Clean, Chop, Drink Coffee, Fix Stuff, Repeat.

That just about sums up my volunteer duties at the Hai Bar Wildlife Reserve. Seriously though, over the past month I've learned tons of new things: the eating habits and food preparation for 25 different animals, how to build habitats for mice, that roosters are quick little suckers that are almost impossible to catch, and the proper water temperature for bathing turtles, to name just a few.  While I doubt any of these new skills will help me find a job (since I don't want to work with animals), volunteering at the Hai Bar has been a truly unique experience.

A typical day for the volunteers started early (arriving at 7:30 AM), and right away we got to work cleaning all the animals' cages.  Once the animals were taken care of, we went back to the work area to prepare their food for the following day. Around 10 or 11 AM we had a coffee break where everyone would gather in the kitchen and chill for a while.  After the coffee break we were usually split up and assigned random tasks for the remainder of the day.  The work varied a lot but usually involved some sort of cleaning or repair work.  One of the more interesting things I got to do was observe the caracals (a member of the cat family) to see if they would mate.  The Hai Bar has one male and one female who are usually kept in separate cages, but apparently May is mating season so the staff would combine them for a few hours at a time to encourage procreation. They never got down to business while I was on watching duty, but apparently it did happen a few times.  Around 3:30 the volunteers were driven to the bus stop, and we'd arrive back at the kibbutz at 4 PM.   I generally spent the rest of the day lounging around the pool, working out, eating at the dining hall, and hanging around the kibbutz with the other volunteers. Some nights we were completely bored, other nights we found ways to entertain ourselves (making bonfires, playing soccer, drinking...). The weekends were spent travelling to other cities or relaxing and partying at the kibbutz bar.

In a few days I'll be continuing my travel adventures, leaving the Hai Bar and Kibbutz Grofit behind.  I know that working with animals isn't the type of work I want to do, nor is a kibbutz the type of place I want to live, but I'm thankful that I pushed myself to do something completely outside of my normal interests and I think I'm better for it.