Finally a soldier

I have not written a blog in a while, but I finally have a little free time now! I left off at Simchat Torah and talking about going back to America for some time. Well, I arrived back in Israel about three weeks ago now. Now, I am an Israeli Solider. It's hard to believe I am actually in the Israeli army now! When I put on my uniform all I feel is a sense of pride in me and how happy I am to be here. Growing up and coming to Israel for months at a time, I would always see the soldiers everywhere and think to myself, "what if that was me?" or "I couldn't imagine being one." I would always look up to them, and now I am one. The week before my draft date, all I could think about is "what if I can't do it and what did I get myself into, the next two years aren't going to be fun." Of course, the night before my draft date, I did not sleep much. I was so nervous and honestly had no idea what to expect. It's hard to prepare mentally for something like this, except to think positive.

My draft date was December 10th, so only about two weeks ago. The first day, we went to a place in Tel-Aviv all day to just fill out many medical forms, dealing with our bank accounts, receiving our uniforms, and many many shots in my arm (which was really painful!!) This day was very long and tiring. We finally left around 5ish and we all got on a bus to our base. The base was about three hours north of us so it was a long ride. I slept the whole way, which was nice. We arrived to the base around 10pm. We all lined up and separated into different groups. We all had many interviews after this which lasted until 1 am. I was completely dead. I had never been so excited to sleep in my life! We had to wake up around 6 am the next day, which was not fun. So my draft date landed on a Wednesday and I left Friday morning. It was a short week, so that made me happy! Last week was my first full week, and I think it was the longest week of my life. Because of privacy and security I am not allowed to really talk about exactly what we do or where my base is. I am only allowed to talk about certain things. The most I can say is we wake up around 4 am every morning and we have class all day until around 10 at night. The classes are of course all in Hebrew, so I think it is very mentally hard. When you're only receiving a few hours of sleep a night and then you sit in a class all day in Hebrew...your mind starts to space off. I catch myself doing it a lot, but then I do anything I can to stay focused. We have many tests on all the material we learn and you must pass it. So basically all the girls are separated into groups called tzvets. It means unit in Hebrew. In each tzvet, there are probably 10-15 girls. In my tzvet, there are 11. You are with your tzvet all day. We eat together, have class together, run together, basically everything. The girls and boys are separated, so we are with girls all day. I rarely ever see or talk to guys unless I leave the base. My base I am on right now are mostly people from around the world. This base is specially for people not from Israel. I will only be on it for three months and after I will be immersed with Israelis. Anyways, because I am on this base, my tzvet is filled with people from all over. There are about four Russians, two Ukrainians, two from France, one from England, and two others from America. The most difficult about this tzvet is the language. In class many times everyone is speaking their native language, but my mifhakedt (commander) just yells at us in Hebrew saying to only speak Hebrew. It is getting easier, but its still difficult.  Anyways, I am not really allowed to say anything more but I am mentally exhausted! I am finally going to sleep now!:)

Simchat Torah

Last celebration/holiday for a while, but not least....Simchat Torah! In case you are unaware of what this holiday is, I'll give a brief explanation. It's a holiday that celebrates and marks the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings and the beginning of a new cycle. It's always a fun and exciting holiday! We danced and drank with the Torahs all night. It sounds weird, but its eventful! I also ate lots of delicious food before the night began at my family's house on my kibbutz. This weekend is also the last weekend with my whole group before people start drafting into the army. It's unbelievable how fast time went and I'm nervous, but also so excited for this new adventure I am about to experience. I am returning to the United States in November for three weeks and then I begin the army in December. Many people in my group start in November...I just got lucky and have a little free time before I begin! I am sure it will be here before I know it though.......

Experiencing Jerusalem and Bedouin tents

Day 2 of our traveling adventures! Yesterday, we woke up very early and drove to Jerusalem. It is about a two hour drive so it's not too bad. We got there and just explored the city really. I have been there countless times, but it's a beautiful city. We were there from around 10 am until 3-4 pm. We also went to Har Herzl which is a cemetery where all the important people are buried or soldiers who died either in war or just during their service in the army. I have also been to this cemetery multiple times and it amazes me every time. It is really beautiful and it is well taken care of. There are flowers and lots of green everywhere. It is sad reading all the grave stones because most of the people buried there are my age..so around 18-21.

So after our tour of Jerusalem, we drove very south of Israel near a city called Sde Boker. It was about a three hour drive. I was exhausted so I slept for most of the way. We drove to Sde Boker to sleep in the Bedouin tents. This is a very popular and touristy place to visit when you are in Israel. I have been multiple times, not because I want to but mainly because of programs I've done in Israel. The food is always amazing, but I can never sleep well. The tents are really dusty so it makes me sick. I think it's a really great experience to have though. Anyways, so we got there and ate dinner. Afterwards we had a bonfire and just socialized. I was still really exhausted so I just went back to my tent I was staying in. 

In the Bedouin tent!

The next morning we woke pretty early, packed up our stuff, ate, and got on the bus. We went hiking for a few hours somewhere nearby. I am not sure where, but it was fun. It was an easy hike, but it was hot. I enjoyed it though. It was really beautiful and most people would not expect Israel to have such scenery.
 

What a Bedouin tent looks like

After our hike, we had lunch which were just sandwiches we had to make earlier that day. We rested for about an hour and finally left. We then drove to a place called Mizpe Ramon, which is a city in the desert. There is a big crater called makhtesh there. It is also incredibly gorgeous. I could sit there for hours     and just looking at it. It sounds weird, but I have been there many times and the view never gets old! Anyways, after being there for a little bit we drove back to our kibbutz. It was a long bus ride and I was exhausted so I slept. Once I returned I ate dinner and now catching up with everything since we have free time until tomorrow. Tomorrow is another holiday called Simchat Torah. This is another fun holiday and during this holiday there is a lot of drinking and dancing with the Torah. Sounds weird, but like I said it's always fun to celebrate! I'll explain more about it on my next blog!:)

Tiyul

Just in case you were wondering, Tiyul is the hebrew word for trip or going hiking. So the past few days we have been traveling Israel. On Sunday we went to a museum on the Israeli Occupation in 2005. Usually I don't do well with museums because I can never focus, but this was very interesting and I learned so much even though the majority of it was in hebrew. Basically until 2005, Israel occupied Gaza in the same way that it occupied the West Bank. That included Israeli military bases and settlements, communities of Jews living inside Palestinian territory. In 2005, Israeli Prime minister Ariel Sharon decided to withdraw from Gaza.

"Sharon, a longtime hawk and skeptic of Palestinian independence, had concluded that the Israeli occupation was no longer in Israel's interest. Sharon withdrew Israeli outposts and uprooted about 10,000 settlers. It was a hugely controversial move inside Israel, particularly on the political right — the current Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, quit the government in protest. Sharon left control of Gaza to a united Palestinian Authority, governed by the moderate Fatah party from Ramallah, in the West Bank. But that's not actually how things worked out — Hamas quickly became the dominant power in Gaza. That means that Palestinians in Gaza aren't just physically separated form those in the West Bank, they're governed separately as well."

I knew about all this, but I never knew the details to it all. This is just a brief explanation for it, but I can't imagine being kicked out of my home and being forced to move somewhere else. I was also in Israel that year when it was going on. I remember I was young and all the protests going on for it, but I never knew what it was for. Now, its been 9 years and I finally understand. I remember that every one was handing out neon orange strings and we had many of them. We attached them to all our suitcases and we still have them. It's crazy to think all this time later that I would finally understand what it was for and it was actually a huge deal.

After all this, we went to the beach for a little bit and then out to eat for hamburgers in a city called Ashdod. Ashdod is about 30-45 minutes south of Tel-Aviv. They were the best hamburgers ever! Overall, it was an eventful day!

http://www.vox.com/2014/7/16/5904691/hamas-israel-gaza-11-things

Holiday after holiday!

Friends from a program I did in Israel 2 years ago

Hellooo- My life has just been so busy I haven't had time to blog at all until now!! So the week after Rosh Hashana (the Jewish New Year) was Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is one of the holiest holidays of the year. It is a fasting holiday so I fasted for 24 hours. It is difficult, but if you sleep all day then it goes by quickly. Yom Kippur means day of Atonement. I was in Haifa, which is a city north of Israel for this. After Yom Kippur, we had two normal days of learning hebrew and then another Jewish holiday began! The holiday of Sukkot began Tuesday evening and it lasts one week. We are off all week for it, which is nice. Sukkot begins 5 days after Yom Kippur and is one of the most joyous holidays of the year with lots of food! It is such a drastic change from Yom kippur since it is one of the most solemn holiday of the year. Sukkot is always a fun holiday because for the holiday you are supposed to build a tent like model and basically live in it for the week. My family on my kibbutz I live on has a huge one. I helped them build it and we all made many decorations for it. A lot of people in Israel go camping for the holiday as well. I was planning on it, but I went to visit my friends in a city called Ra'Anna. Ra'Anna is a city in central Israel, north of Tel-Aviv. I stayed with them for two nights and it was a lot of fun because I had not seen them in about 5-6 months!

This is what a sukkah is supposed to look like!

My roommate for 9 months on a program I did in Israel two years ago

The months of September and October are busy with many holidays and many things going on! It is the best time to come to Israel because you can really experience all the celebrations and Jewish holidays. 

A little behind...

So I have not updated or written a new blog in a while....I have been beyond busy! So a few things I have been doing: well I received my draft date for the army which is December 10th! I am excited, but also nervous. I think I am ready for it though. I am not sure what I will be drafting into as of now, but hopefully I will find out soon! I first need to pick what I would like to be as my position in the army and request it. Some positions are easier to get than others. There are quite a few jobs I would love to have in the army, but I need to look into them a little bit more. Yesterday, I went to a "job fair" for some of the positions in the army. It was hard to pay attention the whole day because it started around 10 am and ended at 3 pm. Plus, it was all in Hebrew. My attention span in English is already hard, but once you add Hebrew to it than it just becomes a lot harder!

Anyways, I also went to Tel-Aviv this past weekend with friends and it was a lot of fun! We all got an apartment for the weekend and it was right next to the beach and namal (port) which has a lot of restaurants and shops. We walked around a lot and it was the best weekend ever!

hmmm, so I am thinking of what else I have been doing but I can't think of anything except for just Ulpan (hebrew class) every day. It is so difficult to pay attention because we have it from 8:30 until 1 pm every day.

playing around in class

Anyways, I am at my families house for the rest of the week because we are off. Tonight is the beginning of Rosh Hashanah which is the Jewish new year. I am in the city of Ariel which is in the West Bank. Tonight we are going to my family's house in Savyon (near Tel-Aviv) for dinner. It will probably be hectic and tons of people there. I am looking forward to having this week off, so I will have time to actually sleep!! I am going to eat and rest before tonight so have a good day! xoxo

Adventure Time

We have every other weekend off, and this weekend is a closed weekend so we must stay on our kibbutz. We were allowed to leave after class yesterday though until this morning. Half my garin and I decided we wanted to go to Tel-Aviv. Tel-Aviv is the central part of Israel and it is such a fun city on the Mediterranean Sea. We waited about 30 minutes for the bus and it took about two hours to get there. I wanted to take the train there because it only takes an hour, but everyone wanted to just take the bus. When we got there, we went to the beach and just relaxed.

Because we arrived around 5 pm, the sun was not so strong. We stayed for a few hours and then went to the mall to eat and shop for a little bit. My friend Sara and I bought sushi, and normally I do not like sushi so much but it was really good. After this, we took the bus to Yaffo/Jaffa which is the old city of Tel-Aviv. Everything looks old and historic and it is also on the Mediterranean Sea. We walked around for a bit and decided to go to a bar. It was around 11 pm, but so many places were open and there were many people out. Yaffo is more of a relaxed environment to go out in. There are usually older people there at night, where as Tel-Aviv is more of a party city for young people. Anyways, we sat outside and just talked for hours until around 1 or 2 am. I was so exhausted. We checked buses and trains to return to our kibbutz, but there were none until 5 am. We decided just to walk to the beach and we ended up all falling asleep there. We woke up at 5 am though and walked to the bus stop. It was also freezing and I could not wait to be back in my room. We finally got on the bus and we all passed out on the bus ride back! We all returned around 7:30 am. I immediately showered and went to sleep. We were supposed to have an activity at 9 am, but we ended up not having it which was an advantage for all of us. I slept until around 1 pm. I went to lunch, went to the pool to work out, and then we had to clean our house. I am still exhausted and can't wait to sleep tonight! haha

 Tonight I am going to my "adopted" family's house. I am a little nervous to meet them, but I am also excited. I was supposed to receive my host family a few days ago, but they called at the last minute saying they did not want to adopt a lone soldier anymore. I do not think I explained what an "adopted" family is, but it is pretty self explanatory. So my counselors interview and carefully choose family's on the kibbutz who want to "adopt" one of us from now until we finish the army. We go to their house whenever like it is our house, we can do laundry, and we eat dinner with them. It's like our second family! So I am having Shabbat dinner with them tonight! Apparently they have 8 kids, so I am sure it will be an experience! haha Well I need to start getting ready for tonight, but I'll let y'all know how it goes. xoxox