Gadot Revisited

map of Gadot and surrounding area

My weekend with the kibbutznikim can be summed up in three simple themes:
1 - food
2 - sleep
3 - education

Though Kibbutz Gadot has been gradually changing its structure in favor of more independence for nuclear families and less reliance on the community, there are still meals from which the kibbutz members can partake. I really just like kibbutz food. You always know that within 4 meals at least one will have schnitzel. That's good enough - but there's more, so much more. Salad bars full of hummus and fresh veggies.
Kibbutz cafeteria food is where it's at.

I slept more than I needed to this weekend, though it was a relaxing detour from city life. Actually I woke up at about 8am each morning I was there. Yes, very impressive. Most of the sleeping came in the form of mid-day naps. While walking from one point to another in the kibbutz I really appreciated the wild life and vegetation. I saw a number of lizards (pretty much the squirrels of Israel, both in numbers and the same type of scurrying around locomotion) and noticed a number of flocks of parrots flying around. Pretty cool. There were also more fruits growing on trees than I had seen in any other one place - dates, pomello, oranges, lemon and a host of spices.

Yehuda and Rina took me to Kesem HaGolan, which is basically a tourist destination in Katzrin, the capital of the Golan. We watched a panoramic movie about what the Golan offers since its development by Israel, complete with special effects - and by that I mean things like a mist in the theater when it rained in the video. That's true interactive movie-making. Coming to a theater in Katzrin near you.
The next part of the museum-esque tour-ish thing was a topographical scale model of the Golan, which presented the geological history as well as modern history of the land and importance it maintains for Israel. Before leaving the center, we had some light snacks (I had schnitzel, of course) and tasted really great beer at the Golan Heights Brewery.

Our last stop before heading back to the kibbutz to conclude my visit was at Mitzpe Gadot, a lookout of the Gadot area. We listened to a solar-powered panel that provided more history on the kibbutz itself and provided a testimony from a kibbutz member who lived through the wars with Syria there. Yehuda also was kind enough to educate me in the rockology of the rocks I found on the lookout point. To give a taste of it, the Golan is on the Syrian-African rift and is home to now inactive volcanoes. My other other education was in the form of Hebrew language. From Yehuda, Rina and their daughter Hagit (as well as others on the kibbutz), I spoke pretty much exclusively in Hebrew for the weekend and accumulated four pages of new words into my 'word treasure' in my notebook. It was a pretty enriching, encouraging experience.

The majesty of the landscape and the abundant amount and variety of activities and sites around the Golan are incredible. I'm looking forward to my next trip back to stay at Gadot and start checking things off my list.