The End of Michve

Well, on Sunday I went to my kravi (combat) interview, and didn't think I did that great. The other girls and I traveled back to base together and almost immediately went to practice for the tekes. It was crazy hot, and we were stuck in our aleph uniforms.

Our official tzevet photo, mefakdot included

Monday was a rough day. This guy called a kztin miun, or a placement officer, basically hands out sheets of paper to each girl with a list of suitable jobs and then calls them in to have a 90 second conversation with them about what they want to do. I didn't get a job listing (called a manila) because I was already in the running for kravi. But because our Hebrew is on a lower level than most Israelis, most of the jobs that girls got were less than desirable. And the officer didn't particularly enjoy traveling all the way to our base to talk to a bunch of girls who didn't particularly enjoy what he was saying. Like I said, it was rough. A lot of girls came out crying, which was hard to see. I knew that if I didn't get into kravi, I would have to go through the same process, but none of my friends would be there with me, like I was there for them. So I just prayed karma would get me through it, and that these girls' karma would get them different job placements (which actually happens all the time, you get assigned jobs that aren't necessarily listed on your manila). That was most of the day. Most of the boys were at the tzanchanim (paratroopers) gibush (challenge/test), so we didn't have marching practice.

Tuesday was awesome. We spent the whole day just finishing up Hebrew classes, Israeli History classes, everything, and, of course, a LOT of tekes practice. There was this energy in the air because we knew that by tomorrow we would do what is called "breaking distance," which is where the commanders, sergeants, and even the mem mem would tell us their names and a little about themselves. But then, we found out 40,000 reservists had been called up for the operation in Gaza, so a bunch of girls got permission to call brothers, boyfriends, and cousins to find out if they were going. After dinner, my friend and I were on the phone, and then when we finished, MN called us into our tzevet's classroom. There were T-shirts, and lots of letters and notes on each of our desks, which were placed in a circle. We talked about what we knew about each of the mefakdot (all three of them), and stories from our perspective and their perspective from throughout the course. We were all so giddy and kept giggling and not really knowing what to do, because all of a sudden, instead of MN, MH, and MO, they were N, H, and O, not to mention trying to learn all the other mefakdot's names as soon as we left our classroom. Then, we broke distance with the samelet, the mamachiot, and the mem mem. It was such a weird feeling, and I still think to this day I haven't called the mem mem by her name. The second the samelet started to speak, everyone flipped out and started shrieking and clapping, because we knew the least about her and basically treated her like an all-powerful being (well, who's to say she isn't?). All in all, it was crazy fun. So I was on my way to the barracks, telling my mom about my day, when N called me over. I hung up, and she told me I got into kravi! I called my mom back almost right away. I spent most of my free hour just hanging out with mefakdot, getting to know them and sharing stories from the course.

The awesome shirt for our pleuga

Wednesday was the tekes. We spent most of the day practicing, and then when the time came, everything went smoothly. When I first marched in, I saw my kibbutz friends dancing to the (army marching) music in the back of the crowd, so it made for a lot of fun during the whole thing. I wanted to be taking pictures of THEM. N, H, and O took off my shoulder tags, which was one of the more exciting moments of my life! I hugged them right away, which was also something I had never done. At the end, we spelled out a sentence that translates (loosely) to "Our Generation, Our Obligation." Then, we gathered in a huge circle and threw our berets up in the air, which turned out really cool because we had tied blue and white crepe paper strips to the inside. All in all, I was so happy to see all my friends (Ayelet came all the way from Jerusalem, my friend Peleg came, and Sheffy, Allan, Tally, Tamara, and Dikla came from the kibbutz!), and introduce them to my friends on base.

Tzevet Gefen

I was slightly excited

Ahhh 

"Our Generation, Our Obligation"

We were woken up 20 minutes early on Thursday morning and were told to get dressed and be downstairs. We scrambled around, and when we got down, they split us into two groups: one large group, of the majority of the pleuga, and then a group of about ten girls (including myself). They explained to us that the big group was being sent to the south to help the Home Front Command hand out flyers and help old people in the bomb shelters. Our group was being sent home, as we were kravi soldiers and girls whose parents were in the country. We went to breakfast, cleaned the rooms, and distributed whatever undershirts and snacks we had to the girls going south. We said our (long) goodbyes, and then brought down all of our gear to be turned in. Right before we cleaned the classrooms, the other girls finally left. It was really hard to say goodbye because we weren't sure of the next time we were going to see them. When we finished cleaning, they told us that it wasn't safe for anyone to leave the base at the moment, so we needed to sit tight. We watched movies and ate all the goodies my friends had brought me. It was very nerve-wracking. Some girls got permission to leave because they had someone come to pick them up directly from the gate. The rest of us ended up staying overnight.

The next morning, we were sent home, and told to return to base the day before we were supposed to be at Tel HaShomer. So I had free days on Sunday and Monday! That day, I ended up having coffee with my friend Rachel and N, which was so cool to come home and say, "yeah, I just had coffee with my commander, no big deal!" But honestly it was really nice to just chill and have non-base food (and coffee). It was strange that we had only stayed one extra day, but it felt like an extra week.

During my free time, I mostly hung out, got ready, went to the pool, ate with my family, cooked, and enjoyed being on the kibbutz, my home. I even went to a bar mitzvah, which is very different from what I was expecting. It's a class-wide thing, almost like a graduation, but each family is separated and feels a lot like a wedding. The whole class did a play together, which was very cute. The next day I went back to Michve Alon to sign some papers and mostly ended up hanging out with people there. So, that brings us to today! I am writing this in the early hours of the morning so I can arrive on time this afternoon. I don't know the next time I'll be coming home, so I will take lots of notes while I am there so I don't forget anything for the next blog!

Wish me luck today!

There's a new puppy on the kibbutz