“WHAT?!” say you?
Yes... I know it’s damn near impossible to believe that there are some hard components to living on a commune. But, it’s true.
For instance, I share a house with three other people and a room with one of those three. The door to our shared room in our shared house has been broken for oh... three weeks now. In a country where cockroaches are not really seen as a pest problem, I miss having a door to shut out undesirables: bugs, sights, smells, the occasional stray cat etc. And I have a hunch that the kibbutz isn’t going to get that door back on its hinges until well after we leave. Just a hunch.
Additionally, there is this expectation that “what’s mine is yours” or more precisely "what's yours is mine." While I appreciate that things should be shared (sharing is caring) and that personal property can be a problem (I mean, property is theft), I grew up in America. As a middle child. What's mine is mine and what's yours is yours. If I want to share mine with yours (which I do), let me offer it to you. I am not suggesting that all Americans are selfish little shits. I am suggesting that all American middle-children (ahem) are selfish little shits. Thus, the kibbutz mentality just doesn’t jive with me.
That being said it was still a pretty good week on Lotan.
We baked brownies in a solar oven:
We visited an Anarchist Kibbutz (What the hell, right? I just go on the trips I don’t plan them) where they had crazy boob houses:
I went snorkeling in Eilat:
And I made a mug (!):
The finished mug (just for you, Alex):
I’m in Israel for another month and then I think I will welcome the change of scenery as I venture to my second (and last) “I” country for this trip around the world: India.
-Katie
6 comments:
your house sounds like my house! no door on the bedroom, no food is safe from hungry roommates...as a middle child myself, i'm feeling you. but, my house doesn't have bugs. unless you count the worm bin in the kitchen, but you probably have one, too.
anyway, your mug looks awesome.
did the anarchists teach you that property is theft?
Katie Porter!!!
This blog is fabulous. I also received your letter awhile ago- it's so great to be able to know what's going on with you! What a sweet mug. awww
I'm just back from my own month of traveling. Actually not quite back yet, still in NY after a string of missed flights but should arrive in Seattle tonight. I had a great time.. hung on the beach and did tourist stuff and visited with Benji in Barcelona. Then to Morocco to see my sis, traveled all around, to the mountains, camel riding in the desert, staying with various Berber families and eating some kick ass food. I wish I could travel forever like you... instead I have to face reality now. Ugh. I know its easy to get cranky when you're far from home and your boundaries are repeatedly violated (try sitting seven to a taxi as they do in Marrakesh), but consider the alternatives. You could be going back to work. You are so lucky you've got so much more time to explore..
Seattle misses you!
Sig
hang in there kiddo....you have some more travels ahead of you and i hate to say it...but i will anyway....BEANE TOLD YOU SO.
your mug is amazing! in that it made me laugh that little laugh i do when you do something funny and cute. but it did not make me laugh as hard as this: as you can well imagine there is a new setter on our co-ed team (now called, "enlarged to show texture" - that crazy stan). she just graduated from coast guard. she's the most amazing setter i've ever played with. it's fucking awesome. but that is neither here nor there. what is here is that yesterday, we were carpooling to a game and she said, "hey, when I was a freshman (that was your senior year, for the record)... was there a girl on wesleyan who didn't shave her armpits?" ha! ha ha ha! I laughed for about 3 minutes. (and also thought, "knowing wesleyan, there was probably more than one?") You're famous! Unless it wasn't you. But I like to think it was. Yay!
phx - everything i know about anarchism i learned from you and wikipedia.
sig - can't wait to trade travel stories when i'm back in seattle. sounds like you had a rockin' time.
ag - imitating your husband... sheesh.
dink - my armpits make me famous everywhere i go. and knowing the team my senior year, it was me, not marielle. (a better setter than fooch? really? whoa...)
miss you all.
-katie
why have you not posted a photo of your totally cool mug, completed?
alex
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