Kibbutz Life

Living on Kibbutz Harel means living in a paradisical oasis of serenity. Every day, I wake up, attend five hours of (enjoyable!!!) Hebrew class [aka: Ulpan], followed by either a free afternoon or some fascinating lectures and discussions.

My fellow participants are from around the world, and over the next three weeks, we will enjoy one another's company before splitting up for our professional internships in either Jerusalem or Tel Aviv.

The cafeteria serves up greasy comfort food and a lot of salads, and I'm surrounded by palm trees and chirpy birds. And it's only a 40 minute ride to Tel Aviv by bus.

I'm sponging off Noam's computer because mine is in Jerusalem. He's having a good time here too. We hung up a huge Canadian flag in our window, much to the chagrin of our roomates from Brooklyn and Brazil.

I see, and often hear, Israeli fighter jets flying overhead. The situation in Gaza has grown quite dire, and now a quarter-million Israelis are within range of the new rockets being fired by Hamas. Tank crews moved into Gaza yesterday. Innocent Palestinians are dying, as are the brave Israeli soldiers that battle Hamas terrorists. Until the threat presented by Hamas is extinguished, most Israelis accept that fighting the terorists is necessary. As a sovereign state, Israel must defend her borders, and her citizens. Israeli blood is not cheap.

So that's life in Israel - peaceful surroundings, and battle brewing on the periphery. The good and the bad. I wouldn't expect anything else.