Welcome to Lotan

I arrived on the Kibbutz yesterday after a sleepy four-hour bus ride from Jerusalem. One by one I started meeting some of the other fourteen Green Apprentices (not including Marc, of course, who I was happy to see again after a few days apart). There were no scheduled activities, so I moved into my plain apartment and met my other housemates, Caitlin, Olga and Benja. The day's long journey ended in room built from mud, permeated by candle-lit vibrations (Olga and Yigal lulled us into happiness by playing didgeree-doo's)... and so it began.

Today, we started the morning off with orientation and get-to-know-you activities... nothing crazy, but we learned that the most important rules are 'Don't walk East' (Jordan is only a few meters away... and the border is well patroled) and 'Don't leave glasses on the ground' (for the safety of small kibbutz children... and unsuspecting adults too).


By the afternoon we immediately dove into the joys of mud-brick building. Who knew how easy it was to build from mud? Well, I'm sure we'll get into more complexities later, but the basic ingredients are clay+sand+hay+water+air... in proper proportions of course. Check out these fun 'dirty pics'...
(#1. From left: Marc- my love, Yael- from France, and Olga- from Poland)
(#2. Yigal perfecting his mud-arch)
(#3. Me and my mud-square)