The Nature

This past week I encountered the creme dela creme of Israeli life: volunteering on a nature reserve. The five days that I spent in Yotvata, an area of the Negev about 25 minutes from Eilat, at the חי בר (Hai Bar) Nature Reserve made me realize just how accustomed I have become to Israeli culture, and therefore deserves it's own blog post. In order to capture the whole essence of the story, I will do my best not to leave any detail out. If you can, try to imagine my intonation at certain point of the story.

Day 1: Sunday April 10, 2011

um, anyone want to go to Yotvata?

Ok, so first of all, the trip to the nature reserve was set up for all the 10 month participants of my program. Out of the group of 15, only 4 of us ending up going on the trip and I have to say that the other people lost out big time. With 1000 shekels for food, paid bus tickets, and no idea what to expect, the four of us hopped on busses at the central bus station and started the 4 hours journey to the reserve. As usual, there are always complications, so Jodi and I were on one bus while Dante and Amy were on another. No biggie....except that Jodi and I really had no idea where to get off the bus. Let me add here that Israeli buses don't stop at every stop. You want to get off in the middle of the desert? You better be awake to press the stop button. That being said, it's no surprise that Jodi and I missed the not so well marked stop for Yotvata and ending up riding the bus a bit too far. No worries. We just got off the bus, literally in the middle of nowhere, and decided that we would either hitchhike back to Yotvata or wait for another bus to come along. Fortunately a bus ended up coming by and we successfully met Dante and Amy in Yotvata. We were told that we would be picked up around 2 by our "liason" (Zohar) at the reserve. At around 3:30, we finally get picked up and driven to the reserve and showed to where we were staying. Having no idea where we were, what was going on, what we were supposed to do, the four of us recognized that in true Israeli-fashion we probably wouldn't find out any details so we resorted to playing bananagrams and making dinner. At around 9 Zohar finally showed up informing us that tomorrow would be a normal day (meaning absolutely nothing to us) and so to be ready at 7. Awesome. We still had no idea what was going on.

Day 2: Monday

the four of us in front of our "apt"

Unfortunately, my first day at the reserve wasn't exactly what I had planned. I became way to close of friends with the toilet the whole night and all of Monday morning. Funny because the night before I came face to face with my worst fear, a snake, and when I went to tell Zohar about the situation, he informed me that if I am so sick that I start throwing up, he would be sure to take me to the hospital in the morning. Well, I did throw up, a lot, and Zohar did not take me to the hospital, but he did notice that I was in a state of distress. So while I was trying not to throw up everywhere, the rest of my group got to feed the predators, clean cages, and explore the many varieties of mice on the reserve. By the afternoon, I was pretty much back to my normal self and I got right down to business helping to rake and clean the pathways set out for the visitors of the reserve. At some point in the day, Amy, Dante, and the 1000 shekels made their way to a nearby supermarket to pick up the list of food we had decided was appropriate for the week. Now, 1000 shekels is a little excessive for 4 people and considering our organization doesn't make too much money, we didn't spend it all, but we did eat like kings for the next 4 days. Thank you, Tikkun Olam. So the first full day at  חי בר was an interesting one, and definitely an indicator of what the next few days would be like. Along with the 4 of us, there were 6 other volunteers that were there for longer periods of time working closely with the Israeli staff. So with 10 volunteers, there really wasn't a whole lot of work to do and I think that the staff was scraping the bottom of the barrel at some points. Oh, I forgot to mention, after the first night, the four of us realized that the next few nights would be a constant battle with the million of mosquitoes flying around our apartment. I am still covered in bites.

Day 3: Tuesday, Sand Sifting Day

Amy and I scooping poop

Apparently I am somewhat of a drill sergeant in the morning. When I hear that alarm, I am up and ready to go and I am relentless in waking everyone else up. I think that all those times my parents woke me up for school paid off- turning on the lights is so cruel. By 7 am we were dressed, breakfast-ed, and ready to work. Only one tiny problem- we were the only ones ready. Seriously people, 7 am is 7 am. So by 730 we followed עומרי (Omri), our leader for the day, to the night creatures room. Now, Tuesday is sand sifting day: aka scooping poop day! Get excited for this one! In the night creatures room there are small cages of mice and then bigger, almost like rooms, for bats, owls, birds, and other small rodents. Assigned to the owl cage, Dante fearlessly entered with a sifter and plastic bag and really showed champion skills in sifting poop while not looking the animal in the eye. Jodi and I had a bit easier task of cleaning one of the small rodent cages. Now when I say cleaning the cage, I mean were we literally in the cage. Gloves, face masks, dust pans, and sifters. That poop was not staying in the cage. So after one cage was conquered, I had no hesitation jumping into another cage to help Amy. I take my volunteer work seriously, even when it is scooping poop.
After our rigorous morning of volunteer work, we were informed that there was a fire drill that afternoon so we should probably just go to Eilat (imagine that in a thick Israeli accent). So with nothing else to do we hopped on the bus to Eilat, aka the Vegas of Israel (not so much, but apparently that's what it is called). As Amy and Jodi walked around the streets of Eilat, Dante and I got right down to business, first with frozen yogurt and french fries from McDonalds (it's ok to eat that when you are abroad) and then sat our asses right down on the beach. I mean I know that we live really close to Mediterranean Sea, but something about laying next to Red Sea was a nice change in environment. After a relaxing day in Eilat, the four of us caught one of the only buses headed back in the direction of the nature reserve. Now this is where the story reaches a new level. While on the bus, I called Zohar to let him know that we were on our way back and to see if he could pick us up at the bus stop. This was his response- "Oh uh, you guys don't know this because you are new, but we are all at the היף (beach) in Eilat, so uh yea.... -Oh ok, well don't worry we will just walk. -Ok no problem, bye." Ummm, wow Zohar, that's information that would have been helpful a few hours ago. Now the bus stop wasn't exactly far from the reserve, but it was dark, it was getting cold, and there are snakes and I am not ok with that. So as we walked down the dirt road and approached the reserve, we stood there to face a locked gate. Super! Only one way to get in now. Up and over the gate it was. So with two people over the gate (kudos to Jodi, climbing is not her forte), we stopped as the headlights of 2 cars shined upon us. No no, don't worry, definitely not the police. Of course it was a super religious family camping in the reserve for the night. One of the kids ran out to open the gate and the cars drove through, allowing Amy and I to just walk in. Now try to picture the setting here. Two people on one side of the fence in the reserve, two on the other, a religious family approaching the gate and all they asked was if we needed help. We told them that we were volunteers on the reserve, which I don't really think they cared about, and we were on our way. Sometimes I just love Israelis. Day 3= success

Day 4: Wednesday, Become friends with the predators.

oh hello bird. 

Dante and I hard at work

Having been there for 2 full days, we were pretty much professionals, so it was off to the predator cages we went. Some of the predators in the reserve include hyenas, wolves, foxes, leopards, owls, falcons, just to name a few. Obviously we weren't allowed in the all the cages, but in the ones that we did go into our main jobs were to rake the sand, clean up any remaining food, aka animal pieces, and replenish the food and water bowls. And in some cases we had to count the animals to make sure none had escaped. Standing in the bird cage, I kept noticing the the birds were landing on my head and trying to eat my hat. I mean it's understandable since there is a picture of a giant cookie on it, but seriously birds, I need that hat! After leaving no cage unturned, the four of us went back to the main area of the reserve to see what other work we could get our hands on. Oh, what's that? You want us to help the tortoise lady to sort pieces of grass. I mean, why not. So on the reserve there are a few different species of tortoises, so naturally there needs to be a specialist, especially around breeding time. I now have too much knowledge on tortoise relations, but don't worry I will spare all of you the details. After sorting through yellow hay looking for the few remaining green pieces, it was then that we realized  that the staff didn't exactly plan for our visit. Granted it was only 4 work days, shorter than most volunteers, but we still could have worked on a project for them or something. Anyways, by 2 pm we were done with work and told to go back to our apartment. In any other work situation this would be great, who doesn't like leaving early? But in this particular situation, we were there to volunteer and believe it or not, there isn't exactly a plethora of other things to do on the reserve. We spent a few hours reading and relaxing, trying to fight the pull of boredom and restlessness, but we finally hit the breaking point. A motto that developed for the week was that of "we're broken" meaning that we had comprehended the situation, knew we couldn't leave, and were just so confused most of the time. (An appropriate time to insert the phrase, "Welcome to Israel"). With nothing else to do, Dante and I decided to take a walk around. Finding nothing but chewed up animal legs, some bones, and a lot of unidentified animal holes in the sand, we retreated back to the apartment. After another round of bananagrams and a delicious dinner we cozied into our sleeping bags for our early wake up the next morning.

Day 5: Thursday, Is it noon yet? We need to get back to Tel Aviv!

worms? no problem

We made it to the last day! We were given the option to have free time to just wander around or to help out for the morning. Let's be real, we had basically spent the majority of the past 4 days with free time, so we spent our last morning back with our predator friends. I mean, who wouldn't want to spend their last morning cleaning up poop? But in all seriousness, it's really not that bad. I was told that it's better to clean up all that shit with just your bare hands, you really get to know the animal that way. While I didn't exactly want to bare hand poop, I do have to say that the last day I was pretty fearless (after I started screaming in the freezer because I almost touched a frozen animal leg, but I moved past that). I wasn't even grossed out to pick up leftover animal parts in the cage or cute the heads off of some worms- brought me back to the good old days when we used to go fishing. I think my highlight of the day had to be while cleaning one of the fox cages. As we cleaned, a group of Asian tourists were touring the tunnel and in their excitement to look through the glass to see some animals, they saw us cleaning the cage. Now, you would think that they would see us, maybe look for the animals for a second, and then move on, but oh no, they proceeded to videotape us. I don't think I could have asked for anything better. I did my best to throw out the peace sign as much as I could while I did my work. Now that I think about it, it concerns me a little that we were such an attraction, but as I told you, we were "broken" so I can only imagine what we looked like to the observers on the other side of the glass. I don't want anyone to think that I am saying anything against tourists, Asians ones in specific, but they do have a certain way about them. The rest of the morning pretty much fooled around and in true American style, made as many jokes as we could, obviously throwing in some crude humor for our Israeli friend to chuckle at. The jokes are even better when they are half Hebrew and half English. Zohar, who had pretty much been MIA this whole time, informed us that he would be there at noon to take us to the Yotvata bus stop....yea, we didn't exactly count on him to be there. Our bus wasn't until one, but we really didn't want to take any chances, or stay there longer than we had to. So when noon came and went, the nice tortoise lady offered to give us a ride. Rather than wait for Zohar to randomly show up, we piled into her small rental car and waved goodbye to חי בר.

Dante, Amy, and I ready to work (Jodi is taking the picture)

The bus ride back to Tel Aviv was pretty brutal and seemed to be a lot longer than the ride down, but we finally made it back to the city. All in all, the trip to חי בר was awesome. If I had a done a trip like that within the first few months of being in Israel, I definitely would have been freaking out by the end of the first day. So I guess you can say that I have grown a lot. I don't think I captured all of the insanity of this trip, but I did my best. I hope it was enjoyable.