It’s A Small World After All

Last Wednesday we had a tiul, or field trip to Rahovot and Jaffa. Rahovot, now somewhat of a southern suburb of Jaffa contained three highly interesting places: The Weismann Institute, which has it’s very own particle accelerator; the site of one of the largest British military outpost in the middle east; and Ayolan Institute, the place that we came to see. Before its conversion into the ghost of its former self, the Ayolan Institute was an active functioning kibbutz, with an underground bullet making operation. From the late 1930s-through the 1940’s there was an illegal arms race between Arabs and Jews. The British who had control over Palestine at the time forbid both groups from gathering arms. It was a capital punishment under the British Mandate to produce weapons. All around Palestine at the time there were secret operations producing the guns for the coming war between Jews and Arabs, but the secret factory at the Ayolan Institute was the only place producing bullets for these guns. The factory itself was located underground between the laundry room and the bakery. I still can’t believe that they did the whole operation within a mile of the largest British base in Palestine.

After the Ayolan Institute, we took a quick tour of Jaffa. In Jaffa we went shopping in the shuk and flee market, but since cleaning out Mary’s house, I can’t look at so much junk and have any intention of buying it. The bus ride back took 2.5 hours (a trip that should take about 40 minutes). We basically took every side street from Tel-Aviv to Natanya.

Nothing particularly interesting happened the rest of the week until the Friday night of Purim. A newly arrived Ulpanist from Zurich, Liat, invited us to her cousin’s party in Tel-Aviv. None of the people who went to the party wanted to stay the night in Tel-Aviv, so we rented a sherut for the night. There were 9 of us who split the sherut. Before the party started we went to this bar where the bartenders were dressed as bees. It was pretty funny, seeing a fully grown man in a bee costume meant for a petite girl. At the bar I ordered my first beer ever from a restaurant. It was so exciting!

After the bar we headed to the party. It was located about a mile north of the Florentin neighborhood of Tel-Aviv. We got to the building and the door was locked. Luckily, a friendly face from a nearby balcony shouted the code: 1357. After walking up 4 long flights of stairs, we ended up on the roof, for a misebah al roof. I felt a little awkward at first because it was a costume party and I didn’t have a costume. Once the party got underway though, I felt much more comfortable. It was so much fun. Unbeknownst to everyone from the kibbutz that came to the party, except for Liat, Liat’s cousin did the Ulpan at Ma’agan Michael a year and a half ago (ulpan 107, we are 110) , and a lot of the people she invited to the party had done the ulpan with her and lived nearby in Tel-Aviv. I also met a couple other Americans my age who are also taking a gap year and going to college next year. Altogether, it was a very exciting and fun night. The sherut picked us up at 2:45 and we were back at the kibbutz by 3:20; much faster than the bus on Wednesday.

Here is my friend's beard costume I tried on for a picture, I sort of had the right them with cowboys and cacti on my shirt.


We got class off on Sunday because of Purim, but I still had to work in the afternoon.
Today in class we had a giant misebah (party) to celebrate Purim. Luckily, our teacher brought some play costumes for us to use for the party, and I actually found a great costume; a French painter, barrette, palate, and everything. I am planning on wearing it to the kibbutz’s Purim party this weekend.