Second Day Evening, Prep for Day 3

OK, my last post was focused on documenting and witnessing. Today I am infusing a bit more of my personal observations into the blog. Bear with me.

On our ride back from Rahat to the hotel. Remember, in one day, we went from talking with the Rabbi in Sderot, to the kibbutz, to the Nova massacre site, to meeting with the Bedouin leader in Rahat. One Day.

So Y is preparing us on the bus back for tomorrow. And he reminds us, tomorrow we will start with picking vegetables to support farmers who have lost international workers who left because of the fighting (mainly Thai I think).

https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Middle-East-crisis/How-Thai-workers-became-integral-to-Israel-s-economy#:~:text=Boonchai%20is%20just%20one%20of,labor%20for%20its%20agricultural%20sector

(Aside: many of the hostages are from other countries.)

And we won’t have time to change after working in the field, we will wear our dirty clothes like a badge of pride in our service supporting the economy.

And our group was mainly having none of that. Cries of protest and firmly stating there is no way they are spending the day dirty and sweaty in all of our other meetings. There will be a change of clothes. And possibly some wet wipes. Now me, I am still the child of divorced parents, every time the group has a difference of opinion, I have flashbacks to feeling like I have to pick a side, and I alway try to find a middle ground. Of course I want to wear dirty clothes as a badge of honor after hard labor. But I don’t really want to wear a dirty shirt with my menopausal hard labor breathing through the underarms of my T-Shirt. So I opt for a middle ground, I’ll change my shirt on the bus. And hope my pants are still dirty enough for a badge of honor. And Y won’t see me as an Ugly American.

Funny thing, Y also gave us travel packs from the J-Squared company he is part of. Back at the hotel, I investigated the contents. Lo and behold there is a package with a wet towel (presumably for the airplane) but PERFECT for a quick change and scrub-down post-field work to get ready for the next encounter.

Last thought. I need to get up really early to enjoy the fabulous breakfast buffet before hard labor in the field. This is why Israel is famous for breakfasts, no?