Getting to know Nimrod

So, another day in Nimrod is done :) clearing out guy's workshop took all morning and we were able to take the afternoon off to take a walk in the area around the village. Loving the sunshine and the fresh mountain air.

Over the last couple of days we've been able to discover and learn a lot about the village and region we're in. Let me tell you, there's a lot more than I expected. To start with, the village of Nimrod itself. We've been digging around in the ground a lot these past few days and every know and then we come up against broken up slabs of concrete. We now know that these slabs were once the foundations for an Israeli army (also know as the Israeli Defence Force - or IDF) base. It was abandoned some time ago only to be rediscovered and settled by its current residents; Guy and Lilach along with a number of other families. Just outside the entrance to the village (which we amazingly only discovered this afternoon) are the remains of what seems to be an old bunker/trench complex looking towards the Syrian border! We assumed it was part of the old IDF base and had just been left to weed over. It was great to find this piece of history in relatively good condition (despite the rubbish and the weeds). Who knows? Perhaps it was used during the war of Yum-Kippur?

The old bunker complex outside the entrance to Nimrod

Me in the old bunker with my back to the east, towards the Syrian border

And what about Lilach and Guy's work with the eco-lodge? Well, they are certainly doing more than the average person to try and "go-green". Their house and the lodges they rent out were all hand built by Guy using locally sourced wood, along with having solar panels and insulation to keep the heat in. Any wood used on the burners is again sourced locally from odds and ends. They try as much as possible to grow their own vegetables, but the soil around here limits the amount they can grow. Mind you, they have a well flourishing vegetable garden at the front of their house along with plant boxes for growing herbs and peppers in. The flowers alongside some of the pathways really lighten the place up as well :). They're also making good efforts in seed collection and distribution, they keep a variety of seeds from old plants and vegetables in storage so that they can be replanted, by themselves or in the local community like in schools. Nothing useful is wasted here :)

One of the family dogs chilling out in a herb box :)

The family atmosphere of the place is growing on me :) Lilach is so welcoming and friendly and she's treating us like part of the family. We're sharing herbs and fruit from her kitchen and laughing a lot of the time. Her daughter came home for the last time today before she joins the IDF for her national service, when she arrived it seemed like the whole family came out to welcome her and her friends and give them hugs. So much love in this family, its great to see :).

Lilach has also been telling us about some of the local issues related to the conflict in Syria, which seemed very close today as we thought we saw black puffs of smoke coming from the border region.... Anyway, Lilach told us that there is humanitarian work going on in the area to help the wounded from the areas of Syria close to the Israeli border. She told us that any patients that cannot be treated urgently within Syria get sent (along with a full medical report form their Syrian doctors) across into Israel to be treated in Israeli medical facilities. This allows help to be given to the wounded but also avoids a refugee crisis in the region (with all its political ramifications with it). The only sad side to this story is the fact that when the patients have been treated they are sent back across the border. Whilst it avoids a refugee crisis it has all the looks of a vicious cycle. Perhaps it is a "best of both worlds" solution, and given the circumstances is very commendable on the part of Israel. 

Well, that's it for this entry. Thanks for reading :) 

Travel and first day of work

View of the Sea of Galilee from the bus

So then, the volunteering part of my trip to Israel began yesterday. Jehn (my fellow volunteer that came all the way from China) and I left the rest of our new friends at Jerusalem Central Bus Station and began our 5 hour bus journey north towards the Golan Heights and our project. After a quick stop-off in the nearest town to our project we switched to a local bus that would take us as near as it could to our destination, the Mountain Eco-Lodge in the small village of Nimrod (the highest settlement in Israel!) in the Golan Heights. We got off at our final stop around 3:30pm hoping for a pick-up from Guy (the person who runs our project). However, it turned out that he couldn't pick us up so we had to carry our bags up the 2 kilometer mountain road to Nimrod in the mid-afternoon sun!!

View of Nimrod from the Bus stop 2k away

You can see how far we had to walk..... the road we walked up is in the left of the photo and Nimrod is just visible on the hill on the right

Finally at Nimrod :) the bus stop we walked from is at the edge of the large group of trees in the left  of the photo

A while after we arrived, Guy finally met us and gave us a quick tour of the place. The views are amazing (as the pictures will show) and it really feels like we're up in the mountains. We met the other volunteer, Carolyn, that will be leaving with Jehn in 2 weeks time. We gave our accommodation a quick clean before fixing dinner (we are cooking for ourselves the entire time we're here) and meeting Guy's wife,  who would be finding things for us to do during our stay :).

A bit foggy.... our accommodation at around 10pm yesterday

So, now we are up to today (our first full day of volunteer work). We made pancakes for breakfast before having a more in-depth tour of the lodge with Lilach. She also gave us a security briefing (she is the local security officer so we are in the best of hands) as we are really less than 5km from the Syrian border! Rest assured it's completely safe here. Although we do here the occasional boom and bang coming down the valley from Syria.

Our first big piece of work for the three of us is to clear an old sloped vegetable patch so that it can be replanted. Clearing the grass and digging out the weeds with only a rake (which broke after an hour!) a shovel and a hoe (the farming tool that is) was hard work but it was nice to be outside surrounded by incredible scenery. We had a break for lunch (pita bread and hummus brought up by Carolyn) and the other two fell asleep for a few hours. So, on the first day we've cleared the first patch of ground for replanting, we just need to keep at it over the next few days. We may have some tourists using the campsite from Friday for a while so cleaning up after and taking care of them will keep us occupied over the next few days.

All in all, i'm loving it here. The scenery is amazing and the independance we're given by guy and Lilach with regards to getting on with our tasks and cooking is very nice. I think i'll enjoy my 6 weeks here :)

Morning view from outside the lodge, Jehn is walking in the middle of the photo. Over the hills in the distance is the Syrian border

Our first big task, prepping this old veg patch for re-planting 

Me, taking a midday breather by the pool

A day out in Jerusalem :)

Well, Jerusalem is an amazing place. Where to begin? Well, after our orientation the day before yesterday (i'm writing this from my project in the Golan Heights, more on that later) for our own volunteering projects, we all headed out with our guide, called Yan, to get some lunch. We ended up at a small cafe/restaurant where we enjoyed amazing Falafel pitas stuffed with vegetables and Humus. We headed back to the hostel to relax before our walking tour of the old city, no big deal really as the hostel has its own roof with sun beds and mattress' for an afternoon siesta. 

The highlight of the day was our walking tour of the old city. This is a place to behold, I was amazed at the sheer number of people and empires that have held the city over its 4,000 year history. Everyone from biblical kings to Alexander the Great through to the Ottoman empire (not to mention the countless others). The fact that in some areas of the city you can dig down just meters at a time to discover artefacts sometimes separated by a 1,000 years was truly amazing (only in jerusalem according to Allan our guide). What also amazed me was the peaceful co-existance between the different quarters of the old city (Muslim, Christian, Jewish and Assyrian). Everyone was doing business together and getting along famously, no hint of any ill feelings towards each other at all. After our tour was finished (and 4,000 years of history absorbed) our guide Yan met up with us to take us on his own personal tour. He took us around the local street markets to see the incredible mix of foods and drinks along with impressive methods of spice stacking! 

We got some great photos from the roof of an Austrian themed hostel in the Muslim Quarter, the late afternoon scene was perfect for photos. We headed out for Humus pitas after iced lemonade with mint leaves before rolling back to the Hostel at around 8 in the evening (following a briefing on the bus transport to out projects from Yan). It was an amazing day spent with great people and plenty of sunshine.

In the next post, i'll tell you about my journey to the project (which included an unexpected 2 kilometer hike) and our first day of work at our project in Nimrod (the highest settlement in Israel!).

Some of the girls from our volunteering group enjoying amazing Falafel pitas, yum :)

The Jerusalem skyline from opposite the Dome of the Rock

The Dome of the Rock and the West Wall (also known as the "Wailing Wall") 

A typical street in the old city 

Spice stacking, Jerusalem style!

Yours truly with the Dome of the Rock in the background

Hello Jerusalem :)

Well, what a long day. Said goodbye to the parents at Luton Airport around 11:00am before my flight left the ground around 12:45. Flight seemed longer than 5 hours, especially with little leg room and the fact that I can't sleep on planes... Anyway, got through the airport ok and took a shared Nesher taxi to the Abraham Hostel in central Jerusalem. I'm meeting interesting people already, shared the taxi with a London solicitor who gave me a run down on the history of the local politics and had a chat to a civil servant in the Scottish parliament!!! Got to the hostel after experiencing the mad late night driving and got settled pretty quickly. I'm sharing a dorm with three others so still got plenty more people to meet :). I'm writing this from the computer room with an ice cold coke and listening to the karaoke upstairs. It sure is a lively place with a great atmosphere. Orientation tomorrow morning along with a walking tour of Jerusalem so I should have some good photos. Can't wait to get cracking and get some photos taken. Bring it on!!!

Fit 3 months of kit into a bag? Challenge accepted :)

Hi everyone, so departure day is rapidly approaching. This time next week I'll be in the air and on my way to Israel :). I'm getting pretty excited and I can't wait to get going. My brother jetted off to Cape Town yesterday night to start his adventure there (3 months learning how to kitesurf and then teach it to kids out there), well he calls it an adventure it seems more like a holiday to me and the parents....

So with him gone the house seems strangely empty.... but no matter, it gives me all the space I need to pack for 3 months in Israel. I'm hoping for a lot of sunshine and soaring temperatures so I'm packing shorts heavy along with an industrial supply of SPF 50 suncream. My sunglasses and hat are going in aswell, along with my Shemagh (bought in Oman at easter) and my day glow orange and black turban to attempt to keep the sun at bay. I've also disocovered a second use for my turban, a picnic blanket :). Although i'm not sure what capacity there'll be for picnic sites on the Golan......

Alongside plenty of "ready to trash" t-shirts for work on the lodge, i'll be taking a nice shirt or two for any nights out in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. With some local trekking on the cards, I plan on taking my walking boots along with the obligatory foot powder and blister treatments in the first aid kit.

I was alarmed however to discover that I only have 3 pairs of underwear, no doubt my brother raided my underwear draw to make sure he had enough..... no don't worry bro, its not like im going away for three months aswell!! With this in mind, I think a shopping trip is on the cards over the next few days :/.

So, I think im pretty much there with packing. I just need to finalise a few things and put it in a bag :). In other news, I've discovered that things like having access to money and a mobile phone whilst i'm in Israel weren't as difficult to sort out as I thought. I'm taking a Thomas Cook cash passport loaded with US$ along with some shekels I already have. I'm reliably informed that ATMs will give me shekels when I use my cash passport so no wories there.

With regards to a mobile phone, i've ordered one on a long term contract from Israel Phones which I can pick up at the airport. It'll let me communicate with any friends a make in Israel and in case there's an emergency. At only $38 a month its quite a good deal (compared with $500 for 3 months offered by other companies!!).

I've also found a great little travel journal so I can keep a personal record of my gap year. It was a bargain at only £12 on Amazon and its got plenty of space to write in :). I think it looks quite cool aswell.

So, all that really remains is to shove everything in my bag, charge the camera and head off to the airport. A week today the adventure begins and I can't wait to get going :). Hopefully, the next blog entry will be from sunny Jerusalem :).

Oscar (the dog) clearly likes to get in the way of my packing 




My travel journal, a great find on Amazon :)



Destination: Israel

So then, the first port of call on my gap year; the very warm and very interesting country of Israel. It wasn't my plan from the beginning to visit Israel, I originally hoped to spend this summer in the USA taking part in the Camp America scheme (for those of you who don't know, its a scheme where you get given a job at an American summer camp as a counsellor). But after a very disheartening application process and no news of a placement I decided to look into alternatives. Eventually, after a lot of searching, I came across a number of projects in Israel. I've always been interested in the Middle East and thought this would be a great opportunity to get some first hand experience of this fascinating part of the world.

I'll be spending 3 months in Israel, splitting my time between a number of projects. To start with, i'm spending 6 weeks in the small town of Nimrod in northern Israel, in particular I will be helping out at an eco-lodge. I'll be helping build eco-homes, learn some more about bio-farming and take some treks into the stunning mountain scenery and local communities. I'm hoping I'll also be able to learn more about the daily lives of the people that live in this particular area of the country. It looks set to be an awesome 6 weeks of hard work and amazing scenery and no doubt I'll be sporting an awesome tan by the end of it.

Details on the remaining 6 weeks of my stay are still being finalised so i'll keep you updaed as these plans progress.

Destination: Israel, should be a great trip :)  

The Adventure Begins :)

So here I am, at the beginning of my "year to remember". I find myself starting my blog on the second day of half term. Exam season has begun and confidence is at a strange all time high, perhaps this year my topics are a bit more likeable than the last (global culture seems a far better geography topic than how hurricanes are formed - sorry Mel, thats just me). Whilst exams will no doubt keep me occupied for most of the next month, I see no reason not to be getting excited for the beginning of my "year to remember".

Yes, instead of following the dreaded hordes into the university gates in september I will be off on a gap year. With a defferred entry to study International Relations at uni next year, i'll have a whole year to see the world and learn about what its like to live away from the tourist trail. I can't wait, in fact my flight for my first port of call; Israel leaves in only 34 days! To say i'm excited is an understatement.

Over the next year, I'm planning on visiting some truly incredible places. From the deserts of Israel to the high Himalayas of Nepal, join me on my journey around the world (and all the highs and lows i'm sure i'll encounter on the way).

So begins the start of my gap year adventure, watch this space and follow me on my "year to remember" :)