Ruins, Bees, and My Lack of Co-ordination

And so my life at Bar Am draws to a close. Just over 3 days left, and I am desperately trying to cram every experience possible into the short time before my departure.

Yesterday a group of us walked to Old Bar Am - what used to be the home of many Christian Arabs, many years ago, but now all that is left are some old ruins, and trees.

The sun was shining as we walked through the orchards, light conversation flowing comfortably. The group consisted of myself, Adele, Koo, Jordo, Janina, Mark (guy from Essex), Jason (also from Essex), and newly arrived Eliy (from Shropshire... and boy is this guy eccentric).

After about half an hour we reached a fence and locked gate, way over 6ft tall, which was in our way if we were to continue. Of course, everyone voted to continue... erm... and climb over the gate. Anyone who knows me well, or has read this journal and remembers how I described my ice-skating skills (or lack of), will recall that I do not possess anything in the way of co-ordination, so whereas everyone else finds climbing over a fence easy, it is no easy feat for me. As my friends found out.

First Koo, and then Adele climbed over. Adele only needing help down on the other side, and to be fair she is just 4ft 11inches. I was next up, but after a couple of attempts to grip something with my feet, and turning down Jason's offer to lift me, I insisted on letting everyone else in front of me.

Finally I couldn't get out of it. Even Janina had climbed over. And she was wearing a skirt. And is also short. Sheesh. By the time I managed to grip the handle with my foot and try to put the other in the fence, everyone was laughing as I swayed backwards, desperately clinging with my hands to the top of the gate.'Go on Mel!' -. I made lame jokes about how uncoordinated I was, and Jordon, Jason and a few of the others compared me to the chick from the Indiana Jones 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' knowing she irritates me!

Finally I got one leg over the gate, and somehow swung over the other... only to be stuck fast. It took the gallant efforts of Jason and Eliy to help me down, and even then my shorts were stuck and had to be erm.. UNstuck. Janina nicely snapped me in my despare on the top.

Oooooh how embarrassing. Never fear! The rest of the walk was pretty uneventful, and it wasn't until we reached the ruins that the drama again started. 5 of us decided to climb to the top of the ruins of the synagogue. I had to remove my flip-flops and clamber up barefoot (ignoring the signs 'Do not climb'). We sat for a few minutes surveying the glorious view, our mouths watering from the barbeque going on in the woodland nearby. Jordon came up with the (apparently) ingenius idea of walking past the barbeque in the hope of them extending their hospitality to us and feeding us.

I do believe I was the only one to point out that... well, we aren't in Oz. So not much chance of happening. Especially given the size of our group.

As our hunger outweighed our pride, we climbed down from the synagogue (amid jokes about my being like the chick from Indiana Jones), and made our way to see some more ruins before trying our luck with the BBQ.

We discovered a church with an old well. Jason tried (in vain) to draw some water, and once that failed, we took a short walk around the church and decided to climb to the top to see what we could find. I was last in line for climbing, and hadn't got far whe I heard 'Run!'. Not waiting for an explanation, especially as I heard a buzzing, I lept from my spot and retreated. There was a bee in my hair! I couldn't get it out, as much as I shook my head! Behind me I could hear more squeals as Jason (who also has long hair), Jordon (big white-mans afro), and Mark (also long hair) came sprinting across the green also shaking their heads like maniacs, and leaping around. A huge mass of bees was chasing them! Mark got stung on the head, Jordon ended up having to bash one dead against his skull (luckily for him, wasn't stung) as a good few came flying out of his mass of hair. Janina was unscathed, and shamed us all by walking very calmy over to us from the church.

*ahem*

Jason and Jordon swore vegence, and went to throw rocks at the bee nest.

I think they threw a couple of ill-aimed rocks (that missed) and ran into the wood.

Nice work guys.

After this mini adventure, we trudged past the BBQ looking longingly at the group assembled there.

NOTHING.

NOT A DARN SAUSAGE.

Hmph! I did warn them beforehand.

Oh well. We joined Adele and Koo, who had the smart idea of laying on a blanked under the shade of a tree, eating oranges. Koo, as accommodating as usual, cut us all slices, and we munched the juicey orange segments, and talked about various subjects, even managing to coerce Jordan into demonstrating how kangaroos jump. I wish I had that on film.

Eliy and Jordan got into a few discussions regarding their opposing views on Palestine, among other things. Eliy is your stereotypical studente. Even a 'Stuuudy-Wooody' as my brother Mark would have said. He is strongly pro-Europe - even to the point of wanting a 'Europa' tattoo on his forearm. When we (later on, during the walk back) referred to the Hizbollah as terrorists, he came out with the comment 'One mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter'... until Jordan threw a load of dates, facts, figures, etc. at him and basically stomped on his theory (You have to be well prepared to beat Jordan in an argument - he really knows his stuff - has an amazing knowledge of history, geography - highly intelligent).

We spent a good hour in the grounds of the ruins. The guys chased after a lizard, but didn't manage to catch it. We larked around for a while, until we decided to start for home, to make it in time for dinner. On the way home, we decided to take the road, and stopped by a couple of pretty graveyards. In one of the graveyards we came across some empty tombs. I got a photo of myself lying inside one. Someone told me I'd be cursed, but so far I'm ok.

The light was gorgeous and hazy, and a lot of the walk home involved looking over into Lebanon. We passed a memorial to a group of children and teachers who had been murdered by the Hizbolah back in the 70's (cue the comment from Eliy). We munched eucalyptus leaves and decided to stop off at the Lebanese border, where I had been a couple of days previously. On arrival, we were greeted my a few volunteers from Bar Am. They were sat on top of an old bunker, basking in the last moments of sun, and drinking a bottle of wine. They filled us in on the happenings of the last few hours, informing us of the sinister black vehicals that had been driving down the road to the border, stopping, doing a 3 point turn and then departing. The group of us stayed about a half hour, and watched as this continued to happen. Shiny black, expensive looking vehicles driving to the end of the road, stopping for a moment or two, sometimes the window rolling down, then 3 point turn and away. We figured it was the Hizbolah (the watchtower being nearby), but felt pretty safe, as there was an Israeli army base just over a stones throw away, probably watching them also.

Jason threw a rock at Lebanon, and commented on how cool it'd be if they started firing at us - we'd all have to lie flat or run away... only apparently I'd be there for about 5 years trying to get down and somehow get my shorts caught on something.

I can see I won't be living down the whole gate experience too easily, then.

No gunfire, so we decided to return to the kibbutz for dinner. Which was the usual greasy crap. Oh yum yum.

Today I am back in the factory, but am working til 8pm. I sure hope they aren't putting me on crappy shifts the next few days.

Still looking forward to Jerusalem, although I'm anticipating missing my friends. Who knows what the future will bring.

For now I have the next few hours free. It's Jordon's 20th today, so I'm trying to think of something to buy from the kibbutz shop for him. We were discussing in our break, stealing one of the cheesy apple posters from the factory. I want one as a souvenir.

Ok, people are bugging me for the PC. Usually I'd be more polite, but hell I'm leaving, so I've told them pretty much where to go. I never get to write properly in my journal.

It's gorgeous outside. I'm going to take advantage!