Day Twenty-Nine. Rosh Chodesh.

In a continuation of the last entry, for reasons I’ll get onto in a minute.

I can’t really remember Monday, but I’m sure something significant happened. Maybe it was that Holland, Aussie guy and I fed the baby cows, and got a tour from Hull guy around the Refet. The feeding was quite surreal, as all but one cow was lined up to be sold for veal. It was as if I was playing with my food before I ate it.

On Tuesday, I had my Teach First Brand Manager interview over the phone. I sat in the hammock (I have mastered those nicely) by the פילול. The conversation was entirely straightforward and professional, but it struck a certain bizarre sensation in me – I was looking around the kibbutz, talking to two people who would probably never ever fully understand the experiences I was having, and the motivations behind them. It really brought out the dichotomy I feel in being primarily Jewish in England, yet primarily English in Israel. In that 45 minute conversation, I think I must have decided that the latter was better. As such, I’m 90% certain that Aliya is on the cards. Sooner maybe than I thought initially.

On Monday night, Aussie guy and girl, me and Holland also made Jello shots, which were absolutely vile. Then, with Aussie guy’s new video camera, we attempted to make a ‘wildlife documentary’ about Boston guy. However, wishing to catch him unawares, he was remarkably difficult to catch footage of. So we switched our focus to New York guy, attempting to seduce him. Starring – who else? – me as the seductress.

As it happens, when presented with an object of seduction, I’m pretty much – if not entirely, completely – useless. This is because, Aussie guy believes, I’m crap at flirting, recognising intent and interest, and become cripplingly shy (really) when interest is declared. However, New York was, bless him, almost entirely bewildered by the encounter as I was uncomfortable – from his perspective, I’m guessing, this must have al come as quite an abrupt shock – we’d hung out loads one on one, without anything happening, and then suddenly this awkward encounter! We had spent extensive time making it known that I was slightly drunk (which I wasn’t at all), and so he seemed hesitant and pensive on taking up my generous offer.

And thank G-d – because if he’d made a move on me, down in the secluded environs of the underground miklat, he is freakishly strong, I’ve discovered. Last night, he tackled both me to the ground, winding me at one point by punching me in the stomach til I couldn’t breathe, and bouncing my head off the ground. Later, after I’d regained a bit of strength, he pinned Aussie girl to the floor, at which point I launched myself onto his back, and seconds later both me and Aussie girl were pinned to the ground, on our backs. As such, I could’ve ended up in a very bad situation, had he not been so confused by this sudden change of events. At least the video of the encounter was hilariously funny.

Then, the next day, as New York struggled to talk about what had almost happened between us to someone, he unfortunately picked all the wrong people – the Australians, who were in on it – and we all pretended nothing had happened, and he’d clearly just imagined everything. So, as he internally questioned the ethics of no-strings attached drunken flings between mitnadvim, we all looked at him like he’d finally lost it, having been on the kibbutz for 3 months or so.

On Tuesday night, the Australians and I discovered a new drink which we hadn’t yet tried – ‘Power Espresso Vodka’. Coffee liqueur – strong one, at that – with equally strong vodka. The salient facts are these – it gets you off your face, but also keeps you awake for quite a long time! Therefore, one can be completely plastered AND awake, something I haven’t experienced in a very, very long time. It was AWESOME. The next day, possibly due to the amount of drinking I’ve been doing/sleeping regularly on the miklat/being beaten up a lot, I took the day off. After lunch, Aussie guy and I went to Tel-Aviv to meet with one of my friends from London. We had a coffee, went to Shuk HaCarmel, then met with my friend. It was really nice to see her – a really nice day in all. Then last night, Aussie left.

After writing that semi-entry, and bingeeating so much that I felt really sick, I went slightly nuts. Aussie phoned me, I think possibly having epic withdrawals from suddenly not spending time together, and said there were still, at this late hour, sheruts to Lod. So, having had very little sleep and evidently acting on some kind of crazy impulse, I ran to the bus stop. However, after the adrenaline rush died, two minutes later, I realised two things – 1. There is FA to do in Lod, and 2. I would have no way of getting back to the kibbutz. So I returned to the kibbutz. Still, at least I had a nice walk before bed.

Today is Rosh Chodesh, so today in the Cheder Ochel there are chocolatey beverages alongside the coffee machine. I sampled two of them – we all did – and this is probably why I feel so sick right now.

It’s weird, I really do miss Aussie. I really didn't think I would get so attached to the people here, so this has taken me by surprise somewhat.