Bedouin Hospitality

Last week for our Tuesday family outing group, we visited a Bedouin village a few minutes drive north of Yeruham. We were welcomed into the home of a woman named Salima who regularly receives school groups and others interested in learning about Bedouin life and culture. Here is a photo of Salima's house.

Salima led us into a large shelter in her yard where she receives groups. She explained that many people expect tents when they visit Bedouin villages but that no one lives in tents any more. She served us all sweet tea that she made on the wood stove in the middle of the tent.

Her son served the tea.

Salima answered all of the children's and parents' questions about Bedouin life.

She showed us a traditional mortar and pestle

and grinding stones to grind grains to make flour.

She invited us to look around her house.

Here is a photo of her kitchen.

There is a playground in their yard.

The family obtains electricity to power the television and washing machine and oven from solar panels in back of the house.

Here is an almond tree in bloom in Salima's yard.

Salima's daughter Balsam posed for a photo with Medad and Margalit. Balsam told me she wants to be a lawyer.

Salima prepared home made pita bread for us for snack.

She cooked the pita bread on an inverted pan over a fire.

Here's what the pita looked like when it was ready to eat.

Yum!

We watched from Salima's back yard as the sun went down over the Yeruham industrial zone.

Sailboats in the Desert?!

This week we traveled a half hour south of Yeruham to the Tzin wadi. A wadi is a channel  carved out of the desert by rainwater. Wadis are dry most of the time and then fill with water when it rains. It rained yesterday, so the Tzin wadi had water running through it. 

In this photo, you can see how the water carves out the rocks.

We explored the wadi.

These three children appeared to be getting into mischief, but their parents were nowhere to be seen.

Here's a cactus that is common to the area.

We made boats to sail in the pools of the wadi.

Here's Medad launching his boat.

And Margalit.

And Rachel.

This little boy wanted more adventure than mere sailing.

Amidst all of the fun, Margalit lost ANOTHER tooth. That makes five. We were planning on letting her pierce her ears for her upcoming seventh birthday. But at this rate, we may need to save up and get her dentures instead.

We saw a beautiful mermaid in the wadi.  (A wadimaid?)

As it got dark, we headed home.

Guess What Asher Brought Home from Preschool Last Week?

This week's adventure has been learning about and treating head lice. Asher brought the little critters home with him from preschool. Head lice are very common here among school children, and when we told our friends, they let us know that we are now full members of the community. It seems we have, so to speak, gone native.

For those who don't know, head lice are tiny parasites that infest human hair, proliferate, and feed off of blood in the scalp. We have been using special lice combs to get them out. Here are is what our anti-lice implements of destruction look like:

Here's what head lice look like at different stages of development:



If not combed out, lice can grow quite large and become a significant threat to public safety:

At least we are not alone. Here's a photo of one of our neighbors checking her daughter for lice after school today.

Now if this blog post is making you itchy, you should know that the London Telegraph reported a scientific study this week finding that itching is contagious, like yawning. According to the study, "there must be a central brain mechanism responsible for the generation of the itch sensation in the absence of stimuli." Researchers believe that "simply thinking or reading about a person who is scratching is enough to trigger to the response."

Just to be safe, however, you might want to go out and buy a good lice comb ...

Purim !!!

This past week, we celebrated Purim, the Jewish festival commemorating Mordechai and Queen Esther's triumph over the evil royal advisor Haman who plotted to kill all the Jews of Persia. The story is recounted in the Book of Esther, which we read in synogogue on the holiday.

Purim started on Saturday evening, at the close the Sabbath. On Friday, all of the children of Yeruham wore their costumes to school.

Medad was a cowboy.

Margalit was a witch.

Asher was a Bakugan warrior. (A Jewish Bakugan warrior with a Bucharin kippah, that is.)

The other little girls in the neighborhood dressed up as princesses and the Holy Sabbath Queen. Our daughter was a witch.

Here is Asher's preschool teacher, Maggie. Maggie is dressed as a Jewish leap year, which has an extra month. (This year is a leap year.) This is known in Hebrew as a "pregnant year."

This little boy in Asher's class was dressed up as the Cohen Gadol (High Priest) as described in the book of Exodus.

And here is King Achashverosh of the Purim story.

Saturday evening, we went to our synagogue, Afikim B'Negev, where we all recited the prayers in the synagogue courtyard to end the Sabbath and begin the festival of Purim.

And then there was dancing ...

and a potluck dinner ...

and a family talent show inside.

The theme of this year's talent show was Bible stories. Many families particpated with songs, dances, and skits.

And acrobatics.

Here's the mayor of Yeruham as Pharoh.

And here's the Lytton/Anisfeld team performing "Famous Sticks from the Bible"--four scenes featuring sticks: Moses splitting the Red Sea with his staff (pictured below), Aharon's staff sprouting almond blossoms, Bilam striking his donkey with a stick, and Achashverosh holding out his royal scepter to Esther.

And then there was more dancing.

The next day, as is customary on Purim, we delivered packages of food to friends and neighbors.

Here's all the food that was delivered to us during the course of the day.

And we ended the day with a festive meal with our friends the Deutch family.

Sliding Down Sand Dunes & Descending into a Desert Canyon

March has been a great month for exploring the desert. Last week, with our weekly family desert outing group, we went to a nearby sand dune.

All of the children had a great time running up and down the dune (without shoes, of course).

There was also some sliding down the dune.

(In case you are wondering--no, we haven't gotten the sand out of the washing machine yet.)

While the children were making their tracks in the sand, I noticed these tracks in the sand. Can you guess what made them?

I followed the tracks and found the answer.

Medad and Margalit drew pictures in the sand.

We played at the dune until dusk.

This week, we went to a canyon near Yerucham called Ein Avdat.

As we descended into the canyon, we met some rams.

Here's the view from inside the canyon.

And here are our intrepid travellers.

(No, we have not gotten the limestone out of the washing machine either.)

We never trek without sticks.

In the canyon, we painted watercolor landscapes.

And we watched the sun go down.