So we've officially started our specialty training! The technology I have been assigned is extremely confidential so these posts might seem vague or spotty, but it'll work out.
I'll be making up for this.
And for real Nutella from said loved ones
At the best (?) time possible, I have an injury in my ankle. It was a sprain that slowly and surely escalated so being in the classrooms helped a bit. Unfortunately, because of that, I missed a masa right before Rosh Hashanah. Everyone earned their dog tag covers, and I worked in the kitchen instead. It was my first Rosh Hashanah in Israel, and the first night I worked in the kitchen, which was actually a 100% Israeli experience (not only closing base first RH in the army but also kitchen duty). I was there with some friends and made friends with the kitchen workers so parts were really fun.
We went back to the schedule, with classes and tests. What this meant for me was a bit more complicated. Getting the help I need is a bit frustrating and a long process, but I've pushed enough that we've got some sort of system. I take the class, remind them I have no idea what is going on, I take the class again privately (which can take as long as the regular class), and then I take the test with someone helping me read (and sometimes type). Or, I skip straight to the private lesson, and then take the test. Because we hadn't figured all this out at the beginning, there were some lessons I was never caught up on or missed completely. As a result, I had to take the tests regardless (and obviously failed). The second week I ended up learning all the material and acing the tests. Because I don't understand the power points, I take notes in my simplified Hebrew to study from later. What ends up happening, ironically, is that sometimes I help the other people in my tzevet study and learn the material.
Since our palga's tzevets are split up by technology, we are with our tzevet 24/7. As a result, we are getting closer every day, and not just us. We spent a lot of time with the samal (he actually personally taught me 1.5 hours' worth of material because everyone else was busy). He played a horrible trick on us. There is this "chocolate flavored" spread that we eat on breaks called choomy. He took an empty Nutella jar, filled it with choomy and simply brought it into the room and gave us a 7 minute break. We were so upset when we opened the jar because even though they look the same, choomy has a distinct smell...a disappointment, but it got eaten anyway.
Another way we have fun is keeping things light. Something called a "pakal" is something that is necessary (which is why push-ups are often referred to as "pakalim"), but the commanders sometimes like to give random stuff to us and tell us it is a pakal and we have to carry it around everywhere. During RH, someone had to carry a pomegranate and tell everyone it was actually an apple. Our tzevet has a mango that we wrote all our names on and the name of our tzevet. We had to tape string onto it and someone even took it home over the weekend to keep in the fridge. I guess these things teach us to take care of stuff, no matter how dumb or silly it seems. But it is still very weird carrying a green mango around base and taking guard shifts, even. Even so, it lets us be a little silly when all day we are inside learning about serious, complicated stuff.
Speaking of, it will be two weeks before we go back to classes! We are in Jerusalem this week, through sukkot, to learn about Israel and the army. We were already in Jerusalem on Thursday, when we did our tour of Har Herzl and Yad Vashem. It was most people's first time on uniform, but for me and Elisheva it was our first time as combat soldiers, which still gives a higher meaning. Har Herzl was very hard. There were so many fresh graves from the operation (including several lone soldiers with whom I had one or two degrees of separation), and my maflag actually had a friend buried there from a few years ago. We were the first visitors for one grave, a veteran of the operation, who had committed suicide a few days earlier. These are the things that come with being a combat soldier. The distance between us and those that died shrinks. That's what makes it so important. If we don't do our jobs, who will? It is a privilege to have the opportunity to just be considered a soldier of the IDF, not to even mention being a lochemet. And that's the feeling they are trying to teach us this week in Jerusalem. We are going to be learning how to be proud to serve in the IDF and then when we return to base for Shabbat we will learn about pride and importance of our technologies. I hope that after this week more people will feel the same way I do, and the other olim do, and the way my friend Tom feels, and the way one of my mefakdot feels. And it's not a feeling of wanting to be a combat soldier because you've always dreamed of being in Golani, it's a feeling of wanting to do the most and give all of yourself to help protect Israel and her citizens. It's a feeling of preserving our country for the Jews around the world for when they are in a tough spot, or muster up enough courage, or visit Jerusalem for the first time and get that rumble, that ache, that desire to make a life where we, as Jews, belong. And to maintain the land for the Jews who, for many valid reasons, will not make a life here, so they can see and visit and love Israel even without being residents. That's what I'm here for. That's why we do what we do, us "crazy" lone soldiers. Why, even though we come here having no family to protect, we say goodbye to our loved ones and join the army across the world. Because, sometimes at the speed of light, and sometimes slow but steady, we build our own families and make new loved ones.
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