A tour of Kibbutz Yotvata

Yesterday (Wednesday) we took a fabulous tour of Kibbutz Yotvata, the oldest kibbutz in this area, which is located about a half-hour drive north of here, up the Arava (the valley of the border between Israel and Jordan from the Gulf of Eilat/Aqaba up to the Dead Sea).

Our guide was Moti, a long-time member of the kibbutz. We learned so many things, but I'll try to tell you only about some of them. We drove around the kibbutz as he told us about its history and mode of government (the most democratic possible!).

Then we parked and visited the cows and the factory where the milk products are packaged for shipment. It's truly an amazing operation that they have! Virtually EVERYTHING is computerized: the composition of the cows' food to maintain proper nutrition while minimizing costs, milking the cows, the processing of the milk, packaging the milk products into the containers you see in the stores, putting the containers in packages, putting the packages onto pallets, etc. Moti said that one of their key objectives is minimizing the amount of human labor required.

For example, in the milking room, the cows walk one at a time onto a HUGE carousel that is very slowly turning. As soon as a cow is in place, there are 2 workers who hook her tits up to the milking machine. The compter takes care of the rest (I suppose there was at least one person on the other side to unhook them): identifying the exact cow based on a device she wears, sensing when she is dry and turning the suction off, and recording exactly how much milk she gave. The cows are milked in this fashion three times every day. The computer knows about every single cow, including who her parents and grandparents were!

A couple other examples were the robots we saw in the milk processing factory. One of them was actually designed by a student at the regional school located at Yotvata as his 12th-grade project! Another of them, which was actually working during our visit, was picking up 6-packs of bottles of chocolate milk (the signature product of Yotvata!) 3 at a time (18 bottles) as they came off of the line from the machine where they had been filled and sealed. It then turned around about 180 degrees and deposited them at the correct position on a palet. When one level of the pallet was full, the robot picked up a separator board and put it precisely on top of them so that another level of 6-packs could be placed. When the pallet was full, it automatically proceeded to the next machine, which picked it up and turned it round and round, wrapping it in plastic shrink wrap to keep it together for shipping. We saw only two workers on the floor making sure everything was going fine.

From the milk factory, we continued our tour on the other side of the highway (Highway 90). This is where Yotvata's fields and palm groves are. This is also the area where they do various plant science experiments. For example, they had several rows of palm trees that were growing in HUGE round containers that were actually on scales. The trees got varying amounts of water of varying levels of salinity (salt content). The water they got and the amount they actually used is all very carefully measured (that's the reason they're on scales), and it was obvious that the trees receiving saltier water weren't growing as fast. Moti said they were also less productive.

Another ongoing experiment of theirs involves growing various flowering plants, both local natives and species from other arid area of the world. The goal here is to find, breed, and develop plants that look nice in landscaping but require very little water (what we called "xeriscaping" in California). Here's a picture of part of that area, where you can truly see the desert blooming!

Yotvata's fields and palm groves go right down to the Jordanian border. On the other sides, you can see the sand dunes, showing us exactly what the entire area looked like originally. Once Jordan and Israel had signed their peace agreement, the Jordanians began to ask why none of this kind of work was happening on their side of the Arava. Gradually, they developed a relationship with Yotvata whereby the kibbutz helped them develop agriculture in Jordan. At first, the kibbutz members had to travel almost all the way to Eilat to cross the border at the crossing located there. The Jordanians had no trouble with the idea of them simply entering Jordan right at Yotvata, but the Israeli government was naturally worried about the possibility of smuggling and infiltration. So, they worked out a system that allows 11 members of the kibbutz to cross, using 2 keys, one that they have and one that a Jordanian official on the other side has. Jordan even built a guard station on their side, NOT to protect Jordan but to protect Yotvata!

It really was a fascinating tour, and it was amazing and inspirational to see what this kibbutz has accomplished and continues to do. I highly recommend it!

More "Egyptians" from the mall

This morning, when I stepped out my door (into the 4th-floor lobby of our building), here's what was lying right in front of it:

It seems that the friendly Egyptian woman from the mall has now brought 3 of her friends right to our doorstep, literally! Just above the 4 Egyptians in the picture, it says, "The management of Mul HaYam (the name of the mall, which means "by the sea") wishes the residents and guests of Eilat a Kosher and Happy Holiday of Freedom." Interestingly enough, the big sale that they're advertising ends TODAY, so the flyer is really a little late, don't you think?

Happy Passover from ... an Egyptian?

Pesach (Passover) in Israel can be very interesting. Some examples:

• כשר לפסח kasher l'pesakh Kosher for Passover bread! Yes, at nearly all the restaurants that regularly serve bread, such as the popular chain Café Café.

• כשר לפסח kasher l'pesakh Kosher for Passover pizza! That's what we ate at the local mall today, and it was at least as good as regular pizza.

• the hanging sign right in the middle atrium of the local mall, shown in this picture, which I snapped yesterday:

Perhaps this is just the triumph of capitalism over everything, but there's something slightly unsettling about a picture of a traditional Egyptian with the words חג פסח שמח khag pesakh sameakh ("Happy Passover Holiday") emblazoned on her dress! Of course the bags saying "Fashion Sale" would be pretty normal at virtually any mall in the world and at any time of year deemed appropriate.

The outdoor gym (and the walk back home)

Eilat is truly an amazing place! Within easy walking distance from our apartment are not one but TWO free outdoor workout areas!

The one in these pictures (a 20-minute walk away) is slightly further than the other one, but it has more machines. It's located right next to דרך הרים Harim Road, which skirts around the edge of town. This first picture shows an overview of the gym, with the hills of Eilat in the background:

In this second picture, you can see the machines on the north side (that's David sitting there on the bench):

In this picture, you can see the machines on the south side:

Here's a closer view of a couple of the machines (with others in the background, of course):

The walk to and from the gym is beautiful, too. Here's a view from the bridge over נחל שחמון nakhal shakhamon ("Shakhamon Wadi"), looking up the wadi. Notice the lovely varied colors of the very dry hills.

Here's a view the other direction, looking down the wadi at the Gulf of Eilat, the Aqaba port on the other side, and the Mountains of Edom behind it:

Here's a view taken from the south end of the bridge. In it, you can see the northern end of the Gulf, the luxury hotels in Eilat, most of the city of Aqaba (in Jordan), and more of the Mountains of Edom behind it:

This picture was taken from the same spot as the last. It shows 5 of the 6 very tall apartment buildings located at the north end of the Shakhamon neighborhood (our neighborhood). These are located next to Harim Road and the big traffic circle from which Highway 12 goes up out of town and into the Eilat Mountains.

Finally, here's the view looking down our street (עין יהב Ein Yahav) from Harim Road towards the Gulf:

Eilat is not only warm and sunny, but also beautiful and very well-planned. We love it here!

Fattal taxis

There's a taxi that's frequently parked in our parking lot. I assume the driver must live here somewhere. Anyway, I had a little chuckle when I looked at the company logo on the flank of the car:

As I've walked around town, I've seen this same logo on other cars. In fact, it's probably on hundreds of taxis here in Eilat. Of course, only one word is written in English letters. It's "Fattal", which looks dangerously close to "fatal" to me, and, in fact, by combining the Hebrew spelling and the English spelling, we can be pretty sure it is pronounced like the French version of the word: "fatale" (you know, as in "femme fatale").

The rest of the Hebrew isn't much better, either. The literal transliteration of their logo would be: "For uniquely spoiled people." Of course, I think it really means something more like "pampered people".

Inside our apartment

Now that we've gotten unpacked, I decided to take some pictures to show you the inside of our apartment. When you enter the apartment, the hall is directly ahead of you after the living room on the left and the kitchen on the right.

Here's the view looking down the hall. The first doorway on the right is to the bathroom. The second on the right, which you see opened into the hall, is to the office, which is also our "safe room" (meaning it has heavily reinforced walls, a metal door (the one you see), and a metal panel that can be rolled out of the wall to cover the window). The doorway on the left, which you can't really see but you CAN see the light streaming from it, is to the bedroom. That's Peachy, our female calico cat, who is about to go into the bedroom.

Here's the view of the living room looking left after just entering the front door. You can see David sitting at his computer on his desk, and you can see our large front window, which faces southwest. Peachy is also in this picture, sitting on the coffee table at the left. This is a bit ironic, since, if you actually VISITED us here, she would disappear somewhere and it would be quite unlikely that you'd even see her at all!

If you go into the living room and look left, here's the view of the balcony that you see. The balcony has a roof, but there are small gaps between the slats, so it's not intended to be water-proof. On the left, you can see my bicycle (which barely fits, in "wheelie" position, in the elevator with me, saving me from having to carry it up and down 72 steps!). On the right, along the edge, you can see the 3 cat dishes. The balcony is where the cats have to stay at night so that they don't scratch the bottoms of the bathroom or bedroom doors trying to get to us. Their litter box is also out there. Of course, on the rare occasions when it actually rains here, we'll have to bring them and their box in.

Going back to just inside the front door and looking right instead of left, here is the view of the kitchen. Actually, this isn't quite all of the kitchen. The counter continues left from what you seen here, and there's a place for the oven (which the landlords have promised but have not yet delivered to us) with drawers below it and cabinets above, including a nice one for our microwave oven! And there's more -- to the left of that but separated by a wall is our laundry room. It's tiny -- there's just room for our dryer stacked on top of our washing machine and some shelves and cupboards; it's so small I couldn't even get a decent picture of it for you, but it's very efficient and convenient. The window you see in this picture faces northeast, giving us a nice view of Aqaba, Jordan, and the Edom Mountains along the other side of the Arava (the valley between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea; north of there, it's known as the Jordan River Valley, but that's FAR, FAR from here!).

Here's the view of our spacious bathroom. The toilet is politely out-of-sight to the right of this picture. The window opens into the laundry room. The landlord will soon be installing a shower curtain so that we can take showers without get the whole room wet. In the mean time, we've been taking baths instead.

It's hard to show a good view of my office because I've packed it very efficiently with plastic cabinets (4 tall ones and one half-height one) and bookcases (5 of them). But here's a view of my desk (which I bought MANY years ago at a thrift shop in Redlands for the princely sum of $10! What I LOVE about it is its HUGE desktop space, which allows me to have large books or papers on it between me and the computers. This was useful for grading papers when I was in the States, and it's also very useful here for placing the printed Berlitz materials in front of me while teaching. Immediately to the right of the desk, you can see one of the tall plastic cabinets.

Here's a view looking across my desk towards the window, which is open (it has a screen). The heavy metal cover for the window is completely out of this picture. In fact, most of it is rolled into the wall to the right of the picture. But, in case of an attack, it could be rolled all the way across the window and locked shut. This window also faces northeast, with a slightly better view than from the kitchen window. From here, I can also see the luxury hotels right at the end of the Red Sea. Also, in this picture, you can see the half-height plastic cabinet, which I deliberately placed in front of the window so that the cats can get up on it and look out at the pigeons (oh, how they LOVE birdies!).

So, I hope these pictures give you some feel for our apartment. I didn't get a picture of the bedroom that was good enough to show you. The bed fills most of it anyway, but its coolest feature is a large built-in closet/clothes cabinet across an entire wall, with 3 rolling doors that are completely covered with mirrors. The actual clothes hanging space is a bit limited, but there is plenty of space on the various shelves for ALL our clothes, shoes, and even some bedding and pillows!

A hike in the Eilat hills near us

Our unpacking process is beginning to wind down now, since we're virtually all done. So yesterday I decided to take a little hike in the hills back of Eilat near our house.

The road that marks the border of Eilat is only 2 short blocks up from us, so I was into the desert in no time at all. I had spotted the cut of a dirt road going up the side of the hill, so I figured out where it started and headed on up it. Here are some spectacular panoramas of Eilat and beyond from up there.

Here's the view looking about south-southeast. The view includes most of שחמון Shakhamon, our neighborhood. Our building is quite near the center of this photo, but it would be hard to be sure exactly which one it is. The כיכר kikar ("traffic circle") a little to the right of the center is the intersection of our street, עין יהב Ein Yahav, and דרך הרים Derech Harim. The barely visible land on the other side of the Gulf of Eilat (or Aqaba) at the extreme right of the picture is probably far enough south to be in Saudi Arabia. A little to the left of the center is the green strip that I wrote about before. If you look really closely, you may be able to see a modest cruise ship docked in the port of Eilat.

Here's the view looking approximately east. The green strip is barely visible at the right. The כיכר kikar ("traffic circle") in this photo is the top of עין נטפים Ein N'tafim (also the name of the local water company!), the next main street north of ours. The left of this picture is dominated by 3 of a group of 5 of the tallest apartment buildings in town (20 stories!). They are right at the northern corner of the neighborhood. In the distance (but right above the tall buildings in this picture) is the luxury hotel district of Eilat, right at the northern end of the Gulf of Eilat (the eastern branch of the Red Sea). Behind them, even further away, is the city of Aqaba, Jordan (which is why they call this the "Gulf of Aqaba"). Behind Aqaba, of course, are the mountain of Edom.

Here's the view looking northeast. The tall buildings are just barely OUT of this view on the right. The large כיכר kikar in this picture is where highway 12 heads out of town. It first goes west and northwest up into the mountains of Eilat and then heads north. For some distance, it follows very close to the Egyptian border before turning and intersecting with highway 40. This is probably why it is currently closed just after going through a pass in the mountains. Anyway, in this picture you can see most of the rest of Eilat.

I hiked back along highway 12, since the dirt road I was following connected over to it.

There is almost NO vegetation of ANY kind in the hills here, but I did see this one interesting plant along the highway on my way back. I suppose this is the flower, but it could also be a group of leaves, since I didn't see anything else green on the plan at all!

As I was approaching the city again, I heard a pounding sound. It seemed to come from the direction of the tall buildings. As I looked more closely, I figured out what it was. As you can seen in the picture on the right, they are building a wood roof over the the top מרפסת mirpeset ("balcony") on one of the tall buildings. Look even closer, and you'll see that there's a worker up ON the sloped roof! Now, I like heights and high places, but THIS job would be a little too scary even for ME!