6/5/2013 Wednesday in the Arava This morning, it was pleasant and cool enough so that I was able to return to my every other morning activity of “power walking” the perimeter of the kibbutz which is about 2 miles. I expect that as we get into July and August, I will have to do it very early in the morning, but for now, as long as I am on the way by 8 am, it’s not too hot. My problem is that I have to do it after I return on the school bus from dropping Solomon and Evalina off at the “gan” [kindergarten] and this is always around 8 am. The “road” around the kibbutz is very rocky and in some spots it is fine sand with truck tracks running through but it is definitely a “road” and can be walked or ridden around on a bike. The road actually traverses the three kinds of desert in this region of the Arava: rocky desert, sandy desert and salty desert, all in a 2 mile radius. One thing you learn quickly when walking the desert is that it is not “flat”. It can be best described as “rolling” so sometimes you are walking up a slight hill and other times down. The effect is to provide better exercise than a tread mill, especially when your angle is up and the “road” is just sand. I had the pleasure of meeting two young Israelis at the bus stop this afternoon. They were with a group of recent high school graduates who were being taken on a tour of Israel, from the north to the south, before entering the army. The young man was from Jerusalem and the young lady was from a suburb of Tel Aviv. They appeared to be a “couple” although they probably met on the bus. I wish I had taken their picture as they embodied the duality of the Israeli culture: she was dark and sultry, with big black eyes and black hair. He was fair skinned with sandy brown hair topped by a “kepah” and looked like he could have just arrived from the US with a group of volunteers. He was going to be a paratrooper and she was going to the infantry. I thanked them for going into the army to protect me and wished them good luck. I have to say, I felt a glow of pride and I told them so. Before college there is an army obligation to fulfill. The system seems to work well for the individual and for the country. As an example I have a neighbor who is a civil engineer and is supervising a crew in the building of a new road. I told him that I could never have been an engineer or a doctor or any job that required the study of higher mathematics and especially algebra and that’s why I became a lawyer. He told me that he had a real tough time with math in high school but after his stint in the army he returned to school and found it all quite easy to comprehend. He didn’t know what had changed or why but it was all of a sudden easy. He says he was surprised himself. Maybe it has to do with maturity and the discipline one gets in the army. Maybe it’s also the training inculcating the perseverance to complete all tasks assigned. I don’t know but everyone here goes into the army before they go to college and it seems to work. At dinner tonight I met two of the new volunteers, two exuberant young ladies from South Africa and they and I were treated with what I consider a Lotan specialty, pizza! So the day went well with four new acquaintances and a good dinner. Laila Tov
Posted on: Wed, 05 Jun 2013 15:43:02 +0000
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