Liviing In A Time Of War

Yesterday I couldn't get my blog running so I sent out a quick email to all my family and close friends letting them know I am alive and well.

I spent my first two days back with my friend Lerone (really in Lerone's bed sleeping off jetlag) In Tel Aviv you can look for signs of war, but really there are none. Life is moving in the same pace as before. It is another world there. I hope it stays that way.

Yesterday I returned to my Kibbutz in the north. En HaShofet is beautiful right now. All the plants are blooming and beautiful colors. I got to see some friends and there aren't many new people. I got a new room with a girl named Noa (same name as my old roommate) But I just met her as she was in a hurry to leave for the weekend. I will be working for this month in Mevrag, the screw factory. I am sure it will not be the most fun experience, 8 hours a day packing screws, but it is something to do.

So oddly enough, yesterday was not one my first air raid siren experience, but also the first of the Kibbutz. There were two. One at about 2 in the afternoon and the other at dinner time. It was a really wierd experience to go down in a bomb shelter. The first one, no one really knew what to do. Irit and were just standing there.

-what do we do? I ask
-oh god run! Irit said

Later in the shelter she told me that that was the first one (air raid) on the kibbutz. And the bomb shelter was full of water!! There must have been some water leak. By the dinner time siren we were all better at it. Although I was shocked to see how small the shelter is in the dinningroom. Because it has to accomidate for all the people in the dinningroom and the pool and the pub. It is a huge radius and not that much room. Thank god there was no trampling, as may old people and children were trying to get down.

That night I sat out drinking coffee with some friends. One kibbutznik has two children under the age of 3 and her husband is away in Lebanon. She looks like a scared lady that is really trying to be brave. My heart goes out to her.

We heard some booms off in the distance and then saw on the news that they fell in Hadera. Irit and I marvelled that rockets were flying over our heads. She and I sat outside lookng at the stars for a while and then figured the best thing to do would be go to the pub. We had some beer talked with friends and then went to bed.

In the Ulpan and volunteer area of the kibbutz there are so many people from the north. It is really sad to see whole families crammed into our tiny rooms. Some people that work in the kibbutz after the army have almost 10 family members living in their studio size apartments.

But life goes on here. Today I will go to the pool. In some ways it is weird to see how quickly people resume life. Children playing ball almost minutes after a siren. People eating thir cold Shabbat food after we came up. But what can you do. If you stop living then they won.