10-10-10, World Work Day, Acacia Trees, and a late update on Kibbutz Lotan

Hello again! I figured that so much has happened in the last few days, and so much has gone unmentioned, that if I posted twice on one day with totally different topics, perhaps it would be okay.  I'll start with the machon's trip to neighboring Kibbutz Lotan, and work forward chronologically from there.

On Thursday, the day after I arrived at Ketura, the entire group took a trip to Kibbutz Lotan, another kibbutz only 5 minutes away by bus. In fact, it's so close that young residents on one of the kibbutzim will hike to the other for the rotating "pub nights".  Kibbutz Lotan makes eco-friendly and sustainable living its focus, and incorporates innovative ideas like "aboveground landfills", composting toilets, and wastewater wetlands into the kibbutz's design.  The pictures in the slideshow beneath this post highlight some of the cooler aspects of Lotan, including the playground made from old car tires and trash, covered in mud.  Fun fact: when you oil mud construction with old vegetable oil, it becomes impermeable to water, and more similar to cement than mud.  Lotan always leaves 'peepholes' into their creations, either with plexiglass or just not covering an area with mud, to show the truth of what is underneath such cool shapes.  Lotan has also designed a composting toilet in the area, and has built a classroom underneath one, to show how human waste is composted into fertilizer for trees in the area (no vegetables yet, but not because it's dangerous; compost is recommended to sit for a full year, after which point everything bad is gone.  Kibbutz members simply don't want to deal with the idea just yet). As you may see in another picture, Lotan also has a working solar oven, which is constantly working.  Out here in the desert is the perfect place to have one, and there were cookies baking the day we went.  And yes, the entire thing is recycled and reused materials. Lotan was such a cool place, and it was fascinating to see some of the ideas we've talked about at IC in full fruition out here in the desert, the perfect place to put them in action.  I did some mudbuilding myself on Saturday, when we build a table over by the other dormitories, the caravans.  Pictures will come later, since it takes so long to upload them.  After the Lotan trip on Thursday, we got back on the bus and drove down to the Samar sand dunes, south of Ketura. There we learned a bit about the desert ecosystem, and how due to sand mining for construction, some of the great dunes are coming under threat.  To help raise awareness, we attended an informal "demonstration", which was really a family event where we made kites out of recycled materials and tried to fly them. Mine flew!...for about 5 seconds.  But such is life. After a sunset on a sand dune, we drove back to Ketura. 

After another day or two of orientation and getting used to my new living arrangements, classes have started! Today, on 10-10-10, 350.org has sponsored a Global Work Day to combat climate change, and even those of us in the middle of nowhere are doing our part! Since the idea of simply foresting the desert goes against the philosophy of preservation and naturalness of the area, we decided to try to support a indigenous tree population which is currently in decline, the acacia.  Each student now has a little bag hopefully containing some acacia seeds, which we'll pamper and spoil rotten until they germinate and become large enough to survive in the desert.  It is a great idea, to work alongside people from all over the world to try to bring carbon dioxide levels down.  This was just a great start to the semester.

Well, that is the complete update.  Now that I'm up to speed, I can try to create a more stable posting schedule which doesn't include multiple postings per day! If you have any questions about living out here, or about what I'm doing, please feel free to leave a comment. I'd love to at least try to answer them!  Shalom!

P.S. - Did you know the Middle East has some of the best quality nuts in the world? They definitely are in a completely different league than their American-grown counterparts. I'm enjoying a few as a write this. :)