Arad- The City by the Sea

After six long weeks of travel, last Thursday we were finally able to move into our house in Arad. The six of us that are supposed to be living in Kiryat Malachi have been indefinitely relocated to Arad. Four of us stayed in Jerusalem for a night for a conference with Zara and Adam going bravely ahead to move into our home first. Six long weeks of army bases, Egged buses, living off of eggs and sweet tea were about to end. Until Zara got a phone call saying our house in Arad had termites. They were not allowed to enter the house until Friday afternoon after the house had been fumigated. However, when all of us finally moved into the house, it still had not been fumigated. We have a couch we've nicknamed the termite couch which is now being kept on the porch to protect the house. We're not really sure how this helps, especially since its the whole house and not just the couch that has termites. Israeli logic is a magical thing. The date of fumigation is still TBA.

Arad is a fairly small city right near the Dead Sea. It is home to many Ethiopian immigrants and a large community of refugees from Darfur. According to wikipedia, it is also a hotspot for asthmatics worldwide because of the dry, clean air. The whole city is surrounded by desert. It's beautiful and very peaceful. From our back porch, we can see desert and across the dead sea to Jordan.

Our house is a very special place. It was donated by Robert and Dora to the city after they died for writers to live in so that they can be inspired by the beauty. We know that it was donated by Robert and Dora because they left us mugs with their names on them. Much of the stuff here still belongs to Robert and Dora- there kids should be here any day to pick it up.

The house came furnished- but I'm using that term loosely. There are chairs, but the backs fall off when you lean against them. There is a stove and an oven in our kitchen with decor from the 70's, however they don't work. The pipes are too old and it leaks gas. We have an electric kettle so we can at least have hot water. Unfortunately every time we plug it in, a fuse blows. We also have a washing machine. Unfortunately when we tried to use it, it leaked water all over our bathroom. There is also 1.5 bathrooms. However, to use the toilets, you need to turn the water on and off each time. It seems when they installed the shower, they forgot to put in a curtain. To shower, we need to sit down in the bath tub and just wash yourself off. And you need to do it quickly because we run out of hot water very fast and who knows when the power will blow.

For the six of us living here, we have 2 bedrooms and only 2 beds. In one room, Rachael and I share a bed and Justine sleeps on a mat on the floor. In the other room, Sarah and Zara sleep on the bed with Adam on a mat. Both rooms are quite crowded. To leave the room, I need to climb diagonally across the bed and then step over Justine without falling on any of the suitcases surrounding her. It's quite an adventure to go to the bathroom at night. The beds themselves are also a little unique. Rachael and I both roll off the edges of ours at night. In the other bed, whenever one of them get up, the other goes flying.

Yesterday, we found a lizard in one bedroom. It was climbing on Sarah's pillow. They were not able to catch it the first time, but it appeared later, about to crawl down Sarah's shirt. They were able to catch it and put it outside this time. We were all ready to move out after that, until we found out this morning they're lucky.

I know it may sound like I'm complaining about all this, but I'm actually not. Every time something happens, we all just burst out laughing. Despite all of the things that have happened to us in this town, we all much prefer to be here in our group of six than to be in another group. We get along really well. And the city of Arad has been amazing. Ofra, the federation coordinator, is the most organized and efficient person I've met in Israel. We'll all be sad to leave her when we go back to Kiryat Malachi. And we are all very excited for our volunteer positions that we have set up with her. I'm going to be working in an elementary school, in a center for toddlers with emotional and behavioral problems, and in an afterschool center for Ethiopian teenagers. We're all excited to finally begin.

Life Back in Olive Green

While Rena and I were enjoying our stay in Spain, the rockets coming from Gaza into Israel intensified. Two OTZMAniks were spending their vacation staying in Kiryat Gat. After a rocket fell in the city, they had to be evacuated to Tel Aviv. Later, that happened to other OTZMAniks staying in Beer Sheva. When we heard that Israeli air forces began to attack in Gaza, all Rena and I could think about was coming back to Israel. While we knew it wasn't safe to be here, we knew we wanted to come back.
When everyone left the base at the beginning of winter break, we were all so excited to start Track 2. That is the part where small groups of us were supposed to be living in development towns and putting all of our energy into volunteering there. I was supposed to be in Kiryat Malachi. On December 30th, rockets fell in Kiryat Malachi. That was the furthest city into Israel that they had managed to hit (at the time). There are no words to describe the feeling you get when you hear for the first time that you're home has been attacked, and Kiryat Malachi definitely felt like home to me.
Rena and I tried to enjoy the rest of our trip and we definitely had fun, but we were both definitely stressed during it. Early on, we knew we were not going to be able to go to our homes when we got back to Israel. Between Spain and our stay at the army base, we had already been traveling for a month. All of our belongings were being stored in Beer Sheva so we didn't know when we would be able to see them again.
There are around 20 OTZMAniks who have been displaced by what's going on. We were all supposed to live in cities like Ashkelon, Netivot, and Ofakim- cities that are now being mentionned on a regular basis because they are being hit on a regular basis. The people who live there spend all of their time in bomb shelters. School is cancelled, so there is nothing for the kids to do. While a lot of people are afraid and were happy we were taken out, there are some of us who really want to go to our cities, all things considered. We are in Israel to volunteer and now is when our cities need us most- but now we're not allowed to go. For those of you who worry about me, the Jewish Agency for sure will not let me return to Kiryat Malachi until the rocket attacks have stopped, as much as I wish I could go there now.
Us displaced persons are biding our time living on a base in the north- we're back in olive green. On my birthday, we arrived at our base which is close to Tiberius. The base is closed except in times of emergency, so it's just been reopened. We've been spending our time working there preparing kitbags for reserve soldiers that are about to be called in. We also are helping to make sure the tanks and APCs are working and stocked with what they need in case they are needed to go into Lebanon. If you have been hearing in the news that Israel is preparing to fight against Lebanon just in case, I can verify that it is true.
OTZMA has only planned for us to stay on this base until January 15th. If at that point, if there is still a war, we will move to Arad instead of Kiryat Malachi. As soon as the war ends, we'll be moved back to Kiryat Malachi. Our volunteer part is only 2.5 months long, after we finish at the base. A lot of us are stressed by the fact that we may move because we don't know how long we're going to be in Arad. We don't know whether to unpack or not. If we don't unpack it may mean that we'll be living out of a suitcase for three months. If we do, we may have to repack in a matter of days. And volunteer work is another issue. It's hard to start working with kids and then to get up and leave them. We don't know how involved to get because we don't know how long we'll be staying. Even now, when we are supposed to be living at the base another week, we're unsure. Rockets fell in Israel today that came from Lebanon. Many of us who are at the base brought all of their stuff with them for the weekend because we don't know if it will be safe for us to return.
It has been a hard couple of weeks for all of us and for everyone living in Israel. We are all hoping the war will end soon and we can return to our homes without having to worry about rockets from Gaza falling on them.