Kibbutz Barkai

Kibbutz Barkai has been my home since last Friday, the 17th. The Kibbutz is located in a region called Wadi Ara. (1 hour North of Tel Aviv). It is surrounded by several Arab villages, mostly inhabited by religious Muslims. The Kibbutz is nothing like I thought it would be! For some reason I pictured it being a huge red barn with animals walking around. The kibbutz is home to a couple hundred families.  It has its own kindergarden/daycare, dining hall, laundry service, and even a pub! My first night on the Kibbutz, me and my classmates grabbed a beer and met a couple Kibbutznicks.

Below are some pictures from a chill place on the Kibbutz where locals come and hang out. 

The program I am on is called Intensive Arabic Semester. I am one of 7 students on the program. Five are from the US, and the other two are from Australia and London.  All of us came to Kibbutz Barkai to learn, or improve our Arabic. We study mostly the spoken dialect of this region, but also have been discussing the recent elections in Israel, and current events in the Middle East. 

There was a voting center on the Kibbutz

Below is the building I live in. I have a roommate, also from the US. Before this program, she lived with a Druze host family in the North, where she learned most of the Arabic she knows now.

The classroom we study in is also a bomb shelter 

Last week we went on a field trip to a nearby city called Umm al-fahem, which translates to "Source of Charcoal." We sat in a local coffee shop, where they also served nargila (Hookah). We conversed in Arabic with a local of the town, Muayid. He explained to us how Arab communities are tight-knit. Until one is married, he/she lives with his/her family. If one decides to leave to study in a University, he/she just about always returns back home.  He said he really enjoys his life in Umm al-fahem.

Tomorrow, me and a couple classmates will be going to another local Arab town to interview a woman about her daily life (in Arabic of course!). Later this week we will volunteer at a local school whose students are both Muslim and Jewish! The school is unique because it is the ONLY one in Israel that is located in an Arab village, opposed to in a Jewish settlement. I am looking forward to exploring the nearby towns and improving my Arabic.

My awesome group I will be spending the next 5 months with :)