Sunday in Tel Aviv

So since we had Friday and Saturday off, Sunday is the start of our work week. It makes sense since it is the start of the week and all. I was able to sleep in a bit which was crazy good. I did not hear the rooster this morning, not sure if he sang or not but I heard nothing, door open and all. Oh yea, we sleep next to the chicken pen with the door open.

I got out of bed around 7 and started work around 8. I weeded the last bed and am so glad that I am done for now. I have begun to enjoy picking the weeds that I hate the most. They are flat to the ground and prickly and just evil really. I like to pick them though and get the root as a kind of revenge for them leaving invisible pricks in my fingers.

I then started to remove empty pots from the nursery but Jonathan came out and told me that I did not have to. I helped him to make a new flower bed. We lined up the sticks and then made a ditch. I am not going to lie, this was torture. I do not have good upper body strength so the hoe did not help much. I was given a shovel and with flip flops, again I felt I was not doing anything. It reminded me of the time that I went to Alabama to work on a house for Habitat for Humanity and I was teamed up with Justinian and I would put the nail in, hit it twice and then when it would go now more with one whack he got it all the way in. Good team work to make up for my inability to hammer with enough force.

Jonathan saw my torture, which is more or less just me feeling that I am not helping. I mean I am working and barely anything is getting done. I tried to think of it as my arms and back day at the gym but that helped none. He told me that I could rake so I raked away. When I was finished I was then shown how to make dirt bricks for the mud house that they are going to make so that Amir can sell his produce. I made about 6 bricks in 2 hours by getting red clay/dirt filling a wheelbarrow and then filling that with water to turn it to mud. Then I got sand and cut straw. I moved some mud to a big barrel and got in, stepping in it. I added some sand and straw and then continued to stomp. When I was done I filled rectangular flower pots with the concoction and turned it onto a wooden flat to dry in the sun.

After that it was time for me to be done for the day. I like getting up early and finishing around 12-1 in the afternoon, it is a good life to work and then actually have time to enjoy the day. I headed to the kitchen and for an hour cooked in a tiny spot cauliflower, sweet potatoes, carrots, eggplants and onions. Then I picked some fresh oregano, rosemary and basil and headed back to the kitchen. I mixed the rosemary with the eggplant and the oregano, put salt in the sweet potato and carrot mixture, began the rice, cut up tomatoes, added pepper to the cauliflower which the lid was not on so it poured out and then mixed all of the veggies together (minus the tomatoes. I made a tomato and basil side salad and voila I was done. It was a delicious meal to end a hard working Sunday.