The Night I Slept in a Bombshelter

After an amazing weekend at Achlifa Beach near the Lebanese border in the border town of Nahariya Sierra and I packed up out tent, portable fire, our pans, our burnt selves and prepared to leave. We made a friend from the campground who took us to the Nahariya bus station so we could catch the first bus after Shabbas ended. During the two hour bus journey, I poured over the book Exodus (which I highly recommend) but was constantly distracted by the most beautiful man specimen I have ever seen. Tall, dark, handsome and piercing blue eyes – this soldier was whoa. I felt like an 8 year old girl with a crush. Anyways, Itay, Sierra’s boyfriend picked us up at the bust stop to drive us over to his family’s house in Kibbutz Kfar Aza. I got off the bus, turned around and asked Itay, “woah, is that Gaza, that city, like, right there?” “Yep.” He replied. I asked him if he ever got nervous living so close to Gaza. He told me “Growing up it wasn’t so bad, but now, after everything, it’s disturbing.” We rolled through the large Kibbutz and into his driveway. (Even after all my time here, it continues to amaze me how the Israeli’s made this desert bloom.) The fence guarding the Kibbutz was covered with barbed wire and surrounded on the outside with rolls of barbed wire in cylindrical shapes. Peering through the fence, I pointed at the lights, the cars I saw whizzing by in the distance and the activity that seemed so close- “that’s Gaza!” “Yes, Italy said; every year what really scares me is the lights and the buildings of Gaza keep moving closer. I fear one day they may be right outside our fence.” As of now, Kfar Aza is 1.8 miles from the city of Gaza.
We were led into their beautiful home which was empty at the moment with all the Kibbutzniks celebrating Lag BaOmer. Lag BaOmer is the holiday commemorating 7 weeks after Passover and the harvest. In Israel, it’s traditional for all the children to stay up late and make huge bonfires, made barbeques, parades and traditionally, the orthodox children get their first haircut on this day.
We chowed down on barbeque meats and salads while Sierra attended to her intense sunburns. After all the fun, I was offered Itay’s sisters room that was vacant. Leading me through the rooms snaking to the back of the house, they directed me to her room which also happened to be the bomb shelter. One window, the metal blinds closed tight with blue thick walls- my sleeping chamber couldn’t have been more silent. I head nothing and saw no outside light until they woke me up at 8am. Opening the thick bomb shelter shades allowed some light to penetrate the darkness I had slept so soundly in.