Back from the Desert

<---- Zo and I at Ben Gurion's grave site in the Negev

We just got back from spending almost 3 whole days in the Negev. I am EXHAUSTED. We went on hikes everyday, went to a bedouin tent, had shabbat, and laid under the stars one night. It was pretty freezing there, especially at night, and I didn't bring a real jacket with me so I ended up walking around where we were staying with my comforter wrapped around me all the time. We were staying at a field school in the middle of the desert.

The bedouin tent was much different then the one we saw on birthright. On birthright it was very touristy and I felt as if the bedouin lifestyle was glamorized. This time we went to a real bedouin village, where thewere tents made out of tarp and blankets. It looked almost like they were living in a dumpster. The bedouin we spoke with was different than most bedouin women because she was getting an education, which is breaking the "rules" of their culture. She spoke a lot about how the Israeli govt. does not recognize their village because they do not want them on this specific plot of land. Some bedouin villages are recognized by Israel, but her group will not move there. She said that she blames her people for the way they live, but I was still angry with the govt. I can't expect them to be perfect, but I hated hearing how they arent given what they need to have a normal functioning life--especially when I saw the children living there. So which lifestyle is the right one? The one I saw on birthright or this one? Maybe neither is the truth...maybe there are many truths. I heard a story about how a group of bedouins built a house on a plot of land that Israeli govt didnt recognize, so they bulldozed the house. It killed me to hear that. It was like having to swallow a very large, sharp pill. I wish people could just be.

I have to go the ministry of interior early tomorrow for the work visa, hopefully I will get it and be done with this whole bellagane (mess in hebrew).

lyla tov