eumelia: (Default)
2008-09-30 11:35 am

News and Olds

Shanah Tovah and Eid Mubarak to those who celebrate Rosh Ha'Shana and Eid al-Fitr on my f-list and the lurkers around.
A good Tuesday to the rest of you, make it a good one, it is a New Moon after all.

For some reason I'm not feeling terribly celebratory.
I could blame it on my period (kind of apt that I began to bleed on a new moon, on one of the most important Holidays of the year), but that always seems like a cop out to me.
I don't know.
Even coffee doesn't taste as nice this morning (*gasp* *horror* I know).

Maybe it's the knowledge that this New Year isn't actually starting all that auspiciously, both at home and Internationally, which in this day and age are the same thing.
Glocalisation anyone?
I mean when you read News about an economic crisis which I know happened, but don't understand why or how, only that the debt that was rising in order to make a profit was too much and now people like my parents need to pay it because private banks are there to act not as a service, but as a for profit company.
Speculative capitalism rose, if you'll pardon the crassness, like erection and pretty much fell the same way.
I'm kind of hoping it stays impotent do that something can be done to recreate the economy, but Blue Pills are in fashion, and it's only a matter of time (which correlates to money and lives) for people to forget this crisis, because once the owners of the mainstream News outlets are no longer quaking... they'll be talking about something new.

It's not just the economy, which as you can see by the abundance of smilies and metaphors I don't actually know much about.
I only feel about it.

I haven't lost hope, my cynical optimism doesn't allow me wallow is apathy about my country as much as it used to. Also since my cynicism is about the current system of governance and social structure and my optimism is about the change that can and needs to be brought about.
The olive harvest is starting this month and unlike last year, this year I'm much more apprehensive.
The tension between the Israeli factions is very, very high.
And you never know if Settlers and their sympathizers will come and disrupt a picking just for the hell of it... which has happened. Not to mention the IDF forces that may or may not be away, or stand around and glare at us like happened last year.
But I'm not really worried about it.
I'm still trying to get other people to come with me, because last year I pretty much went alone and didn't know many people. I probably know more people this year and will make new friends but still, it's nice to be with people you know.
I'm still stoked about the fact that I managed to get my Parental Units to come with me last year!

Another thing that's causing me to be a wee bit down is the fact that I've finally noticed that nothing has really changed. I mean, I feel I've changed, because I consciously refuse to become static. Stasis is much more the mind killer than fear. Fear makes you react, without fear you can't be courageous... you're just stupid.
I'm very wary of this non-change that I see.
That on this side of the fence (wall) life goes on as usual, whole Over There things are also unchanging but are in rapid deterioration.
And under the surface eruption is immanent.

Sorry about the downer.
But what's misery without company right?

Tomorrow is my Nephew's fourth birthday.
There will be a party
Expect a more optimistic and happy entry at some point.

Once again Have a Good New Year, a Happy Eid and a Successful Tuesday.
eumelia: (Default)
2007-11-17 05:46 pm

Exhaustion

Olive picking was fun for the whole family, my folks didn't stay 'till the end, but that didn't matter, at least they came.
I picked, talked politics with a 20 year old anarchist and a 16 year old marxist... when did I turn into my parents where all I desire is to quietly live my life while trying my best not to opress anyone and make a little money to sustain myself, the other people were much the same as I... only significantly older - I felt very old around those two, and I'm only 22!

I thought I was going to go to the Teacher's Demo tonight, but I'm just too exhausted, I can barely look at the screen straight... though no doubt a piece of cake and a cup of coffee will make me feel better, getting on a bus and standing with a few thousand people complaining about our crappy education system doesn't seem to hot to me at the moment.

Next weekend there's a Take Back the Night March and that, no matter what I do that day, I will not be missing.
eumelia: (Default)
2007-11-16 08:19 pm

Helping others is a family thing

I'm going olive picking tomorrow.
And Mummy and Daddy are coming with me.

My siblings don't know what I've done but they suspect I brained washed them somehow, or slipped them a Micky in their coffee at some point.

My family so totally kicks ass!
eumelia: (Default)
2007-11-03 10:03 pm

Olive Branches

I'm not sure how to go about writing about the olive picking today.
I wanted to write something with meaning and stuff like that, but thinking about it, just writing about it most likely meaningful enough.

I didn't know anyone, but everyone was very nice and told me where to go and what to do. It was very sad, the olive grove is cut off from the villages beyond the Wall and only the land owners have permits to move into and onto the land with a donkey and a old tractor, so we were something like 30 Israelis and 6-10 Arabs.
There isn't any "modern" or "efficient" way to pick olives, you pick up a big stick and beat the tree branches until the olives fall down. Problem, the branches are so thick because no one can prune them... you need special permit to prune the trees.
So we hand picked almost all of the olives in the three groves we visited today.
The tarp we used was holey and so many olives fell through onto the ground, eventually we just used our sandwich bags to collect them and someone was smart and brought shopping bags with which we used as well.

The first grove we were in was just adjacent to the Wall and right next to a check-point, there wasn't anybody there except the soldiers on guard duty who pretty much ignored us, but border patrol came to see us in the late morning, they glared a little but gave no problem what so ever, so there were no clashes with authority thankfully.

Some of the trees were so full of fruit, but there was no way to shake them loose other than to climb up and put them in our bags, so up the trees I climbed like a monkey - I don't climb trees, I never liked to and I was never good at it, but these olive trees really liked me, I even sat on the canopy and accidentally hit the people below me as I dropped the fruit onto the tarp they used to collect the olives.

During our break, when I bumped my head on a low branch and fell on my ass (which was funny I'll admit, though a bit humiliating) the Arab man in charge of us, Osama, made us coffee, oh my GD it was so good and I was so caffeinated and energized after I was running around and climbing up trees like a crazy person!

I'm not sure how much we actually helped them, more than they would have gotten otherwise, but there were so few people and so many trees, I just feel horrible for the situation that Wall puts them through.

I came home dusty, dirty, brambled and feeling really, really good.
And tired.