Headin' down South

It's late and I must be up early tomorrow so this will be a short post...but to update briefly on my life: tomorrow morning I leave Jerusalem and head down south to Kibbutz Lotan where I will be starting their Green Apprenticeship program. I'm very excited! For many reasons. While I've had some wonderful experience teaching environmental education and had the chance to boost my ecology background and live in some phenomenally gorgeous places, I've always felt the lack of agricultural experience, from your basic gardening to more advanced farming. This will be a really great opportunity for both classroom and hands on experiential learning about the techniques and practices of permaculture - sustainable agriculture, gardening, building techniques, etc.

I'm also excited to be getting out of the city to the desert, with fresh air, clear skies and what I'm anticipating will be many many star-filled nights. Orion has been a constant companion of mine, from Jerusalem back to Idaho over break and back here again. I'm looking forward to seeing more of the stars surrounding my favorite constellation!

I really have enjoyed living in JLem for the past six months, I've made some really great friends and love the community feeling that's here...but, not surprisingly, I'm not big on the city life, and some quieter time spent in the desert will be wonderful. It should also help me progress further in answering the question of what, exactly, my connection is to the land of Israel...one that I've found difficult to answer while living in the city, where connections to the land are indirect, to say the least. Obviously we as Jews have this ancient connection to this land...one of my goals for this year is to determine what my personal connection is -- what are it's parameters, how deep does it run -- essentially, to develop and define my sense of place for this place. Like I've mentioned, I've lived in some incredible places in the world, where finding that sense of place is, in a sense, a little bit easier.

Perhaps going to the desert, where so much of our history as Jews has taken place. The desert, where some of our most formative experiences have happened.

On that note, more to come...