In the end, I was only allowed one kilometer of the masa kumta, but we ended up waiting one kilometer in the opposite direction from where they were actually marching, so I didn't get to participate at all. I was extremely frustrated about this, but in a moment I'll explain why it's better this way. All in all, it was still a really fun day with a ton of friends and my brother who came to see me.
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| Ayelet wanted a picture with it on |
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| Even my brother made it |
And that was it! We had our new, turquoise berets and had a week off to celebrate (regila). I was planning on doing some traveling and visiting friends I hadn't seen in a while, but I got the flu, which was a bummer but turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The day I wanted to go to Tel Aviv a soldier was stabbed at the HaShalom train station, and I was glad to stay home. I suppose times will never be easy here safety wise, especially in an IDF uniform.
At the end of that week, I went up to the 611 home base to get new gear, a new gun, a new base, and a new rank. Quite unceremoniously, we received forms to fill out that had "rabat" (corporal) written in front of our names, and we actually thought it was a mistake. They weren't even going to tell us because in kravi you're basically nothing until you are at the rank of a sergeant (which you either get from commander's course or a lot of time), but it's still fun that we aren't privates anymore. We also have so much more gear right now because it's wintertime. There's four different kinds of coats! We had to learn how to wear all of them (the fleece with the gdud's symbol we aren't allowed to wear yet because it is considered a privilege and not allowed for anyone in a kind of course), and how to pack everything into the kitbag. Already fairly late at night, most of us traveled down to the south. My base was the first stop, right outside of Beer Sheva. We're a nice tight tzevet, and I came down with my best friend. Our imun mitkadem (advanced training) started off pretty slow, just reviewing stuff from tironut. There was also a week for each half of the tzevet to go to a FIDF-sponsored vacation (nofesh)!
I was in the second week (thank you Toronto Chapter!), and it was honestly like a make-up for my flu-riddled regila. I got to meet people from all over the gdud, all different jobs, combat soldiers, technicians, drivers, the works! They arranged a number of activities, parties, and shows just for us to enjoy. We played bingo (as lame as that sounds), watched a guy balance a chair on his forehead, and enjoyed stand-up. There was also a TV program to honor combat soldiers who were in the operation, in Tzuk Eitan, and those of us from Aug 14 felt slightly uncomfortable but still proud. They mostly wanted to focus on the Hirnikim, which is completely understandable, but also put us directly on the far end of the room under this huge light. The program is very well put together and moving, but that big light you see when they pan the room is where we are sitting, if you are looking for us. I got to learn about Israeli singers, because I didn't even know who Moshe Peretz is, and my first time hearing him was live! It rained the entire week, but we had fun bundling up to go to meals and parties and then running back inside to dry off, bond, and watch movies playing on TV. I had closed two straight weekends, so I didn't have that many civilian clothes with me except a couple pairs of jeans and workout clothes. My friends and I got creative. Some girls had friends/family bring them clothes, so I borrowed sweaters and shirts, wore my jeans or running tights, and folded socks over my army boots to try and make them look somewhat unlike army boots. The nice thing about it is that the boots are fairly water resistant so I had a pretty easy time walking around!
I had requested to take off Thanksgiving, so I closed the Shabbat before nofesh, and got to go straight home from there. I spent Thursday with my brother and sleeping, and then Friday was like real Thanksgiving (apparently I am not the only one, but most American Israelis end up celebrating Thanksgiving the day after...kind of like how Jews in the Diaspora celebrate two nights of Passover!). I saw a football game (not soccer!! Go Haifa Underdogs!!), spent the day being lazy, and at night went to a fairly large Thanksgiving meal some of the American kibbutznikim prepare annually. It was a huge amount of fun and I can't believe how much I ate. It was a very nice distraction, considering Thanksgiving was the last time I saw my dad eating real food and being able to participate some (and then a few days later was the anniversary of when I last saw him in person). I tried very hard not to focus on how sad I was, but on having an incredible time and being in the moment. I know that is what he wants me to do, and to enjoy the amazing people I have in my life who help me in all sorts of crazy situations, just like family. On that note, I can't believe I'm coming up on the anniversary of his death and am trying to decide if I want to take the day off from the army. I know that if I decide to stay my tzevet will be there to support me, but I don't think I could handle having to stick to whatever schedule is planned.
When I got back from Thanksgiving, I had two intense weeks of studying, taking tests, imunim (technical practices), and all sorts of crazy stuff. I failed a bunch of tests because there was a hazardous combination of me not fully understanding questions and the commanders not fully understanding my answers. So this week we arranged that I would take the test by myself, and then we would go over it together to make sure everyone was on the same page. I ended up getting a 96!! (proving what we already knew--it was the language, not the material I don't know!) It was also just fun in general, we had some visitors and I had my first Israeli sufganiot (jelly donuts for Hanukkah). We have guard shifts all the time, and even during the night I am learning about the system we use, general army stuff, Israeli life, and even had a couple of Hebrew classes with my sergeant. I lost my bag on the bus, and until I got it back from the lost and found, everyone was so generous it was incredible. I had people from all over the country messaging me, offering help/advice and clothes, we had some leftover stuff on base from Tzuk Eitan (socks, shampoo, toothbrush, etc), and I even got help from the gdud (I think the lieutenant colonel, I'm still trying to figure out the English translations on this stuff) to go buy some essentials in case I didn't find it. Fortunately, I did, but nobody will let me return any donations. And that's just how Israel works, which I knew, but I was still left speechless by all the love that I felt by people who wanted to help me.
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| Thank you lone soldier center!!! m |
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| And also to the city of Giv'at Shmuel (through Nefesh B'Nefesh) m |
I saw the base doctor, and like I said before, it's a good thing I didn't participate in the masa kumta. I finally got a real diagnosis, and it's nothing too pleasant: Achilles tendonitis and plantar fasciitis. This means that I just need to be extra careful and will get treatment for the tendonitis first (plantar fasciitis requires a lot of stretches that you can't do with an injured Achilles). So I'm hopefully going to (finally) start real treatment for that next week, and get back on my feet (literally).
So because I switched with someone for Thanksgiving, they needed to get me back to the regular schedule. I was supposed to close this weekend but someone else came back from course Nativ (learning about Israel, Zionism, holidays, etc.) so they sent me home! And that's it, I am home now and return to base tomorrow for a new week! Hopefully I'll be posting more regularly but still with long breaks in between.
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| Just another sunny day down south |
מצדעים לכם, תודה ללוחמים בצוק איתן
