Update from Kibbutz Yahel, Israel
We are settling in well now.We have set settled into our little house and we are both now working.
Corey is in landscaping and enjoying it. Its all outside of course, so he is working on his tan well, and is enjoying doing some hard work again. He has terrible blisters on his hands. He has good hours, 7am start, with breakfast at 8:30, a 'smoko' break, lunch from 1-2pm then finish at 3pm. Very good, probably one of the best jobs you can get.
Ive been working in the Refet (dairy) with the Para (cows), which i requested to do. But its not at all what i thought it would be like. I worked at the CC Farm at ballarat (now 10 years ago!!!) but its different. The milking shed itself is very similar, a bit more hightech, but same layout. But the cows live in groups in small yards on top of their own filth. They have no paddocks or anything. The only time they're out of the yards is to be milked, which is 3 times a day! They are litterally milking machines. All they eat is special food that enhances and helps promote milk production. Its not nice at all. They dont seem like happy cows. But thats the way they have to keep the cows here in the desert. Milking happens at 3am, 12pm and 7pm. So long hours. 3am actually is the best shift as you finish early. It is more interesting than other jobs though. But today was my last day as I had had enough and didnt really like it and wasnt really enjoying myself, its only been 4 days of work, but i didnt want to waste their time with training me if i was just going to ask to move next week. Also, you work 6 days a week here, but people in the Refet, still have to work on Shabbat as the cows still need to be milked - work 7 days a week! I dont think so. I'm only here for 2 months, and i dont want to spend it working hard. If i wanted to work hard, i'd do it somewhere else where its worth while (financially). The people who work in the dairy do get paid more, but only due to overtime done. And we're not here to work, but to experience something different and to have some fun too. So I kinda enjoyed it, but not really.
We get paid 800 shekels a month. This is put onto an 'account', which we use in the dining hall and shop and can also withdraw if wanted. Everything we dish up on our plate or put in glass/can from fridge gets put onto our account and you get a running tally at the bottom of the receipt. Its all in hebrew except for the numerical figures, so we just assume its correct ; ) There is a shop which has all sorts of things from toiletries to fruit, veg, frozen food, pasta, can food, alchohol, all sorts of things. Even Tim Tams, would you believe!??! Of all places. Again, what you buy here goes on your account or you can pay with cash. If you go over your wages in your account, you either top it up with cash or dont spend anything till next month. Any left over is yours to withdraw. Hopefully we will have some, that will be a nice bonus.
Breakfast is nice, fresh vegetables, bread, hard boiled eggs, lots of pastry things (they love that here), cereal, yoghurt, cheese, etc. Lunch is usually chicken, vegetables, chips or some sort of potatoe dish, vegetables, pasta/rice, salads, bread, soup (way to hot for soup for us - we think its hot, we've come from UK, locals think its freezing - beanies, jackets and all, its mid, maybe to high 20's). THe meals change everyday, but usually just a different type of the above. Its all served in those hot plate bamerrie things (no idea how to spell that) and you just dish up what you want. Lunch is the main meal, we just cook something light for dinner in our little flat.
Out flat is a bit of a 'dump' by aussie standards, its like a basic old dodgy holiday home or a commission house type of place. But its comfortable and its all ours.
It gets very cold at night, lovely during the day. There's AC in the flat, but they seem to keep really cool. so its ok. we leave the door open to warm it up! But its hard to do without an annoying cat running in. Theyre everywhere. Supposedly people in the cities who want to get rid of pets dump them at kibbutzm, "cos they'll have room for a cat," amongst the other 100's! Lots of dogs too, but theyre all pets. Even more than in Europe and UK.
Theres a group of 12 UK young jewish people (age 18-19) here on their gap year. So we're making friends with them. There is lots of international people here who have made their aliyah to Israel (theyre return to Israel). If youre Jewish, you pretty much get citizenship to Israel at the drop of a kippar (jewish prayer skull cap), so there's people from all over the place here.
Labels: Israel, Kibbutz Yahel
posted by Corey and Sarah @ 12:55 am
4 comments
