Hashba'ah (Delayed)

I tried posting this two weeks ago, but it didn't work, so here it comes!

This is how I came home last time:

And this is from the beginning of this weekend:

Yup, we got all dressed up in our aleph uniforms for the swearing in that you would never guess what we actually did the last two weeks. Early last week we did the masa samal and earned our gun straps. After, we thought we were headed back to base but they took our watches and we ended up being blindfolded and taken wayyy out in the desert for sada'ut, or field training. Any shetach that we have done before is nothing compared to what we did those three days. We were constantly on guard, only took (really) a few minutes for every meal, slept less than an hour each night, and even had practice operations. It was one of the hardest but one of the most fun things I've ever experienced, somehow. We had no underwear, toothbrushes, nothing for three days, but became closer as a tzevet because we learned to read hand signals and speak with just our eyes. We wore camouflage paint on our faces and within a couple of hours our brand new gun straps looked like we had them for about a year already. The last night they made us crawl about 50 meters. Now, I'm not very good at most things (slowly getting better), but my weakest area is crawling. And it wasn't just any crawling, we were still with all of our gear (vests, helmets) and anything we were carrying (shovels, canned food, etc.). So I got really frustrated and worried I was never going to make it because I was just not making any progress. But then a couple friends finished and came back to join me. And then some people from my tzevet. And then my mefaked. And then more friends and the rest of my tzevet. By the end, there were at least ten people all in a line crawling with me, and for each "step" I would scream "ECHAD!" and everyone would answer "SHTAYIM!" ("One!" "Two!") and when I finally reached the end I grabbed the glow stick marking the finish line and everyone was shouting and clapping for me. My mefaked pulled me aside and shook my helmet and just said, "Kol hakavod." Which loosely translates to "good job," but literally translates to "all the respect." Either way, I've never been as happy or proud of myself as I was in that moment.

When we finally got back to base, I had the unfortunate realization that it was 9/11. We talked briefly about it, but it was still weird speaking about it with non-Americans and especially not even in English.

Guard duty Shabbat morning, check out my cool gun strap!

Cards against humanity with some English speakers (not just olim)

During and after Shabbat, we practiced for what is called the bochen lochem, which is basically a test to see who is considered a lochem, or fighter. I was extremely worried about the written test because it was material my friends had learned in school or at least heard of before, and I was completely lost. The mefakdim and my friends really helped a lot in teaching me a bit of geography and history, but there were still parts I knew I wouldn't pass, like the bochen maslul, or obstacle course. We did a sort of practice that was a contest between the tzevets, a bochen tzevet early in the week, and even though my tzevet didn't win, we had the most fun and got mentioned for having some of the most rabak (basically enthusiasm, giving it your all). And for one of the shooting tests, my mefaked let me use his gun! He told me to switch with him, and I just said, "can I ask why?" thinking there might be a problem with mine that I didn't know about, but he said, straight-faced, "You deserve it," and then hinted at a smile as I put it on and walked back to the shooting range.

The next day, I worked around base pulling weeds and then worked in the kitchen opening cans of tuna, but Wednesday was the big day of the bochen lochem. I didn't pass, just as I thought, but I'll have more opportunities to try. In any case, it was a lot of fun. I missed the whole afternoon because they needed an extra set of hands in the kitchen, but one of my best friends from a different solelah (battery) was also working there. We're not allowed to talk to each other most of the time, so it was so much fun to hang out for an entire afternoon, even if we were cleaning dishes.

Then, Thursday was the tekes hashba'ah! It was amazing how many of my friends came, my kibbutz dad, my stepmom ended up still being in the country, my best friend from Michve surprised me at the last minute, and even my mom woke up at 3 AM to FaceTime in!! It was nice and quick, no speeches or anything, and then I grabbed my friend Jessie from the special forces to join us for lunch because she is also a lone soldier. It was just a great day, and Jessie and I showed off our bruises, tan lines, and hours of sleep (or lack thereof) to prove how much we are real fighters. 

On the way to the tekes, it was our first time off base with our guns (but we still didn't take them home)

Everyone was taking pictures of me while I was simultaneously on FaceTime with my mom

On Friday I went down to Jerusalem and saw my old rabbi from summer camp in Georgia. It was crazy because the last time I saw his daughter she was about 5 or 6 and now is in high school! It was nice to catch up and see his whole family again. I spent most of the weekend with the Muszkats and also visiting the Weissmans, both of whom I hadn't seen in a long time. Now, I am on my way back to base to start our specialty training! Have a good week :)

I made a schnitzel that looks like Israel!