Day Four - Sunday, 26/7/09

I have conquered the hammock! I managed to get into it without falling out!

Shabbat was really nice - we ate in the Cheder Ochel for both meals, then we randomly went round to one of the Refet worker's house, the P famille. It was lovely - v clean, nicely decorated, v welcoming, AND the father speaks French! Then, I went with Holland, another mitnadevet, to one of the Gan ladies' house, for seuda shlishit (third meal). Halfway through I got frustrated at the lack of English/loadsa kids running around everywhere, so after the meal I went and did Havdala with the P famille. Was the best Havdala in ages, really made me feel happy!

On Friday night, I discovered another key kibbutz hangout - the 'Maodon' - 'clubhouse', but which I misheard and labelled 'Mordor', as in, 'let's all go hang in Mordor for a bit. I hope the other mitnadvim don;t think I've acquired some kind of weird 'Lord of the Rings' fetish. I may look slightly elfy, but that's about as far as it goes.

Today, I was transferred from the Gan to the Mitbach. It is one of the filthiest, most offensive places to work, but it is fun - there are loads of other mitnadvim in there too. I got into an argument pretty much straight away - upon entering the Mitbach and introducing myself, I then asked, 'are you really going to handle raw chicken without gloves on?'

After the balagan that caused, I decided to keep schtum. And it was probably true, in kibbutz world, that the cockroach I saw (and I know they're everywhere, but still) was 'probably one of the first ever' to grace the walls of the kitchen. Similarly, surgicial gloves appar marks the wearer out as a wimp. If I have to be a hallucinatory wimp, at least I shall be a quiet one.

But for all the grime and ego, the Mitbach is way funner than the Gan.

I should probably, at this point, before my perception of them changes, describe the other mitnadvim:

There's me, obviously,
4 girls from London, who all seem nice,
A bunch of Americans (I suppose it's unavoidable really):
Boston female, who seems nice,
Boston male, who seems strange,
New York male, who seems nice but also a bit strange,
New Jersey female, who's also v sweet but v full of energy,
Hungarian male - we had a cool conversation about books at my first lunch here, but then he ignored me pretty much the whole time after that.
Holland female - seems nice too.
Turkmenistani female - seems very sweet but speaks no English.

Because the 12 of us have spent the past 4 days together, including Shabbat, we've kind of bonded into a group already. A strange, patchworky group, but a group all the same. Then today, 'E', the madricha, brought in a new mitnadev: Australia, a male. He seems ok. The only thing is, he's pretty much the only Australian I've ever met, and what with my 'Kath and Kim'/Australia obsession, this proved rather overexciting for me.

So, as soon as he came up to us at lunch and introduced himself, and us to him, I burst out with 'YOU'RE AUSTRALIAN?? OMG, do you watch 'Kath and Kim'? say all this stuff!'

He doesn't have a 'Kath and Kim' accent, somewhat disappointingly, but sometimes he says stuff which I find hilarious, because it sounds either so generally Australian, or because it sounds like KnK. I shall have to try and take the Aussie more seriously from now. He is a nice person in his own right, but until i gte over the initil overexcitement at hearing the accent, I will have to control myself. I think he will join my crew of Boston female, New York male and myself. 4 is a better number for a gang, now I think about it.