Majdhogynem egy időben érkeztünk Ein Gevbe Larával és Dannel. Az elmúlt bő egy évben lényegében ugyanazokon a fázisokon mentünk át, ugyanazokkal a nehézségekkel és kihívásokkal kellett szembenéznünk. Ez mindenképpen összeköt minket, még ha sok dologban más utat is jártunk. Most viszont végképp elvállnak útjaink - Lara és Dan, és persze két tündéri lányuk néhány nap múlva visszatér Ausztráliába. Felszámolják azt, amit itt keservesen felépítettek és újrakezdik ott, ahol abbahagyták a békés és gazdag Ausztráliában. Ne gondolja senki, hogy ez kudarc! Az adott körülmények között nagyjából kihozták a legtöbbet az "Izrael-projektből" és most új kihívások előtt állnak. Jó emlékekkel távoznak és biztos vagyok benne, hogy szép időszak előtt állnak - már csak azért is, mert Ein Gevből egy életre szóló emléket is magukkal visznek: itt fogant harmadik gyerekük, aki már Ausztráliában fog megszületni.
Haverilag sorozatunkban Dan angol nyelvű vendégposztját olvashatjátok arról, hogy mért jöttek Ausztráliából Izraelbe, milyen volt egy kibucban élni és miért döntöttek a távozás mellett.
Haverilag sorozatunkban Dan angol nyelvű vendégposztját olvashatjátok arról, hogy mért jöttek Ausztráliából Izraelbe, milyen volt egy kibucban élni és miért döntöttek a távozás mellett.
Why we came to Israel?
For as long as I can remember, I have dreamed of living a different life. Don’t get me wrong, I had an amazing life back in Australia. Beautiful wife and 2 daughters, all the extended family, amazing friends, a great job, the list goes on. Plus the luxury of living in an amazing city, in one of the world’s best countries. And still, I yearned for something different. Something slower, more free, with more space, less stresses and more time with my kids.
For as long as 5 years my wife and I had talked about moving to Byron Bay, a small beach town in Northern New South Wales. It was whilst we were there one holiday that we decided it wasn’t for us. Something didn’t feel right, but at the same time we were really disappointed. We were realizing our dream plans weren’t our dreams anymore. And there, on the trip, discussing what our next dream plan would be it came to us out of the blue. What about moving to a Kibbutz. I don’t know why, or from where the idea came. Neither of us were particularly Zionistic, nor religious. And neither of us had spent any time on a Kibbutz before. But no sooner had we muttered the words, than we were sure this was the right thing. 14 months later, having packed up our house, quit our jobs, taken our kids out of day care, said goodbye to our family and friends, and found new homes for our 2 amazing dogs, we landed at Ben Gurion.
For as long as 5 years my wife and I had talked about moving to Byron Bay, a small beach town in Northern New South Wales. It was whilst we were there one holiday that we decided it wasn’t for us. Something didn’t feel right, but at the same time we were really disappointed. We were realizing our dream plans weren’t our dreams anymore. And there, on the trip, discussing what our next dream plan would be it came to us out of the blue. What about moving to a Kibbutz. I don’t know why, or from where the idea came. Neither of us were particularly Zionistic, nor religious. And neither of us had spent any time on a Kibbutz before. But no sooner had we muttered the words, than we were sure this was the right thing. 14 months later, having packed up our house, quit our jobs, taken our kids out of day care, said goodbye to our family and friends, and found new homes for our 2 amazing dogs, we landed at Ben Gurion.
Arriving at Kibbutz
Picking Ein Gev was pretty straight forward for us. All we knew was we wanted to be close to water. There was exactly 1 Kibbutz available to us on the Bayit Rishon Be’Moledet program that was within walking distance of water. The choice was made for us.
Arriving was a shock to our system. A big shock. We had come from a big suburban Australian home, with all the mod cons, in a nice clean suburb. We arrived in 48m2 of a run down apartment, which looked like it was built 50 years ago and forgotten about. Very few cons, let alone mod cons, worn out couch and beds, mouldy bathroom. My wife cried when she saw where we would be living. She couldn’t help but think we had picked up our kids from a beautiful Australian life, and brought them to an Israeli dump in the middle of nowhere.
I think it took less than 48 hours for the shock of our new housing to wear off, and the beauty of Ein Gev to capture us.
Arriving was a shock to our system. A big shock. We had come from a big suburban Australian home, with all the mod cons, in a nice clean suburb. We arrived in 48m2 of a run down apartment, which looked like it was built 50 years ago and forgotten about. Very few cons, let alone mod cons, worn out couch and beds, mouldy bathroom. My wife cried when she saw where we would be living. She couldn’t help but think we had picked up our kids from a beautiful Australian life, and brought them to an Israeli dump in the middle of nowhere.
I think it took less than 48 hours for the shock of our new housing to wear off, and the beauty of Ein Gev to capture us.
A little piece of paradise
It’s hard to describe quite how beautiful Ein Gev is, and quite often people who have been living here their whole lives don’t quite realize it. Living literally on the Kinneret, with huge areas of grass and palm trees (and Eucalyptus trees to make us feel at home) surrounding us, and the Golan right in our backyard with spectacularly changing colours as the sun rises and sets. Almost 18 months later, and I don’t think a single day has gone passed that I don’t look around and think “I can’t believe I live here, its one of the most beautiful places”.
This is what we dreamed
It was always hard for us to verbalise exactly what it was we were looking for in our dreams to get away. But over the last ~18 months we’ve realized this is pretty much it. Life here has been pretty amazing for us. To describe it all is impossible. Freedom excitement & independence for the kids, beautiful community feeling, outdoor lifestyle, making new friends, much more time with the kids, stress-free (almost) living, the list goes on… It was everything we were looking for and more.
It’s not all smooth sailing
Of course to say everything was smooth sailing would be wrong. Life anywhere has its ups and downs, and being without family and friends’ support, in a new country 24 hours flying time from home, in the middle of nowhere is always going to provide some challenges. Watching the kids spend the first few months very unsettled and struggling to make new friends because of a language barrier was very tough. It really made us question if we were doing the right thing (this settled quickly and now we don’t know how we will ever pry them away). Good work is very hard to find this far North. Anything administrative makes you want to pull out your hair. The summer is hot. Very hot. July/August are almost unbearably hot. We had gone from a city of amazing food and nightlife to the chadar ohel and the kibbutz pub – enough said. And of course, there is the elephant in the room, the issue of security. Still, everything considered, the positives far far far outweigh any of the downsides.
The dream is over
We have made the very difficult decision to go home. I was offered a job in Australia that I just couldn’t refuse. And, not being in the position to commit to a long term life here, giving up the job was too big a risk. But, since making the decision, not a day goes past that we haven’t questioned whether we are doing the right thing. Everything about being here we, and the kids, love. This was our dream for years, and finally having realized it, leaving after only 18 months feels too soon. The decision of living a life with a fantastic quality of life but concerns of future prospects for jobs, our kids education, etc. vs going back to ‘our old regular life’ but one in which we are secure and can offer our kids so much is not an easy one. And one we continue to debate even today, 12 days before our flight home. But we leave with a real taste of our dream now, not just thoughts. And who knows what will happen next...
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