p56 Knowing that I should have the summer free after leaving school before going up to University I decided that the best way of spending this time would be to leave England, and gain some experience abroad, and Israel seemed to be the promised land, offering the most opportunities. Now the best way to spend any length of time in Israel, without accumulating too large a tourist bill, is to live and work on a Kibbutz. The Kibbutz is a form of agricultural commune unique to Israel, where one lives as a member of the community, without earning any money, and with no expenses. In fact, here at K'far Hachoresh, we student visitors earn pocket money of one Israeli pound (about 2/5) for each day worked, which is given as credit at the Kibbutz store, where such articles as toothpaste, soap, stationery, coffee, beer and sweets are purchased. Little need be said about my journey, which was overland as far as Marseilles, and thence to Haifa via Genoa and Napoli, by the Turkish Maritime Shipping Line, which was rather less un comfortable than I had expected, considering the low cost of the passage. The arrival at Haifa was tremendously exciting, even at 5 a.m.; and the view of the city stretching up the slopes of Mt. Carmel from the waterfront, and all around the bay of Haifa is absolutely superb. From the top of Mt. Carmel, the panorama is even more superb, and the view of the lights of the city at night is fantastic. (I must apologise for the apparently excessive use ot superlatives, but this country really warrants it.) From Haifa, I came out to the Kibbutz, K'far Hachoresh, about 2km. west of Nazareth, in Lower (i.e. Southern) Galilee; the Kibbutz is in a beautiful position on the side of a well forested mountain, overlooking the Valley of Yizre'el, and the scenery is superb on all sides. Perhaps the only disadvantape of this site is that the workers have to be taken down to the fields every morn ing (and back each evening) in lorries and jeeps, and meals are eaten in the fields. The working day begins, after a cup of tea, at 6 a.m. and breakfast is at 8 a.m., lunch at noon, with the day ending at 3 p.m., thus leaving us free to enjoy the cooler part of the day, when most people just read or talk, if they have no letters to write. Saturdays and festival days are free, and generally the students arrange a trip somewhere either in a Kibbutz truck (with a driver and picnic lunch), or on foot (or hitch-hiking which is extremely common here). The principal agricultural products of this Kibbutz are sugar beet, fruit (apples and pears as well as citrus), grains and cotton, as well as smallish beef and dairy herds, und a fairly large number of hens, so the work to be done is varied and interesting, even if not always particularly enjoyable (manure is not the pleasantest of commodities to handle). I am not sure whether I should like the life of the Kibbutz permanently, although it is certainly superb for a four month p57