the holiday season

I'm a bad blogger. Having promised this place is gonna get a new breath of life, I disappeared again and didn't even bother to reintroduce the weekly Music Monday series. The truth is, it's so hard to get back on track after such long break and, quite frankly, I usually have no idea what to write. This doesn't really mean I have nothing to say. Quite the opposite. I'm just stuck sitting with my writer's block and the thought that everything's already been written about the world and his wife and my thoughts will do little contribution to any topic. On the other hand I have never promised a daily update of my breakie, cuppa, Bobek's shit and whatnot. Today I can say die Muse hat mich nicht geküsst but at the same time I keep telling myself it's the holiday season and We all should be busy doing other things trying to stay away from any kind of screen (having said that I keep hitting the reblog and retweet buttons at the speed of a gossip).

Speaking of the other things, lately I've been a bit occupied and fascinated with Israeli kibbutzim (excuse me but I'm not going to lecture You on what a kibbutz is; if You're interested then go and do some research on Your own, it can be a new beginning of Your lifelong romance with Israeli culture). It all started last year during my Ulpan in Haifa. I was on my way back from the German Colony and through the window of my bus I saw something that resembled a little village. A village almost in the middle of the third biggest city in Israel sounds a bit awkward for everyone unless they're from Poland where up to this day We can see allotments is big cities (Warsaw serves as a pretty good example of that and if You want to give Your tongue some exercise try pronouncing 'ogródki działkowe' cause that's allotments in the most difficult language of the world which I call my mother tongue). Anyway Polish allotments have little to do with Israeli kibbutzim in terms of everything. Nevertheless they add up to the even more urbanised structure of our cities and even though I don't own one and never actually wanted, I'm a great fan of them and always admire people who put all their hearts in creating a bit of paradise in this urban jungle (I'm a big fan of greens in the city and could spend my life in the Vienesse Volksgarten). 

Coming back to kibbutzim or this particular one I spotted in Haifa, it was the beginning of my research on this particular form of living together also known as communism in a nutshell (note that here communism has no pejorative meaning given the long tradition of the kibbutzim). I won't dwell so much upon the history of kibbutzim. Just know that Degania was the first kibbutz in Israel (although it is considerd to have been a moshav not a real kibbutz) and Givat Brenner the biggest. Since the beginning of the 20th century the way a kibbutz functions has changed a lot. Apart from the dark episode starring unpayable debts as the main character, kibbutzim have undergone a lot of changes and became more open to the needs of a modern Israeli society (this is a general statement and doesn't apply to every kibbutz). I read a lot of reports on how kibbutzim work nowadays and what strikes me as maybe not odd but definitely surprising is that many of them are great tourist attractions which offer a real lifetime experience (unless Your idea of perfect summer vacation consists only of being a lazy ass and having drinks by the pool while admiring boobs and asses). I also found that some kibbutzim offer summer Ulpans so I almost packed my suitcase for next year, booked a ticket and got on a plane. Just pulling Your leg hah cause I'm still more likely to come back to Haifa to enjoy the best view in the world from Mount Carmel, drinking loads of mint tea and stuffing my belly with falafel. So I probably won't end up in a kibbutz with my 'Hebrew from scratch' coursebook but a visit to a kibbutz is definitely a must. 

In the meantime, before We all end up singing songs and drinking kosher wine in a kibbutz, let me recommed You a classic. Well, maybe not really a classic cause the book is pretty new but anyway it's a really good read for a sunny summer evening. If You want to get inside life in a kibbutz, get Your hands and eyes on a book by the most famous Israeli writer - Amos Oz. The book is called 'Between Friends', reads really well and it's the best way to start Your kibbutz adventure sitting comfortably on the balcony with a glass of rhubarb lemonade (this is not how Israel tastes btw but summer is all about lemonade).