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, malabo 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.