a small group of us went snowmobile. I drove and Pat sat behind me. It was very icy, so we took it fairly slow. We went through some low forest and swamp areas. On the way back, I cut around some water (as did everyone else) and tipped over the snowmobile. We were ok,  but those things are heavy, and the rest of the group had to help us right it.

 

 

We progressed without further incidents to the starting point.

 

 

After a shower,  our professor talked about the science of auroras-sunspots, electrons, magnetic fields and quantum physics. Then the resident photographer told how to effectively photograph the Northern Lights. 

After supper, we're going snowshoeing in the dark. It's quite cloudy so probably no viewing tonight.