Lotan Update

Wednesday was a more, 'normal,' day for us on the kibbutz.  We had a class on Reform Zionism with a kibbutz member, Ulpan classes, and worked on the mini-golf holes we are making.  Later that night, a bus took us, along with others from Lotan, to a memorial service for Yizhak Rabin near Yotvata.  The service itself was in Hebrew, but then we had discussion groups in both Hebrew and English.  Thursday was more of the same, until about 4pm.  Then, we had a tearful good-bye as we left the Southern group.  We had made them all cards, so we presented them, and then all hung around talking and comforting the friends we won't see for a very long time.  At 4:30, a bus came and took the Northerners to Eilat for the night, and as we drove away the Southerners left us with a sight we will never forget.  After the hour long bus ride, we got to Eilat, settled into our hostel that we pre-booked, and left for dinner.  On our way, however, 8 of us got piercings.  Ben, Benjy, and Jess got their eyebrows pierced, Becca got her second holes done on her ears, Alyson and Naomi did their noses, Abby got a little bar put through an inner part of her ear, and I got my belly button pierced.  From there we went to dinner, and most of us could barely move after all the great food we had eaten.  We went back to the hostel and took naps, and then went out for the night.  The next day, we lazed around on the beach for hours, only getting up to go swimming or for lunch.  Half of us left on the noon bus back to Lotan, but some (myself included) opted to stay and return on the 4:00 bus.  However, when 4 o'clock rolled around and the bus didn't, we realized that the noon bus was the last one.  Naomi, our fluent Hebrew speaker, bargained with a taxi driver to get us a very low price, so we rode back in two taxis.  We attended the Friday night service for the bar mitzvah of a kibbutz kid here, it was a really nice service.  Today, most of us slept in, but were sure to wake up in time for the elaborate lunch that was provided in honor of the bar mitzvah.  After, a few of us went on a walk to the sand dunes, and then it was time for the weekly soccer game (no injuries!), and now we're enjoying our Shabbat lazy time!
Kibbutz life is great, and I'm definitely going to miss it when we leave next week.