Nevertheless, once the coast was clear, we would go out and explore the sand dunes near the Jordanian border on the other side of the kibbutz. There, we would find beautiful patterns on the sand dunes created by the rainfall, which I took a lot of photos of!
When I hiked in the nearby area, I would find a lot of different minerals and rocks, especially quartz, both the clear and rose varieties. These rocks would usually be very easy to find after rainy days, when the flash floods would sweep through, carrying the quartz across valleys and sand dunes. At one point I had quite the collection of rocks from all my hikes!
The main language I heard being spoken at the kibbutz was Hebrew, but given that the kibbutz is home to a multicultural community, I could also hear English and Russian when I walked around. I could see all three languages on the food brands available at the local store, as well as in general announcements posted on bulletin boards across common spaces in the larger kibbutz area. Arabic was also spoken by many of the students in my program. When travelling outside of the kibbutz, signs would be in Hebrew, Arabic, and English.
In the kibbutz and in the cities I visited, they use Israel’s currency, the Israeli shekel. More or less an equivalent to the American cent is the agora or, if more than one, agorot. 100 agorot makes 1 shekel—similar to the way in which 100 cents makes 1 dollar.
